Reality Bites

Now we've delivered our first classes, got some great feedback & some nice pictures of classes on the go to put on our website. I feel like we should lift off like a rocket now, only we don't.

I am not sure why, after all, I've just proved we're bloody good at this haven't I? Except we're not really selling that much. Oh, sure, we get a few orders for olive oil, balsamic & truffle honey. We've even sold places on classes in August & September & some gift vouchers, it just isn't performing like I had imagined.

Time for a reality check;

It's a great idea, we deliver a great experience, offer great value & have had great feed back. It's all great except for our sales. Which aren't. Why?

I ask around, I go to seminars & networking events. I talk to copywriters & designers, ad sales people & the one journalist I know. Consensus is that we are actually doing pretty well by some measures - 30 odd places sold from less than 300 contacts is pretty good, I'm told. But by other yardsticks, we've barely got off the ground. Take that 300 contacts. 3 months & "how much money?" to get 300 registrations on our website is quite poor. In fact, it's really really poor. You can't just place an ad & expect it to work, there's a science to it. I should have been gathering names since I first had the idea, before if possible. This is a numbers game & you need a bigger number than 300. Well, when you put it like that, it's obvious.

Sometimes it's easy to overlook the simple things. To miss the wood because of all the trees that are in the way. And sometimes you are so distracted imagining the magnificent forest that you forget all you've really done is plant a few acorns.

Now I need to water & feed them. That means looking at the marketing, which I clearly don't know anything about because what we have tried so far hasn't worked. I need to learn a lifetime of marketing in about a week & become a PR guru even quicker.

Anyone know Matthew Freud?