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Attention Sedona merchants: The “back door” to increased sales is all around you

By John David Balla

Sedona, AZ -Imagine increasing your sales without relying on tourism, a virtual “back door” that, once unlocked, opens a new revenue stream to your business. The good news is that the “back door” is already there. Now all you need to do is open it.

Let me explain…

The fact that most Sedona merchants are obsessed with tourism is both justified and myopic. Many believe that there are no guarantees in life, that results are the byproduct of an arcane mixture of willful action and probability. And while largely true, you can take it to the bank that obsession will always produce “neglect” elsewhere, a notion firmly in lock step with Newton’s Third Law of Motion… that “For every action, there is an equal (in size) and opposite (in direction) reaction.”

In this context of Sedona merchants and their understandable obsession with tourism, neglect aligns itself directly to the local market, the 10,000 plus consumers who live in Sedona, people who also purchase fine art and jewelry, various things of metaphysical nature, and the natural beauty (and services that cater to it) that make Sedona so appealing.

That most Sedona residents were once tourists themselves, is worthy of mention as well. This, coupled with the fact that Sedona is a highly transient community makes for a shortage of “word of mouth” connections. Put in marketing parlance, there is a scarcity of viral marketing too.

Socioeconomics and the “flavors” of Sedona

Placed in the most rudimentary framework, the Sedona populace has both a transient and stable makeup. In the former, transience comes in two basic flavors, both of which fit more of a “tourist” profile than that of a resident: 1) people who felt some “calling” to come here, only to discover that making a living is even harder here than where they came from, and 2) the more affluent “timeshare bandits” and “condo commandos”, i.e., regular visitors. The latter have a surplus of both disposable income and time, and as such, represent fertile soil for which to market more “high-end” products and services.

The rest of the so-called Sedona community is most easily relegated to the categories of “the haves” and the “have nots,” and follow a similar socioeconomic fate to their transient counterparts. Still, even the “have nots” are daily consumers of basic services, and by virtue of their lack of buying power, respond to discounts out of necessity. (Mass market retailers should take notice.)

So why don’t all of these groups, especially the affluent ones, shop more? Simple. Most Sedona merchants don’t market to them. In fact, they ignore them. This lack of attention naturally breeds resentment, commonly voiced pejoratively as, “that’s for tourists.” It’s a natural reaction to “neglect”, but by itself, is not natural.

These bifurcations are synthetic constructs that unconsciously promote an almost “caste” society where the tourist reigns supreme. Sedona residents are merely a byproduct of this singular focus. Quite ironic, that a place like Sedona, recognized throughout the world as a spiritual “hot spot,” could possess such underpinnings.

But enough on the problem.

Sedona merchants can remedy this disposition much like dealing with a child who feels no one cares about them… by showing that they do. But considerable help will be needed in order for this idea to manifest. (More on this later.)

Why Making Sedona Residents Feel “Part of” is Good for Business

There are no losers here.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a luxury hotel, jeep company, art gallery, barber shop or restaurant, even a grocery store or print shop… all can directly or indirectly (does it really matter?) benefit by catering to the local community.

Some examples of missed opportunities…

Sedona Hotels

You’re a hotel and rely on tourists for understandable reasons. You spend all your marketing dollars trying to “woo” them. But keep in mind that doing what all your competitors do is more of a business expense than it is a marketing tactic, resulting in little revenue generation, and what is commonly dubbed, “me too” marketing.

But what else can you do? Locals live here. They don’t stay at Sedona hotels, right? True, but their friends and family do. And I can tell you as a Sedona resident for five years now, whenever I have visitors from out of town, that’s their first question:  “Where should we stay?” No Googling or Internet surfing. They're talking to someone who lives here. Surely, I have the inside track.

Not!

When my mother and sister came to visit, they started to wonder whether I really wanted them to come, when I said, much to their incredulity, “There’s hundreds of places to stay. Do a Google on ‘Sedona Hotels’, then let me know what you’re thinking of, and maybe I can help from there.”

Yep. All those hotels spending big bucks on marketing, but not a penny on me. Clearly, if just one reached out to us locals, they would get more business. But instead we are invisible, and thus the neglect simply reciprocates.

Sedona Weddings

A Sedona wedding employ a whole plethora of locals: wedding planners, wedding photographers and videographers, special events coordinators, hotels, musicians and DJs, cake makers, floral designers, ministers, waiters, etc.

And guess what?

People in Sedona get married too.

Case in point.

I have been to several weddings in Sedona over the past five years, and the couple getting married – each time – was from Sedona. How did they make their choices for this very special day? Let’s just say they have an awful lot in common with my mother and sister.

Sedona Real Estate

By now you know where I’m going with this. Oh, and just to add an exclamation point, I just moved from one house (renting) to another (owning).

A former business associate of mine sold his house off of Soldiers Pass road for $1.3 million, and subsequently moved into his new $1.6 million pad near Broken Arrow. Yet like every aforementioned example, he rolled the dice on a million dollar plus deal, relying on someone else’s opinion to form his own. In the meantime, Sedona real estate agents are busy trying to find “out-of-town” buyers.

Luxury and Specialty Items

Jewelers, art galleries, and other “high-end” retailers take notice. You have a big untapped market right here. The “haves” are plentiful and bored. Please help them.

Mass Market Retailers

It’s very difficult not to go into a mass market retail store and not buy something. As such, getting people to walk through the door is key. And let me tell you this. In my five years, I have been in only a dozen or so retail stores, and frequent only three regularly. Does that mean the many hundreds out there that I haven’t tried don’t have what I want, and at better prices? Got me. Please help me get out of my monotonous routine. My tires are starting to create grooves in the road.

Implementing Change

To get people to alter their perceptions and behavior is a difficult undertaking, and the reason for which there is psychotherapy, religion, and various “New Age” alternatives. But we are not dealing with personal issues here, but rather sociological ones, i.e., group behavior.

Group behavior responds well to leadership, and without it, vacillates in its own existential milieu. With the help of the City of Sedona and the Sedona Chamber of Commerce, however, we can build that community, while strengthening our economy, and also making it less dependent on the winds of tourism.

As such, this is a hallmark opportunity for both the Sedona Chamber of Commerce and the City of Sedona, to show merchants and residents alike what they are doing for them. Surely a mere 5 or 10 percent of the aggregate marketing budget can be earmarked for this common goal.

Imagine a variety of marketing collateral geared toward the locals: calendars (with advertisers for each month), a Sedona Residents Saving Catalog (with dimensions that easily fit into a car’s glove box), A Sedona Buyer’s Club (for a modest fee, with deeper discounts and privileges), even a Sedona credit/debit card that pays cash each time it is used (anywhere).

Of course, the merchants can “roll the dice” by going it alone, but such high risk ventures are better suited for Las Vegas, not Sedona.

In any case, my same old shopping routine begs my indulgence. I better get going.

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