Building Your Future Client Base Early!

Building a Future Client Base at Home Depot

When my kids were young, Home Depot was giving FREE workshops to kids on Saturday mornings. My son made a model plane, a boat, a birdhouse, and a fire engine out of wood. While the kids were busy building, parents had an hour to kill wandering about the store.

Do you think they bought anything?

Talk about positive branding!

Every time I look at that bi-winged red plane, guess what company I think of? On top of that, where do you think these kids are going to tell their parents to shop? Where do you think these kids are going to shop when they grow up?

Barnes and Noble Offers Free Story Time

My local Barnes and Noble bookstore offer children’s story time on Saturday afternoons. Just as with the Home Depot program, the parents linger in the store. They browse the aisles, drink expensive coffee, and buy into the brand in a bigger way than they otherwise would because now Barnes and Noble are not only entertaining their children but also encouraging them to read and setting up the next generation of customers.

Show and Tell

In the karate business, we had a very aggressive and sophisticated show-and-tell program for schools that I have also seen adopted by a local dentist, water conditioning company, and dog groomer. In fact, with a little creative variation, the technique could be used by almost any business. You simply tell your young customers that you would like to participate when they have a show-and-tell day at school. Our formally designed programs included excellent handouts that brought kids into the karate school in droves.

How can your company reach and educate children in a positive way, which in turn would bring their parents to your business?