Ready to Play Leapfrog?

Last week I presented to dozens of boat dealers currently facing an unprecedented combination of economic challenges. I was encouraged by the fact that they were not just looking for practical solutions to maintain their businesses, but to grow while their competitors cower in fear.

This morning I was editing my post about stealing share in a down market when I received an article that perfectly captured my same message. This article more succinctly conveyed my point so I have allowed Roy H. Williams to become my guest blogger today (I hope he doesn’t mind). I would encourage you to subscribe to The MONDAYMORNINGMEMO.com.

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What to expect in 2009 - December 8, 2008
Ready to play leapfrog?
By Roy H. Williams
The MONDAYMORNINGMEMO.com

The coming year will be fun, adventure-filled and profitable for people who have their wits about them.

A number of small business owners are positioning themselves to overtake their much larger rivals.

Will one of these companies be yours?

Not many years ago, General Motors and Circuit City were the dominant players in their categories. Today they’re both on their knees, having made the same mistakes:

1. They took their fingers off the pulse of the customer.
When you believe your marketing pipeline will allow you to dictate what the customer will buy, you’re in danger of being leapfrogged. In 1960, General Motors sold nearly 60 percent of all new cars. Today, even though Chevrolet maintains 4,200 dealerships, Toyota sells more cars than all 5 GM brands combined through just 1,400 locations.

LESSON: Having the right product is more important than heritage and convenience.

2. They quit taking risks.
When companies achieve success, they usually quit innovating and become guardians of the status quo. But yesterday’s perfect processes are obsolete tomorrow. Vinyl records were replaced by 8-track tapes. 8-tracks were replaced by cassettes. Cassettes were replaced by CDs. And now CD’s are being replaced by MP3 players. The same is happening with business practices.

LESSON: Success, like failure, is a temporary condition. Never assume you've arrived.

The leaders are going into hunker-down mode. They’re cutting back their advertising, assuming that everyone else will cut back as well.

When a leapfrogger sees a leader’s brake lights, he hits the accelerator. Are you beginning to see what I meant when I said, “fun, adventure-filled and profitable?”

Here are the trends to watch in 2009:

1. Frivolous purchases are being delayed.
We’re wearing our clothes longer and keeping the cars we’ve got. We'll buy what we need, but only after asking whether we really need it.

2. We're buying fewer things, but better things.
More attention is being paid to quality. Only the poorest are choosing by price alone. Information is king. Details are power. This is good news for makers of better products.

3. “Sustainable” is a concept that will grow in power for at least 10 years.
The lifestyle of the 80's and 90's was "upwardly mobile" and its leaders were marked by "conspicuous consumption." But the chosen lifestyle of the next generation will be "sustainable," meaning that we'll strive to live within our means and embrace practices that are environmentally responsible.

Want to be a leapfrogger?

Roy H. Williams

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Next week I’ll be discussing a strategic marketing approach I have employed to profitably grow sales and market share while reducing marketing budgets; you won’t want to miss it.

Pro Lead Management clients have realized exponential sales and market share growth with even greater returns on investment. Find out what we can do for you; call 888.836.8567 or contact us by clicking here for a FREE consultation.

Throwing Quarters Out The Window

“Accelerating towards a red light is like throwing quarters out the window.”
– Hobart Hanson, Driver’s Ed Teacher

My high school Driver’s Ed teacher was an eccentric older man named Hobart Hanson. His favorite quote was “accelerating towards a red light is like throwing quarters out the window.” As students we used to bet on how often he’d use the phrase during a single class, but as it turns out, the phrase has become some of the sagest wisdom I've received.

Research shows that salespeople typically follow-up 3 times yet customers buy after 7 follow-up touches on average. This gap in follow-up results in wasted advertising dollars and an inefficient growth strategy. In essence, failing to nurture un-sold prospects is like accelerating towards a red light, throwing quarters out the window. Only in today’s economic climate, it’s more like throwing C-notes rather than quarters!

Executing lead nurturing campaigns is even more critical for longer sales cycle durable goods like boats, RVs, appliances, and homes. An effective lead nurturing strategy generates top of mind awareness; builds pre-sales loyalty so when the prospect is ready to buy, they buy from you; and improves sales conversion rates, growing top-line sales while reducing customer acquisition costs, thus improving your profitability and ROI.

Pro Lead Management has been designing, blueprinting, and executing effective lead management and nurturing initiatives since 2001. Our clients have realized exponential sales and profit growth with even more dramatic returns on investment. Are you ready to stop throwing quarters out the window? Then call 888.836.8567 or contact us by clicking here for a FREE consultation.

The Plunger

Americans are entrepreneurial by nature, hard working, and creative. While I’m confident that American ingenuity and entrepreneurship will once again lead us out of this economic downturn, it will no doubt be a painful process.

Warren Buffet once said the only way to go broke is on borrowed money.

We are at a point in time where we, in almost every sector of society, are over-leveraged. We read daily about the “need” for credit to sustain daily operations at businesses ranging in size from family-run service companies to International mega-corporations. We must separate ourselves from this financial heroin.

The biggest current challenge we see facing the industries we serve is liquidating on-hand inventories. Many sellers have too much inventory for their contracted market size. In addition to their bloated inventory position, that inventory is getting more expensive thanks to accruing interest and finance charges. On top of that, due to model year depreciation, inventory units are losing resale value every day.

Making matters worse, these same businesses rely heavily on their customer’s ability to borrow in order to purchase their products. Because of the credit freeze at the retail level, there are now fewer customers who have the ability to purchase these products.

Thusly, there are too many units for sale; that are getting more expensive; that are losing resale value; and now there are a fewer number of customers to sell them to. This is going to end up badly for a lot of people.

Now that dealers aren’t selling units at the retail level, they are not replenishing those inventories. Manufacturers are now unable to sell more units to dealers, and the vicious cycle begins.

In order to re-ignite the market we must plunge this aging inventory… fast! Like a clog stuck in a pipe, new units cannot start flowing again until the aged inventory is purged from the system. Once the aged inventory has been moved, builders must then carefully adjust their production output to match the contracted demand for product.

The good news is that customer interest hasn’t waned. People still want to live the boating lifestyle. People still want to drive nice cars. People still want modern appliances. People still want to move into bigger, newer, nicer homes. And renters want to take the step into home ownership.

Businesses with cash, less debt, and an ability to quickly contract their available inventory to the current market demand will be most likely to prosper through this downturn. Even if it means selling products at a loss, liquidating aged inventory will reduce overhead and free up cash that can be used for keeping the lights on. Those who can most aggressively reduce their inventory positions will be the ones to succeed in the long run. Unfortunately, to get there, a lot of painful and expensive decisions will have to be made.

Pop A Wheelie!

A single horse can pull six tons; but two horses working together can pull 36 tons. By working together, two horses are able to produce three-times the results as two horses working individually.

Whether it’s in the world of sports or business, working together as a cohesive team has been proven time and again to yield a result greater than the sum of its individual parts.

A productive team has players that share common goals, a common vision and have some level of interdependence that requires frequent and consistent interaction. Teams evolve through shared attitudes and feelings. Every member of the team has a unique role to play but is ultimately held accountable when it comes to teamwork.

With marketing budgets and teams being slashed at both the builder and dealer level, remaining team members are being asked to take on more and more responsibilities. This dilutes the amount of attention that can be attributed to various priorities and as a result, critical opportunities are being missed.

The good news is that there is hope out there. A 2008 Sterling Commerce study revealed that 81% of “High Value” consumers, those with annual household income exceeding $75,000, went on-line to conduct research before making an in-store purchase. 32% of those customers used a coupon or incentive found on-line to complete the off-line purchase. In addition, the cost of acquiring customers on-line has dramatically reduced in the last year.

Using the Web as your primary marketing, lead generation, and lead conversion tool has never been greater. With leaner and leaner budgets, the Internet has quickly become the most effective and efficient means for growing your business.

With that said however, expecting an entry-level marketing generalist, or even an administrative assistant, to design and execute a comprehensive Web, lead generation, and lead management initiative is overly ambitious. In essence, using the example above, we are asking a single horse to pull 36 tons.

Pro Lead Management was established to help clients exploit the Internet opportunity at a fraction of the cost of hiring full-time personnel. With a low fixed cost and pay for results compensation model, adding proven talent to your team has never been more affordable.

Are you ready to take advantage of the power of teamwork to produce exponential results? Inquire before the end of November and we’ll conduct a FREE e-business analysis and provide you with an outline that includes specific areas for improvement. Call 888.836.8567 or contact us by clicking here for your FREE analysis and consultation.

Stopping the Clock to Save Time

“A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time.”
– Henry Ford

I recently spoke with several builders and dealers who have wholly eliminated their marketing budgets; some even shedding their marketing departments entirely. Whether these cuts were made simply to reduce fixed overhead or essential to ensuring the company’s survival through today’s market downturn, there is no doubt that investing in the right marketing initiatives now will yield dramatic returns. Now is not the time to cut and run on your marketing budget… now is the time to seek out and exploit the new opportunities created by these times.

Customers Are Hunting
When the economy dips and consumers move into a state of fear, product purchases get scrutinized and long-term brand loyalties are challenged. Now is the time for you to be visible, not hiding behind your desk.

Your Competition Is Hiding
When your competitors eliminate their marketing efforts, the landscape is no longer as crowded. This increases the probability of your marketing messages getting noticed. Now is the time to become the most recognized name in your category.

Bargains Abound
As more and more companies pull back on their advertising, marketing outlets feel the pinch and reduce their rates. This puts you in a position of strength to drive a harder bargain and get more for less. Now is the time to get more from your marketing investment.

Becoming Top of Mind
Being out of sight means you’re likely out of mind; and being out of mind today can mean out of business tomorrow. Familiarity breeds preference and preference leads to long term customer loyalty. Now is the time to more efficiently secure top of mind awareness and long term customer loyalty... for less.

These times may be tough but they are also opportunistic. Now is the time to crank up the volume!

We have defined and managed effective strategic marketing initiatives since 1997 realizing exponential growth and even greater returns on investment. Are you ready to take advantage of these opportunistic times? Then call 888.836.8567 or contact us by clicking here for a FREE consultation.

Go Fish!

I’m often asked how Pro Lead Management helps clients generate and capture more leads through their Web sites. While I could speak for days on the psychology and technology behind our methods, I like to simply compare generating and capturing leads to fishing.


Just as anglers choose a unique type of bait specifically for their desired catch; we make sure to use the right kind of bait to attract specific types of customers. Whether we use “Order a Brochure” to identify with the customer just starting their research or “Request a Quote” for the prospect who has completed their research and is now looking to initiate their transaction process, we make sure each of our calls-to-action resonate with the intended audience.

Once we have identified the appropriate calls-to-action for the various customer types, we make sure these calls-to-action are most appropriately and effectively deployed throughout the site. Whether they’re buttons in the site’s main navigation menu, embedded text links to Web forms, click-to-talk devices, or strategically displayed phone numbers, our focus is to present the right bait to the right fish in the right way.

By recognizing your potential customer types, tailoring calls-to-action to those prospects, and then deploying lead capture devices strategically throughout the site, we’re able to accelerate and amplify your on-line success.

Want help capturing more leads by better defining and implementing an effective call-to-action strategy? Call 888.836.8567 or contact us by clicking here for more information and a personalized quote.

An American Tale

On doctor’s orders, an American businessman took a vacation to a small coastal Mexican village. Unable to sleep after an urgent phone call from the office the first morning, he walked out to the pier to clear his head. A small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish.

“How long did it take you to catch them?” the American asked.

The Mexican replied in surprisingly good English, "Only a little while".

The American then asked, “Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?”

“I have enough to support my family and give a few to friends,” the Mexican said as he unloaded them into a basket.

"But… what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The Mexican fisherman looked up and smiled. "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, and stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life."

The American laughed and stood tall. "Sir, I am a Harvard MBA and can help you. You should spend more time fishing and buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds you could buy several more boats, and eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats.”

He continued, “Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you could sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles, and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise with proper management."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But senor, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

“But what then?"

The American laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."

"Millions? Then what?"

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."*

So what are you working for? More importantly, what are your clients and customers working for? How can you accelerate their realization of those dreams? Become a dream maker and your dreams too will be realized.

Pro Lead Management was founded to help clients identify and exploit new opportunities. Want an outside perspective and fresh ideas to create new business? Call 888.836.8567 or contact us by clicking here.

* The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss, p. 231-232

Yard Sale

The devil was having a yard sale one day and many of his tools were on display. They were a fiendish lot, each priced according to its value. There were hatred and jealousy, deceit, lying, and pride, but over to the side was the most well-worn of all his tools, and his most valuable. That tool was discouragement. When asked why, the devil answered, “It is more useful than any other. When I can’t bring down one of my victims with any of the rest of these tools, I can always count on this one; so few people realize that it belongs to me.”

The discouragement, hopelessness, and despair in today’s marketplace can be clearly illustrated in a CNN.com story from last week. A jobless LA man reportedly facing financial challenges shot and killed his mother-in-law, wife, and three kids before turning the gun on himself. The devil’s most effective tool once again performed its duty with precision.

In their book Character Matters, John and Susan Yates write, “If we are going to live productive lives, we have got to learn to overcome discouragement. In a sense, the more discouragement a person can overcome, the greater that person becomes.”

Consider this man’s story.

- At age seven, his family was forced out of their home and he went to work
- At age nine, his mother died
- He lost his job at age twenty-two; wanted to go to law school but didn’t have the education
- At twenty-three, he went into debt to become a partner in a small store. Three years later, the business partner died and the resulting huge debt took years to repay
- When he was twenty-eight, after courting a girl for four years, he asked her to marry him and she said no
- At thirty-seven, on his third try, he was elected to Congress but then failed to be re-elected
- That same year his son was born but four years later that son died
- When he was forty-five, he ran for the Senate but lost
- At age forty-seven, he sought the vice presidency of the United States and lost
- Two years later, he ran for the Senate and lost again
- At age fifty-one, he was elected president of the United States

Abraham Lincoln was a man who learned to face discouragement and move beyond it, becoming arguably the best president in our nation's history.

Doris Kearns Goodwin writes in Team of Rivals, “More accustomed to relying upon himself to shape events, he (Lincoln) took the greatest control of the process leading up to the nomination, displaying a fierce ambition, an exceptional political acumen, and a wide range of emotional strengths forged in the crucible of personal hardship that took his unsuspecting rivals by surprise” (p. xvi).

To simply dismiss the harsh realities of today’s economic climate would be naïve but that’s not to say that all is hopeless.

Recently David Oreck, founder of the Oreck Corporation commented, (to paraphrase) “I have lived through the Great Depression, Dustbowl, several wars, and countless recessions; every time, America has bounced back stronger than before. Americans are an industrious, productive, and good people. We will make it through.”

Hardships toughen us, change our perspective, and fuel creative and innovative thinking. It is precisely in these times that new opportunities present themselves. My hope is that you do not get blinded by discouragement and are able to recognize these opportunities; and like Lincoln, take your “unsuspecting rivals by surprise.”

Pro Lead Management was founded to help clients identify and exploit new opportunities. Want an outside perspective and fresh ideas to create new business? Call 888.836.8567 or contact us by clicking here.

* Excerpts taken from Character Matters, by John and Susan Yates (p. 146) and Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin (page xvi).

Stop the Madness

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” - Albert Einstein

I speak with dozens of manufacturers and dealers every week. I am not aware of a single company who is distributing email leads by any other means than simply forwarding an email or exporting leads into a dealer’s CRM software application.

Research shows that up to 60% of email leads are ignored.

So with as many as 80% of customers today conducting on-line research prior to visiting a dealership, why do we set ourselves up for failure by only distributing leads exclusively by email?

It’s better than fax?

It’s easy?

We can set it and forget it?

We can shift blame to the dealer because THEY didn’t respond?

I personally think we have simply adopted a flawed process as a default for our lead routing rules. In challenging economic times like these, we must re-evaluate the way we do everything.


No sacred cows here! Now is the time that we re-examine how we can accelerate these prospective customers through their buying process.

Pro Lead Management has created a proprietary new method for accelerating email leads from the keyboard to the phone. Want to learn more about how we can help you accelerate your sales? Call 888.836.8567 or contact us by clicking here.

Don't Forget to Flush

Businesses in industries around the globe have caught on to the fact that the Internet is no longer just a fad. By all accounts, more and more customers are turning to the Web as a resource to conduct research before visiting a dealership. Yet we're finding that as many as 60% of email leads sent to dealers get ignored. But as the story below illustrates, simply responding to an email lead doesn’t necessarily move the customer any closer to buying.

The following email lead was received at 3:00 PM on a Friday afternoon and included the customer’s email address, home, and cell phone numbers. (The names and product affiliations have been changed to protect the guilty)

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Form: Request a Quote
Model: (YEAR, MAKE, MODEL)
Purchase Timeframe: Within 72 hours

Comments:
We are pre-approved for a boat loan from our bank. Please provide a quote that includes all dealer prep, trailer, tax, and licensing.

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How would you respond to this email inquiry? Sounds like a hot opportunity right?

Here is a copy of the actual response sent after 5:00 PM on Saturday afternoon -- 26+ hours later.


Uh, hello, McFly… did you happen to read the customer’s original email?

Why would you ask the customer to call you when they gave you their home and cell phone numbers?

What do you think the customer is going to expect your service response to be if it took you 26+ hours to respond to a simple inquiry like this one?

To help you improve the effectiveness of your email responses, here is a basic outline for email responses.

1. Thank the individual for inquiring
2. Introduce yourself and the company
3. ANSWER THE CUSTOMER’S QUESTIONS!
4. ASK 1-2 OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS TO ELICIT A RESPONSE
5. Set the stage for a follow-up phone call
6. Ask for their phone number if they didn’t provide one
7. Give the customer a way to contact you directly before your call
8. Thank the individual again for inquiring

Whether it’s responding to a request for: price quote, trade-in value, or simply a brochure, this format will help accelerate the customer through their buying process.

Want help designing and executing effective lead management strategies? Call 888.836.8567 or contact us by clicking here to develop comprehensive lead generation, lead capture, and lead nurturing strategies.

The Incubator

A recent MarketingSherpa study found that only a small percentage of the leads you generate are likely to be “sales ready” – especially during tough economic times. So why do we simply send leads to a dealer or sales rep relying exclusively on them to incubate un-sold prospects?

Sending a lead that is not yet “sales ready” to dealers or sales reps de-values the lead in the mind of the recipient. When the prospect does not buy after initial contact, the sales rep will often allow the lead to drift off into the abyss. This lead abandonment wastes our marketing dollars and weakens our advertising effectiveness, profits, and ROI.

An incubator was designed to maintain favorable conditions promoting growth and development. The sales and marketing departments must work closely together to create an incubator that develops these un-sold prospects into sales. By delivering timely, highly relevant, and personalized communications, the marketing department can gently pull prospects through the buying cycle before re-inserting them into the sales process.

Research shows that companies who excel at lead nurturing:

- Decrease the percentage of leads ignored by sales from as high as 80% to as low as 25%

- Raise sales conversion rates by 7%

- Reduce “no decisions” by 6%

- Have 9% more of their Sales Reps making quota

- Reduce new Sales Rep ramp-up time by 10%

In addition, anecdotal evidence suggests that prospects that are nurtured end up buying more, require less discounting, and have shorter sales cycles than customers who made a purchase but were not nurtured.

What are you doing today to incubate your un-sold prospects into future sales? Want help designing and executing effective lead nurturing strategies? Call 888.836.8567 or contact us by clicking here to develop a comprehensive lead generation, lead capture, and lead nurturing strategy.

Fumble!

Last week while researching business liability insurance (I know, I live an exciting life) I came across a Web site called NetQuote.com. NetQuote captures leads from potential customers and then sells those leads to participating insurance agents in the customer’s area. Anxious to get this critical component of my emerging business off the ground, I requested a quote and provided my email address as well as my office and cell phone numbers. It has now been 5 days and I have received just 1 call from an agent who doesn’t even offer liability insurance! Does this make any sense to you?

By all accounts (well, except for maybe the energy sector) the economy is sluggish and you’d think that agents would value any lead they could get their hands on; especially one that they have paid for. Unfortunately, this overall lack of response is not isolated to the insurance agency.

Not long ago, I submitted email inquiries to more than 100 boat dealerships (big and small) nationwide. I only received a response from 41% of those dealerships.

In its annual study of Internet buyers and sellers, the California Association of Realtors™ reported that 48% of email leads go ignored. The article goes on to say that 68% of Web leads interviewed only one agent, implying that the first to tag has the best chance to win the client.

A 2008 Sterling Commerce study revealed that 81% of “High Value” consumers, those with annual household income exceeding $75,000, went on-line to conduct research before making an in-store purchase. 32% of those customers used a coupon or incentive found on-line to complete the off-line purchase.

Clearly more and more of today’s consumers are turning to the Web as an initial touch-point and desire an integrated on- and off-line retail experience. Recognizing these increasing consumer expectations, why do we continue to struggle with responding to Internet requests?

I used to think this was a lead routing issue; then I thought maybe it was a system issue; then a fear of change; then incompetence; and finally a general laziness on the part of the sales rep. But after studying the problem for more than 7 years, I have come to the following conclusion. If you look at the industries listed above, you’ll find businesses that have not completely migrated to an email culture. Sales reps in these industries are not sitting behind a computer screen all day waiting for the next email to arrive. Yet, we now live in a society that relies on email as a primary means of communication.

So when are we going to align the way we sell with the way the customer prefers to buy? Read today’s headlines and you’ll quickly realize that the time is now!

The Lead Management Myth

An aspiring angler visited his local dealer and asked for the best fishing boat money could buy. He outfitted it with the biggest and fastest engine available. Of course he selected the most sophisticated fish-finding and navigational electronics. He picked up the most advanced rods, reels, and tackle on the market. At the end of his shopping spree, our angler was virtually equipped to start his own seafood company!

A year later, the angler returned to the dealership asking for his money back.

“What seems to be the problem?” asked the dealership manager.

“This boat doesn’t work; I’ve had it for a year and have yet to catch a fish!” the angler explained.

“Where did you go to try and catch the fish?” asked the manager.

“I haven’t gone anywhere,” answered the angler.

“You never launched the boat? Never got out on the lake? Never cast a line?” asked the manager.

“Nope, the boat has never been off the trailer. I’m telling you, it doesn’t work, it simply doesn’t catch fish!”

This story may seem silly to most but the expectations of the angler are not that far of a cry from most executives when it comes to CRM or lead management.

Depending on which statistics you choose to believe, up to 75% of lead management initiatives fail to produce the expected results or desired return on investment.

Many experts have given many explanations for the high failure rate of lead management initiatives. We believe however that it is much simpler than the “experts” make it out to be. Ready? Here it is…

YOU CANNOT BUY LEAD MANAGEMENT!

In spite of the marketing hype and what the software companies want you to believe, managing prospects and customer relationships is not a technology issue; it is a combination of business culture, well-defined processes, measurable objectives, and an ability to recognize and efficiently adapt to the changing customer demands for your products and services.

Lead management technology must be selected based on: your culture, your re-engineered lead management processes, your objectives, and your customer requirements. The most frequent mistake I see is when companies give no consideration to the lead management process and assume the technology will simply provide the desired results.

Choose Your Own Adventure - a Boat Buyer's Tale

I am frequently asked, “What exactly is lead management?”

Lead management is an integrated strategy, system, and process executed to effectively generate, capture, and convert leads into sales. A lead management program cannot by itself sell more of your product, but if designed and executed well, can dramatically influence your sales and market share.

Choose Your Own Adventure - a Boat Buyer’s Tale
Eric was a successful mid-level manager for a local manufacturing company; his boys were involved in soccer, football, and Boy Scouts; and his wife was responsible for keeping the refrigerator stocked and getting the boys to their activities on time. Eric and his wife talked about buying a boat as a way to relax and spend time together as a family. So, one Friday evening after his wife and kids went to bed, he jumped on-line to do some research. Eric visited a couple of different Web sites and requested a brochure from two different boat brands. (Choose your ending below)

Scenario #1
Eric checked his email one last time, noticed that there were no new emails in his Inbox, and shut down his computer for the night.

The next day, he went to the hardware store and installed new fixtures for his master bathroom (per his wife’s instructions). When he returned to work on Monday morning he was given a new assignment that quickly consumed his workweek. After work each night he either went to his boys’ soccer practice, football game, or Boy Scout troop meeting.

The next weekend, he again attacked his “honey-do” list and dreaded going back to the work project on Monday morning.

After another crazy Monday at the office, Eric returned home to find his brochure from Brand #1. Between his work craziness, the kid’s activities, and his “honey-do” list, Eric and his wife decided that buying a boat was going to have to wait until next summer.

Scenario #2
Eric checked his email one last time and found an email response to his brochure request from Brand #2. The email explained why he should consider that brand and introduced him to his local dealer; only 10 minutes down the road.

The next morning, as he was planning his trip to the hardware store for new bathroom fixtures (per his wife’s instructions), Eric received a personalized email on his Blackberry. The email provided more details about the boat he was interested in and explained that a dealer sales rep would call him to share some of the great incentives currently available.

A few minutes later, the phone rang, and sure enough, the local dealer asked Eric to stop by the dealership on his way to the hardware store to take a quick look at a couple of models he had in stock.

Before leaving for the store, Eric and his wife discussed the conversation he had had with the dealer. They agreed that surprising the boys with a boat would be fun and she told Eric that if the deal was right, then to go ahead and bring home the boat.

On his way to the hardware store, Eric stopped by the dealership and found the boat that met all of their needs. The savings were remarkable; financing was easy; and the dealership even arranged for him to keep the boat at a local dry storage marina. Within a couple of hours Eric had signed the documents and was a proud new boat owner.

Epilogue
Eric went to work Monday morning and received a new project that consumed his entire workweek. He spent his evenings after work attending the boys’ soccer practices, football games, and Boy Scout troop meeting. The following weekend Eric took his family out on the lake. “Buying this boat was the best decision we’ve made in a long time” his wife told him just as the boys soaked them both with tandem cannonballs off the swim platform. Relaxed and enjoying time together on the water, Eric's crazy work project waiting for him at the office no longer seemed quite so daunting.