The Chicago Journal

3 Shockingly Simple Questions ‘Email Paramedic’ Troy Ericson used saved his mother’s business in less than a month

“My mom was feeling the pressure of being the last small lumber yard & hardware store in South Bend, Indiana. All the retail giants were closing in on the other small businesses in the area. It was getting tough. I had to do something about it.”

Having been in digital marketing for four years despite still being in college, Troy was perfectly ready to take on the large task of saving his mother’s small family business, K-Wood Products, from closing. He was only 22 but had already sold over one million dollars in products & services for his digital marketing clients.

And after we heard that, today, K-Wood Products is thriving… We had to ask Troy what he did to help. Here’s what he said:

“I started off by asking my mom three simple questions, one at a time.

First, I asked what services she was paying for that either really annoyed her or seemed overpriced compared to the value she was getting in return.

I found out that she was paying an outrageous amount for network security, phone services, and web hosting. And over the coming weeks, I found some other companies that charged less while offering some upgraded systems & better service. It saved around $14,000 per year while relieving a lot of headaches.

So then I made her promise that she would re-invest that money. So I asked if there was an area of the business that she felt she was lacking.

She told me one word: Online.

So we took the saved money and put it into a nice new website that I made for her as well as some lead generation strategies and email marketing. Now she’s got new people finding her online every single day. And returning customers come back more often because they get emails reminding them about all the little things that make K-Wood unique.

Lastly, I asked her what her customers get annoyed by.

She told me that her credit card processor was extremely outdated and sometimes customers couldn’t pay how they wanted – which I knew was super annoying. So we scrapped the current one and upgraded to a modern system that a lot of her customers, new & old, actually look forward to using when they come in. Plus, it automatically grabs their email address so we can add them to the list and keep them in the loop.

It’s crazy to hear how much better the environment in the store has gotten. People LOVE stopping in at K-Wood instead of a huge retailer. And overall, business is booming, even during the pandemic.

It also makes me smile to know that these 3 simple questions can save any business who’s going through a tough time right now, especially with Covid. I’m happy to help anyone who asks nicely and has a winning mindset.”
Troy runs a digital marketing & email copywriting agency called Lead Paramedic and can be contacted at troy@leadparamedic.com or on his site, leadparamedic.com.

Opinions expressed by The Chicago Journal contributors are their own.