Friday, August 05, 2005

Club Z Tutoring's local business strategy a winner!

Club ZI had a chance to talk to Jim Pankiewicz of the local Club Z Tutoring franchise. Jim had been interested for some time in owning a franchise of some business, and found that Club Z was a natural fit for his interests and temperament. But I was impressed with his well-researched approach to entering into this market with Club Z, a purveyor of in-home tutoring for students of all ages.

The sale of franchises is in this case based on Zip codes, the boundaries of which are defined for this purpose by the 2000 Census. But there are some school districts that have seen extensive growth since the year 2000, and this is not reflected (yet) in the distribution of Zip codes. Jim bought the ones that offered -- or are still in the process of offering -- fast growth in the school-age population. A strong source of bang for the buck. An example in this area is Robbinsville, about ten miles from me, which has a brand new high school. Jim might very reasonably expect to reach out to a strong customer base there.

Then there's his advertising strategy. He eschews TV and radio, and I think rightly so, because the cost is, like, REALLY high. He'd need to get thousands of customers back to justify it. (Personally, I think that TV and radio is really unsuitable for most advertising, with the exception of special events. But that's another story.) He will use some newspaper ads, and (though he cringes when he says it) the Yellow Pages (again, very expensive, but people do respond to entries there); but his big targets include
  • Google (in which he has tried hard to gain high-on-the-list status)
  • signs posted at street corners (I see these often for furniture stores, and I believe they have mixed results for those users; we've all seen them for political candidates, and most of us never vote on the basis of a sign in someone's yard or a vacant lot)
  • direct contact with schools
There is no arguing that last one. His plan there is especially fine: he gives the front office a plastic apple filled with candy, and holding a stack of his business cards. Huge bang-for-the-buck there. It's amazing how people respond to small acts of kindness and politeness.

But what I admire most is his customer service plan. My feeling has always been that there are two kinds of customers: (1) happy, and (2) someone else's. And Jim has more-or-less the same view: he won't make people pay through the nose to end a tutoring relationship. Learning centers force a month's notice, or more, sometimes with a fee; Jim says two weeks and no fee. He says it's important for customers to walk away from you feeling they've been treated honestly.

Best of luck, Jim!

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posted by Ron @ 9:15 PM

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