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Many of the motorcycle dealers that were invited to buy Honda car franchises in the mid-1960s said, “No thanks.” The ones that did are probably gazillionaires by now.
- I wonder how many Toyota dealers that were offered to purchase Lexus franchises in the late 1980s are now sorry that they didn’t. At the time, Lexus wanted dealers to put up a $1 million building to sell $40,000 Toyotas. Who would have dreamed that Lexus would become one of the premier luxury cars of the 21st century?
- Many of you have never heard of George de Mestral. He discovered Velcro® by walking through the forest and getting burrs stuck to his pants. Many people thought his idea was nuts. Today, Velcro sales top $100 million a year.
- And who could forget the story of Bette Nesmith Graham? She was a terrible typist. In the late 1950s, Graham used white tempura paint to correct her mistakes. Liquid Paper was born. In 1979 she sold her popular product to Gillette for $47 million, plus royalties.
- And then there was “Gupp.” Marketing consultant Peter Hodgson borrowed $147 to buy 21 lb of Gupp after the nondescript product outsold almost everything in Ruth Fallgatter’s toy store catalog. Hodgson was sure they had a winner. Despite the great sales, Fallgatter wanted nothing more to do with the strange bouncing putty, so Hodgson took the product for himself. He changed the name to Silly Putty, started packaging it in plastic eggs, and, with aggressive TV advertising, more than 300 million eggs of Silly Putty have been sold since 1950.
In other words, many small, and not so small, ideas turned out to net big bucks. Don’t let this one get away.
Stop and think about this: You know someone in your town will have a number like 1-800-800-CARS or 1-800-411-CARS ringing in their dealership. Why not have it be yours before your competition gets it?!
Wonder why great toll-free vanity numbers and great domains are so valuable? It is the same old business lesson: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
You pay extra for color newspaper ads. You pay extra to get prime ad placement in the paper. You pay extra for ad time on the radio stations that have the best reach to your targeted market. Why not invest a few bucks a day to put your advertising on STEROIDS?
Call your representative directly for details. |
