April 9, 2010
Selling a Home in 2010
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Someone came forward today with one of those low ball offers to which you can’t possibly give serious consideration. We declined to respond.
We remain committed to the belief that the perfect, qualified respectful buyer will soon come forward to make a market competitive offer to enjoy the home we nurtured and loved for 20 years.
Here are 10 things to LOVE about this home for sale:
1. The best private education you can buy for your kids with a public dollar – Somerset Elementary, Tyee Middle, and Newport High School
2. It is move-in ready. The “honey do” list is complete. There is nothing to do but enjoy, relax, and make yourself at home.
3. Fabulous kitchen/great room, making it easy and comfortable for the family to gather and make wonderful memories.
4. Close-in Location – Enjoy easy access to I-90, I- 405, shops, restaurants, businesses, and so much more. Save time and money on gas with everything you need so close at hand.
5. Access to a fabulous neighborhood park with grass you don’t have to mow and well-maintained, safe play equipment to delight your kids. Plus, you can stay in shape by walking around the 1/6 mile walking path as you watch your kids play. This park is a great place to meet and greet considerate neighbors with school aged children and pets, offering built-in playmates for you and your kids.
6. An amazing, blooming garden that is easy to enjoy, a breeze to maintain, and a delight to watch change with the seasons.
7. A corner lot that offers plenty of privacy from the neighbors, easy access to the garage from the flat driveway, and plenty of easy parking for your guests in the driveway, in front of, and around the side of the house.
8. Abundant storage for all your seasonal items, keepsakes, garden tools, and so much more.
9. A water feature in the backyard, offering a lovely view and additional tranquility for warm, long summer days.
10.Fabulous private outdoor eating area that is perfect for the Bar-B-Que and entertaining friends and family during warm, long summer evenings.
Make Yourself at Home and Stay for the Rest of Your Life
Can’t wait to meet you.
April 6, 2010
Business Success
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My hearty congratulations to my good friend and respected colleague Barney Cohen and his wife Joan McCoy for launching among the most brilliant websites I’ve seen in a long time. Little One Books is a resource to guide parents, grandparents, and those who love kids aged 0 – 5 to make the perfect book selections to guide precious minds. Just click, buy, and enjoy.
The site launched just days ago, and I have a keen sense that Barney and Joan will be making thousands of friends around the world by recommending one stellar book for the precious children in YOUR life, one fabulous choice at a time. Check out the site and tell your friends.
And Barney, way to go. Keep me posted on your unfolding and escalating success!
April 5, 2010
Event Promotion
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Then be among the first 10 people from the Authentic Visibility tribe to send your RSVP to Alyssa@thinkspace.com. Then, you’ll get to attend this complimentary and HIGH VALUE session from 3 – 4 p.m. at ThinkSpace in Redmond.
Rules: You must send me your “best effort” bio draft and a link to your website no later than Friday, April 9 at noon in order to be put in the “hot seat” for this Extreme Bio Makeover. Just send yours my way with “ThinkSpace” in the subject line so I know who you are. And you have to be present at the session to benefit!
People rave about their Extreme Bio Makeovers, and you will, too. You just have to be bold enough to put your hat in the ring. Can’t wait to hear from you!
(And, if you’d just rather schedule your own Extreme Bio Makeover with me, I hold those appointments on Thursdays at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. Check out your bio, decide how desperately yours needs an Extreme Bio Makeover, and confirm your appointment for an upcoming Thursday. Looking forward to making you sound like the rock star you know you are and making it easy for you!)
April 2, 2010
PR Success Stories
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Business anniversaries are important to the business owner, but they are only important to the media when you make your pitch relevant to the reader.
I’ve been shopping at Heartland Interiors for over 20 years. During a January 2010 visit to the store, the owners mentioned they were preparing to celebrate their 25th business anniversary. After extending congratulations, I asked some questions, just as any curious journalist or DIY publicist might.
How did your business get its start?
How have things evolved over time?
What have been the most powerful lessons you’ve learned over the years?
As Co-Owner Val Scalzo shared her answers, I knew right away that their anniversary story had value to offer for readers of the local media. I made my pitch by email to the editor of the Bothell/Kenmore Reporter, and — voila! — the story ran in the paper just this week.
(By the way, this result stemmed from Val Scalzo renting my PR brain for one hour. Since I had 20 years of personal experience as a client with her company, the story came together in record time.)
Now, I know that staff members of community papers are short on time, so I prepared a very thorough pitch to make their job of telling the story as easy as possible. To follow is the pitch I prepared so you can see how I made my approach and enlisted interest.
Dear Andy and Mary:
I’ve got a business story that is likely to have interest among the readers of both the Bothell/Kenmore AND the Redmond Reporter that is well times for Valentine’s Day. Here comes the pitch:
In today’s demanding and slowly recovering economic times, it has grown challenging for small businesses to survive and thrive a few years, yet alone reach a 25th anniversary. Heartland Interiors (www.heartlandinteriors.com), a Bothell-based furniture store that provides custom interior design services, is set to begin a year-long celebration of its 25th anniversary starting next month with a series of customer appreciation events, special sales and Girls Night Out celebrations. How this business built by two best friends who love what they do got its start and took root to grow into a million dollar company is what makes this business anniversary story timely and interesting right now. The practical, wise, and hard won lessons they have learned are especially relevant for those who are pondering starting businesses of their own.
Owners Diane Wainhouse, a third generation Bothell native , and Val Scalzo, a resident of Redmond, started their company on February 7, 1985 with high hopes and humble beginnings. They each deposited $75 into a local business checking account and started along their journey to create and manufacture a gift line from their homes that they sold to specialty gift shops in the area as well as Nordstrom stores. Soon outgrowing their homes, they moved into a small manufacturing space and then into their first retail store where they incorporated their own gift line with other merchandise from local artists and suppliers. From the very beginning, the store took on its own personality and offered the public a fresh, new look in home furnishings. Since then, Val and Diane have grown their company into Heartland Interiors — a retail boutique now located in cozy quarters at Country Village in Bothell. The store offers artwork, lighting, furniture and accessories, along with a very personalized interior design service that addresses choosing paint colors to furnishing an entire home. What once was a cottage industry has transformed into a destination shopping experience that has generated revenues in excess of $1 million for each of the last several years, thanks to a team of staff members that has fluctuated from 10-12 people to today’s staff of 3-4. That is no small accomplishment, given today’s daunting economic times.
Val says one of the best moves she and Diane made was aligning with John Heller’s Street of Dreams Tour of Homes in 1988. During this showcase event of model homes, Heartland Interiors earned a number of “Best of Show” awards for their work over a ten-year period, along with awareness, fans, and followers who now gladly travel from all points around the Puget Sound to Bothell to experience and enjoy the elegant French country chic and natural relaxed designs for which Heartland Interiors has become well known. Prominent business executives, sports personalities from the Seattle Seahawks and the Seattle Mariners, and people who love to make their houses homes they are proud to share with others have come to rely upon Heartland Interiors to make their houses homes they love. Val says that participating in the Street of Dreams delivered extraordinary exposure and credibility to Heartland Interiors among a perfect audience of potential customers. Val and Diane remain incredibly grateful to John Heller and all the builders who have been part of the Street of Dreams for their part in creating the success and longevity that Heartland Interiors enjoys today.
Along their 25 year journey as successful women business owners, this duo has learned a lot of useful lessons that can inspire others with business ownership dreams. Here are some of those lessons, along with explanations from Val:
* Go ahead and dream big, but start small.
We started small and built our business one order at a time. Creative energy and financial worries don’t mix well. By never taking out a loan the business had to support itself -so if it worked, TERRIFIC!, but if not – it didn’t cost much more than a dream. I think this was a crucial part to the partnership working as well. Financial burdens may have changed the overall focus from creativity to survivability which would of changed the tone of everything.
*Good customer service is critical, and customer appreciation is key.
How you treat your customers really comes down to your core values as a person. In our partnership, our personal foundations were so similar because we were raised with the same values and believed in the same principles. Developing our policies and reputation grew from that foundation. Giving really good customer service is pretty basic; we do our best to make customers happy, even when it’s a stretch of patience and fairness to do so. But we feel there is another important component of good customer service. That is appreciation. We genuinely appreciate our customers and the fact that out of all the choices for shopping that they have available, they chose us. It’s gratitude plain and simple. It keeps you humble and willing to go the extra mile when you need to.
*Offer what you are excited about and you can sell it.
From the very beginning, we have always offered things that we are excited about. When we buy for the store we only order merchandise that we like ourselves. This helped us establish our own niche in the retail home furnishings industry in our area; and fortunately, there were a lot of people that liked what we liked so we developed a following over the years. Our motto has always been “buy what you love.” It’s what we believe in, whether we are buying for the store, or helping our customers buy for their homes.
In partnership with this would be to know the art of selling. Being creative is one thing, knowing how to sell your creativity is another. We believe “selling” is half knowledge and half enthusiasm. If you’re excited about something, know a little bit about it, and it’s priced fairly, you’re on your way. This is probably the one thing most overlooked when people want to get in to the interior design field. You not only need to be able to sell merchandise, but you must be able to sell yourself.
*Know your customers-study them so that you know what they are looking for.
*Be flexible – and have a sense of humor.
*Be consistent with your policies and principles.
*You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just get on the wagon.
*The economy may be challenging, but don’t let it change who you are.
*Hire those who love what you do.
Andy and Mary, don’t you agree that the story of Heartland Interiors’ growth, success, and longevity is one your readers will love to read more about? I will follow up with you by phone in a few days to check your interest, unless I hear from you first. Of course, I am happy to coordinate a convenient time for you to meet with Val and Diane at Heartland Interiors to interview them and take photos when you elect to proceed. Thank you for your consideration.
If you’ve got a business anniversary story to tell or any other story that is local, timely, newsworthy, relevant and INTERESTING, try telling your own story to your community paper and see what results you can bring about that will bring your message to a much wider audience. It’s well worth the effort.
April 1, 2010
Bye-Bye Boring Bio Success Story, New Audio File to Support Your DIY Publicity Success
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What a treat to be invited to contribute to Sue Lundquist’s “I’m Thankful” radio show this morning. The subject of our interview was — big surprise here — how to kick your boring bio to the curb. I talk about how one bio doesn’t necessarily fit all situations. It’s best to have the perfect bio for every media application — your radio interview, your speaker sheet, your book jacket, and beyond. I even give Sue some tips to help get her speaker sheet in great shape to invite more of the right opportunities.
Here is the link to click to listen in so you can apply some of the useful tips shared during this engaging interview for your own benefit.
You can also read what Sue had to say about today’s broadcast at this link
And, if you decide to purchase the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide or sign up for your Extreme Bio Makeover on an upcoming Thursday, I promise you’ll be glad that you did!
April 1, 2010
Event Promotion
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Bill Baren’s insights about becoming a master of enrollment really resonated with me, and I am eager to take the lessons I learned from him to work in my business.
Clearly, I provide lots of free information and access to quality audio interviews and resources to appeal to those on a tight budget. However, I want to be of service to those who are really serious about earning their expert status and who see the value in investing in a delicious, day-long retreat to have the benefit of working alongside an expert who has a sincere desire to support their success.
To meet this need in a very personal, high value way, I am happy and proud to announce that the Private Publici-Tea™ Retreat has been scheduled for Friday, May 14 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. at my Bellevue, WA view home. This exclusive, all-day session is among the most useful, high-value, and custom sessions you can experience to take in the knowledge, creative inspiration, and practical, time-tested, and proven tools to bring your company’s story to the right audiences.
If you are a coach, independent consultant, solopreneur, aspiring or thriving speaker, author, or infopreneur, you will benefit powerfully from your investment of time and money in learning essential lessons to give you the power to earn your own publicity for the lifetime of your successful business.
There is room for just five very special, highly motivated to act business owners to benefit from this very personal session. They are reserved for those who are truly serious about getting known as experts and earning their own publicity on a consistent, tenacious, and ongoing basis.
Every guest will walk away with a custom DIY publicity blueprint as a result of me walking you — step by step — through exactly what you need to do to earn more publicity in your business immediately and consistently over time. When you take action on what you learn, you will earn increased credibility, attract more of the right clients, and enjoy the prestige that comes when you implement the ideas and actions that are part of your own custom DIY publicity blueprint.
In addition, every guest will also receive the DIY Publicity Success System to support any team member accountable for creating media visibility for the successful life of your business.
If the benefits this retreat promises resonate with you, send me an email at nancy@nsjmktg.com to request your application. (The investment required is noted in the application.)
Tell me why you are a good candidate and how this program will ease very specific pains you are motivated and eager to solve. I look forward to welcoming the perfect five guests to my home for what promises to be an extraordinary day of learning, idea generation, and inspired action to support the decisive, stunning results you crave and are worthy of.
Applications for the May 14 session are due by April 30, so request your application today by sending email to nancy@nsjmktg.com.
April 1, 2010
Seattle Design Center
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If “YES” is your answer, tell me why you’d like to meet him in person on Saturday, April 24 at Eye on Design 2010, and you could win a free ticket to attend! Better yet, share a design question about how best to use color and art to transform your home and your question could be among those to be answered “live” on event day. Post your comment here on this blog so you can be entered into this contest for your high value and free event ticket. The most compelling 10 comments will be selected to win, so go deep and tell us what you want to know. Comments must be posted by Friday, April 16 in order to qualify. Read all about the event via the PRWeb press release.
