Adventures with Corndog: Corndog's Fish Store

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Corndog

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Lowest producing day so far. $98

As for someone stealing my business. It could happen. However in livestock it's purely about how good you are with keeping stuff alive. In general fish stores better the more they are clumped up, because the shoppers shop them all and you become a destination spot. Now I'm quite happy how it's going, but the competition is always there.

Time for my drive home. Thought I'd check right before I left the shop.
 
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Corndog

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I've got 7 Yelp reviews now. 5 of them are being filtered. Dissapointing as they're legit, but the people have only reviewed me on there. Kinda sucks that I've impressed them enough to leave a 5 star review, but since it's their first review on yelp, it's been "filtered".

On another Yelp note. I had a customer come to my shop yesterday based on my yelp reviews. They were searching for fish stores in the area.

It's very interesting that my business has been registered with yelp for months. Today after getting reviews this week. Yelp calls me wanting me to setup a "deal".

For google places. Which is the one I've been "targeting" so to speak. I've got 4 reviews there. As I already knew those reviews don't get filtered like yelp does. I put a QR code people can scan on the back of my business card that links to my google places reviews.

My thoughts were people google stuff a lot from their smart phone and when they pull up the map of where my store is my reviews will be there.

I've been asking every one who enters my store how they've heard/found me. Craigslist is the highest by a mile.

A weird thing is I've got reviews on a local fish forum. Probably 4 or 5 reviews. It's a 1-5 scale, 5 being the best. My prices are usually marked at a 3 or 4. The odd part is I know my prices are the absolute best in the state hands down. Lots of people can't believe my prices. All my dry goods are the same as online if not cheaper. I work very hard to buy goods at the best sources instead of the easiest sources. I still double my money on my products. But come in way cheaper than my competition.

For instance petco/petsmart's cheapest heater in the store is roughly $30 for a 50 watt heater. Mine is $15 for a better quality heater. To quote a petsmart employee " Wow, we have this food at $25 a bag in our store" The same bag of food is $8 in my store, and on the internet etc.

I'm trying to wrap my head around it, are people not realizing my prices are so good, or are people as a whole hesitant to rate price at a 5 because something could always be cheaper?

For promotion this Saturday there is a fish related event. I'm going to hand out a reusable tote that I get for free from Hikari which is a food manufacturer. Each tote will have a business card with the backside being redeemable for a package of frozen bloodworms. It will also have a couple of food samples that were provided by the vendor. Algae wafers and Micro pellets. I'm adding in individually wrapped sweedish fish to each bag also. I'm trying to think of something else to add to the bags that is cheap and will be appreciated.


One last promotion that has worked well for me so far is my "redeem for frozen bloodworms" business card. Petsmart employees who love my store are handing these out to customers at their store when the customer is looking for something petsmart can't provide them. I give the employee $5 store credit for each one redeemed. and the customer gets a package of frozen bloodworms. That means each lead that gets a customer into my store costs me $3.97 with 100% targeting.
 
Tmac

Tmac

Adventurer
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Corndog_sl said:
I'm trying to wrap my head around it, are people not realizing my prices are so good, or are people as a whole hesitant to rate price at a 5 because something could always be cheaper?
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Why not include a one-page brochure that compares your prices with Petsmart/Petco prices? Include things like the pet food and heater. The banner can be flashy and read: "Get more for less @ Corndog's -- Support your local fish store!".
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
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Yelp has been accused of using some under-handed tactics to get you to sign up for their paid services. You can Google around (try "businesses hate yelp" or something along those lines) to see what people are reporting. I personally haven't had a problem with them (yet) but have sat through presentations from several prominent internet advertising agencies and general consensus is that their paid services aren't worth it. What has been recommended to me is that you should try to personally respond to all reviews, even the positive ones and take advantage of their free features (uploading photos, check-in specials, etc).

Basically, Yelp can be frustrating, but don't ignore it, but also don't pay for it.
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

Mr. Poopybutthole
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opiate82_sl said:
Yelp has been accused of using some under-handed tactics to get you to sign up for their paid services. You can Google around (try "businesses hate yelp" or something along those lines) to see what people are reporting. I personally haven't had a problem with them (yet) but have sat through presentations from several prominent internet advertising agencies and general consensus is that their paid services aren't worth it. What has been recommended to me is that you should try to personally respond to all reviews, even the positive ones and take advantage of their free features (uploading photos, check-in specials, etc).

Basically, Yelp can be frustrating, but don't ignore it, but also don't pay for it.
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I ignore that crap. You build your reviews, than yelp tries to sell you services, if you deny, they remove some of your reviews. Google it. A lot of those services are horrible. Yelp, Angie's List, Service Magic, etc., all pretty much screw the businesses that advertise with them. Hell, if you tell them no, they hump your leg on the internet and advertise against you hardcore. I told Service Magic and Angie's list no, and within 24 hours, they had new banner ads every time a customer pulls my business name off the 'net, just to mess with me. Service Magic is the worst. They sell the same lead to twenty businesses for $50 a piece. So they generate $1k off of a sales call that could be 200. And then they charge you 2-5k in fees AFTER you've already cancelled their service, and make you have to challenge them in court to get the money back. What a joke.

When you look at what businesses say off of these services, you hear nightmares about them getting ripped off, and it's most all true.
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
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Yup, they are extortion artists. But unfortunately people still use Yelp to make purchasing decisions. Maybe in your industry what is on your Yelp doesn't make much of a difference, but in the restaurant industry or retail in Corndogs case, we don't have the luxury of ignoring it.
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

Mr. Poopybutthole
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opiate82_sl said:
Yup, they are extortion artists. But unfortunately people still use Yelp to make purchasing decisions. Maybe in your industry what is on your Yelp doesn't make much of a difference, but in the restaurant industry or retail in Corndogs case, we don't have the luxury of ignoring it.
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Remember, the previous owner of my business started five decades ago. I'm always going to have a baseline repeat/referral business. And I'm on billboard/radio/TV/internet/mailers. People bought pizza and fish before yelp. Don't downplay other ways to go to market, there are other ways.

I'm not going to be extorted by these companies, the stuff they do is downright criminal. Some of these companies (like Service Magic) take more in fees than the companies they serve. That's a net loss for their customers.

Find me a reputable company and I'll go with them, but I haven't seen one yet. Hell, Facebook is talking about doing some crappy things to their advertisers also.
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
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This is the thing, your Yelp page is there whether you "go with them" or not. When you search for my restaurant on Google, after my website, the next thing that shows up are Yelp reviews. You can stick your head in the sand about it but if bad reviews are piling up there (for whatever reason) and you aren't addressing them, you are going to lose customers because of it. Again, I repeat, consumers are using Yelp to make purchasing decisions. It is a terrible idea for a business such as mine, or such as Corndogs, to try to pretend Yelp isn't there. (Again, I can see it being different for your industry).

You can claim your business, respond to reviews and get accurate information up on the page without giving Yelp a dime. I am not going to devote any financial resources towards Yelp, but I would be remiss if I didn't manage my online reputation and address any complaints I might get there. And conversely, even responding to the positive reviews gives you a chance to personally engage with your customers which they always apperciate.

Just because Yelp might filter the feedback you get there in an attempt to get you to buy their premium services doesn't mean the feedback you receive there isn't valid.
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

Mr. Poopybutthole
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I see what you are saying, but I'm not getting sucked into paying thousands on those sites. New customers are pulling my phone number off of google adwords, billboards, the yellow pages and directly off of my TV spots. Old customers have us on their fridge (we send out refrigerator magents) or they have our number on speed dial.

We are doing just fine without yelp, with our annual growth rate of 15%. There are other ways to go to market. I've made a conscious decision to keep customer satisfaction issues in-house. I don't need anyone dictating how I satisfy my customers.

Just by a matter of principle, I won't do business with any company that scams it's customers. At the end of the day, companies like Service Magic won't last.
 
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Dabamf_sl

shitlord
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I've done some work for my brother who does SEO, cleaning up online listings for businesses that have changed names or locations, and it's insane how some listings online exist solely for the purpose of extorting companies. Citysearch, for example, has ignored any and all requests to have duplicate/incorrect listings removed and continually try to push their paid service. They're holding the listing hostage. It's criminal. Lots of companies make it excessively hard to claim & change listings or fix incorrect ones unless you pay.
 
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Corndog

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I do have a website that was done by a professional in trade for fish :p It's very similar to this:http://greenleafaquariums.com/

I plan to use Yelp for free. Offering a deal in my line of work doesn't really entice people. It'll make customers you already have buy the deal... But people don't go buy a pet because it was a bargain. They want to see quality etc.

Btw still a few hours to go today and am over $400 in sales. Back to work for me.
 
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Corndog

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Lyrical_sl said:
Are you using keywords to drive people to that site, using specialty fish names on the search engines yet? You could get a decent campaign going on google in a few hours. You could set it up between customers, on the slow days.
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Not yet. My store literally doesn't have a sign over it yet lol. It's on the list to do at this point. My first employee starts on Friday, for 2 days a week, Fri/sat. I'm hoping this lets me work more on my business instead of in it.
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

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Corndog_sl said:
Not yet. My store literally doesn't have a sign over it yet lol. It's on the list to do at this point. My first employee starts on Friday, for 2 days a week, Fri/sat. I'm hoping this lets me work more on my business instead of in it.
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Can't you do it between customers?

First employee, huh? When you have employees, it's a different world entirely. Hopefully, you get good ones with common sense.
 
Tarrant

Tarrant

<Prior Amod>
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I don't know about you, but I know if all the people I know have common sense...which is what you were talking about. Work ethic is totally different if that's now what you are going to refer to.
 
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Wuwei_sl

shitlord
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Lyrical_sl said:
That means nothing.
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This. If anything, hiring someone that you don't know might be better than hiring someone you know. Personal and work relationships don't necessarily mix well in my experience, and it is easier firing someone random than your BFF if needed.
 
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Corndog

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I'd say the person I'm hiring is an aquaintence. He was the fish room manager of another pet store for 5 years. That business went under about 8 months ago. They were too heavily invested in dog toys, novelty gifts, holiday cards etc. The fish room was thriving and carrying the business. It just could hold up the whole thing at the end. I'm starting him out on Fri/Sats as those are my busiest days. I'm not leaving him alone at this point.
 
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