Wishing everyone out there a very
Happy Holiday Season. We're looking forward to keeping
all of you posted next year...it should be exciting!
Lessons
Learned
The search for a promotional products
supplier is almost over! In the last few months we've
met with 3 suppliers who have shown an interest in carrying
MouseDriver. Of course, each of these suppliers wants
the exclusive rights to the product, so we have to be
pretty diligent in our selection process. Once thing that
we've discovered; bigger and more reputable is not always
better. Other things that we've looked for in our supplier
relationship include; the # of new products that the supplier
is introducing (more new products means less focus on
MouseDriver), the $$$ that they'll spend marketing the
product, "fit" with the current product line, financial
stability, industry reputation, and most importantly,
how much effort are they going to put into promoting the
product. We will select our supplier by the end of the
week...watch out!
We love PR!! Anyone that tells
you that PR is overrated has no idea what they're talking
about. A good Internet PR firm out here in Silicon Valley
charges upwards of $20,000/month...worth every penny if
the firm is good. Since we launched the first stage of
our PR campaign in October, we've had over 100 meida kit
requests, been covered in a couple of golf magazines,
featured on a couple of golf related websites, and interviewed
by an AM News Radio station on the East Coast. In fact,
our radio interview (KYW News Radio) and our feature on
the PGATour.com website generated a 400% increase in unique
visitors (1500 total last week) to our website. Now the
challenge moving forward is to convert all of these visitors
into buyers. I guess we can call ourselves an ecommerce
start-up at this stage in the game...anyone object to
MouseDriver.com?
The PGA Merchandise Show in early
February is the event that will determine how big of a
success MouseDriver will be. Everything that we've done
thus far has been done with the PGA Show in mind. Approximately
75% of all golf retail purchased for the year are made
at this show. Manufacturers, distributors, retailers,
media..anyone who has anything to do with golf attends
this show, including the PGA Tour Pros themselves. Preparing
for a trade show like this one is a huge pain-in-the-ass.
You have to secure booth space, design the booth, identify
giveaways, practice your media spiel, set up meetings
with distributors/retailers, and prepare your body for
5 days of boozing, schmoozing and partying. The ultimate
goal for us (other than not completely trashing our bodies)
is to finalize a retail distribution network for MouseDriver.
All the sales that we have made
thus far have been direct. So, our gross margins are higher
than they will be next year...we're just not getting the
volume that a distribution network could provide. Unfortunately
(or fortunately), direct sales means that we have to deal
directly with customer service issues. We probably get
2 or 3 phone calls a day from customers asking about MouseDriver,
inquiring about their order, or questioning the security
of their on-line transaction. For instance, a few weeks
ago, one of our sales reps gave a customer the wrong toll
free number (instead of 1-877, he gave her 1-888). Turns
out that the 1-888 number is a phone sex number...the
customer wasn't real happy. We ended up having to convince
her that we weren't a pornography company and sent her
a free MouseDriver to prove our case. At this point in
time, we can't afford to have any negativity associated
with the product. Which means that we do everything possible
to make customers happy. We hope that we can keep this
up once the distribution networks are in place.
What We've
Done
- Received over 100 requests for MouseDriver
media kits from golf magazines, television shows, golf
courses, newspapers, etc.
- Been the feature product on Chipshot.com's
home page during the 1st week of the shopping season
(and we didn't have to ask for this).
- Began identifying and talking with
a number of retail distribution networks...both golf
and non-golf related.
- Traveled to LA and Salt Lake City
to negotiate with potential promo product suppliers.
- Received Platinum Visa's with a $32,000
credit line, 2.9% introductory rate and 7.9% lifetime.
Life is dangerous!
Priority
Goals
- Finalize a supplier relationship within
the next week (this is a huge decision).
- Complete rollout of the new and improved
MouseDriver website with full ecommerce capabilities
and fulfillment house integration.
- Collect on all of our outstanding
accounts receivable (we're looking for anyone with the
nickname of "knuckles" to help us out).
- Identify a distribution strategy before
heading into the PGA Show (i.e. do we distribute by
industry, by region/territory, by client base, etc.).
- Continue preparing for the PGA Show.
Mood
Meter: Anxious for the PGA Show
Questions, comments, or criticisms
about the Insider? Email us at info@mousedriverchronicles.com.
