Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
S3 Ep09: Connecting Through Print: Direct Mail Strategies for Today’s Market with Tracy Kelly
21 Plays1 month ago
In this episode of the Dial It In podcast, hosts interview Tracy Kelly, the founder of Paperboy Marketing, a firm specializing in local engagement through flyer distribution, direct mail, and comprehensive marketing strategies. The discussion explores Tracy's transition from working at digital agencies to acquiring Paperboy Marketing, the logistics and technology behind flyer and postcard delivery, including GPS tracking and video proof, and the challenges and successes of running a marketing business. Sponsored by FractionalTactical.com, the conversation highlights the ROI of consistent flyer campaigns, the importance of clear marketing messages, and strategies for small businesses to thrive through physical and digital marketing integration.
Connect with Tracy
Google
LinkedIn
Paperboy Marketing
…
Dial It In Podcast is where we gathered our favorite people together to share their advice on how to drive revenue, through storytelling and without the boring sales jargon. Our primary focus is marketing and sales for manufacturing and B2B service businesses, but we’ll cover topics across the entire spectrum of business. This isn’t a deep, naval-gazing show… we like to have lively chats that are fun, and full of useful insights. Brought to you by BizzyWeb.
Links:
Website: dialitinpodcast.com
BizzyWeb site: bizzyweb.com
Connect with Dave Meyer
Connect with Trygve Olsen
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Dial It In'
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Dial It In, a podcast where we talk with fascinating people about marketing, sales, process improvements, and tricks that they use to grow their businesses. Join me, Dave Meyer, and Trigby Olson of FizzyWeb as we bring you interviews on how the best in their fields are dialing it in for their organizations. Let's ring up another episode.
Guest Introduction and Background
00:00:30
Speaker
There's an old Vulcan saying that I think they stole from ancient Rome of the enemy of enemy is my friend. Have you ever heard that? I have. I have. I also heard live long and prosper, but I don't know if that one. ah And the finger thing, right? Can you do the finger thing? Yeah, I can do the finger things. ah Our guest today has used to be our bitter enemy. Well, not bitter enemies, right?
00:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, I guess we'd be frenemies, but I used to work for one of our biggest competitors and he since got his own and started a different kind of marketing business, which I'm really excited to talk about because it turns out he's actually a really great guy and I really don't know a whole lot about ah what the ins and outs of his new business. That's going to be an interesting and educational for me today too.
Sponsorship Highlight
00:01:21
Speaker
Dave, do we have a sponsor for this week's episode? We do! We are today sponsored by FractionalTactical.com. Stack the deck in your favor, MarkTek Solutions for Fractional CMOs. As a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer, your number one goal is to deliver success to each of your clients. If only there were 25 hours in a day. With limited time and resources, you need marketing solutions that are data proven, easy to execute, and repeatable.
00:01:50
Speaker
As a digital marketing agency, BusyWeb and the Fractional Tactical team understands the unique challenges that you face. That's why we offer customized solutions just for our Fractional CMO friends. You tell us what results you need, and we create the strategy and the MarTech stack to get you there. We have a concrete plan, your clients have measurable results, and you look good.
00:02:12
Speaker
We helped you get there. Everyone wins. Build efficient, powerful, and repeatable MarTech stacks with fractionaltactical.com. Awesome. Thank you,
Tracy Kelly's Marketing Journey
00:02:23
Speaker
Dave. Thank you. so Our guest today is is Tracy Kelly from Paperboy Marketing. Tracy brings nearly 20 years of marketing experience to the helm of Paperboy, elevating local engagement through thoughtful strategic campaigns. So with a deep understanding of both digital and traditional approaches,
00:02:39
Speaker
Paper by marketing goes beyond flyer distribution, direct mail, postcards, and loyalty mail links to create thoughtful, measurable, meaningful connections. The company combines proven GPS tracking and video proof technology to ensure reliable targeted outreach. Boy, I really want to know what video proofing means. Emphasizing the unique power of print to build brand loyalty and drive results through impactful local marketing. Welcome to the show, Tracy. Hey, thanks for having me. Super excited to be here.
00:03:08
Speaker
Wow. That was a mouthful. Why don't you start by telling us a little bit about your journey? Cause. Teased out a little, you used to work for a digital agency. Yep. And yeah, digitalagency.paperboymarketing fill in the blanks.
00:03:26
Speaker
Yeah. So again, we first met when I was working in the digital agency space, I worked at a couple of different digital agencies. And one of the things that I learned was when we found a specific niche at one of the places I was at, it really helped us better understand who our customers were. And we were able to provide solutions that were really tailored for them. And during that time period, I moved and One day I came home and there was something sitting at on my door handle and it was a flyer or a local painting company advertising their services.
00:04:09
Speaker
And it had a huge impact on me. It made it into the house. It was on the table for a while. Always remember getting that that flyer. And a couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go out on my own. And I learned that Paperboy Marketing was for sale. And Paperboy Marketing was the business that did the flyer delivery.
00:04:29
Speaker
So Paperboy Marketing has been around for 20 years and they were looking to sell it. And again, I just remember that impact that flyer had on me. So I said, I got to have it. And since then we've added a direct mail component as well. I also purchased a ah local direct mail business as well to compliment that. um So that's how I ended up here.
00:04:53
Speaker
oh So what exactly does having flyer business mean to you? Is it you and your printer and a good pair ofite sure a amount of How does it go from customer to front door?
00:05:10
Speaker
Yeah. So we we outsource our printing. So I work with ah the third party that helps ah print them. However, we've got a couple of folks that worked in the office, essentially coordinating the delivery. so a lot of I like to joke that I thought I was buying a marketing business, Trigby.
00:05:30
Speaker
have really bought a delivery business with when it comes to Paperboy. Because most of my time on that side or most of the efforts that we spend are actually coordinating deliveries, getting people to the right neighborhoods, delivering the right flyers on time, on within the deadline. And so at any given time, we have anywhere from This week, it's winter. It's our slower season, but we've got 10 people out this week delivering. And in peak time, we can have 45 to 50 people delivering flyers around the Twin Cities. And you had asked about the video proof. So we have every delivery contractor on their phone has a GPS app that tracks
00:06:17
Speaker
where they're going, so we can see them walking up to the house, walking down to the next house, and then they also wear vests with a time-lapse camera on the back, so that when they're walking away from the home, they're capturing an image of the flyer at the front door.
Operations and Challenges in Flyer Delivery
00:06:38
Speaker
and Yes. so and We take those GPS tracks and we upload them on a Google Map and we create a ah folder for the client to be able to view the videos ensuring that the flyers got delivered where we said they would and that they actually made it on the front door. That's cool because it it takes away all the guesswork and that I would assume is one of the biggest concerns or problems with door-to-door.
00:07:03
Speaker
Absolutely. but My question is, we just got done at the time of recording, we just got done with ah probably the biggest political crazy season I've ever lived through. How did that affect the deliveries and were you dodging signs or were there were people less or more interested or reactive about delivering things to the doors?
00:07:28
Speaker
Yeah. So we stayed out of the political game this year. So we are on the Paperboy marketing side. Our clients are local home service businesses, predominantly. And we didn't have any issues getting to the doors. We're not knocking. We're just delivering, dropping the flyer off and moving on to the next house. So we didn't have really anything slowing us down during this political season.
00:07:56
Speaker
That's great. and I suppose there's the same thing that mail carriers have. Do we have do you have to carry mace for dogs and things? or yeah Have you had any bad experiences among your team with people getting chased down or any issues? Occasionally, it's less the dogs that I worry about because we Part of our expectations when working with a client is, these are individuals delivering flyers. It's not going to be perfect. We're going to miss a couple houses. We're gonna things this it we work with people. it's It's not as sophisticated as digital marketing like what you all do where there's a lot of you're relying on computers to do this. So we set expectations, we're not going to hit every house, especially if there's a safety issue.
00:08:39
Speaker
I tell the contractors, never go open up a gate if there's a dog or something like that. But it's less the animals that that are of the... challenge with our contractors and more angry homeowners sometimes. That can be a real thing. Some people can get really... territorial. ah It's territorial. And in that, maybe we experienced a little bit of that this year because of the political season, but third is just us there is an element of that we're conscious of. And our team has a card that says, why your delivery is not solicitation. It's got our email, our phone number,
00:09:13
Speaker
They can call us, email us, or we also have a link on our website where they can put their address on the do not deliver flyers list. So that, and that is a list. Anybody that puts their name on it, we just add it directly to our maps so that the next time someone's out delivered in that neighborhood, they just skip over that house. Oh, that makes a ton of sense. If I'm coming in as a client, do I get to choose? Do I want it in the mailbox? Do I want it in the front door?
00:09:41
Speaker
Yeah. so Absolutely. Yes. Paperboy marketing, we have two different types of delivery and it all depends on where in the Twin Cities it's happening. In the core areas where we've got nice, compact neighborhoods, Minneapolis, St. Paul, the inner ring suburbs, we do the front door delivery where we take a half sheet with a rubber band, very specific rubber band, puts it on the front door so it's not blowing off the handle.
00:10:10
Speaker
Out in the suburbs, we put the flyers in the newspaper box below the mailbox. We use a light adhesive. It's a 3M product, so it stands up and sticks out a little bit.
00:10:26
Speaker
So again, it's all about high impact. So depending on where the client wants flyers delivered, that will dictate what type of flyer delivery we can do. But then with the direct mail business, we can mail postcards to anywhere in the country. So it really depends on Are you looking for the super high impact? Are you looking for maybe a little bit of a lower price? What is the goal of the campaign? And that usually helps us determine what the best option is. Is it better to do a flyer? Is it better to do a postcard? Et cetera.
00:10:57
Speaker
Can you tell us a little bit on what kinds of budgets people might expect on the three different kinds? And is there like, is there a timeliness um impact on that? Like hailstorm want to go through and connect on roofing or et cetera?
00:11:15
Speaker
Yeah. So with the flyers, our minimum flyer order is 2,500 flyers. That's coming from our printer. And I, from my perspective, that usually roughly translates into. And a flyer is a piece of a brochure or something in between.
00:11:32
Speaker
Yeah, our standard flyer looks like this. It's eight and a half by five and a half. And so that's our standard flyer that we offer. Nice glassy full color for the list. Yep. Yeah. I describe it. Yeah. It's 14 point cardstock. It's got a UV coating on both sides. So if it gets wet, it drips off. um We've got a sort of a template that we work off of something that we know works well.
00:11:58
Speaker
We do have some folks that'll bring their own door hangers. The problem with most door hang traditional door hangers is they blow off. So people don't like it when they see your door hanger in their front yard. So that's why we've developed the system that we have. But going back to the campaign size, a minimum is 2,500 flyers. But from my perspective, I think you guys will will back me up on this.
00:12:22
Speaker
any marketing that we're going to be doing, it's better to do something consistent rather than just a one-time campaign. and so i always I'll say if you're going to do a one-time flyer drop. If it's not for a specific event, it's probably if it's just for like lead generation for a painting company or a roofing company, it's probably not worth putting the money into it because that first campaign, you're not going to have the same results as if you do something monthly or quarterly.
00:12:56
Speaker
We really believe in doing consistent rhythmic marketing with that. And that's what we found got the best results.
Effective Marketing Strategies
00:13:04
Speaker
So some of our yeah best clients are there just delivering flyers every week throughout a specific territory. So most of the flyers that we work with, they're doing a couple thousand dollars a month, just at minimum, just to make sure that they're doing a consistent marketing campaign. With the direct mail, same idea. I always recommend something on a consistent regular basis because it's partially it's branding and partially it's lead generation. So we just want to make sure that they might not be ready to get their garage door fixed today. But if you've been in their mailbox or you've been on their front door,
00:13:45
Speaker
eight times in the last two years. When that garage door does go down, they're going to know that, hey, but you're the local garage door professional. I might as well call them because they're already in my neighborhood because they've been putting flyers on my door. I once had a garage door opener company get their printed their number on tennis balls.
00:14:04
Speaker
We'll get sure and told them to hang them in their in their clients garage so that They were always looking right at the phone number. I never we didn't win. I don't think we won that one Did we know we didn't quite get there? But I think they may have grabbed a couple of tennis balls and lobbed them at us on our way out the door probably yeah Yeah, there there are some golden retrievers that are really happy in that office Another thing that we've done in the past is attached magnets to the flyers. Really helpful for garage door companies, really helpful for electrical and HVAC companies. People will put them right on the garage door, on the electrical box, on their furnace. And this is an anecdote from the founder that I bought the business from, but they had these magnets for a garage door company here in Twin Cities that grew really big. And they had a call tracking number on the magnet.
00:14:58
Speaker
And they were getting calls to that call tracking number a year, two years, three years later. And we they're recording the call. And what people were saying is, yeah, I think you guys have been here before because your magnets on my garage door. And really what it was is we delivered a flyer and they pulled the magnet off and put it on their own garage door. And when the time came, they called them.
00:15:23
Speaker
So they owned themselves. They market it to themselves. I love it. That's proactive as a consumer. Find us more of those people. What kind of businesses, Tracy, tend to have the most success with your programming? With the door-to- door-to-door flyers, it's painting companies.
00:15:41
Speaker
tree trimmers, window washers, and internet companies are are big categories that we've had a lot of success in while I've owned the business in the last year. okay again the The theme is local home service where they might not need it today, but when they do need it, they're gonna work with us. And it's a big enough ticket item where what makes sense to put this kind of marketing dollar behind it. Sure. And that's for the flyers and the door hangs.
00:16:11
Speaker
Does Direct Mail have a slightly different mix? Yeah. so with We've got two different types of Direct Mail that we offer. One is postcards. and so The same folks that are doing flyers are doing postcards. That was what intrigued me about the business originally when I purchased it. so The postcard business is called Our Town America, and that's a franchise. and so I own ah a big territory here in Minnesota.
00:16:39
Speaker
And so all of my flyer clients were already doing postcards and I went to them and said, Hey, if I could offer postcards, would you work with me on that? And I had enough of them say yes, that it made sense to acquire this established franchise here in Minnesota.
00:16:54
Speaker
The other direct mail that we offer is we call it a community envelope. So it is a an oversized envelope that is mailed specifically to new movers each and every month. Every zip code has a specific envelope.
00:17:18
Speaker
And so this works really well with food and beverages. Pizza shops are our biggest category. I bet. Ice cream shops. We also work with mechanics, hair salons. These are businesses that want repeat customers. It's a little bit different than the flyers where it's, hey, we're looking for a big project.
00:17:40
Speaker
with the new mover of community envelope is how do we get in front of a new homeowner before they've figured out where they're going to get their oil changed, where they're going to go to get their hair cut, where they're going to go for Friday night pizza.
00:17:55
Speaker
So the new mover community envelope gets sent to them within two to six weeks of them moving into their new home. it's Like I said, it's oversized. It's got their front their last name right on the cover. It says homemo home housewarming gifts for the Robinson family or or whatever the family name is. And then inside our gift certificates. So it might be a large two-topping pizza.
00:18:20
Speaker
It might be a $10 gift certificate to a grocery store. It might be a free oil change, so some sort of a pretty substantial offer because they're only going to get it one time. and They bring this gift certificate into the business and the business owner can scan that individual gift certificate.
00:18:41
Speaker
and that ties back directly to the family. So when the business owner scans that gift certificate, it triggers a follow-up postcard to that family that says, hey Robinson family, thank you so much for stopping by our pizza shop. Come back again, get some breadsticks.
00:19:01
Speaker
And so that it's all about creating loyalty before they've really established any sort of habits.
Integrating Online and Physical Marketing
00:19:09
Speaker
And then the best companies that are working within that, they'll send those repeat customers a Christmas card,
00:19:18
Speaker
a With the liquor stores, they'll often send a hey stock up before 4th of July card. so We've got all this data of who's been into the business so that we can continue to reach back out and invite them back in. What happens to all that data? Where does it go? so That data is housed in our systems and we share that with the client.
00:19:43
Speaker
Got it. Okay. How does the role of digital tie in with it? Cause I know digital and I know that to this kind of stuff up. So how do those two how are those two things married together to be more successful?
00:19:56
Speaker
From my perspective, really, any business should have a solid online presence. That's my background. That's what I did. And buts I learned there's really companies like BusyWeb out there doing it well. And so I think from my perspective, having a solid online presence and pairing that up with some sort of physical paper marketing. To me, it's like the one-two punch, right? So they get your flyer, they look you up on Google. Are you legit? Do you have good five-star reviews? Do you have a good website? Is it easy to schedule an appointment with that, with your website? And so from my perspective, it's really about matching what you're how you're appearing online with how you're appearing offline.
00:20:45
Speaker
Okay. So I think we're 20 minutes in. And I think the big question that I have is probably the big question that a lot of our listeners are. What's the ah ROI had this, if I gave you some money and you're running a campaign and like you talked about minimum 2,500. So I imagine that doesn't mean that you're.
00:21:04
Speaker
I get two or three drops out of that, right? You're not doing 2,500 and a run. Oftentimes, we have ah some of our coverage areas. 2,500 homes is a couple of neighborhoods, right? I suppose, yeah. you know um So ah ROI, just like anything, it depends. right Have you ever heard of that one?
00:21:23
Speaker
On the flyer side, oftentimes the clients are the one measuring their return. right So we're setting up the flyer. They're using their own custom QR code that's tied back to their system rather than our system with the door-to-door flyer distribution. ah Anecdotally, I can say are we work with a painting company here in the Twin Cities.
00:21:45
Speaker
that has been doing flyer delivery for, I don't know, five, 10 years now. They're very consistent about it. We're delivering quite a bit of flyers each and every week. I know that we delivered, their cost on the flyers this year was around $140,000 in flyer delivery.
00:22:06
Speaker
And from that $140,000 in advertising spend, they were able to attribute back $2.1 million in closed painting deals. Wow.
00:22:19
Speaker
Yeah. That's massive. So do you have, and we talked about this a little bit with the database and and collecting the data. Do you have a recommended CRM that you like people to use or is there at least do a Google sheet or something? So they're tracking all this.
00:22:39
Speaker
So with the larger home service companies, they tend to be on it. right were If they're investing that kind of dollars into flyers, they're also investing a fair amount into direct mail, into online. So they're running their systems.
00:22:54
Speaker
With the local pizza shop, they're not running a sophisticated CRM. right So my program, i'm I would say I'm more ah CRM agnostic and really here on the direct mail side, I can capture all that information and send it to you in a spreadsheet. On the flyer side, they're often running their own URLs or their own QR code. So i yeah i don't really From my perspective, it's more about delivering good designed pieces of paper and letting them track it within falling within their system. I'm super curious because I know that there's a lot of different approaches to certainly flyers. and Have you had any campaigns over the past couple of years since you've taken over the business that have truly just absolutely rocked or stood out or you're like, oh man, that was clever.
00:23:50
Speaker
We really go for clear over clever. So if you look at most of our ah our flyers, what you'll notice is it's got some sort of Twin Cities painters, right? So some sort of geography and oftentimes we'll get even more granular, but this is just a generic one. What they do, we've got a beautiful picture. We've got a logo on it.
00:24:08
Speaker
On the back, we've got the founder's picture on it. um so we've got ah From my perspective, it's really about being super simple, super clear, and not trying to make people overthink.
00:24:20
Speaker
We're exposed, yeah, it hits the big things. You need a trust factor. You need a brand factor. You need a clear, concise message. I totally get that. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. And along those lines, we work with some pretty, pretty big organizations that really have us, for lack of better words, dumb down the creative. They want it super simple. They want it to appear that maybe the founder who's on the back of the flyer, like maybe it was him that stopped by and dropped that off. We're really going for that.
00:24:50
Speaker
Local, we were in your neighborhood feel versus, Hey, this is some big sophisticated ad campaign. It's really, we're trying to appear as local as possible. What does success mean for flyer campaign? And really take some time to blow this out. Cause I know that there are probably specific metrics that you ask your clients to judge you by and then you meet them. So what are those?
00:25:18
Speaker
Ultimately, it's closed business. But how do you get to closed business? The number of either form fills or follow-up calls from those flyers. So those are things that the best organizations are tracking. And then
00:25:35
Speaker
That's why we're doing marketing, right? Is closed business. There's other metrics. Did we deliver on time? Did we hit all the streets in the neighborhood? Did we? Things like that. But really, what really matters is, did the phone start ringing? I've got one one specific client in mind. I know if we're behind on flyer deliveries because his phone, he's got his cell phone number on the flyer. Holy moly.
00:25:59
Speaker
And if if his phone calls go down, he's calling me saying, Tracy, what's going on this week? is hey ah He does a small amount of flyers a week and it's we just haven't gotten to your order yet. Just they're on the schedule. They'll be out. yeah You can feel that sometimes.
00:26:14
Speaker
One of the things that we do sometimes in digital campaigns is we'll set up a specific unique phone number so to use. And we'll even use like a, like an online a system because clients will say, Oh, I didn't get any phone calls today. No, you got 12. How come I didn't answer any of them? That's a good question. Cause you were busy working with 12. You got the the last day. So phone calls is a metric amount of flyers is delivered a percentage of delivery and a neighbor in a zip code. What do you offer for success metrics?
00:26:44
Speaker
Each and every week, where we send a report that says, here's what the goal was. Here's how many you asked us to deliver. Here's how many we actually delivered. Here is the map with the GPS tracks on it. and And here's the video proof. So that's what we're reporting on a weekly basis. And then again, our clients are responsible for tracking the, you know, did the phone ring, did they get the form fills? And that' that's how they have really set it up. And from my perspective, it makes our
00:27:18
Speaker
job a little bit easier because they're working within their systems versus trying to work with a system that we're setting up. And some are more sophisticated than others, right? I work with a multinational that happens to have a large presence here in the Twin Cities and they've got their own systems all set up. There's no way they would ever try to work within my system. And then you've got the other guy who literally it's a cell phone number that says, call or text, so on. So I don't, yeah.
00:27:44
Speaker
I don't necessarily want to be setting up my own system when there's varying levels of aptitude and abilities on that side of it. For the call or texts or I suppose QR codes, are there magic or over-performing calls to action to to keep it in marketing geek speak. Is there one thing that you know is going to be foolproof? Is the QR code better than a text here or a phone number? So QR codes have performed very well this year and specifically the the organizations that I do have some purview to because I office with two of my biggest clients. So they keep me in the loop of what's going on.
00:28:26
Speaker
So the QR codes have performed very well this year and both of them, their call to action is schedule a free estimate. And they have both the phone number and the QR code, but the QR code has been hit more than the phone number has been called. I want to get back to the video thing because I think as ah as an offering, I think it's tremendous. But as video proof, does anybody actually break it down and look through that and go, oh,
00:28:55
Speaker
Janice, skip to house. Let's get her. Yeah. So we reviewed through them before we cut pay payroll. That's part of our internal process is to make sure that they're being delivered. Typically, the only time clients are looking through that is, from my experience, if they believe that something's not being delivered.
00:29:18
Speaker
I wish that people looked through them more because we spent a lot of time uploading the videos and we spent a fair amount of money housing all of this data. But yeah, I would like to think it's being viewed more often, but it's really a, if something went wrong, let's go back to the video and and review it.
00:29:36
Speaker
Yeah, I think we're going to that and some in some of our business too. Yeah. It's easier. Because there's some sort of an AI tool that you use to hoover all that up and say, okay, here's, I'm going to load all the database and load the video in or something. Because man, that seems like a ah massive pain to to try and manage.
00:29:53
Speaker
So we don't yet we're we've been exploring different app-based solutions. but We haven't come up with anything and we've went through all of the off-the-shelf stuff. There's a ton of really good apps for door-to-door sales where you're clicking off each house and you're making a note. But our team, because we're just moving, we don't have time to click off of each house. That would slow our team down. We've experimented with that. There are no off-the-shelf flyer delivery services that will actually call me back. I think these are apps that people started and then maybe abandon them. Do you have a door hanger in front of their offices or something? i you think We tried. Anyway, so we're looking at developing some applications, but we just haven't gotten there yet. I put this out there. If anybody knows of something, I'm always willing to listen because we don't know what we don't know at this point.
00:30:49
Speaker
Is this your first business that you've owned? The second business that I owned. Yep. Okay. So what are you doing differently this time that you can do the right the first time? Well, I own the first one as well still. Yeah. So you bought Paperboy and then you bought the second one. So I own a consulting business fractional. In fact, you were talking about fractional tactical. Yeah. um I should learn more about that. That's a main driver. Fractionaltactical.com.
00:31:17
Speaker
fractionaltactical.com. so yeah so bill three So that's a marketing strategy business. And when you talk about it, we I do strategy for a few different clients and then work with other folks to implement it. So that's going and then we've got Paperboy Marketing and then the direct mail business. But the question was, what have I learned?
Business Growth and Community Value
00:31:39
Speaker
The biggest thing that I feel like that I've learned is it's really important to document processes.
00:31:46
Speaker
Sales and marketing, I really enjoy and and it feels to come easier for me. I'm a really great starter, but I'm not a great finisher. So surrounding myself with people that are good finishers is has been really important. And then documenting those processes and being very clear at the front end of it, so that's the final result is what I want it to be. Knowing your numbers financially,
00:32:13
Speaker
It sounds obvious, but when you're running really hard and focusing on the top line, the bottom line can get missed. And just having a better understanding of managing expenses and things like that ah have been a couple really big things that I've learned this year.
00:32:31
Speaker
So what's in terms of, give us an example of an expense management issue that you had that you can, if you feel comfortable sharing, because part of the part of this is we want people to learn and entrepreneurship is such a challenging enterprise. And I think you're probably in a wholly qualified to take it on. Every enterprise has its own unique set of challenges and issues. Absolutely. but Well, so I,
00:32:58
Speaker
did owner financing. I'm part of my deal with Paperboy and I've been very aggressive about paying that off. And so I was paying very aggressively at the beginning of the year and we oversold what we had capacity to do.
00:33:15
Speaker
So I needed, we hired so many people, but we needed even more capacity to help with delivery. So I worked with a temporary staffing agency to fill the gap. And so on one end, I was paying down the the loan very aggressively. And on the other end, I was working with temporary staffing to fill the orders that we had. And those two things basically put me in ah a little bit of a cat crunch at the beginning of the year. And so I had to slow back my aggressive pay down and get back on the same. We had originally agreed on it. I'd have to be doing it overly aggressively. And then I had to figure out a way to
00:34:02
Speaker
hire more people. So I wasn't so heavily reliant on the temporary staffing. And so in all of that, we're in the middle of our busy season. and my My number was, how many flyers am I getting out this week versus what is that doing on the bottom line? So that was i hope that was our situation and a good learning opportunity. we We cruised through it, but it was a little dicey for a few weeks. Tracy, it's just amazing that you're thinking about this in advance and paying forward and all of those things. We work with a lot of entrepreneurs in our work, in our life at BusyWeb, and I can't tell you how many of the clients that we've had have we've had to counsel and say, ah you need to slow down a little bit. like The marketing is great, and but they get one big hit or they come in. we had we had actually A friend of mine had a door and window business that he sold, and the new owner,
00:34:57
Speaker
didn't take into account that he had to purchase the windows and the doors. So he saw that he had $14 million dollars in contracts for the next year. And he bought himself a new truck and a $2 million dollars house and was going on vacations with his family all the time. And then all of a sudden at the end of the first year, he came up and he had a $4 million dollar deficit coming up and watching and not getting romanced by the big numbers or when numbers are good, you have to think about seasonality and all of those other things. So I love that you're telling everybody to to watch the numbers and be proactive. yeah You're going to be massively successful.
00:35:38
Speaker
yeah Yeah. And that's something that I tend to advise people to is you're going to start a business. The first thing you need to buy is a domain name. And then the second thing is you need to find a qualified person who understands accounting to lean on. So that kind of thing happens. And I think Tracy, you're learning is and another illustrative one is.
00:36:01
Speaker
Especially coming from sales like you do and I do is the tendency to out kick your coverage is so tantalizing But at the end of the day if you can't If you can't fulfill something that you sell, did you really sell something in the first place? Exactly. I like that. Yeah, absolutely. And that that's something I struggled with as well. If somebody's thinking about, yeah, we talked about the negative. What are the positives of owning your own business that you've really enjoyed that because you've gone through some interesting lifestyle. We're not going to get into that because that's between you and you, but how does this change you to further
00:36:40
Speaker
Absolutely. So first of all, just that sense of ownership. right For me personally, that is something that I've always wanted, but never really had. And so just when I'm doing work at 10 o'clock on a Tuesday night, it's not I don't have feelings of, man, why am I working this hard for somebody else? So that's that's a positive on the... Just working, it just feels lighter. Even though it's heavier work, it's like, all right, I'm doing this for the lawn for the long haul. I've got a couple of kids. I really look at this as an opportunity to
00:37:15
Speaker
put them in a place long-term that I think will be very beneficial. It's allowed for some flexibility. I work more, but I've got more flexibility of when I work. So that has also been really beneficial. And then it's just opened up a lot of doors for personal relationships that I might not have. So I'm involved in a ah business group.
00:37:41
Speaker
that right just being around other folks that are doing this, I learn a lot from them. And I feel i just feel like we're making progress just personally and and professionally. so There's a loneliness in sales that nobody really talks to. And there's a loneliness in ownership that nobody really talks to. And Dave, you were very sad because you're on our busy web too.
00:38:06
Speaker
Absolutely. I think it's important to find other people that are in similar spots as you. So sales teams, owner teams, could be as as simple or as complicated as a peer group, or even just getting together for beers. so If you ever want to stop by, I know you know exactly where the offices are because they used to office across the street from our offices. but Did you really? I don't know. Yeah. I used to work right across the highway from you guys.
00:38:34
Speaker
ah fun out look up That was before they built that ah that's in the strip mall, but then they built those other buildings. Well, they were built. I would look out the window, I would see Busy Web. Yeah, it was right and right next to the subway and they knocked down the gas station, which I was very sad about.
00:38:51
Speaker
and they put up a Starbucks and now we see a constant group of people coming through. But it's been so tremendous hanging out with you, Tracy, and learning what you guys do at Paperboy and with your other businesses.
Closing Remarks and Contact Information
00:39:04
Speaker
how do How does everybody find you and how can they keep up? If someone's listening and they're like, man, I need to get some hangers out, how do they find you?
00:39:12
Speaker
Probably the easiest way is Google Tracy Kelly MN or Tracy Kelly LinkedIn. LinkedIn is where the easiest way to to connect with me. The other thing is you can always send an email tracy at paperboymarketing dot.com, but always looking to connect with people, pay it forward. If you're thinking about starting a business or you are starting a business or you're in marketing, you're you're in sales. I've had a lot of people offer a lot of really good advice to me, and I'm always willing to have a conversation and see if I can be helpful. or useful. Awesome. Thank you so much for the time, Tracy, and thank you so much for the education. I feel like I know a little bit more about that.
00:39:50
Speaker
Dave classing inspirational final thoughts. I know I have one or two. Yeah. Why don't you go first and then I'll try and one up. I think this is a great example about how all marketing is not a good idea for everyone. As Tracy was talking about the efficacy of local home service based businesses. This is a great opportunity for those people to really get right in front of those people and do the things that are going to help move the needle for them. And, but is this something that If you sell Medicare insurance, is this something that you can, should you be doing? Nope, not at all. And I think one of the, one of the takeaways is always knowing who and where your customer is and then how to talk to them in the way that which is a appropriate is always helpful. How about you?
00:40:37
Speaker
I agree completely and one of the funnest parts for me about this podcast series with Dial It In, we're connecting with entrepreneurs who are super smart, who are doing things differently and learning and adjusting and moving forward.
00:40:54
Speaker
I had no clue that door hangers had video proof. That's amazing. That's so cool. I'm going to think twice about walking around in my boxers in my house if I see somebody coming up. It's so cool to get the technology and the systems behind something that you'd think is relatively simple. So Tracy, I'm just super impressed with the way your business is run and with the results that you're getting for your clients. And thank you for being a guest. This is tremendous.
00:41:29
Speaker
Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Really excited to be here and enjoy this conversation. Thanks Tracy. This has been another episode of Dial It In produced by Nicole Fairclough and Andy Wachowski. And with apologies to Tony Kornheiser, we will continue to try and do better the next time.