Which made me wonder, unrelated, about this.
No, I didn’t move to a new server. Under the dark of the moon, I planted a handful of seeds for “cat grass,” which is really just some kind of generic oats. Should go well for the cat.
I was all hyped up to do the move until I got into the apartment office. Once again, access failed. For “99.5% guaranteed uptime,” that company wasn’t doing too good. Out for a portion of the weekend and then again, out on Monday afternoon. So much for saving dollars.
The server I’m presently on, it costs money. A lot of money. Relatively speaking, it’s a very expensive proposition. However, it’s been online and – very important – dependable. Some of the backend technology seems a little dated, but it has given me rock-solid service.
You get what you pay for?
I suppose, as I was tweaking along, that there’s an analogy from building a racing motorbike, back “in the day.” Speed was desirable, as was minimal weight, but dependability paid off, too.
My best, super trick-out motor ever, and I mean the best parts I could scavenge, beg, borrow, steal or even buy, it ate its lunch on lap six of ten lap race. Dropped an extended oil-pickup.
I don’t remember why I was thinking about that motor, I’d spent the better part of the winter months running all over and calling folks up to get the right parts, just to get it assembled only to have it fail on a Sunday afternoon.
Trails and tribulations. But I did stumble across a new piece of software that might work really well. I hope I can get it implemented before Mercury goes backwards.
Let’s see, moved a few files around, tossed a lot of junk, and streamlined some of the information delivery plus I updated a lot of material.
Doesn’t matter if you can go around the racetrack – faster than anyone else – for five laps. If it’s a ten lap race, DNF is just as bad.
Now if I can figure out how to financial upkeep.
Advertising – “funky old but cute”
One of the joys in working for someone else is that expensive mistakes don’t come out of my paycheck. Plus, the feller I’m working for, he’s got some sort of a twisted gift when it comes to marketing.
I really do need to deconstruct some of his advertising campaigns, as they’ve proven to be very effective.
On the whole, direct mail usually is considered successful if it gets a 2% response. In plain language, it’s a bitch.
I’m thinking that direct mail is pretty much a flea-bitten, mongrel bitch, at that.
But “mi patron” has this special touch. It runs on many levels. One of them is the color scheme of the complexes I’m charged with for a few hours in the afternoon. One is a pale green, one is a pastel yellow, and one is teal blue. All pastels. All natural, soft colors.
“Planned it that way, right?” I asked.
Bemused expression on El Jefe’s face, “Uh, yeah. Right, yeah, we, uh, planned it like that.”
But it works as the buildings do stand out in a formerly seedy neighborhood.
So when it comes to direct mail, the big boss sits down with a sharpie, and he doodles in a possibly school-boy hand, a message on postcard.
This kind of ad doesn’t look nice, clean or pretty. Simple message, simple postcard, simple scrawled note.
He puts some kind of mojo on that artwork, though. Don’t ask me why. Thursday, I took calls for two straight hours, from all over the country, folks just clamoring to get a cheap apartment.
I explained, nonstop, for several hours, all the details. Close to campus, not affiliated with the university, most of the tenants are graduate students, & etc. The usual chatter.
I know from my career as a telephone astrologer, that one hour of phone time is equivalent to two hours of regular work. Ask any poor soul who ever put in time doing phone support about that figure. Bless their little hearts.
I was talking on the phone, pouring fire ant poison on a pile in the front landscaping, talking while trying to show a prospective tenant a vacant unit, talking while doing a lot of chores.
Got six solid leads, six folks who were mailing checks for deposits out of 2,000 postcards. And not all of the postcards have been mailed yet.
In faltering economy, in a town where $500 will rent an apartment (dramatic pause) building, and in place where vacancies are running 50% or better, to generate this kind of traffic, plus, I’m guessing , six solid leads before we ever really got cranking, that’s some kind of numbers.