Conundrum - need some advice regarding the BMW accident
 

OK, the insurance company has decided to total the BMW and they've made an offer. I owe a little less than 10k on the thing, and it would leave some cash left over...a little over $7k.

I have two choices...
I was counting on the car being available for the trip to NAMM in Janurary. Was going to pack up my guitars and a couple amps to take to it and the amp/guitar show happening at the same time just down the road, as well as show off to some friends at NAMM. Get some good exposure, right?

Without the car, I can't do that unless I rent one or use the excess cash to make a DP on a new one.

OR...

Since 1998, I have never done any sort of print advertising in any guitar mags. I could use the remaining cash to to an ad campaign, which could lead to an even greater exposure. With the economy the way it is, ads could be a very good thing.

I suppose I could rent a larger vehicle for the week, take the stuff down, and then use the remainign cash for print ads... third choice I just thought of... could be a good one...

Well?

I'm a big fan of remaining debt-free.

My first instinct is to look only at replacement vehicles that could be purchased for less than $7000.

Advertising is a different question. Hmmmmm.......

Dan, one of my best friends happens to be a competitor of mine...he advertises in a couple magazines. Put it this way.. his sales in one month are usually be more than mine has been in my best year. During my very slowest month ever, last year, he had his best month ever, with over 100k in sales.
Ohh...conundrum... not getting a new vehicle would leave me with only one daily driver. However, ads could increase business substantially, which of course would lead to a new vehicle (or two, or three. :D)
It would be nice to be out from the payments though.

Wolfe, be very conservative in your advertising. You can spend it all before you really see the rise in sales and if you drop out you lose everything gained. Now, if you copy your buddy's campaign, you may or may not get the same results. You have to ask people why they buy those products and cater to what they say.

The up coming show will be your absolute best opportunity to survey your customers and your potential customers. What you want to do is set something in motion there and reinforce that over the coming year. If sales come up, remember to keep your ads going.

I come from an advertising family and I'm the black sheep. Still, some stuff rubbed off on me. My degree in marketing doesn't hurt even though I have never spent a day working at an ad agency. One thing all advertisers know is a flood of well placed very small ads will greatly outperform a few big ones.

The advertising money could be better spent on web over print (forum ads / sponsorship, Google adwords, etc).

I don't have personal experience, but I know my guitar teacher stopped print ads and put everything into the web and it was much better for him.

I recognize its not quite the same, but when he told me that, I was not the least bit surprised.

Advertising vs. production-

If you advertise, and get a slug of new orders, can you keep up without compromising quality?

It would be bad to get a bunch of new customers, and then have a bunch of new customers ticked off because there is such a long wait for the pruduct.

What you do is special. It's not like you can simply make a phone call to the Chinese factory and say:
"I need another five thousand!".

Just another thought rattling around my mostly-empty brain.....

Am I remembering right, that you got rear ended in a X 5? If so I am amazed that the car is totaled, are you surprised? Does the damage seem that bad?
Could you buy it back from the Ins. co.? Then use any monies left from the repair to do some advertising. After you make the trip to the trade show.

Cheers Richard

Right now, we only work three days a week here, from about 10am till around 2 or 2:30...with almost zero lead time...les than a week, usually. We could easily go to four or five days/week and be able to take on quite a bit more. Average devilery time in this niche seems to be 4-6 weeks, so we have a large "cushion" before delivery times are unacceptable.




Yep, that's right. I was pretty surprised, but apparently it was whacked on the exhaust and messed up some stuff internally. Some front end damage when I was shoved into the car ahead of me is probably what pushed it over the limit.
Mark from Eurotech might be able to tell more if he reads this. I'd be interested in his thoughts.

I wouldn't buy it back. That's just another wallet and time sucking project. You've got more important things to do.

Don't take "advertising" to be only print. And don't think of it as only advertising. Image building and public relations. Public relations is not just speaking at a convention. It's creating recognition.

The real word here is marketing. Advertising is a slice of the pie.

I would buy it back. Don't worry about the cosmetic damage, just get the mechanicals fixed. After that you'll have a paid off truck, lower insurance because you will only need to put liability insurance on it (some insurance/states wont let you have full coverage on a salvage vehicle), and you should end up with some extra cash.

To be honest, If I only had enough work to fill 3 days/wk and was doing 12X worse than my competitors, I would not be driving a BMW X5 or going into debt for a $20K+ car. I'd be investing in my business.