Teddys Talking Points
First and foremost, I’d like to take this time to thank each
and every one of you for your continued support. Your hard work is beginning
to pay off, because we’re starting to get noticed by most every home toy
party company in the US.
Published the first of each month, this newsletter should serve
as an informational source as well as a marketing tool, which you can forward
to your prospective recruits and customers. Our intention is to fill these
pages with what’s happening within the company, as well as some tips to help
you achieve you various career goals.
Future newsletters will include articles on new products,
personnel, industry news and outlook, specials, motivational material, and
many other areas of interest. Any complements, praises or positive comments
should be sent directly to me. Any criticisms should be forwarded to Steve.
Based on some of the economic reports that were released at the
Federal Reserve meeting a short time ago, one would think that the economy is
awash with disposable income. Now back to the real world, the cost of living
is sky-rocketing because of the gasoline crisis and small businesses are
feeling the pinch. Most everyone I speak to, in this and other industries are
in a “holding” pattern. Things are slow and generally speaking, small
business is down from last year about 15-20%. This causes many businesses to
cut-back and conserve capital.
One of the things I’ve learned in this industry is to save when
times are good, and spend aggressively when times are bad. This way, when we emerge from the slow-down,
we are bigger and stronger, and able to expand rapidly. We think we can make
a big impact on the “home party” industry by aggressively marketing our
company in this slow economy.
Many new and exciting things have happened recently and I’d
like to bring everyone up to date on the projects that the company’s working
on. Our intention is to keep everyone up to date by publishing this
newsletter the first of every month.
Your comments are welcomed and encouraged.
Ted Drabkowski
President & CEO
Teddy's Toys
ted@teddyshomeparties.com
New Catalog
Work is almost done on the new catalog. As of this time, prior
to some last minute changes, there are 158 different products that will be
included from several major manufacturers. The catalog will contain many new
and innovated features such as articles on toy cleaning, “how to book a
party”, recruiting info, battery requirements, and more. It will also contain
the retail pricing of each item with an informative description of what the
product does.
Approximately ½ of the catalog will contain “consumable” items
that the customer can and should be encouraged to re-order. One major change
will be the ability to give the customer the catalog to take home so they can
re-order these and other products at a later date from your web site.
Kudos and many thanks to Kathie Logan, Deborah Kirkpatrick, Parette
Gsell and Marlo Rosenthal for their contributions in putting the catalog
together. They worked very hard on this project and their work is greatly
appreciated.
Web Site
As soon as the work on the catalog is completed, the web site will be adjusted to feature all the products in the new catalog. Some of you have requested that additional products be added to a few categories to accommodate different life styles. Some of the more popular products will be added and sales will be monitored to determine if the item should be featured in future catalogs. Please remember that adding new products is a time consuming task and must be coordinated with the warehouse.
Order Fulfillment
In conjunction with the catalog and web site, our warehouse has
agreed to have 100% fulfillment on every order. If anyone knows anything about
the “adult” business, this is a major leap in customer service, given the
“turn-over” of products and manufacturers. Maintaining consistency in our
product line, determines our fulfillment levels. Special orders increase the
likelihood of backorders and should be discouraged unless approved by
management.
Recently, we have experienced some shipping problems which were
mostly back-order related. This was mainly due to the vast amount of products
which we were offering for sale. When our warehouse needs to order product
from the manufacturer, the minimum dollar amount is around $10,000. Thus, if
we were out-of-stock on a particular “Doc Johnson” item, a $10,000 order
would have to be placed. One can see
that this scenario, multiplied over dozens of manufacturers would create
financial chaos for the warehouse.
By trimming our catalog product line to about 150 of the best
selling items, and adding a few popular “specialty” products on the Internet,
we can closely monitor our inventory position and forecast requirements
accordingly.
Lastly, a few orders were shipped and returned to the warehouse
because of improper shipping addresses. This is both time consuming and
costly, since we have to reship and are double billed for shipping by UPS. In an effort to achieve the highest
customer service levels possible, please insure that each customer gives the
most accurate shipping address as possible. It’s a good idea to confirm with
the customer that UPS delivers to their
location.
Staying In Touch With Customers
Often businesses spend as much time and effort gathering new
customers as they do on anything else. It’s also one of the most costly
functions of doing business. So it’s important to make sure you don’t lose
the customers you’ve spent so much energy to acquire. The alternative is to
continue with the time-consuming process of finding new customers from an
ever-shrinking pool of prospects. And since it costs much less to keep
existing customers instead of constantly replacing them, it just makes good
business sense to do what it takes to keep them coming back.
Regular communication with your customers lets them know how
much you value them and their business. Show them that you care by offering to
do parties for birthdays, bachelorette parties, anniversaries, etc.
Sales & Marketing Tips
Continue to meet people to build a network. Keep track of who
you meet. Have a plan and use it as a living/working document to guide
activity.
Marketing is everything you do or say that your prospects and
customers see and hear from you.
If you want to succeed, you will need to think about marketing
all the time.
What will I do differently to make my marketing effective?
Start a marketing journal. Write down and keep track of your
marketing journey. Write down your commitment to marketing. Example: I know I
get busy, but I need to raise my expectations about working on the marketing
component of my business. I will read, write, send, call or say something
related to marketing every day.
Customers or prospect don’t care about you. They care about
themselves, and anything they have to read or listen to that is not related
to them is of little or no interest. Period.
Think of the
“What’s in it for me” tactic. Sell yourself and the company as a benefit to
the customer or prospect. Benefits sell. Convenience, time savings, easy
access, fast delivery, reliability, confidentiality, price, discrete
shipping, huge product assortment, financial rewards, exciting lifestyle,
etc.
20 Ways To Advance Your Career
Cecile Peterkin
To survive and thrive in today's competitive environment, it is
not just what you know. You also need to be competent. You must stand out
from the crowd - be memorable, impressive, credible, trusted and liked.
"Success is never a destination - it is a journey." -Maya
Sullivan
1. Exceed expectations; deliver
results on or ahead of time.
2. Manage your time effectively.
3. Create a
career plan with goals and training requirements.
4. Move away
from day-to-day operations.
5. Develop strong rapport with
colleagues, senior managers/executives.
6. Get a mentor; accept guidance in
your career.
7. Know your organization's goals
vision, values, and business strategies.
8. Create opportunities to further your
business goals.
9. Solicit feedback and assess the
decision for purposes of continuous improvement.
10. Communicate effectively to
people at all levels of your organization.
11. Build and maintain relationships
with individuals who might impact your work.
12. Plan, prioritize and organize
your work.
13. Manage own emotions and
reactions.
14. Balance the demands of your
personal and professional life.
15. Give yourself quarterly reviews,
identify your accomplishments.
16. Become your own sales team,
market your abilities.
17. Dedicate yourself to lifelong
learning.
18. Be decisive and action oriented.
19. Commit to excellence and
professionalism.
20. Be self-disciplined.
About the Author
Cecile Peterkin is a trained Career/Life Coach and speaker
whose work centers primarily on middle managers and their various challenges.
She also works with individuals who are ready to move forward, take action,
achieve goals and experience overall life improvement, both in personal and
in career.
For The Record
A Teddy’s Toys sales associate was walking along the beach
found a bottle. When she rubbed it, lo and behold, a genie appeared.
"I will grant you three wishes," announced the genie.
"But since Satan still hates me, for every wish you make, your rival at
Passion Parties gets the wish as well -- only double."
The Teddy’s Toys sales associate thought about this for a
while. "For my first wish, I would like ten million dollars," she
announced.
Instantly the genie gave her a Swiss bank account number and
assured her that $10,000,000 had been deposited. "But your rival at
Passion Parties has just received $20,000,000," the genie said.
"I've always wanted a Ferrari," the Teddy’s Toys
sales associate said.
Instantly a Ferrari appeared. "But your rival at Passion
Parties has just received two Ferraris," the genie said. "And what
is your last wish?"
"Well," said the Teddy’s Toys sales associate,
"I've always wanted to donate a kidney for transplant."
