Drive a swarm of buying customers through your front doors!

VDTA/SDTA Summer Show 2007, Cleveland, OH

We caught up with the presenter, Claude Whitacre of The Sweeper Store in Wooster, OH, to get the details...

VDTA/SDTA: We are happy to announce the workshop you’ll be giving in Cleveland. Tell us a little bit about it.
Claude: In Cleveland, I’m going to tell attendees everything they need to advertise effectively. Plus, I’m going to take actual dealer ads and critique them in front of the audience. Anyone who wants to have their ad included in the program can send them to me (by e-mail: claude@sweeperstore.com) or to the VDTA/SDTA office.

VDTA/SDTA: What a great idea. I hope we get a lot of dealer participation and lots of ads sent in! We can even make workbooks so attendees can follow along in their seats. To give our readers an idea of what they can learn in Cleveland, let’s talk advertising for a little bit. Claude, is advertising the best way to build a vacuum cleaner or sewing machine business?
Claude: No. Marketing to your high end established customers is the best way. But first, you have to have customers to market to. Effective advertising is the fastest way to build that customer base.

VDTA/SDTA: Isn’t advertising expensive?
Claude: Ineffective advertising is expensive because money paid is wasted. But effective advertising can build your customer base and generate enough money to make it self-funding.

VDTA/SDTA: Self-funding?
Claude: Yes. If you add a customer to your business, that person will buy from you over and over again. They will recommend you to their friends. A new customer has value to your store far in excess to what that first sale pays. If your ads generate more profit than the ad costs you, that new customer is coming to you free.

VDTA/SDTA: Do most ads make money for the dealer?
Claude: No. I read somewhere that 98 percent of the print ads you see don’t pay for themselves. I believe it. Most advertisers lose money on every ad they run, because they don’t know how to make an ad pay. There is a small but growing number of dealers that make a profit on almost every ad they run. Some ads can generate several times their cost in net profits.

VDTA/SDTA: OK. So what’s the biggest secret in advertising?
Claude: Most advertisers think that advertising should be clever or funny. Great advertising is selling. Ads that generate profits are selling in print. You don’t want the reader to say “Oh, what a great ad!”, you want the reader to say “Wow! I want to buy that.”

VDTA/SDTA: What are some of the most common mistakes dealers make when advertising?
Claude: Being way too general. “Come see us, we’re nice people and have been here 35 years” sounds wonderful, but it doesn’t make anyone get off the couch and drive to your store. Most slogans are worthless.
I have a way to test and see if my ad will work. I take an ad, and show it to a few customers; “What do you think of this ad?” If they say “Wow! What a wonderful ad.” I know I’m in trouble. If they say “Wow. Can I get one of these?” I know I’m on the right track.

VDTA/SDTA: Is one way to advertise better than another?
Claude: If you mean Media, yes. It depends on what is available in your area. If you have just one radio station, and there are no radio “Personalities” to endorse your product, it may not be effective. Mixing advertising media can multiply its effectiveness. We’ll be covering that in great detail in my workshop.

VDTA: Do you use the ideas you present in your own store?
Claude: Great question. Yes. Some of the examples shown at the workshop will be our own ads and some will be ads that other dealers have sent in to get evaluated for free. I would recommend that readers send their print ads too and then the ads can be critiqued and transferred onto an overhead transparency. The ads will be shown and advice will be given by me and some members of the audience. OK?

VDTA/SDTA: What would you call a successful ad?
Claude: An ad that pays for itself is successful, because it generated new customers at no real cost to the dealer. But I’ve had ads generate 20 times their cost in profits. That’s not common, but it’s happened. Almost every ad we run generates five times its cost or more.

VDTA/SDTA: How do you make every ad profitable?
Claude: (laughs) You just stop running the ads that don’t pay for themselves. You just keep track of which ads generate sales and which don’t. We’ll cover how to track ad results at the workshop. It’s very easy.

VDTA/SDTA: Could you describe a profitable ad?
Claude: Sure. We advertise several well-known high end vacuum cleaners. We also list several reasons that the reader should buy from us. These reasons are things that they want, not things we think they should want. We also include some specials that the buyer gets when they buy from us. Anything “free” should be at the top of the ad, along with the headline. Most ads don’t even have a headline. That’s a major mistake.

VDTA/SDTA: Do you need the lowest prices to sell out of an ad?
Claude: Absolutely not. Advertising based on price is the weakest and least effective form of advertising. Advertisers do it because it’s easy to lower a price. Advertising based on what the customer gets is much more profitable. For example, we don’t advertise any vacuum cleaner for less than $279. That’s the cheapest one in the ad. Low price is fifth or sixth on the list of reasons someone comes into your store and buys from you. Plus, if you are basing your ad appeal on lowest price, you have no defense against a competitor selling the same thing for a lower price. Advertising the cheapest vacuums or sewing machines and having the lowest price may work, but it’s the least effective way to advertise. If you advertise a $69 vacuum cleaner, how many do you have to sell to pay for a $200 ad? Twenty? More? If you advertise a $500 vacuum cleaner with other popular $500 vacuum cleaners in a $200 ad, how many do you have to sell? Maybe one. And when you advertise the higher quality products, you will have no competition. Won’t that be a pleasant change?

VDTA/SDTA: If dealers can’t make it to Cleveland, will you be offering the workshop at later VDTA/SDTA shows?
Claude: No. This is it. Everything will be covered here. I’ll be speaking at the VDTA/SDTA shows again, just not about advertising and copywriting. Here is a chance to get answers to your toughest advertising questions. You could call this a free “Ad Makeover.” It took me four years to learn what I’ll be sharing. You’ll be getting everything I’ve learned in four hours. Don’t miss it.

VDTA/SDTA: Sounds incredible! Let’s see those ads roll in! Thanks Claude.
Claude: You’re welcome. See you there.

Reprinted from SQE Professional, May 2007