Cheri Marsh, The SoapMeister
Old~world handmade soap with a gourmet touch
Tested only on family & friends
Where is your mentor?

You never know when opportunity presents itself.  On a flight yesterday 
(Monday, 4/12) between San Francisco and Seattle, I was seated next to a 
young man who was returning from a business trip.  I always carry a basket of my soaps when I fly to share with the flight crew personnel.  I hand the 
basket to the flight attendant when I board, ask her to pass the basket among the crew and let them choose a bar of soap as a gift.  There is usually a steady stream of attendants stopping by my seat to thank me for the soap, or ask questions either about the ingredients or how I make them.

As we were taxing out of the gate, the young man asked what was in the basket and I handed it to him and told him to help himself.  As he looked through the soap, he began asking questions.  "Why do you have cinnamon, or coffee in the soap" "what makes oils turn to soap" etc.  As I began to explain the different herbs, spices, etc. in the products and why I used them he continued to ask more in-depth questions.  " Why do you feel it is important to have organic ingredients?"  "Why would someone want to purchase this over another soap?"

By the time we left the ground he knew nearly as much about soapmaking as I do.  Then the surprise.  He began to make suggestions on how to market the product, who to target and how to find them.  As he spoke he was typing on his laptop.  At one point he said he was jotting this information down so he could email it to me when we landed. 

He said to locate the premium hotels across the country and send samples to their managers, both for inclusion in the guest suites and for lager baskets 
to market near the reception desks.  He detailed how to conduct a search 
through Dunn & Bradstreet, asking for a target market of the top 25 markets of  per capita income and women's boutiques as well as salons, and cost per name for mailing information.  He suggested taking these names and writing 4 letters to each name.   "Pick a variety of soap, and write a letter on "WHY Cinnamon Stick" and tell the reasons someone would want to use that specific soap and the benefits.  Do the same thing for 3 other varieties.  Send the letter and a bar of soap to each business on the list of targeted markets.  Two weeks later send the second variety and letter, another 2 weeks the third variety & letter, and the final letter and bar 2 weeks later.  Then CALL them."

"Show them why YOUR product is better, why THEY would benefit and how THEIR customers would want it.  You need constant repeat positive contact to make an impression on the buyer".  Your ingredients have "history" --point it out.  "In earlier times people used Lavender as a sedative and headache cure, or Ylang Ylang is believed to be an aphrodisiac.  Get them interested in all the factors of why you use the ingredient!"

He advised writing all 4 letters at the same time and having them ready to 
mail out at appropriate intervals.  "If you don't do them all at once, you 
will forget, it is human nature."

Target your market with different ad bases.  His suggestion was to send out 
two ad packets, one simply stating all the benefits of the product, quality, 
uniqueness, desirability, etc., with no mention of pricing incentives.  In 
the other, state pricing incentives.  Determine which gains more responses. 
Often it is not price that motivates a client.  "Rather than show a volume 
discount, market the soap as so special and limited that they need to order 
in advance to insure getting it at all, and if they delay they will pay MORE 
and risk not having any."

He spent nearly 2 hours with suggestions geared to my business from marketing to locating financial assistance.  "Go to your merchants and make a deal.  In exchange for a year's product paid for in advance, guarantee delivery of their product at whatever interval they desire and first option to market any new varieties.  You can offer them better volume discount rates on larger orders.  Offer specialty packaging or custom naming that ties to their company name for an additional fee.  Those all have value to a merchant, make the product more unique and thus more desirable to their clients and he will be willing to pay more for it." 

Update your voice mail to let your customer know that even though you are not there to answer the phone, you wish you could be.  "We are sorry we can't answer your questions now, we are with other customers, however we will call just as soon as we are able."   Check your voice mail often and CALL BACK IMMEDIATELY."

Near the end of the flight I was thanking him for his suggestions and asked 
what he did.  He started his own business a couple years ago, working out of his home developing and marketing software over the Internet.  He now has 41 employees and passed the $1 million sales mark last month. "I was like you a couple years ago, I had a dream.  Now it is a reality."

He has goals for his company, and high standards.  He wants his staff to 
provide "unimaginable service" to his clients.  One example he gave was the Internet visitor.  It takes approximately 5 minutes to log onto his site. 
His tracking data shows the normal visitor spends about 12-17 minutes on 
their first visit.  Within 6 minutes of signing onto the site, one of his 
customer service reps have called the person on the telephone and says "Hi, I'm John from License Online and how can I assist you at our site today?" 
People are astounded.  Understandably, I would be too.   Make your customers feel welcome when they visit your site, virtual or real, let them know you want to meet their needs and you have the perfect product to do it.  Make them feel there isn't another company in the world that can serve them better, and then surpass that.  His average customer makes 6-7 purchases per year, with the average purchase over $300.

Any and all of these suggestions, plus the dozens of others he gave me, could be modified to fit nearly any business, be it service or product oriented.   Look at what your have that interests the client and then market it to their needs!  Make it seem special, because it is!  No one can do it quite like you.  And every one of us can improve our customer service to some degree.

I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet this young man and 
benefit from his insight and knowledge.  He may not know it, but he found 
another customer in me!  You can bet that when it comes time to purchase 
software, he will be the first person I contact.

In the event you are curious who this "wonder" was: Dave Parker, President & CEO License Online http://www.licenseonline.com

Oh, and I did have an Email this morning with all the things we discussed, 
plus a little note on the bottom  "Take care & good luck.  You never know 
when we'll end up on the same plane again."  What a guy, eh?

This is the most intriguing part of the story:  I nearly canceled the flight 
because the connections in the next city were questionable.  At the last 
minute I decided to go with the flight.  If I missed the connection in 
Seattle, I would spend the day with my granddaughter there, and fly out the following evening. I normally fly coach but was seated in first class by the 
ticket agent at the gate.   (The plane was half-full, so I have no idea why 
I was seated in the First Class section). Had I decided to delay the trip one 
day, or not been seated in First Class I would have missed this incredible 
opportunity.  Interesting how circumstances placed me in this situation.

Where is your mentor?

So fellow list members….Dream on!  Reality is:  "The sky is the limit….or IS it?"

Cheri Marsh