National Clothesline

f you happen to have a bird feeder in your backyard, you’re in good company. Next to gardening, bird watching is America’s second fastest-growing pastime. In fact, surveys show that nearly half the households in the United States provide food for wild birds.

The appeal is obvious. Few things are as interesting, lively, and beautiful as birds. They brighten up the dark days of winter and fill our springtime woodlands and gardens with their music. Naturally, we’d like to repay them for giving us such enjoyment, and what better way is there than to provide the three things they need to survive — food, water and shelter? Besides, doing so can be enjoyable, entertaining and relaxing.

When it comes to bird watching, I’m an enthusiastic newcomer. My first purchase was an 18-inch tube feeder with a bag of mixed seed and a support pole from Home Depot. Once my feeder was strategically and securely installed in my back yard, it took less than an hour to get my first visitors — a couple of adventurous little house sparrows. And to think I had done all of this on my own! How proud I was!

A week later, however, the only birds to have visited my feeder were house sparrows. Nothing else. This seemed odd since I had observed a variety of birds in my yard. What I really wanted was some color, perhaps a male cardinal or a purple finch or maybe even a woodpecker.

A five-minute drive to The Wild BirdCenter, and a brief consultation with the store owner, was all it took to prove how little I really knew about birds. In fact, I discovered that catching the attention of birds to a backyard feeder is a lot like trying to attract customers to a drycleaner and the very same secrets used to produce a busy backyard birdfeeder can also be used to promote success in business.

What they need

The way to a bird’s heart is though its stomach. Our feathered friends will come to a feeder if they like what’s being served up. In short they need food as well as water and they also need shelter, especially in the winter months. Similarly, your customers require a cleaning service to restore their garments to wearable condition. That’s their basic need.

What they want

When I explained to the storeowner that I wanted to attract other types of birds, she asked what kind of food I was using. As it turns out, the mixed grain would only attract a few species. If I wanted to get a variety of birds I would have to use some other types of seeds such as safflower, black oil sunflower and thistle. Each of these seeds is best distributed through a special feeder.

The backyard now has six feeding stations with a number of platform feeders, house feeders, tray feeders and several varieties of tube feeders. Each feeder is stocked with a special seed, suet, nut or fruit.

Result? I have lots of color in my yard now. Several pairs of cardinals, a number of goldfinches and purple finches, black-capped chickadees, nuthatches, orioles, woodpeckers and now and then a noisy blue jay will swoop in and stir up the neighborhood. Creatures that once flew overhead and teamed in the treetops now respond to my invitation. They come in close and spend large amounts of time in my yard.

You attract customers in a similar manner, usually with an offer. It could be free service or a percentage discount or dollars off the regular retail price. Sometimes it takes a bit of experimenting to discover which offer gets the best response.

And let’s not forget the importance of the proper feeder, which in this case would be the right medium such as direct mail, newspapers, co-op ads, brochures, sales letters, radio, TV, internet, e-mail and telemarketing to name only a few.

Here’s a very important point to keep in mind. It takes time to attract birds to a feeder. Sometimes up to two or three weeks, maybe even longer. The same is true when promoting a business. Prospecting for customers takes time and repetition to achieve the best results. Don’t expect an immediate rush to your store the moment you “put out the feeder.”

When is the right time to advertise?

Many cleaners stop advertising in the summer. Their reasoning is that some customers are on vacation or have little or no cleaning during the hot months. Others stop advertising in the winter because their customers migrate to Florida. Some choose not to advertise in the spring and fall because it’s busy then and they’ll get the business anyway so why spend money asking for it. Besides, they can get the work at full price without discounts or incentives. Still, others choose not to advertise at all.

Consider the birdfeeder for a moment. I’ve discovered that if I provide an assortment of food sources, a greater number and larger variety of birds will decide that my yard is a nice place to visit and perhaps even live in.

How about your business? Should you ask for visitors or not? And is it really wise to stop advertising?

Again, take a tip from the birds. If you stop feeding during the winter months, the birds will leave and look for food elsewhere. In fact, they may not even return in the spring.

Customer loyalty

Many of my neighbors have feeders, I’m sure. They want birds to come to them just as I do. So, in a sense, we’re competitors. We’re vying for the attention of all the birds in the neighborhood. I don’t want the Joneses robbing me of the pleasure of viewing those beautiful bright red cardinals from the comfort of my patio chair. I want them all to myself.

Unfortunately, birds move around just like customers do. Goldfinches, for example, follow a circuit each day, visiting a number of feeders and wild food patches. I do have my regulars, though, and I’m beginning to learn the feeding habits of many of my visitors. Some stay a long time and others make a quick visit. Some are frequent visitors while others come only on occasion.

In order to gain their loyalty, I make sure the feeders are always stocked with good things to eat and I keep them clean and attractive. The birdbaths are scrubbed every other day and refilled with clean water. As an added benefit, I’ve also installed nesting boxes for birds that choose to live on my property.

With patience, it’s possible to develop confidence and trust to the point where some birds will even eat out of your hand. I think kindly on such demonstrations of confidence and consider them high compliments. Birds are constantly evaluating their environment, both for danger and for benefit. It pleases me when they decide I’m one of the good guys.

Take a tip from the birds. There are many ways to gain the loyalty and trust of your customers but when you do and they finally decide that you’re one of the good guys it will be difficult for them to flit from one store to another in the neighborhood.

Bill Bishop has been a consultant with the Golomb Group for the past 12 years, designing marketing and promotional programs for drycleaners. He can be reached at the Golomb Group at (800) 679-5856 or by e-mail at billbishop@golombgroup.com.