The Streets of San Francisco
By Paul Rosenfeld on July 21st, 2009
- An amazing babystore
- mmmm….cup…cakes…
Yesterday I walked Chestnut Street in San Francisco with our new Customer Evangelist, Tina Yun. Tina’s will be promoting Fanminder to local small businesses and bringing them onboard.
The goal of the day was to help Tina internalize Fanminder by meeting with a whole slew of local small business owners. Of course we also were hoping to generate at least a few solid leads.
And what a day! Tiring – but highly rewarding. But the outcome was not quite assured at the beginning of the day. Frankly, I wasn’t sure if we’d get the time of day from these merchants so Tina could hear first hand from them. Owners are busy with customers. Drop-in solicitations are tough. They get drop-ins all the time.
Also, despite what we know already, I also wasn’t sure which merchants would make the best prospects to pitch. And we were going to try out our new mobile broadband card and demo process (worked like a charm: I highly recommend the MiFi2200!!!)
I’m happy to report a really successful day on every dimension we could ask for. Bonus Prize: As we both shared with each other, we actually liked spending time in each others’ company. Whew!
Tina (and I) found a receptive audience among a:
- Coffee shop/bar
- Day spa – an appointment-based biz bristling with opportunity to help
- Optometrist’s storefront
- A hip clothing store
- An even-hipper sneaker and shoe store
- Florist (with the oddest-looking, most interesting flowers I’ve ever seen)
We heard great questions about “how do I get my list into your system” and “can I store the information locally” and Tina saw first-hand the glow of excitement in two managers’ eyes when we shared we could reduce appointment no-shows and save time with text marketing. Cool!
The day also continued to help clarify the type of person/owner most receptive to our offering: tech-savvy, using marketing and/or email, already collecting names, and looking to expand.
But all was not roses and sunshine. We clearly saw who to stay away from: harried, anxious, nervous owners with neither the time, inclination, nor mindset for growing their business. That’s ok, after all, we were a drop-in trying to sell something and not every owner needs to be Type A.
And yet…one merchant blamed us for a customer walking out which bummed me out because we went out of our way to be gracious. Another shooed us out door, and a third told us they’re in a fight for their life with a new superstore opening up. Sometimes knowing who NOT to focus on is as important as knowing WHO to focus on.
We ultimately canvassed every type of store and shop imaginable and out of approx 20 or 25 “conversations” we have at least a half dozen solid leads. And best of all, Tina continued to pick up the service and can start spreading her wings on her own.


Today we released two new product features, some improvements and a way for us to track what you’re interested in so we can prioritize better.





