I would like to offer my services as a personal shopper this holiday season. I am not self-employed, meaning that I have a regular 8-5 job, but would just be doing this on the side to make extra money and because I enjoy shopping and wrapping presents.

My target market would be busy professionals, probably executives, and mostly men, I would guess. I would offer to purchase either a list of items or give a consultation to help a client choose a gift for a particular person. I would then offer to wrap the presents and personalize each one individually. My fee would be 25% of their purchases, with a $25 minimum.

My question is, how do I go about marketing this service? Obviously, this isn’t my career, so I wouldn’t want to invest a lot of money into marketing, but perhaps utilize some low-cost methods to get the word out to busy professionals that my services do exist.

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Jay’s Answer: Personal shopper means different things to people.

To market yourself easier, create specific packages. For example: employee recognition gifts, shopping for family gifts (spouse, etc.), client gifts, etc.

For each package, create a story around it (ideally a true story that you were involved in). Tell why the person hired you (they were busy, recovering from surgery, on the road, etc.). What you did for them (found things that were better than they would’ve chosen). And the results (They couldn’t stop talking about it).

Selling an abstract service is hard. Selling a story is much easier.

We’re a tech-oriented company providing fairly new services, ie – businesses have a problem, they just don’t know they do or the extent of which they do.

I want to put together an end of year party or conference to a.) show appreciation to our clients and b.) to get them talking about our services – the word-of-mouth strategy seems to work well in such a tough sell.

My initial thought was to hold a light mini-conference to get our clients together and teach them how to better use our solution and introduce them to the new “bells and whistles” and directly follow that with an appreciation party. Clients will be encouraged to bring guests.

My hope is that this will work as a springboard for future mini-events for our clients throughout the year.

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Jay’s Answer: How about a client conference? In addition to highlighting what’s new, provide a forum for brainstorming / collecting suggestions for improving things / new offerings. What’s in it for your clients are a chance for you to hear their problems and potentially do something about it. In some cases, another attendee will offer their suggestion to the problem, but it will be ripe with lots of useful information. Definitely record the session for your own sake. The key is to follow up with the attendees, and actually come up with solutions (even if they are recommendations for other company’s products) to the issues that were raised. That’s how long-term relationships are built.

I need help determining if I should start a business pet and house sitting. I just moved to the area I am currently living in and noticed with some limited research that there is a person doing the same thing across the street from my new home and three others with a 15 mile radius. Their marketing is not that professional and the service fees are complicated and include add on fees for everything such as returning house keys! I feel I could do this with a good name and tag line and get involved in the Chamber and network groups- what do you think ? Should I worry about the competition or just develop a name and tag line that would attract ?

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Jay’s Answer: Your competition already has a reputation and clients. If your benefit is a simpler pricing plan, then they could copy that in a heartbeat. Slicker marketing may not be matter to the prospects – the word-of-mouth factor would. Joining the Chamber is unlikely to produce the leads you’re looking for. The obvious leads would come from vets who don’t offer pet care service, pet food stores, local dog parks, and even travel agents (who knows when people will be traveling).

Focus on something different. First, make sure you get bonded. That will speak loudly that you’re to be trusted. Team up with a house cleaner, groomer, and/or handy person. Provide a full-service menu – go away on vacation, and come back to a home that’s better than when you left it.

I am a girl living in Guangzhou, China. Canton Fair is hold in this city twice every year. Hundreds of thousands of foreigners come to attend these trade fairs. Most of the foreign businessmen can’t speak Chinese and cannot communicate with the Chinese businesses well. So I would like to solve their problems by offering my interpretation services. However, I have so many competitors: government, businesses, individuals, organizations… I find it difficult to compete with them to have good customers. The difficulty for me is how to let my target customer know me and what I do. And I can’t spend much money for this.

In effect, compared with others, I believe that I have much more advantages, because I am very familiar with the wholesale markets in and around Guangzhou, I can show them around the markets and help them find the lowest cost supplier, I can also hire cars at lower prices, and I am willing to offer quality inspection services for them.

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Jay’s Answer: You’ve listed some good benefits: translation skills, familiarity with wholesale markets, familiarity with rental cars, and inspection services.

You haven’t (yet) identified WHO you’re trying to help (other than "foreign businessmen"). Is there an industry that you can specialize in? The more specific your specialization (niche), the easier it is to get your message to them.

Your letter to your prospects should focus on the problem you solve for your potential customers: We help global buyers new to China to efficiently find quality suppliers. We know the Guangzhou market, can translate all of your business negotiations, and provide ongoing quality inspections for your goods. Here are a list of services we can provide: Market Investigation, etc.

It has been one week since I’ve reported as a marketing executive in a company which owns a casual dining chain restaurant that serves Italian food. It is this company’s norm to conduct a week of mock service before the official opening of any of it’s new outlet. This mock service is basically conducted to train the all new employees and is done in a controlled environment where only a specific number of guests are invited for the complimentary lunch and dinner. I am now assigned to write a report on the mock service. How should I write this report and go about proposing strategies to enhance their business. I have done a small survey whereby I found out all the main entrance of the mall and also spotted the area where the traffic flow is really heavy. What else could I comprise in the report besides the traffic flow info and strategies?

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Can you read reports done previously? That will give you a feel for what they’re asking.

You asking us about a marketing report based on a watching people in the restaurant for a week. If you didn’t collect data, then you have two more sources of information: your own eyes (if you were there and watched) and the staff at the new restaurant.

If you were there, write about your impressions of the visit. Imagine being one to the people coming through the door. Would you come back? Why or why not? That’s the key question. As for the subtle things: everything from look & feel, to service & taste.

If you weren’t there, then you need to interview the people that were there — the staff. How did the customers seem to them? Did they finish their food? Did they ask for seconds? Were people smiling (other than for the free food)? Were they engaging with the staff (or were they talking in hushed tones).

Your observation of traffic flow within the restaurant is important as well.

We’re looking to develop a customer advisory council to elicit responses from our clients and improve our service. Any suggestions on how to get this off the ground and sustaining momentum?

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You have 2 issues: internal and external motivation.

Internally, why are you creating the council? Is this a request from “on high”? Will the council have the ability to do anything more than report? Will the council threaten anyone politically?

Externally, why would someone report to your council? Presumably, you have a customer service department that fields problems.

The key to getting input is giving the council the power to resolve the issues. Otherwise, the only thing that will happen is the council will write up a report which will sit on someone’s desk.

The key to getting buy-in is getting the organization customer-centric. It’s more than lip-service and simply having fewer complaints. It’s about converting complainers ABOUT your company into fanatics FOR your company.