Teaching Notes & Study Guide for Vickie Rosellini, Absolute Care Ambulance, Baltimore, Maryland and Business Basic: Marketing Techniques

Case Study Guide

with Vickie Rosellini Absolute Care Ambulance Baltimore, Maryland
Big Ideas. The kitchen table is a good place to start a business. To build a multi-million dollar business, you don't need a college degree or an MBA. Positive word-of-mouth recommendations from customers will build a multi-million dollar business. There's more than one way to present a direct marketing message. Big Idea #1 . The kitchen table is a good place to start a business. Vickie had never worked outside the home when she found herself divorced, with two small children. She had to find a way to make a living. Two paramedic friends suggested that she buy an ambulance and promised her that they would work for her in their off-hours. She believed them. Because she had no relationship with a bank, which didn't come until the third year of operation, Vickie purchased her first ambulance with a credit card. You think back: Before jumping into a business about which she knew nothing, why didn't Vicki do more research? Answer: She didn't know any better. Her friends encouraged her so she took their suggestion. This is a personality quirk possessed by many small business owners. We tend to think, "I'll give it a try. It's not do or die, it's an adventure." Many businesses are started with no research and many of those fail. On the other hand, many very wealthy business owners will tell you had they known more at the beginning, they never would have jumped into the fray. Joe Dannis thought the world would embrace a new way to teach sign language to the deaf but he says the road to success was so lonely, he would never repeat his decision. Andy Wilson expressed a similar sentiment. Grace Tsujikawa startrd her business just because she wanted to make pottery and she says she had to eat a lot of fried potatoes at the beginning. Richard Fluker guessed bait shops needed live bait so he started raising crickets. Sissy Harrington couldn't find healthy food for her dogs so she invented it. What do you think? Was it smart for Vickie to park four ambulances in front of her house? Possible answer: In terms of building her business, yes. By keeping her business at home, she kept her overhead low. In terms of maintaining good relations with her neighbors, no. She was so busy building her business, a neighbor had to point out to Vickie the negative impact the ambulances had on the neighborhood. Vickie gladly moved the trucks. What do you think? Other than keeping overhead low, what are some of the other advantages for officing at home? Possible answer:You can spend more time your children and/or spouse. You save money by eating at home. If your business requires you to be "on call" 24 hours a day, you may get to sleep on a more regular basis. Bob Simpson and Steve Palko started Cross Timber Oil on a card table at Bob's house, Bill Tobin still runs his Internet empire from a home office, Darby McQuade built a home on the property of his business as did Tim Hennessey. Donna Baase has both a traditional office and a home office which she says is critical for her to manage her time. Big Idea #2 . To build a multi-million dollar business, you don't need a college degree or an MBA. Although Vickie didn't attend college, she began her education as soon as she started her business. For example, the state required her to take classes and pass exams on patient care, she had to learn how to find business, how to hire and train employees, how to take care of her vehicles, (yes, Vickie knows how to work on her "trucks") how to deal with bankers, establish a line of credit, go through the loan process to expand, how to buy real estate, and, she had to become an expert on government regulations which impact the ambulance business. The list of things to learn never ends for the business owner. What do you think? Should Vickie's success story discourage you from graduating or from pursuing your education? Answer: No. Vickie knows she would have done better faster with more education. The timing was off for her because she had two children to support. Take time now to prepare for the future by becoming educated. In his best selling books, The Millionaire Next Door and The Millionaire Mind, Dr. Thomas Stanley says that small business owners are not the ones who did the best in school. He explains that kids graduating at the top of their classes are heavily recruited by the Fortune 100 while the "C" students often go off and start companies. We also know that immigrants do well starting businesses and they often begin not even knowing English. Formal higher education has little to do with wealth-building. Heliodoro Valadez doesn't read English and only completed three years of elementary school but he invented a machine and has 65 employees. Ella Williams wanted to go to college but she didn't have any money. Today her company builds roads and bridges. On the other hand, Tim Hennessey has an MBA and this training taught him how to negotiate the purchase of an existing business with no money down. Big Idea #3 . Positive word-of-mouth recommendations from customers will build a multi-million dollar business. Vickie uses non-traditional marketing techniques. For example, when a patient goes home from an extended stay in the hospital, her team will load up not only the patient, but also any furniture brought from home, along with plants and flowers. If a patient leaves something at the hospital, her team goes back to get it -- no charge. Arriving with donuts, Vickie visits the social workers and emergency room nurses regularly. She understands that her best sales people are these health care professionals who recommend her to her customer -- the patient. You think back: Why did Vickie have to focus on extraordinary service to build her business? Answer: When she started, she felt uncomfortable calling on the CEOs of hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities. She was too young and too inexperienced to command their respect. Accidentally, she came upon the very best way to build her business. Big Idea #4 . There's more than one way to present a direct marketing message. There are five types of direct mail pieces: 1) copy oriented envelopes, 2) visually oriented envelopes, 3) self-mailers, 4) catalogs, and 5) dimensional envelopes. What do you think? How do you decide what type of mail to send? Answer: The magic is in the mix. And, you have to determine your goal and your budget. We send lots of self-mailers because the read rate is high and they are the cheapest way to put a message in someone's hands, except for email. For more on direct mail, study John Wargo, Carol Schroeder and Bob Orenstein. Quote:The average small business owner spends more time with his venture than with his family...it makes sense to be at least as careful about choosing your endeavor as you are about picking your mate. -- Mike McKeever, How To Write A Business Plan Business Basic: Marketing Techniques

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