Slide, Negative Film, Photo Scanning: FREE Scanning Tips, Tricks, and Secrets

I’m Konrad, and I run a small scanning service. I’ve been doing this for over 5 years and I’m just gonna blab about what has worked for me.

My last post I talked about the importance of marketing.

But thinking back, what is more important than fancy knowledge in marketing is word of mouth.

Word of mouth is too simple so nobody works on it

My biz philosophy is simple– do a good job, and people will tell their family and friends.

Man, it’s so simple. You don’t have to read marketing books. You don’t have to waste time on promotion or worry about “social media”. Maybe it’s too simple that most people don’t even bother. But it really is that simple– do a good job you are honestly happy with, and people will see it. I actually got tips when I first started. I scanned peoples slides, charged them, and they gave me an extra $20 because they were happy with the results. They don’t do that anymore cuz my prices are higher. But its how I started– simple word of mouth.

Anyway, saying that, here’s three tips on how to get people to spread word of mouth:

Tip #1: If everybody paints their door red, then red doors no longer stick out

Satisfaction is one thing. But when your customer is HAPPY, then that is when they will talk. But you need to be exceptional. So how do you do something exceptional?

If everybody does the same thing, then the one who is different will stick out– will be exceptional. So DON’T copy your competitors. Screw them and forget about what they are doing. Do what YOU do. I know you do something unique. Even if its little, focus on that.

For instance. All scanning companies talk about “digital ice”. Digital ice helps enhance scans. It helps with “quality”. I say bull shit. It’s just a shortcut. You can’t press a bunch of buttons and get quality from a machine. An actual human has to fix the images. Thats why I don’t use digital ice. I use Photoshop. And I tell my customers that. It’s what is unique about my biz.

Find something, even if its a small difference. And focus on that. My wife pays $4 for ONE cupcake. She could get 6 for the same price at the grocer store. But at the grocery store you can’t see them bake them. She likes going to the small stores where they have aprons on, and you can see the oven. A small diff, but it’s enough for her to shop there and not at the grocery store.

Tip #2: Guaranteeing your work is corny — do this instead

Another all too simple idea is to guarantee your work. But it seems companies either don’t use it, or use it in a way customers don’t believe it.

Here’s the thing. If a customer is not happy, and if they demand their money back, you are most likely going to. Maybe not, but then you’re messed up and have a scam biz. Anyway, you most likely will give their money back if they demand it. So, technically, you already have a guarantee policy. But you probably don’t say so.

But it’s very important that you DO say so. And don’t do the generic thing– “money back guarantee!”. They wont believe that. Tell them in your own words. Say that you are confident in your work. And if there is an issues, to let you know. And you will do anything to fix the problem, or give them their money back.

What you are doing there is taking the responsibility. The hardest thing for a person is to part from their hard earned money. They don’t want to take all the risk. So by saying you will take all the risk and guarantee your work, they are more likely to be happy to do biz with you. And that is the whole part of the experience. They will leave happy, and they are likely to talk about the experience. Especially the ones who were upset. My best customers were my worst. For whatever reason I messed up. But I did everything I could to correct it. They were so appreciative, they actually told me they will recommend me.

And one more note. If you think people will take advantage, maybe they will. But the guarantee got me MORE customers than it would when I didn’t offer it. So maybe 1 will take advantage. But I got maybe 4 or 5 more customers because of it.

Tip #3: $20 to adwords or to a loyal customer?

This idea is awesome. I forget where I read it. But it’s like this. Tell a customer that instead of giving away your marketing money to Google or the news paper, you rather give it to them. Tell them if they refer a customer and they buy, you’ll give them two movie tickets, or whatever. A simple incentive goes a long way.

This isn’t about bribing. It’s about rewarding your customers. And honestly, I rather give 20$ to somebody who gave me money for my work, then to a faceless marketing corporation / evil machine.

Anyway, these are just a few things I’ve learned along my adventures in small biz. I got more, so stay tuned.

Konrad

Hey, Konrad here.

I have a small business that is relatively successful. I started with just an idea, and I chipped away for five years. Now I have 2 employees, don’t have to worry about getting customers, and can buy imported beer.

In 2005 I had an idea to provide scanning services. I bought a high-end scanner. I put up a few ads. And slowly I started getting orders. And slowly started learning the game of biz.

Here are my five things that helped me get where I’m at today.

One: Screw school, screw business books, screw learning formally

2001, I had big ideas. I finished biz school. I wrote biz plans. I went to libraries and learned and did research. This was all bullshit. All I was doing was fooling myself. I thought I was actually “building businesses”. But really, I was just doing was pretending. After 4 years of this crap — talking about starting, impressing people “oh, I am a starving entrepreneur, blah blah” — I finally kicked myself in the ass. I was going no where.

So I asked, “What can I do right now, at this moment. How can I make just 20 bucks. Don’t worry about making millions. How can I make just $20.”

So I bought a scanner. I put up a crappy, shitty website. And I made my first 20 bucks in less than 2 weeks.

Don’t fool yourself. Don’t pretend you are an entrepreneur. I hate that word anyway. Stop being a wimp, and work! No matter where you are now, no matter how much money you have, you can do something. Buy a cheap iPod accessory. Put it up on craigslist. Play with headlines. Use different copy / message. Use different images. See what works. When it sells, buy another one. Do the same thing. Keep doing that. Raise your prices. Keep selling the same thing. And use what works. Learn the game from trial and error.

What I’m saying is you gotta start at the bottom. You gotta learn how to take 20 bucks from somebody. You gotta feel and experience the basics of business– buy something cheap, market it, take money from a customer, repeat.

Schooling, reading books, writing biz plans does not give you that experience.

Two: Where you are now is good enough

I mentioned that it doesn’t matter where you are or how much money you have. I learned that when I said, “oh I need to buy this; I need to learn how to make websites; I need this that…” were just excuses.

Take what you know. Use that. Work around that. I bought a scanner. I had no idea how to scan shit. So I scanned my parents photos. I had no idea how to put up a website. So I went on youtube and learned Dreamweaver, and put up a shitty website. But it was good enough. I started with the big picture. Then chipped away at the details.

When you’re bogged down with the details — “oh, I don’t know marketing; I don’t know site design; I need this and that before I do anything” — and all that crap are excuses. Like I said, get off your ass and work. You’re gonna work anyway. Its either gonna be for a useless boss or for yourself. You pick.

Three: If you want free time, get a job

If you want your own biz, you are going to work. You are going to work longer than if you had a job. You will get paid less. You will hate some customers. You wont have free time. If you want a biz so you can have more free time, get a job. The reason you should want a biz is because you LIKE working. You like having a project. And the only reason you do take off time is because you accomplished something and you want to reward yourself.

Four: Make a profit from day one

I had a friend who got a $30g entrepreneurial loan from the Gov. He had party for his first day. He got on the news. He had his own office. He had new office equipment, computers, whatever. Was I bitter? For sure! Here I was, stuck in my apartment. Little money. No press release. No gov’t hand out. Using old computers. Using my own money. Struggling just to pay rent.

But not even 6months later, he went through is 30g. Why? Not because his idea was that bad or that he wasn’t smart. But because he didn’t learn the basics. If you can’t turn 1 buck into 2, it doesn’t matter if you have 1654165465465 bucks. When you have to count every penny. When you have to use your own resources. When your back is against the wall. You learn how to hustle. You have no safety net. But from day one you are making a profit because you’re not using anybody else’s money. When it’s your money on the line you waste nothing. You start to learn the basics– how to turn 1 buck into 2 — and not waste time on office parties.

Five: Best way to turn 1 buck into 2 is Marketing

Imagine, you have a table. And on that table is the best product in the world. The best thing ever! Whatever it is, just pretend its awesome.

People will walk by, look at it, and be interested, and maybe buy. But without marketing, man, it’s not gonna move. The most important thing I learned was this: the difference between a dollar bill and a 100 dollar bill is what is written on it.

That’s how marketing is. I said one thing on my website, got 0 orders. I said it differently, and got 10 emails that day.

Here’s the basics of marketing. You gotta know the APPEAL of why somebody buys. You gotta know your customers motivation why they buy. Then you need to say it in a way that hits that part in their brain.

Here’s a story to explain what I’m talking about. A guy walks in to a golf shop. He sees some club. It’s $500! Just for a single club. Lets call it Big Bart.

The marketers for Big Bart first tried to market it this way: You’ll get longer drives. You’ll improve your swing. You’ll improve your handicap, guaranteed!” All shit. That doesn’t motivate people to buy. People are irrational. When you throw in rational things at them, they get bored. It’s all about the product. It doesn’t say anything what it could do for THEM. People are self interested. They walk around asking, whats in it for me. They might say they make decisions rationally, but deep down its not true. They justify their decisions rationally, but are motivated by a shwack load of irrational reasons.

So, here’s how Big Bart started selling their club for $500: There was a picture of a dude taking out his club. And around him are his friends, looking at it. See, what goes inside a persons head is irrational. The guy thinks, “man, my buddies are gonna be SOOO jealous I have a $500 club!”.

So the marketers hooked this guy with the irrational part in his brain. But that’s part one: you hooked them emotionally. Don’t talk about features, don’t talk about how great YOUR product is. Talk about what it will do for THEM.

Once you have their emotional attention, now strike again with the rational part. See, people will never say they did things on pure emotion. Its embarrassing. So they need a rational reason to justify their emotional feeling.

So give the rational reason. That is when you start talking about how the club will go 100 yards more. Just think, the guy buys the club. He’s not going to tell his buddies he bought it to show off. He’s gonna tell them (and himself) that it gives him 100 more yards.

But if you start off with the rational stuff first, people will never buy. Because they are not emotionally attracted. There’s nothing in it for them. Attract first with emotion, than show them rationally why they want it.

I read a great marketing book that says all this way better than I can:

When you’re selling a 3/4 inch drill bit you’re not selling a 3/4 drill bit, that is gold plated, guaranteed for life, will never break, etc. You’re selling a 3\4″ hole, so your customer can hang a picture of his family.

Don’t talk about your product, and how great it is. Show them how it does something for THEM.

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There. I got a million more stuff I can say about marketing, but I think I’ll stop.

This is Konrad,
Later