chaos945
OSNN Senior Addict
- Joined
- 10 Feb 2003
- Messages
- 934
I have a problem I'd like to get some feedback on.
I live in a small town surrounded by small towns. Our population is 3000 and the surrounding small towns are all in the 10-20000 range. The nearest neighbor is 80km away. This means that the availability of advertising space is pretty limited. We have one tiny mall with 5 or 6 stores in it. Including one electronics store.
When I first moved here I worked for that electronics store as their computer tech. They weren't paying me enough so I found other work, but continued to accept customers needing their computers repaired from this electronics store for some extra cash.
For the first few months I got all the cash, then the owner of the store decided he wanted 50%. I figured since I basically just had to sit back and wait for customers to come from this store without much effort from me 50% was very high, but acceptable. Afterall I still have my own customers coming in from other sources of advertising around town. My own customers of course I received all the profit.
Lately I have been expanding my advertising budget. I had a 3'x4x sign made up with by business logo and number on it. I contacted the owner of the mall and we agreed that $50 a month to display the sign was reasonable. However, because of the nature of business of the electronics store in the mall, the landlord wanted to get his feedback before agreeing to put my sign up.
Now here is where it I am in indecicion. Basically the owner of the electronics store has said he is not comfortable with the sign going up. Therefore the owner of the mall won't be letting it go up...
Because the electronics store is high profile and has been around a long time, lots of people go there to ask where to get their computers fixed. If I don't accept repairs from there anymore it creates an opportunity for customers to come directly to me. Business I get from this electronics store is about 70% of my total repairs. That is huge even at a 50% loss. This is why my advertising budget has been expanded. Based on research the reason most people go somewhere else is because they don't know about me.
I think ethically not letting me put my sign up is wrong. But understandable, I am a large easy profit gain for the owner of the electronics store, he gets free cash for doing nothing. The mall has said because he is a tennant they are unable to accomodate competitive business entering the mall.
My hard decision is, do I:
1.) Find another place to put my sign and continue accepting work from the owner of the electronics store. Keep some profit but lose customers and 50% of all repairs.
2.) Find another place to put my sign and tell the owner of the electronics store to go FU%K his hat. Lose 70% of my current sales, but possibly allow customers to come directl to me.
I live in a small town surrounded by small towns. Our population is 3000 and the surrounding small towns are all in the 10-20000 range. The nearest neighbor is 80km away. This means that the availability of advertising space is pretty limited. We have one tiny mall with 5 or 6 stores in it. Including one electronics store.
When I first moved here I worked for that electronics store as their computer tech. They weren't paying me enough so I found other work, but continued to accept customers needing their computers repaired from this electronics store for some extra cash.
For the first few months I got all the cash, then the owner of the store decided he wanted 50%. I figured since I basically just had to sit back and wait for customers to come from this store without much effort from me 50% was very high, but acceptable. Afterall I still have my own customers coming in from other sources of advertising around town. My own customers of course I received all the profit.
Lately I have been expanding my advertising budget. I had a 3'x4x sign made up with by business logo and number on it. I contacted the owner of the mall and we agreed that $50 a month to display the sign was reasonable. However, because of the nature of business of the electronics store in the mall, the landlord wanted to get his feedback before agreeing to put my sign up.
Now here is where it I am in indecicion. Basically the owner of the electronics store has said he is not comfortable with the sign going up. Therefore the owner of the mall won't be letting it go up...
Because the electronics store is high profile and has been around a long time, lots of people go there to ask where to get their computers fixed. If I don't accept repairs from there anymore it creates an opportunity for customers to come directly to me. Business I get from this electronics store is about 70% of my total repairs. That is huge even at a 50% loss. This is why my advertising budget has been expanded. Based on research the reason most people go somewhere else is because they don't know about me.
I think ethically not letting me put my sign up is wrong. But understandable, I am a large easy profit gain for the owner of the electronics store, he gets free cash for doing nothing. The mall has said because he is a tennant they are unable to accomodate competitive business entering the mall.
My hard decision is, do I:
1.) Find another place to put my sign and continue accepting work from the owner of the electronics store. Keep some profit but lose customers and 50% of all repairs.
2.) Find another place to put my sign and tell the owner of the electronics store to go FU%K his hat. Lose 70% of my current sales, but possibly allow customers to come directl to me.