Larry’s Column

What do tulips, books, funerals, and commuter train tickets have in common? Pre-selling strategies.

These items and many more can be, and often are, pre-sold. In spring, while the tulips are blazing their promise of warmer weather, the mail is filled with catalogs pre-selling bulbs to plant when cold weather arrives in a classic strategy of “sell it now – ship it later.” The “Book-Of-The-Month Club” became the model for companies that pre-sell music, wines, fruits, and coffee beans to name just a few items sold this way. It is not uncommon for people to plan and purchase their funerals in advance of their death to make sure their final wishes are carried out and minimize their survivors’ burden at a stressful time. Commuters pre-purchase monthly passes for future rides for convenience and lower rates.

Pre-selling strategies serve the best interests of both the buyer and the seller – properly managed they make for a win-win solution. The buyer gets the convenience of knowing the company will fulfill their part of the deal as ordered, allowing that item to be crossed off the “to-do” list. The seller makes future sales without having to actively sell at the time of need; they just have to deliver their product or service at the designated time and properly satisfy the customer.

With all the advantages that accrue to both the buyer and the seller, I’m always amazed that so few businesses actually pursue a pre-selling strategy. Why can’t I pre-purchase a book of discounted oil changes for my cars? Why can’t I purchase a monthly delivery of pet food? It would sure be convenient and might save me time and money while providing increased sales volume for the vendor. It can’t be any more difficult than creating a billing and collection system but my guess is that few businesses have the imagination, the vision, and / or energy to do it. You can start by asking yourself to imagine how a pre-selling strategy might work. Meanwhile I’ve got to go now, the tulip bulbs I ordered in April just arrived… gotta start digging!

MUSINGS: Don’t let 2008 arrive before you are ready… prepare NOW!

Soon we’ll be all frantic with those end-of-the-year activities in that crazy busy time from Halloween to New Years that is filled with social, family, and business activity – everything from bobbin for apples to year-end bookkeeping tasks and 2008 will be here before you’re ready.

Don’t enter the new year unprepared because if you do, by the time you take down the holiday decorations and get through the pile of stuff that accumulated on your desk over the holidays and shovel out from the big snowfall… it will almost be Spring and a good part of the new year will have past before you have planned for it.

So decide now whether you are going to make 2008 your best year ever and, if that is what you want, don’t close your eyes and wish for it, put the time aside now and start the planning process so, when January 2 comes around and you return back to work you are prepared.

You will know what you want to accomplish, you will know how to organize it, you will start the year filled with enthusiasm and energy if you are prepared. But the only way to be prepared is to start working on next year right now.

One of the problems I find business owners encounter is that many don’t know where to start planning for the future. There are a number of formal and informal plan formats to consider – Business Plan, Strategic Plan, Financial Plan, Marketing Plan, etc. and I encourage you to consider them as a starting point, but even if you just start with the back of an envelope or napkin, it’s better than turning the page of the calendar to 2008 and saying, “now what am I going to do to make this year better” because then you’ve missed a lot of valuable planning time.

Along this line, I will be conducting a workshop for the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce in November on Business Plans – details will follow.

Larry Galler Larry@larrygaller.com