Win-Win-Win
In your first year or two of business, it's very tempting to barter.
An exchange of skills with no money attached. It seems like a win-win.
You win. I win. No money goes out.
What's good about that?
You get to try each other out.
You help each other when cash flow is tight.
What's not so good?
We don't value what we don't pay for?
We're actually harming our businesses.
When you barter, that 'revenue' doesn't show up in your accounting records
at all. It's money you did not make, according to your books. If you
do 40% of your business as barter, that's a lot of lost revenue. When
you apply at the bank for a line of credit, or go for equipment financing,
your revenue will be important to the application. And, your revenue
will be low. Invoice each other and pay those bills, even though they
might be identical in price. Then that revenue shows up on your year's
total which is a good thing that you'll need when you try to negotiate
a line of credit,
lease financing etc.
That's how to make win-win work.
And now Win-Win-Win
The most famous concept is Air Canada and Air Miles and CIBC Gold Visa.
Every dollar the customer spends on their Gold Visa turns into a mile
with Air Canada. The customer benefits because they can work towards
free air travel (at a high interest rate if they don't pay off their
balance monthly). Air Canada wins because seats that would be empty
are full and people grow their loyalty to the airline. Visa wins because
that's the card that gets pulled out of the wallet when it's time to
pay.
There are lots of examples
Canadian Tire now has its own master card. You use a CTC mastercard
and you get dollar points towards a future purchase. Win Win Win
You win because you'll pay less for an item at some point.
Canadian Tire wins because you go there to get the points.
Master Card wins because its arrangement with CTC builds loyalty.
We can all do that, if we think about it.
A brand new property maintenance fellow had sold lots of snow removal
contracts that season. He was anticipating lots of midnight plowing,
early morning walk-scraping to keep his customers up and moving. When
spring came, he'd been out to each customer about three times. Weighted
down by guilt, he asked if he should refund some of the money to his
customers.
"If you do, it's all they will remember. And selling a contract
next year will be impossible," I replied. "You give them money
and they win. And you win. Win win. It won't work.
"There's another way to gift them that won't hurt you." I
suggested he contact a newly launched window cleaning company and strike
an arrangement to have the owner go around to each of the snow removal
customers and wash their main floor windows. The card presented read:
Thank you for being a faithful customer with me in my first year of
business. I want to celebrate and send you a gift. Sparkling clean windows
are my gift. Sparkling clean windows by XXX of XXX.
His customers were absolutely thrilled. In fact, they paid out a little
and had the fellow do their second floor windows as well. The window
cleaning business was thrilled... terrific introductions to lots of
potential customers. The snow removal guy was thrilled. He'd given without
damaging his future.
This would not have worked if it were just win-win.
Look around at any business networking event.
Who can you 'team up with' to add a third win to your win-win?
Well, lets look at Go Venture, my program. It's a win-win-win, for sure.
People buy Go Venture. (one win)
I send a gift to the person who referred me to them. (a second win)
The referral receives a gift of theatre to a 40-year-old live theatre
tradition. (third win)
Win-win-win!
I get to say thanks (a win for me)
The referral gets a night out at the theatre, all paid for. (a win for
them)
The theatre wins because it has new people in the seats. (a win for
the threatre)
Win-Win-Win!
You can team up with each other...
To be sustainable, there must be 3 wins.
Team up with a charity and the news coverage increases. You actually
create the news story.
Team up with each other and your business will increase. But make sure
there's a third win. Not just you and the other business ...
Does everybody win? You bet!
Will customers talk? They sure will.
The cost to do this stuff is an allowable business expense and it goes
under Advertising & Promotion in your accounting records. You can
take the money you would spend on advertising and spend it on promotion
like this and it will go much, much farther.
Get cracking!
Donna Douglas offers business training and profit building for business
owners in the Barrie area through her Go Venture program. Go Venture
courses start three times a year and connect businesses to their customers.
Zoom to the top! Go Venture! www.donnadouglas.com