Month: October 2011

Hello again,

Well the title of this Blog represents a bit of a dilemma. After years of ultra low cost printing, guess what? Yes, we printed everything, all the time. Now, with costs escalating out of sight with a new printer, we are going paperless at last.

When I worked in the computer business the paperless office was all the rage. I was selling these systems, but neither me nor my customers really believed a word of it. Well, some of them have managed it – scanning everything etc eventually. For a small business like  mine, there is a temptation to print off lots of correspondence and orders and clip the work card to it for our ever expanding files.

Then, at a stroke, it’s all over – now only the bare essentials are being printed and those are just for our customers so we don’t keep anything, apart from paper that comes in.

Having a shock to the system is almost as good as having a real ‘fire at the office’ situation where you have to decide what to keep doing and what to dump, imagining that you have to start from scratch.

Very satisfying too.

In fact as part of the ‘print nothing’ plan, ever more unnecessary steps have been removed and everything speeds up a bit – makes for a more interesting office too as more time to think of new products and ways to move the business forward rather than being weighed down by paperwork. Try it sometime-print nothing!

Postscript – now after several months, I have tracked down a compatible cartridge supplier who sells what I want for 25% of the original manufacturer – hope they work. In addition, now scanning lots more and just sending an attachment to customers and suppliers. All this means that our operation is much slicker and lower cost. Just the ticket.

Have a great week – this Blog is a bit late as our systems were down during an upgrade to our broadband last Friday.

All the best, Roy Lewis

www.hebridean-liqueurs.co.uk

 

 

Hello there again,

This month I have been inspired by a book on different business strategies that I bought a while ago and came across while deciding which items to throw away. After reading one or two chapters, it occurred to me that what I needed from now on, was a list of strategies to reward my existing customers that I could work on and implement right now. The objective is for me to increase the number of ways to reward my existing customers and to increase the number of times they order from me.

I have now spent a week or so developing our new Platinum Personal Trade Account. With the offer on this new Account, my best customers will be able to get up to 32% off all their liqueur purchases and get some free goodies into the bargain each time they call off an order. The deal is that the customer sets up a Trade Account with us and pays into the Account so that there is always a positive balance. They can then place orders for at least 12 x 50cl bottles at a time.

Once they have applied for an Account, the full Personal Trade Account price list and order form is sent to them – currently the offer is only being made available to those who have signed up for our e-mail Newsletter. To do so, just go to our main liqueur site and click on the ‘Become a Friend of Hebridean Liqueurs’ box on the bottom left hand side of the Home page.

I have a several more promotional ideas coming up for our customers and it will be interesting to see which ones produce the best results. Keep checking this Blog to keep up to date with our offers.

Have a good weekend – all the best. Roy Lewis

www.hebridean-liqueurs.co.uk

 

 

Hello again,

I have been working on a new brand for about 2 years now – not a liqueur this time but a Dry London Gin. Well, what’s so special about that you may ask?

Well, in my research, I have discovered that although there are lots of fancy new gins out there, they are either made with weird tasting botanicals  – the cool name for flavours – or you are meant to drink them in an unusual way. It turns out that the vast majority of gin drinkers like a straight G and T, so I have focused on having a gin that is just that – straight gin, with no messing about.

To make it a bit different though I have designed a gin at a strength of 50% ABV – Alcohol By Volume. Most gins are 37.5% ABV. So mine is a stronger, so you get a real G and T.

I have also chosen a really fantastic looking bottle too and the idea is that not only will it be a great gin to buy for yourself but also, due to the eye-catching packaging, will make a lovely gift too.

I am planning to have the brand out in time for Christmas so keep an eye on our website to see how you can place an order.

I will write another blog once the first batch is produced and will see about getting a copy of the label inserted into the article.

Have a great weekend – wild again here so off to the hills.

Kind regards, Roy Lewis

www.hebridean-liqueurs.co.uk