FREEMAN-SPICER FINANCIAL SERVICES
Finance • Leasing • Accounting • Premium
316 South Eddy Street South Bend, IN 46617
574.234.0069 (V) • 574.234.6414 (F) • surekey@aol.com
Vol. 23, No. 4 • April, 2005
Now you can find this newsletter on the web, at Freeman-Spicer.com
Photo Booth Takes the Cake at Receptions
The key to a successful wedding reception might no longer be a great caterer or hot deejay. It may be that familiar-looking booth off in the corner. For $1,700, Photobooth Scrapbooks will bring one of those old-time black-and-white photo booths to your reception for four hours of snaps. “There’s a kind of a magical nostalgia that takes place in those photo booths,” says Mark Klein, president of Phoenix-based Photobooth Scrapbooks. “I’m the president of the business and I still don’t get it.” Guests get as many photos - those classic four-photo strips - as they want, and the company has a representative there to assemble a scrapbook. Each guest contributes a photo strip and some words of wisdom for the new couple, who get the scrapbook at the end of the night. “It sort of replaces the guest book, where you go to a wedding and sign in,” Klein says. “The problem with the guest book is that 20 years from now no one really looks at a signature. But 20 years from now you will look at these pictures.” The booths have also been rented for bar mitzvahs and corporate events. Call 877-551-2778 or go to:
http://www.photoboothscrapbooks.com/. (William Hageman in the Chicago Tribune)
Management Idea
It’s the absolute truth that few things set you apart as much as scintillating restrooms. The restrooms at a local gas station gets fresh flowers each morning. Northshire Bookstore’s spotless bathroom offers attractive wallpaper, fresh flowers, and interesting posters. Carl Sewell spent $250 a roll on wallpaper for the bathroom at his car dealership; he also put a full chapter on bathrooms in his superb book, Customers for Life. Incidentally, employee restrooms vary as much as customer pit stops do. Some are clean and inviting. Many are not. Yes, you should actually include restrooms in your next strategy session. They’re a dead giveaway about how much you actually care about your customers and workers. (The Pursuit of WOW!)
Management Idea #2
There are three actions you can take right now to strengthen your marketing: 1. From the following list of marketing elements, pick ones that pertain to your business: Company purpose, customer perception, telephone, business name, locations, store visibility, signage, inventory, parking, prices, service, quality, receptionist, image, name recognition, marketing materials, advertising. 2. Grade the elements that you’ve listed on a scale of 1 - 10 (1 meaning fatally weak, 10 meaning rock-solid). 3. Capitalize on the marketing elements that grade the highest, and begin to fix the ones that grade poorly. If the ones that are weakest are not fixable, don’t ignore them, address them head-on in your ad copy. (Ruthless Rules of Local Advertising)
Collecting - Juiced Out ....................... Thanks to steroid rumors, the market for some sluggers’ rookie cards is looking sluggish. In 2000, dealer Any Madec sold a 1985 Mark McGwire for $8,016. Now, with Big Mac’s rep in a slump, the same card fetches only $600. Other Hall of Shamers: Barry Bonds - 1987 Fleer Rookie Peak: $2,200 - now $700. Jose Canseco - 1986 Donruss Rookie Peak: $200 - Now $25. Jason Giambi - 1991 Topps Traded Peak: $400 - Now $30. Mark McGwire - 1985 Topps Tiffany Peak: $10,000 - Now $600. Sammy Sosa: 1990 Leaf Rookie Peak: $1,200 - Now $200. (Newsweek)
Much Better Than Mapquest .............................. Everyone has used mapquest to find locations and directions. Now there’s something better and more accurate. In Google’s drive to keep its lead among search engines, we now get aerial pictures to match the street maps available by entering an address at http://maps.google.com. Stemming from Google’s acquisition of satellite-image-collector Keyhole, Inc., the color photos show your house as though Big Brother was looking down from 1,000 feet. (Chicago Tribune)
Road Rage and Cash Guzzlers ................................. Since 2000 the average cost of a gallon of self-serve gasoline shot up 39%, from $1.51 to $2.10. With record-breaking oil prices and expected seasonal summer price hikes, experts see no relief in sight. Based on city mileage ratings, here’s how much more you’ll pay to drive 10,000 miles than you did five years ago.
H2 Hummer / 12 MHG = $492
Honda Accord EX / 21 MPG = $281
Toyota Prius / 60 MPG = $108 (Business Week)
Question? Is it worth $3,000 more or less to purchase a hybrid automobile to save:
Average SUV gets 16 MPG at $2.10 per gallon for 10,000 miles = $1,312.50 in cost.
Hybrid vehicle that gets 30 MPG at $2.10 per gallon for 10,000 miles = $699.99. Or a savings of $612.51. To break even, averaging 10,000 miles per year, you must own the vehicle for 4.89 years. This is all figured on $2.10 per gallon. The higher prices go - the less time you have to own the vehicle to break even.
What never to say to a cop ........................ 1. I can’t reach my license unless you hold my beer. 2. Sorry, Officer, I didn’t realize my radar detector wasn’t plugged in. 3. Aren’t you the guy from the Village People? 4. Hey, you must’ve been doing about 125 mph to keep up with me. Good job! 5. Are you Andy or Barney? 6. I thought you had to be in relatively good physical condition to be a police officer. 7. You’re not gonna check the trunk, are you? 8. I pay your salary! 9. Gee, Officer! That’s terrific. The last officer only gave me a warning, too! 10. Do you know why you pulled me over? Okay, just so one of us does. 11. I was trying to keep up with traffic. Yes, I know there are no other cars around . . .that’s how far ahead of me they are. 12. When the officer says “Gee Your eyes look red, have you been drinking?” - you probably shouldn’t respond with, “Gee Officer your eyes look glazed, have you been eating doughnuts?” (LaFree)
Stuff you just have to know ........................ In the 1400's a law was set forth that a man was not allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have “the rule of thumb.”
Try this - It’s impossible to lick your elbow. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what? - Their birthplace!
If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter “A”? (See end of this newsletter for answer.)(Melissa)
To Tip or Not To Tip?
Most travelers tip the bellman who carries their bags - but not the staffer who makes their bed and scrubs the toilet. About half of 137 USA Vacationers Panelists who took part in a write-in survey said they never tip a housekeeper or do so only occasionally. The 30 who never do offered reasons ranging from thinking it’s not customary, to believing cleaning should be included in the room rate, to balking at the thought of one more outstretched palm. “I had never thought of it until this question,” wrote Bill Roe of Bellingham, Wash. “I think it’s because there’s no ‘guilt factor,’ housekeepers are mostly invisible.” The average U.S. hotel housekeeper makes about $8 an hour, says Amanda Cooper, a spokeswomen for UNITE HERE, a labor union representing hotel workers. (Federal minimum wage is $5.15 an hour.) It’s recommended tip for good housekeeping is $2 to $5 a night. Leave it in an envelope or with a scrawled thank-you as housekeepers are trained to leave money not clearly intended for them. Mike Lynn, a Cornell University Hotel School associate professor who studies tipping, cites polls that found only a third of hotel guests tip housekeepers. “The social norm is that you do (tip), though not everyone knows it,” he says. Many of the 71 panelists who tip do it daily to ensure thorough cleaning or extra towels and toiletries; others because they think cleaning up after others is a tough job. After reading Nickel and Dimes: On (Not) Getting by in America, about the realities of menial jobs, Patrick Reid of St. Paul leaves $2 to $5 every morning. He tries not to leave the room messy for housekeepers, and “I will even write a note thanking them. (Chicago Tribune)
Household debt ..................... Giving Americans Credit:
69% - Homeownership rate, up from 64% in 1994.
$1,197 - Average monthly mortgage payment (excluding taxes and insurance) for homes purchased in October 2004.
15.8% - Percentage of disposable income devoted to mortgage payment (including insurance and taxes), credit-card debt and car leases-almost unchanged from 2000.
50% - Percentage of credit-card holders who use less than 30% of their credit limit.
48% - Percentage of cardholders with balances less than $1,000.
10% - Percentage who carry a balance of more than $10,000.
2 out of 10 - Number of consumers who have ever been at least 60 days late on a credit obligation.
1% - Average household savings as a percentage of disposable income over the past year. (Kiplinger’s)
Negotiating ...................... you don’t have to dominate a conversation to be successful. Silence can sometimes be a weapon. There may be times when you’ll want to let the other side just keep talking. Or use silence as a strategy to plan your next move, not just as a timeout between your soliloquies. It is simply impossible to act sincerely interested in what somebody is offering if you monopolize the conversation. There are other key reasons for intermittent silence. One, it may keep you from spouting off and saying the wrong thing. Two, by being silent, you might create the impression you are agreeing. That can help put your
opponent at ease. Three, by being silent, you’re not Sincerely,
committing yourself to any position,
and you appear deliberate, not rash. (Friendly Persuasion)
Edward C. Levy
Answer to question: the first “A” appears in - One Thousand! President