Mike Marlow wrote:

This really sounds like you are looking for people in the wrong places.
Typical professionals are very motivated by the success of the business -
often even more so than by the compensation. I would bet you might be
looking at people who are more like you professionally than you are at
business types. The other problem with small scale businesses is that they
either don't want to or haven't properly financed themselves to be able to
pay for what they want. There are real world wages to be considered and
they are often out of reach of the small business. Unfortunately there is
some truth to the old axiom that you get what you pay for.

I think you hit the nail on the head - "small scale business". I don't
think that my situation merits a full time professional salaried
Marketing person. So, I've been trying to find an agency to help me
out. For some reason, agencies are being rather selective. I started
out thinking that they had to sell me on their ideas. Now I learn that
I have to sell them on mine. These are the folks that want me to come
to them with the Marketing Plan (complete with market research). Go
figure. Somebody obviously has far too much business. This is a lot
like the tax prep service which says "You need to organize all your
records like this and then tabulate these categories and bring them to
us on summary sheets. Then we will fill in the forms." Well, the hard
part ain't the little boxes on the forms!

I've solicited for independents. Problem is that a lot of these are
the dregs. The first thing I look for is an ability to represent their
own services/business. If they cannot promote themselves, then they
cannot possibly promote my products. So far, exactly zero have passed
this first qualification. Am I expecting too much?

The ideal "perfect" candidate would be a woodworking enthusiast who can
comprehend the products, their uses and need. He/she would likely be
retired or have some other reason for not being interested in a full
time position - just something to keep them busy and bring in some
extra money. Perhaps they would even be interested in a profit sharing
or limited partnership arrangement. I like this because then they have
some stake in the success of their own efforts. Nothing would make me
more upset than to pay for a whole bunch of "work" which results in
absolutely no positive impact on sales (except maybe a negative impact
on sales!).

Very true. And... that one person can only manage things to a certain point
of growth. Not because it's overwhelming in terms of work but because they
typically lack the vision, the understanding or the insight into how to get
to the next level. Any one person can only truly be good at one thing.
Mabye a couple, but not all.

You definitely have your finger on the pulse. I have a facility which
is capable of pumping out 10 times as much as it does today. I just
don't have the marketing know-how to grow sales to meet this capacity.
I'm sure it will eventually get there if I keep plodding along. But,
this is sub-optimal.

I've been waiting for the scenes with the nekkid wimin. Which tape is that
on?

Sorry, this is one aspect of the videos which is bound to dissappoint
many. No nekkid wimin.

Ed Bennett

http://www.ts-aligner.com