Taking your business to the next level (and a gift from Jon Schallert)

Jon Schallert is a well-regarded commercial district revitalization consultant, who focuses on helping businesses reconceptualize what they are about in terms of creating destination businesses. He has a heavy speaking schedule and produces what he calls the Destination Business Boot Camp, a 2 day workshop which is a "14-step process to turn any business into a dominant consumer destination."

Jon has a gift for the "discerning" readers of this blog:

I just printed a 32 page mini-book on Taking Your Business to the Next Level, basic concepts on creating a Destination Business. Some downtown directors might find it beneficial and most small business owners would. I am going to be selling these in group quantities, but if any of your readers send us a self-addressed, stamped #10 envelope with $.64 postage on it (a 39 cent stamp and a 24 cent stamp), we’ll send them one for free. The request just needs to be to us before Monday, June 5th, next month.

Just send them to us:

Jon Schallert
President, The Schallert Group, Inc.
P. O. Box 1090
Sorrento, FL 32776

I've already requested mine. And one of these days I'll be taking his Destination Boot Camp...

Last September, I wrote a brief entry about Jon's work, "Creating a destination business: an example," which is reprinted below:

I asked Jon Schallert what he intends to convey in his approach and his workshop. Here's a sample.

One of the components that Destinations use in their development, in order to capture a customer’s attention, is the “Signature Item” (or multiple Signature Items). A Signature Item is something that is unique and controlled by that restaurant, and proprietary to them. Here’s an example: The Triple XXX Family Restaurant in Lafayette, Indiana is the only place that serves and sells Triple XXX Root Beer in bottles, like it was served in the 1920’s. The owners, Carrie and Greg Ehresman, attended my BootCamp. They used to pull from the city of Lafayette. Now they pull customers nationwide. The advantage of this was told to me by Greg:

“When you market your business as a destination, customers easily spend 30-40% more on their average transaction than local customers. They love to take all of the business that they can with them when they leave. They love to put your business on their backs. When customers who have traveled a great distance come to our restaurant, they buy our cups, mugs, t-shirts, hats, and cases of bottled Triple XXX Root Beer. Marketing as a destination is a smart move for any business.”
Ad created by Rich Carraro of ClownBike.com

Greg and Carrie’s restaurant is a great example of what can happen when one starts marketing a business as a destination. Of course, it only works well if you have likewise increased the uniqueness of your business where it can be accurately proclaimed as being one-of-a-kind. Then, you have to know how to convey that message to multiple audiences outside your 15-minute marketplace. Then, you actually have to create that one-of-a-kind impression on that customer, who in turn, spends vast quantities of money with you, and goes off, raving about their experience. Simple, eh?

This is another photo of the destination business that Jon highlights. Photo by John Cirillo.

Showing that looks aren't everything, and maybe I shouldn't be so hard on H Street NE's Ohio Restaurant (blog entry from Frozen Tropics).

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