“Bushwhacking” doesn’t follow the Marquis
of Queensbury rules of fair play, but it works darn near
every time when a small unit has to fight a large force.
To succeed you have to be organized; your weapons have
to be in fine fettle; your fields of fire have to be set
so you don’t shoot your own people; you best have
a contingency plan for getting the heck out of there; and,
you better hit them hard, fast, and move out like the devil
was chasing you (‘cause you can bet who ever you’re
nailing will be on you like ... ). Now for y’all
who have never seen the elephant, “enfilading fire” means
catching somebody in a cross-fire, a double-whammy.
What
you want most of all is the element of surprise, ‘cause
the element of surprise is worth more than a battery of
howitzers - though they wouldn’t hurt to have on
hand either. As a small retailer you have got to “bushwhack” every
chance you get and the easiest way to do that is use other
people’s money and resources as often as you can.
Nowadays that falls into two categories: “Co-Op” and “cross-selling”.
Applying either, or both, of these tactics requires some
thought and a lot of imagination and in some cases it even
takes a little skill at poker playing. “Co-Op” refers
to “co-operative advertising” the things that
the people you buy from are willing to provide or pay for
based on the amount of product you buy from them; “Cross-selling” is
not just selling a customer a tie to go with a suit, it’s
also working with other merchants to arrive at higher sales.
On the
one hand you use other people’s money, on
the other you use each others money to create a bigger
bang.You know that every company you buy from has monies
available to support your advertising their products. They
probably tell you that it is based on a percentage of the
dollars you spend with them and that they have great -
GREAT - ad slicks, collateral material, posters, Point-Of-Sale,
broadcast doughnuts, etc. ad nauseam ... that they’ll
be glad to provide for free (but they always tell you what
the value would be if you had to buy it). Real kind hearted,
aren’t they? Sometimes trying to find your name in
one of those things is like trying to find a flea on a
mare’s rump. Now they also tell you that the “deal” is
the same for everyone. It has to be the same for everyone
because of Robinson-Pattman. R-I-G-H-T! You can slip the
collar on that one by going to them with
your own program. It’s amazing how much money is
out there if you just know how to get it.
The other tactical approach, using pooled resources, is
sometimes better if you can ever work out the details
without fighting over who’s going to lead the charge.
Why is it better? Well, for one thing, you give the potential
customer a lot more reasons to shop in your area. You
are also spreading around the inventory, sales force,
excitement, and interest without having to bear all of
the dedicated and associated costs.
The more event-oriented
it is, the better off everybody is going to be: people
spend more money when they are having
fun than when their sucking persimmons; and, for once you
can compete with the malls and big spenders for attention
because they do exactly the same thing. Put them both in
one pot and you’ve got yourself a dandy combination
for success.
And all that goes back to setting up a good “bushwhack”.
Whether you use other people’s money or lump a lot
together, the key is hitting hard, swift and with imagination.
The more imagination and cooperation you have, the greater
the results. Sorta like Second Manassas.
