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Starbucks on Anna? June 28, 2005

luke hurley and bird pattersonI’m always interested in new marketing approaches and I recently read about two ideas that seem worthy of more consideration. The first comes from Rosa where she describes an investment banker that buys everyone coffee at the local Starbucks once a week. Here’s how Rosa describes it:

This morning Kerwin and I walked into a Prescott Starbucks and both ordered their strong-brew coffee of the day to then find it was free. The barista at the cash register motioned over to a gentleman sitting in an animated discussion with a group of about six others, and said, “Your coffee is on Mr. Perez this morning.”

As Kerwin stirred cream and sugar into his coffee, we read a poster on the wall right above the condiment station with a picture of Mr. Perez’s smiling face explaining that every Wednesday morning from 8:30am-9:30am he buys coffee at that Starbucks for all his customers and anyone else who wants to talk story with him about investment banking and Prescott’s promising future.

Another idea I find very interesting comes from Philip Greenspun who says that real estate commissions are too low!!! He recommends that agents raise their commissions to a much higher level like 25%. But here’s the catch. He recommends that the commission should be 25% over the assessed value of the home. This way, an agent who excels at selling homes for more would be richly rewarded for their effort and sellers would benefit by making sure the agent does not accept an inferior offer in order to get a quick sale.

If I was to try something like this I would want to make sure that the seller was willing to listen to my advice in terms of making cost-effective improvements in order to maximize the sale price. If that sounds like you, then let’s talk!

Thanks to Business Opportunities Weblog and grow-a-brain for pointing out these great articles.

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Comments»

1. Rosa Say - June 30, 2005

Aloha Anna, thank you for sharing my post! - and good luck with that second commission idea. My aloha to you,
Rosa

2. Seattle’s Rain City Real Estate Guide » 10 Great Conversations - August 22, 2006

[...] And talking of beautiful ideas, Claudia Wicks mentions a very simple marketing idea ($1.50 simple) that could go a long way… There’s a beauty in simplicity (and it reminds me of an idea that Anna and I were batting around a while back…) [...]