Page 8 - Spring 2013 Hardlines Strategies

8 Spring 2013 • Hardlines Strategies
“This event was a good way to get
female customers in and increase their
interest in what we have,” Schmidt says.
She says she also spotlighted a few
popular projects that she had posted
on the store’s Pinterest site by stocking
the store’s endcaps with the necessary
materials to do those projects.
Schmidt says she plans to build on the
momentum of last year’s events. “We
learned a lot from the first one,” Schmidt
says. “We plan to offer sales and hand out
coupons to bring customers back to the
store for any products they didn’t purchase
on the spot.”
Staff at the store also created a survey
to find out what their customers would
want at the next Ladies’ Night.
Salute to Veterans
A special event isn’t the only way
to say thank you to your customers.
The staff at Randall Lumber in Taos,
N.M., show their appreciation to their
customers who have served in the
military with a special discount. But it’s
a little different than other discounts
out there.
Veterans and active service men and
women who shop at the store receive a
discount in the form of sales tax for a
purchase of any size.
There are signs in the store advertising
the discount—which is a little more
than 8 percent—and Paula Randall
Ervin, co-owner and general manager,
says they do some radio advertising as
well. Customers just have to ask for
the discount and show an ID proving
they’re a veteran or currently active in
the military.
“We have a few veterans who work
for us,” Ervin says, “and we’re a small
community and know a lot of people
who have served our country, and we
thought we’d like to do something to say
thank you.”
A Great Day for Golf
After chatting with a golf pro while
playing a round of golf one day, Michael
Pelster, secretary-treasurer, of the Ogallala,
Neb., location of Kildare Lumber, decided
to offer a golf scramble for the company’s
sales team and some customers, including
contractors and suppliers.
“I threw the event together, not sure
what we’d get,” Pelster says. “I ended up
with 108 golfers.”
That was nearly 10 years ago. Pelster
will hold the 10th annual Kildare Classic
this September. “Ever since then, we’ve
usually gotten 144 golfers—that’s our
cutoff number,” he says.
The Kildare Classic is an invite-only
event that rotates between three local
golf courses. It’s held at the end of
September, when the weather is still nice
but when contractors are ready for a
break near the end of their busy season.
The event includes plenty of prizes,
too, which suppliers donate. A different
supplier sponsors each hole.
“On the first hole, we see who can hit
the longest drive with the club provided,
and there are prizes for every hole,”
Pelster says. “Some prizes are for bad
golfers. Last year, the last-place team got
golf lessons.
“It’s a fun event,” Pelster says. “How
often do you get to meet up with your top
customers and do something like this? It’s
probably one of our best events.”
PROMOTIONS
More Ideas that Work
• Hold a fishing tournament for
your customers. Sponsor a day
at a nearby fishing hole and
provide lunch and prizes for
the biggest catch.
• Have a dinner for your con-
tractor customers. This event
works well around Christmas
or in the winter when their
schedules might be slower.
• If one of your major vendors has
a factory nearby, take key cus-
tomers there on a field trip. This
will increase your customers’
loyalty to your key vendors.
• Hold a knife show or knife swap
event. It’s a natural fit if you
have a niche in knives and will
draw collectors and enthusiasts
from neighboring towns.
• If you have a large parking lot,
set aside a Saturday for a farm-
ers’ market and invite local
farmers and gardeners to sell
their produce. It’s a good time
to promote canning supplies
and other cooking and food
preservation items.
• Invite children to a build-it-
yourself workshop day. Show
them how to assemble a
simple project, like a birdhouse
or a planter box. Time the
event around Mother’s Day or
Father’s Day so the assembled
project becomes a gift.
Employees at Builders post project ideas on
the store’s Pinterest page, then use endcaps to
highlight projects along with the items needed
to complete it.