Jeff Cowan's Blog

July 17th, 2009

Selling From My Perspective

By Jeff Cowan

“My Mailbox Didn’t Get the Memo”

My mailbox didn’t get the memo. It or the people who send stuff to it obviously did not get the memo that stated that we are in the midst of one of the worst recessions the world has ever seen. Here is what I found recently when I visited my mailbox;

I can refurbish my stairway spindles for $4,500, rubberize my garage floor for $32 a square foot, paint the trim on my house for $4,200, have a landscaper design a new lawn for me for $2,500, have my driveway power washed for $150, my trash cans power washed once a month for $25 a can, I can refinish my kitchen cabinets for as little as $1,995 and I can have a van come to my house and wash each of the dogs for $75 a piece (includes special shampoo and clipping their nails). In addition, I can have a Ford in my driveway by days end for only $339 a month, a Mercedes for only $599 or a Lamborghini for only $2,771 a month.

I felt that these companies must really be bold, desperate or just plain goofy to send me ads like that – especially by snail mail in this economic climate. And to top it off, all of these ads were printed on heavy high gloss cardstock paper in full color! These were not cheap ads.

Curious to see just how many of these ads were an act of desperation in a bad economy, I called each of these companies to see just how fast they could render their services. With the exception of the car guys who could deliver a vehicle to my driveway by day’s end, here is what I discovered. A couple of companies could be there by the beginning of next week to do estimates and a couple couldn’t get there for two or more weeks. Only the trash can guys, driveway guys and dog cleaner could actually start a job within 10 days, all others were over 3 weeks. I also found that none of these were very small companies and in short that they were busy, and in some cases, really busy. Based on what they were advertising and at what price point I must admit that I was surprised.

I personally only purchased one of the services, the house painter.

The best way to sum up my point and what I learned is by the conversation I had with the dog cleaner. When I asked her about getting the memo about the rotten economy and why she would advertise in this environment with over 13% of America out of work, she calmly stated; “I didn’t get that memo. I got the one that said 87% of Americans are still working and that is who we are focusing on.” Profound!

Right, wrong or indifferent, that’s way I see selling from my perspective.

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