The $25 referral system

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 | by Michael Keesee | Comments

Derek works as a general contractor, but there is nothing general about his work. He specializes in basement and bathroom renovations.  A young and delightful couple hires Derek to renovate their home. Derek does a splendid job for the couple – Tammy and Andre, and he gives them an invoice payable within 10 days. 10 days pass by within no time. Soon 20 days fly by and Derek sees no payment forth coming. When a month goes by and Derek hasn’t heard from the young couple yet, he gives them the dreaded collection call. › Continue reading

Browser Bucks

Friday, December 2nd, 2011 | by Michael Keesee | Comments

Joy Morgan was an “antiques” buff. She used to host an antique trade show twice a year every year. Joy would get all the antique shop owners and vendors together and make them showcase some of their products. And then she would promote the show through press releases and other means. Every vendor paid her a flat fee for a booth in the show. On top of that, she also charged $3 as an entrance fee to all attendants.

Joy made a small fortune every year by organizing the trade shows. Tons of people would pay her $3 and visit the trade show. But the vendors weren’t happy. Many people would come over their booths and spend time admiring the antiques. But very few would buy. The vendors weren’t making money. And soon the number of vendors started declining.

Joy was about to throw in the towel when she met Don Alm. Don Alm suggested an idea that changed everything. The idea got more people to buy the antiques. And as a result, more vendors started buying booths.

The idea?  › Continue reading

Magical postcard marketing

Friday, October 28th, 2011 | by Michael Keesee | Comments

Peter M. is an acoustic guitarist. He has some real talent. He recorded a CD with 15 of his tunes and named it “Well Strung and Solo.” The CD received some very good reviews. But the good reviews alone didn’t bring in many sales. So Peter started hunting for live performance gigs. › Continue reading

Ouch! There is a gap in the brain

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 | by Michael Keesee | Comments

“It’s the biggest game of the year: Florida State vs. Miami in Tallahassee this Saturday. Thankfully, I will be in attendance to cheer on the Seminoles. What I’m equally thankful for is that I didn’t have to pay much for the tickets (about the price of a nice dinner), despite the selling of tickets from anywhere between 200 and 600 dollars. I certainly was not willing to pay this price for a ticket, but now that I have one I am also not willing to sell it at those prices.” › Continue reading

Bald is beautiful

Thursday, August 25th, 2011 | by Michael Keesee | Comments

Gary has a good life. He lives in a small town in California and owns an insurance agency. When he turned 50 and decided to open a restaurant and nightclub. Life was perfect. Except for one thing: he was bald.  Gary didn’t let his baldness ruin his perfect life score. He instead used it as an opportunity. He changed the world and made baldness trendy.

Gary waited a few weeks to see how his restaurant did on different days of the week. He found out that Wednesdays were the slowest days. Gary then started a Wednesday promotion: “Bald people eat free on Wednesdays!” › Continue reading

Browser Bucks

Monday, August 1st, 2011 | by Michael Keesee | Comments

Joy Morgan was an “antiques” buff. She used to host an antique trade show twice a year every year. Joy would get all the antique shop owners and vendors together and make them showcase some of their products. And then she would promote the show through press releases and other means. Every vendor paid her a flat fee for a booth in the show. And on top of that, she also charged $3 as an entrance fee to all attendants. 

Joy made a small fortune every year by organizing the trade shows. Tons of people would pay her $3 and visit the trade show. But the vendors weren’t happy. Many people would come over their booths and spend time admiring the antiques. But very few would buy. The vendors weren’t making money and soon the number of vendors started declining. 

Joy was about to throw in the towel when she met Don Alm. Don Alm suggested an idea that changed everything. The idea got more people to buy the antiques. And as a result, more vendors started buying booths. › Continue reading

Deuce! Selling sunglasses

Monday, July 18th, 2011 | by Michael Keesee | Comments

Some 30 years back, K.E. manufactured sunglasses. His sunglasses were of good quality. And they were cool looking too. But the other big branded companies always sold more units than him. K.E. didn’t have much money to advertise his top quality sunglasses and thus he could never successfully create awareness about his cool looking and longer lasting sunglasses.

So he targeted a smaller market. He went after athletes. He saw an instant rise in sales as his marketing effort became more focused and word of his sunglasses started spreading amongst the athletes. Then K.E. did one more thing that made the sales jump an awesome 34% in one single year! › Continue reading

How to Build Brand Loyalty?

Friday, June 3rd, 2011 | by Michael Keesee | Comments

In a small country squashed between Russia and Sweden lay Finland. Its capital city was Helsinki. A relatively unknown soccer team called the city its home. The soccer team was lousy and as a result had less than 300 supporters. But that all changed. In relatively short time, the team built a fan base of more than 30,000 diehard supporters. 

How did the soccer team raise 29,700 new diehard fans? › Continue reading

Stuff Happens

Friday, May 13th, 2011 | by Michael Keesee | Comments

Mark Twain once said, “A bank is an institution that lends you an umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.” Banks have earned a bad reputation with many people. They are seen as a money hungry institution that does anything to increase profits. A number of years ago, one bank saw an opportunity and tried to change that opinion.  Here is that story: › Continue reading

Picket Marketing

Monday, April 4th, 2011 | by Michael Keesee | Comments

Gerald F Kein was a hypnotist. His office was located on the second floor of a building located on a heavily traveled highway at Fort Lauderdale. He was a good hypnotist. But he wasn’t well known and he had an idea to change that… › Continue reading