LeePemberton.com

Re: the unusual bond between women and cats

As I mentioned last week, I am learning quite a bit about the incredible development of the “Pet Culture” in this country as to how pets have become our cultures “four-legged children”.

My focus, of course has been to calculate the level of desire in this market “niche” for more caring and affordable pet odor removal services by homeowners with pets. The size and emotional nature of this “niche” has proven to be beyond my expectations, to say the very least.

The fact that cats now widely surpass canines as desireable pets had also escaped my observations, although my female associates seemed to be well aware of the trend.

In a very interesting article from Forbes business magazine, titled “Crazy Cat Ladies”, the statement is made: Cats have overtaken dogs as the most popular pet in the U.S. (93 million feline pets versus 77 million canines). And while a recent sampling by the American Pet Products Association, a trade group, found that of cat owners, 80% were women, certainly plenty of men also harbor felines.

Following are some very interesting article links for you:

1st - http://tinyurl.com/clntip-pets for
Top Pet-related Small Business Trends 2011
Check the growth of pet related services since 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 for your self! Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the links provided!

2nd - http://tinyurl.com/pets2
The Pet Culture

3rd - http://tinyurl.com/petcosts
An idea of the money involved!

My conclusion next week, and in the meantime, read these articles – they will give you some material for consideration if you choose to sell services to this market!

The question has been asked,
“Will pet owners spend on pet related services in this tight economy?”

The Answer is a Resounding – YES!

I have just completed some serious research on this matter after hearing one carpet cleaner after another tell me that customers aren’t spending money on carpet cleaning services like they were in the past. And if they did purchase cleaning services, they only bought “bare bones” services; no protector or deodorization add-on services.

I chose to look at pet odor first because I feel it is so underdeveloped as a prime service category. (and as landlords, my son & I really understand the issue)

The first fact I uncovered is that the so called “Pet Industry” was already a flourishing seventeen billion dollar industry in 1994, just a bit over fifteen years ago — and has just about tripled to over 48 billion dollars by the year 2010!

Why Am I Telling You This?
It’s pretty simple actually — It is because I feel very strongly that we as cleaning professionals are not providing the unique and cost effective services to this market that they clearly want!

Why are we ignoring this gigantic market?
Even Target and Walmart keep developing ways to provide additional goods and services to service the desires of this growing consumer market segment.

I have a few thoughts and ideas that you may feel are “off the wall”, and it won’t be the first time that has happened in my long career.

Jim & I plan to discuss these concepts openly with a group of our customers next Friday, April 1st between 9AM & 3PM. If you are within reasonable driving distance, give us a call at 1-800-342-2297 to see if we have any room left, and drop by. No charge and I pay for the Pizza!

If not, I will have the notes & a 20 page summary ready in .pdf format by then. Drop me an email or wait a couple of weeks for my comments on the gathering.

I just reviewed the book “Meaningful Marketing” for a second time, and I really like the way the authors Doug Hall and Jeffrey Stamp, lay out the differences between what they refer to as ‘meaningful marketing’ as compared to what they see as mindless marketing.

They refer to “Meaningful Marketing” as an analytical and methodical approach by each of us to getting the most from our marketing efforts while we minimize costs, effort and waste with the measurable goal of maximizing sales, efficiency and long-term repeatable effectiveness. Now that’s a mouthful, but it hits home!

On the other hand, “Mindless Marketing” is clearly identified as activities that we take such as dropping prices when agitated by a customer or competitor, or spending countless dollars on the same old promotions that never work, while hoping that customers just might respond differently to our same old, tired and repetitious offers!.

I am sharing a few good tips I compiled from my review:

Watch out for these signs of “Mindless Marketing”, some good questions to ask yourself . . .

Are you are still doing things that haven’t worked for the last ten years or so?

Are you using marketing gimmicks or tricks to capture business?

Are you spinning your wheels by trying faddish or trendy stuff that is not part of an overall strategic plan? As an example, have you succumbed to using the latest social media sites or
other internet marketing tools without any understanding of how/why/what to expect them
to do for you?

Is your marketing still focused on the transaction and not on building the relationship?

I like these guys. They are as down to earth as it gets. And, at the end of the day, there’s no sense in marketing just for the sake of marketing. That’s just common sense really.

You can buy it from Amazon http://tinyurl.com/clntipAM for under $20 bucks.

This headline caught my attention this morning and I believe it should be of interest to you also.

“Make Cents? Walmart to Mirror Dollar Store Model”

My first thought was that this was a “Grabber” headline with no substance, until I started to read it. Then I read something that has drastically limited my trips to Walmart  -  it takes too long to justify the few dollars I save!

The article goes on to say, “A big complaint with warehouse shopping is that it takes too long to get what you need and get out again, which is one of the reasons people gravitate to Dollar Tree, Dollar General and stores like them“

How True! Marketing 101 today tells us:
“When all other things are equal, time becomes the primary decision factor!

Make sure to read this all, it is a lesson for us!
http://tinyurl.com/clntipWAL2

Some things I have learned in 45+ years of business ….

Customers buy more things because they like the salesman than logic ever sold them.

Every sale, every purchase, every business relationship, works best when based on service rather than dollars!

I have found that business thrives best in an atmosphere of respect and mutual help

Also that men do the very best at things they like the very best.

I have learned that a man will not do well-for himself or for others — if he doesn’t like what he is doing!

And that it really pays to be simple in the language which we use today, both verbal or print. And, most especially, the language used in our advertising. The world is full of very busy people who treasure simplicity.

Finally, I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing so powerful and winning in the world of business as absolute sincerity. And, nothing that is so distasteful as the lack of the same.

I am reading a report just released and I consider it a “must read” for every CleanTip subscriber!

This is without a doubt the most important information regarding using the Internet as part of your marketing program that is available in our industry.. . . . and it is FREE!

Download & print this out – all 26 pages. Save the pdf because you will need the links in it for future reference.

The report is called “Internet Marketing Blueprint For Cleaners”

DOWNLOAD: Internet Marketing Blueprint For Cleaners
http://advertisingblogg.com/