‘Frank talk about Selling Lobsters By The Boatload Part 2’ by Troy White

Troy White’s latest ‘Total Package’ article is titled “Frank talk about Selling Lobsters By The Boatload Part 2”. [Article]

Troy White’s latest ‘Total Package’ article:

Frank talk about Selling Lobsters By The Boatload Part 2

Fellow Business-Builders,

You are going to love the rest of this success story!

If you haven’t read the first half, make sure you go back to last week’s article and go through the details.

Brendan Ready shared with me his brilliant strategy for selling a commodity type product for huge margins over his competitors.

Some of the things he covered in our last week’s article …

– Do what your competitors aren’t willing to do to open up new territories.

– Go where the real money is … and charge appropriately.

– Find areas that are not being served properly.

– Be creative in how you pay your team members ““ get them excited about how much they can make … and how much of a mini-celebrity you are making them.

– Charge very high premiums for a unique service and product that creates an unforgettable experience … one they can’t wait to share with their friends.

– Plus a lot more was covered … make sure you read it!

back to the interview …

Brendan: We put together our DVDs, our stories of the lobstermen ““ we do interactive phone calls where the fisherman will actually call these people. We’ll send e-mails from the individual lobstermen detailing their trip out at sea.

We want to bring our customer as close to possible to the water as we can. What we demand from our customer is as much information about them so we can tailor each program to their needs and their benefit.

For instance, Troy, we have several customers who bought into this partnership and they’ve got kids and they thought it would be exciting for them to learn about the waterfront and the industry.

What we do is provide e-mail videos from our boat from an education standpoint if the customers are interested, detailing the educational aspects of the industry.

We’re teaming up with the Maine Research Institute next door, who specializes in marine education for fifth and sixth graders. We’ll put together any program we need to, usually on DVDs or video e-mail, to interact with our customers, along with making sure we don’t miss a birthday or anniversary.

When they think they’re just buying a lobster trap and receiving some gourmet lobster dinners, what they’re really getting is a relationship that we want to build for years to come.

We want to know as much about our customers so we can provide them with as much service as we possibly can. I think that’s been the most exciting part, to have some of these customers with the net wealth that they have to be calling our small little office here in Maine and asking how their fisherman is doing this week, sitting down on the phone for half hour with Wendy, who’s in charge of our customer relations management, and telling their stories and their childhoods of visiting Maine here, or any stories they have of the working waterfront.

To see that relationship grow in a three-month period just shows what we can do over the course of a year. Again, as I always tell people, it’s not just the lobsters and the gourmet dinners you’re getting, and it’s not even just the experience you’re getting, you’re really getting a relationship that nobody else can have except you and these other 400 people for year one.

Troy: So 400, that’s your goal for the first year?

Brendan: For the first year. We said 400 partners is the complete service we’re looking for. Right now, we have a waiting list of lobstermen who want to join the program, to fish and trap and be involved in the program, so we will be looking to expand for 2009.

We’re also ““ not to get off topic ““ we’re also putting together several corporate programs through our same brand and our same experience, where we’re opening this up to businesses to get involved for their top clients, customers, and employees, just because it’s such a fun and exciting program.

Troy: Oh, I could see corporations would be all over this. We’ll have to talk later about the city I’m in. It’s the most affluent in Canada and one of the most affluent in North America and there’s no water near us, so you could be a very good fit to be marketing up here.

You’ve accomplished a lot in the first three months. What type of challenges has that caused with that type of growth and a brand new business that’s been launched really.

Brendan: It’s a little different for us because now we have two businesses. I’m still operating Ready Seafoods here. There are about 11 employees here at Ready Seafoods. We’re still shipping millions of pounds of live lobsters all across the world every day. It’s what we do.

Then in the same facility, I’ve got Catch a Piece of Maine, so the challenge for us as a business owner is where am I going to be focusing my time and my brother’s time that’s going to most benefit both companies, and bringing people aboard, finding the right people to allow each business to grow, has been a challenge for us. It’s a fun challenge.

Now we’ve gone through our first little wave. Like any business start-up you get that first pop I guess of PR. We were in USA Today. It’s a very viral story.

Now the challenge for a business like us is you’re now in the position where we had a great start, a great two to three months. How do keep the positive impact growing? How do you not get in a rut in any down time?

Time is so valuable for a small company because you only have so much of it. How do you maximize your time? What type of programs do you put forth to gain your next 200 customers?

In that aspect, you want to make sure you find the right 200 customers. You want the customers that are going to grow with you, not somebody who’s just buying this because they’ll just buy it and maybe not get as involved as some of the other customers.

We want our customers to get involved, because the more involved they get the higher retention rate we have for years two, three, and four.

Troy: I would think too, the right customers, the more involved they are, the more of their friends they would refer.

Brendan: This is a very viral program, meaning that customers tell their friends about it. We’ve got some of these customers who carry a picture of their lobsterman around in their purse wherever they’re going. They carry their DVD with them when they go to parties and what not, and put it in just because it’s so fun for them to say they have their own lobsterman here in Maine. “Look what he sent me for my birthday.”

That’s been fun to hear on our part. That’s more rewarding than any amount of money that we could get, is to hear that customers are getting involved in our industry that we’re so passionate about.

Troy: Oh yeah, I can imagine. I had written down earlier as you were talking that I could see that a lot of your customers/partners must be having almost like lobster parties where their friends come in and they watch the DVD during or after dinner and have a pretty good chat about what you guys are doing and how you’re doing it.

Brendan: It’s a great way. You could do it once a month the way it works. You could have a lobster trap and do that once a month, have your best friends or clients come over and have a lobster party with the new DVD of what’s going on here in Maine.

I think people have done that, and that’s how it really grows. It’s fun for me, Troy, for a small business owner who’s really passionate about what they’re doing, you want to see it grow and do as well as possible.

That’s why for us now ““ we had our first real pop ““ now it’s time to be more strategic and put together some real strong marketing programs tailored to our customers and really see what we can grow this business into.

Troy: Yeah. As I mentioned earlier, a real focus and interest and passion of mine is those companies that do market to the affluent and how they market.

A lot of everything that I’ve done on my own personal research and what I’ve read and what I’ve sold into that market, there’s just not enough people selling customized programs like you’re doing that are tailored for people for whom the price is really secondary. It’s not what they buy based on.

They’re looking for ““ like you say ““ a really unique experience, something that they can talk about and tell their friends, and in your case show the picture of their lobsterman.

Brendan: Yeah. We’ve seen it here. Being in Maine in a small little town, in the summer in Portland we have a lot of tourists come through. Some of our bankers, for example, will have their bigwigs call them down in the summer and they’ll be going out on the town.

They always used to take them down to our facility here. We’d give them a tour about the lobsters and take them out on the boat and show them the experience.

We’ve been getting e-mails and letters for years saying, “Thank you. This is the best thing I’ve ever had,” and those are the type of people that we found it just means that much to them. They’re looking for something that special. This is the type of person that we want to go after.

The only tricky part for us is, again being a small business when you’re starting with limited resources, is finding the smartest and most strategic approach to target these customers.

As you know, when you’re marketing or selling to a high net-worth individual, these are people who ““ not that they hide ““ but they do a very good job at keeping to themselves, not being bothered by the regular mass mailing advertisement.

That’s not what’s going to get them involved in this program and that’s what’s a little tricky for us, finding the best ways of finding these people and putting our product in front of them.

We’ve found our success rate, once we get our product in front of them and you get a chance to converse with them, is extremely high. It’s just a matter of finding the right people to tell about our program.

Troy: So you mentioned that you’re going to be launching ““ well, I know you probably don’t want to talk about it now ““ but rather than the media word-of-mouth are you trying to find new and more direct channels to get to the high net-worth individuals?

Brendan: We are. We’re looking for both direct channels and just pretty creative programs we’re putting forth here. For example, in the state of Maine we’re putting together a program with all the people who have Maine homes and second residences, these are people who already have a connection with the state of Maine who only come here sometimes two or three weeks out of the year. We’re finding ways to target these people.

We’ve looked at other avenues and channel partners to reach these high net-worth individuals to sell our program, but it’s much more effective when we sell direct to these people because that’s really what the program is about. They want to have a direct relationship with us.

But at the same time, there are other channels out there who already have means of distribution to these people, so it’s tempting at times to change our strategy and to try to leverage these other distribution channels to access these high net-worth individuals.

Troy: Right, ok. I’m amazed on how much you’ve accomplished in such a short period of time. Outside of your schooling, is there any business inspiration you’ve had, anyone that you follow or learn from?

Brendan: The best example I can say is the industry itself here. It’s built on hard work and passion. I had a great education, my brother had a great education, but other than that no. We built Ready Seafoods out of really hard work and sweat. I think those three years of building that business gave us a great appreciation of what you need to do to succeed.

We feel like whatever we do we’re going to succeed at, as long as we do it smart and strategically.

Catch a Piece of Maine, dealing with the clientele is something I wasn’t 100% familiar with, and I’ll be honest with you, Troy, since launching this I consider this like my college education. It’s a complete learning experience and I want to make sure I make the most out of my learning experience.

These customers I’ve gotten so far are helping me learn more about their needs and their wants, and it’s my job to satisfy them and the new customers that come in with everything I learn.

I wish I could say I had somebody on board here that kind of showed us, gave us a guideline and a rope to follow, but I’ll be completely honest with you, we’ve just kind of done it our way. We’ve learned from our mistakes. We found what works and what doesn’t.

We’re definitely not perfectly on top of the marketing and sales here at Catch a Piece of Maine, but we do have a great appreciation to learn. The hard work and the passion with what we’re doing give us a really strong future.

Troy: I would say you’ve got more than a very strong future. I think you’re setting a lot of new trends here that people will be trying to catch up to you for a long time to come.

Brendan: That’s another thing you did mention. That’s the only issue that makes us need to move fast. Like any business, if somebody comes out with a new idea that’s working, you have a lot of competitors nipping at your heels. We’ve already found that starting out with Catch a Piece of Maine for three months.

What we’ve put out there, people have seen it, and we’ve had people try to copy the idea and try to do something similar. That’s fine because it’s the way the market grows, but there’s a little sense of urgency on our part in terms of finishing our goals to really grow our brand.

That’s what makes us work a little faster than maybe, not that we’d like, but any business you get in you’re going to have competitors. You’ve got to find a way to differentiate yourself.

We have a few new ideas that will completely blow any competitor away from us over the next probably six months. It’s pretty exciting new stuff for our project.

Troy: Excellent. I don’t know if you want to share this, but it kind of works into that ““ do you have a big picture goal here you’re trying to achieve past the first year?

Brendan: I do. First thing you notice from our customer base of three months is they already want more. They’ve already got this trap, this membership, they want to get more involved, this affluent customer.

So what we’re doing is we’re planning on putting together a complete package for our customers where we’re going to be putting on a vacation experience for all our customers to come out here and be a lobsterman for a weekend, stay at a private residence, and basically enjoy Maine how we enjoy it every day.

That’s what we want to really bring it into is a full-service experience here as a destination, not just from the comfort of your computer and your lobsterman online, but we want to bring that experience to life and we’re offering that to our customers. They’re actually going to be coming out here and spending the weekend.

I think it also taps into the corporate market we’re getting into, with executives coming out.

Troy: Excellent, I love that.

Brendan: That’s where it’s going to. We’re learning from our customers and we’re trying to give them more of what they want. What we’re finding is let’s complete the experience, so that’s what we’ll be offering.

I have some other fun stuff, but I don’t want to jinx anything so I won’t throw anything else out there.

Troy: Ok. We’ll have to get back in touch here shortly and I’ll have to get involved in your program and tell everyone so I can stay up-to-date with what you’re doing here.

I just have two more questions here. Based on your experience with what you’re doing now with Catch a Piece of Maine, what advice would you leave to other business owners who are looking for ways to grow their business or become more profitable or grow in different markets?

Brendan: To grow in different markets ““ that’s a good one. Sometimes when you’re wrapped up as a small business owner ““ this is what happened to us for three years ““ you’re so busy and driven to look at today and tomorrow, it’s really hard sometimes to step back and look at a year from now, I guess.

You get so wrapped up in your day-to-day business and the products that you’re already offering. Sometimes as a small business owner you don’t have time to think outside the box, to be as creative as you really could be.

So our best advice is even if you’re doing really well, you’ve got a good business going, it really makes sense sometimes to step outside of your business. Take a week off and be creative. Think of what’s out there. Think of what you have for customers. Think what else you could offer them and think if there’s some way or how could you create more value in your company than you already have.

Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in your day-to-day activities, and the other thing is for us we’re never satisfied to be stagnant. There’s always the possibility to grow. I think once you get comfortable, I think that’s when you stop growing. With us, we’re never comfortable. We’re always looking at the next option.

Troy: Absolutely fabulous, Brendan.

For everyone here, can you let them know how to get a hold of you where they can find out more information on your program?

Brendan: The best way right now is at the website, so you can get an idea and put a face to the voice. That’s always helpful. That’s www.CatchAPieceOfMaine.com.

You can learn more about us at the website. There’s also a toll-free number at 1-877-222-4630. Either one you can get a hold of us.

If somebody goes on the website, you can just go under my name there and send me an e-mail directly from the website.

Troy: That’s actually how I got in touch with you, and you were very quick on getting back so thank you.

Brendan: I appreciate it. When I get a chance to talk about it, it’s fun for me.

Troy: I absolutely love your story, Brendan. I’ll do everything I can to help you spread the word. I really want to thank you for your time. I know you’ve probably got a lot on your plate right now. So thank you so much.

Brendan: I’m about to pop in a birthday DVD actually, so that’s about the extent of my afternoon is to watch this.

Troy: I guess most of your busy time is early in the day too, when you’re out on the boat.

Brendan: We work on Ready Seafood from around 4 in the morning to 11 in the morning, then I try to change gears and then I’ll work upstairs on Catch a Piece of Maine and really try to hammer it out till probably 6:00 my time is what I try to work. It’s usually seven days a week is the only problem.

But we’re putting in our time to grow it now. I’m sure down the road it’s going to pay off when I don’t have to work seven days a week. I’ll be very happy that I put in this time when I’m 25.

Troy: Well, this is fabulous. Thank you so much. Don’t go away, I want to just thank you and then I’ll shut off the recorder here, but thank you so much. I really do appreciate your time.

I hope everyone was taking notes while they were listening. I’ve got three pages here. That was some wonderful content you gave us. Thank you so much.

Brendan: You’re very welcome.

Be yourself this holiday season in your promotions … have some fun … be unusual … and give them some good reasons to buy from you.

This story with Brendan is packed with ideas that any business can implement. Remember, many of these ideas are “basic” to those of us who study marketing like we do … but few are actually implementing them.

Advanced ideas are useless if the basics aren’t being done first.

And look what happens when you implement the basic ideas into new industries!

Well over a million in three months … just a few lessons to learn from this.

Find a few ways to make these lessons work for your business …

‘Seven Easy Ways to Get Other People to Do Your Work’ – ‘The Total Package’ Week in Review

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*IMNewsWatch would like to thank Clayton Makepeace for granting permission to reprint this article.