Thoughts on Real Estate Marketing…

Today I tried to buy a replacement part for a gas barbecue grill. I knew it might be a challenge because the grill is probably 10 years old. And of course no one is expected to keep using some old thing like that!

Well, we do, so I tried to buy a gas valve for it.

First I called the manufacturer: Ducane. But it seems they they aren’t the same company they were when this grill was manufactured. The original went bankrupt and sold out to the new one several years ago. Which means they no longer make that part.

But the gentleman was very helpful and gave me phone numbers for two companies that just might still have the parts. So I called the first one. I didn’t stop to think that it was after 2 p.m. in Idaho, so was after 5 on the East coast. Nor did I ask where the company was located.

It turned out to be in New Jersey.

The man I spoke with assured me that they had the part. “Yep, got all of ‘em.” And then… he told me to call back tomorrow. He kept saying “Call me at the shop tomorrow.” I asked if he was already at home and he said no – he was still at the shop but they had a bunch of dang people in there and they were trying to get them out the door so they could leave.

Before I hung up he told me not to forget to call him tomorrow.

So I tried the second number. Someone answered and didn’t even ask what I wanted. He said “Hello” and I asked if it was the business whose name I’d written down. He said “Yes, and if you want parts, call the warehouse, this office is closed for the day.”

How did he know I needed parts? What was he doing answering the phone if they were closed? Why was he so abrupt?

OK fine. He did give me the number for the warehouse and tell me that they were there until 6 Eastern. I still had a half hour, so I called. And… nothing. No answer, not even a machine.

Of course I will call again tomorrow. I’d rather hassle with getting this gas valve than throw away a perfectly good grill and spend big bucks on a new one. But… if I didn’t really need those parts, I sure wouldn’t. Would you?

Our fractured economy is bringing about some changes I see as good. Maybe not for the ecnomy, but for the planet and for our families. We’re only buying things we actually need, repairing things we own, and throwing far less “stuff” into the landfills.

I still remember a TV show from years ago: Andy Rooney saying something along the lines of “What are we thinking when we throw so many things away. There IS no “away.“”

Of course, retailers don’t like it much, and landfills are crying about lost revenue.

Meanwhile, a whole lot of people in business are crying about not bringing in enough money – while they do nothing to make their products or services more attractive to buyers.

Can you imagine what would happen if I acted like the parts man when someone called me to ask about copywriting? How would YOU react if you called to see if I could do a certain kind of promotion and I said, “Look, it’s my quitting time and I’ve been at this long enough today. Call me tomorrow.” I think that pretty soon I’d be looking for a job cleaning litter from the park.

That reminds me of an incident one of my copywriting clients related to me.

She was interviewing a web designer for her new site, and she was asking a lot of questions because she’d already made a mistake once and didn’t want to do it again. The woman she talked with quoted her a fee of around $2,500. That’s nothing to some people, but it wasn’t “nothing” to her.

After they’d talked for about 20 minutes, the woman said “Look, you’re asking a lot of questions and taking up a lot of my time. If you want to hire me, hire me. Otherwise, I’m through talking.”

I guess you know… she quit talking and kept looking.

I think that one gets the skunk award…