While leafing through the Yellow Pages last fall, entrepreneur Mark Bright saw an ad for a recently dissolved competitor listing an out-of-service phone number. On a hunch that readers would continue dialing the number for some time, he arranged for the line’s outstanding calls to be rerouted to his company. Since then, he says, he’s turned many unsuspecting callers into customers, thereby boosting sales.When a business folds, bargain hunters often pick up whatever’s leftover — inventory, furniture, equipment. But as Mr. Bright discovered, entrepreneurs may be able to scoop up more than just tangibles.
Mr. Bright adopted his former competitor’s digits in October, and says his company, Northwest Auto Services in Tacoma, Wash., now receives about 40 calls a day, double the number of calls from before he added the number. As a result, monthly sales for the auto- and small-engine repair shop have increased by an average of $1,400, he says. The largest growth occurred in March 2006, when sales were $3,700 higher than in March 2005, he notes, adding that his initial data show even stronger revenue gains in April.
Photo by fabz.
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