Phoenix, AZ (Sept. 2013) – More than 43 million Americans will move nationwide this year, many because of employment concerns or a chance at a new start in a new neighborhood. Regardless of the reason, even those moving to our wonderful backyard in Phoenix will be stressed and searching for a warm welcome. In fact, according to the Employee Relocation Council, moving is the third most stressful event in a person’s life, trumped only by death and divorce.
Regardless of the stress level, chances are these new arrivals won’t be greeted by a smiling face with a plate of home baked cookies saying, “welcome to the neighborhood.” In a digital age where neighbors are too consumed by technology and daily schedules to deliver a quality introduction to the Valley of the Sun, where’s love for new movers looking for a fresh start?
Enter Dave Sliman and Our Town America, the nation’s leading new mover welcoming organization, who have been bringing back house warming traditions to Phoenix since 1999. Each month, Dave delivers warm and personal Our Town America welcoming packages to new Phoenix residents full of valuable gift certificates from local businesses. The goal, says Sliman, is to ignite the emotional spark that encourages new residents, not yet set in their ways, to become lifelong customers with Phoenix businesses.
“The average mover has a 56-item to-do list when they move to a new home. We want to make an otherwise stressful situation a little easier to handle by connecting them to our local business community as soon as they come to Phoenix,” Sliman said. “At the same time, we want to help local businesses reach these prospective new customers and turn them into lifelong fans.”
Local businesses show measurable gains from new customers
Through their welcoming package, Sliman and Our Town America are helping local businesses, like David Mitchelson’s Park Avenue Cleaners and Mark Malatesta’s UPS Store, roll out the red carpet for new movers and make a quality first impression that makes a lasting impact.
Mitchelson and Park Avenue Cleaners have been a partner with Our Town America since Sliman introduced the concept to Phoenix in 1999. Equipped with the bar coded tracking system Our Town America provides on their full-color gift certificates, Mitchelson says the Our Town America program has produced more than 100 new customers in the past 90 days.
“The Our Town America program pays for itself each month because it helps me make an impact on new movers before my competition,” Mitchelson explains, “On top of the program itself, I love working with Dave because he has always been honest with me and has always done what he said he was going to do. The bottom line is that I get month by month results and excellent customer feedback from Our Town America.”
At the UPS Store, Mark Malatesta says that he has seen tremendous success with the Our Town America program as well. According to Malatesta, his company has seen a 20% certificate redemption rate during his eight years working with Sliman.
“It brings customers in the door, plain and simple,” Mark said, “I’ve always liked the concept and appreciate the opportunity to make a strong first impression with new movers in our area. It’s a great value that I would definitely recommend to other businesses.”
Michael Sardella of Sardella’s Pizza sees at least 10% of his gift certificates come back to his restaurant, keeping him a customer of Sliman’s for more than a decade.
“Our Town America is a marketing tool that brings people into my restaurant,” he said. “It’s a great concept. People know they’re going to get things from local businesses for free, so they’re going to open the envelope.”
Upgraded New Mover Programs Make Welcoming New Families a Profitable Tradition
Recently, demographer Wendell Cox produced an analysis of domestic migration for the nation’s 51 largest metropolitan statistical areas. His report shows that the 10 metropolises with the largest net gains from 2000 through 2009 are in the Sun Belt, led by Phoenix.
Changes in city demographics along with the tremendous growth of our area inspired Sliman and Our Town America to make significant changes and upgrades that benefit local businesses here and across the country. These changes include:
• More products and services appealing to the Hispanic and Asian communities, which have grown by 43% in the past ten years.
• Working with more businesses near apartment complexes. With the unprecedented foreclosure and unemployment rates in recent years, many movers are downsizing from homes to apartments.
• Cutting edge 2-D barcode technology, first added by Our Town America in 2004, has been added to each gift certificate available in their welcoming envelopes. This makes it easier for advertisers to track success rates, determine the types of consumers who are redeeming their offers most often, and, ultimately, conduct follow up mailings to interested customers.
• New digital printing methods allow full-color coupons and envelopes making an attractive, eye-catching mailing.
“The real advantage of the Our Town America program lies in its ability to help local businesses owners target new customers who have just moved to town and are actively looking for new product and service providers in their new town.” Sliman said. “Regardless of industry, odds are a new resident is looking for someone to deliver the goods or services a local business owner offers and we want to help them make a quality first impression before their competition does.”
To contact Dave Sliman and learn more about Our Town America Arizona, please visit www.ourtownaz.com or call 602.923.7770.
For More Information on Our Town America, visit the website at www.ourtownamerica.com.
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About Our Town America:
For over 40 years, Our Town America has been providing new movers with traditional hospitality by mailing warm gifts from neighborhood businesses in a premium gift certificate package. Since the company started franchising in 2005, Our Town America has consistently been placed in the Franchise Top 50, ranking #8 in 2010 for franchisee satisfaction.
One of the catalysts for this success has been Our Town America’s dedication to the “sponsor exclusivity” concept, meaning they will only recommend one of each business type in any specific zip code. Additionally, Our Town America allows businesses to focus only on the zip codes they’d like to reach, whether that is as small as one or as large as the entire country.
Due in large part to Our Town America’s devotion to those concepts, thousands of satisfied business owners throughout the United States attest to the success and effectiveness of the program. Additionally, dozens of locally owned franchises validate Our Town America’s concept as a viable business opportunity.
It is Our Town America’s mission to assist new movers adjusting to their community, help businesses gain new and loyal customers and provide franchisees with an excellent opportunity. The eight million households who received Our Town America’s welcoming envelopes over the last year prove that Our Town America is committed to following through on that mission statement.
For more information, visit the Our Town America website at www.ourtownamerica.com.
