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Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

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by Andrew Tellijohn
August 2005

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Upsize Growth Challenge: Update 2


Floorworx gains marketing
expert by giving shares
rather than salary

A new marketing campaign is set for this fall by Floorworx Distribution Services, the St. Paul floor-coating company that was one of three Upsize Growth Challenge winners in 2004.

It will be tied to early sales of its quick-drying technology, called The Woodsimple Plan, which has been in development for years and is now ready to go.

David Miller, president, will send a “tickler” e-mail to customers, offering a test of the company’s new, quick-drying process. A phone call will follow. Then, couriers will deliver packages with a wood coaster, before and after the coating process.

Delivered packages will include a CD showing the process and a “thousand-dollar challenge”:  If customers will allow a 4-by-6 foot test patch of the new product, they’ll have a thousand-dollar “indemnity” that the company will fix it if they don’t like it.

The idea was developed by Miller’s new business partner, who has a “solid marketing background,” Miller says. He couldn’t afford to pay a large salary to add staff, so he offered shares in his firm instead. “It’s the old trading out of equity” to bring on expertise yet conserve cash. “He’s betting on the come” that Floorworx will prosper, Miller says about his new partner.

Miller says revenue has doubled this year from last, and remains “still under a million dollars” for 2005. “I wish we could say we were lighting the world on fire.”

David Miller, Floorworx Distribution Services: 651.322.7480; dmiller@thewoodsimpleplan.com; www.thewoodsimpleplan.com