Claude Whitacre
Years ago, when I worked in my friend's ( Julius Toth ) store, I was complaining about the ads he ran. I asked, " Why don't you run ads that tell the whole story. List all the features, everything in the ad?" In other words, Why didn't he run ads that did all the work so that all I had to do was write the receipt & get the commission.
With a patient smile, he showed me a thick scrap book, His "Book Of Secret Knowledge". In it, he had a copy of every display ad he ran in the last 7 years. There were hundreds.
Next to every ad was; The date ran, Total number of vac sales from the ad, total dollar volume generated from the ad, & cost of the ad. In my infinate wisdom, I looked at it & said " So?"
He said, "See the ads from several years ago? The profits are small, or non-existant. See the recent ads? The profits are a high multiple of the ad cost."
Being a slow study, I said " cute, but so what?"
He said " When you open your own store, those profits will be YOURS".
NOW I was paying attention. He went on to explain that the reason we asked every vac BUYER what brought them in, & put the answer at the top of the receipt, was so we would know what ads ( or Media ) was paying off & what ads were not. It was very important that we did not 'prompt' them in any way. If we asked " did you hear us on the Radio?" that answer was useless.The customer would say " Yes " without thinking. That's also why all print ads had coupons. Now we didn't have to ask, the coupon TOLD us what brought them in.
At first, I rebelled against the idea of asking every customer. But after a few weeks, it was second nature. Just part of the conversation.
Here's how I was tought how to use the information. If an ad generates more profit than cost, KEEP RUNNING IT. If the ad does not, no matter how much I love the ad, or my voice on the Radio, or my picture on TV, I DROP THE AD.
Want to KNOW if your Yellow Page ad is profitable? Just ask every customer what brought them in ( at point of sale ) & tally the answer at the end of the month. If you pay $400 a month for your Yellow Page ad & it brought in $1,200, you have a winner. If it only generates $200 in profit.... well, you get the idea. It should never take more than a month to find out if an ad works.
" But my ad rep told me that it takes several exposures to start paying off "
I've heard that until my ears bleed. I have never seen a print ad that has become MORE profitable by repeating. Ever.
If you take this idea, like I did, & use it, Your business will grow, your ad rep will love you, & your in-laws will be AMAZED.
