The mall management is under pressure to make money from these empty locations. What if you were a tough negotiator with a creative idea or Spectrum Mall Could you make a profit? Get “fresh, just out of the oven” ideas here!
I owned a large real estate office.
I sold it recently. We had a mall cart which our real estate agents would “man” by reserving time on the schedule. Every other company in the area wanted that mall cart-kiosk, but we had an exclusive agreement with the mall management. Our total cost to lease and maintain it was $2,300. At the top of the R.E. boom, we had 140 agents, each paying $35 to help support the mall location. We were down to 80 agents at the time we sold the office. My point is, what I’m proposing below is rooted in reality – people will pay for a chance stand at your kiosk.
Occasionally, our agent who was scheduled, would show up late for their 3 hour shift, only to find a real estate agent from another office manning the location (sneaking a “freebie”).. Why? Because our mall cart-kiosk generated about 2 good leads an hour, on the average.
Here are several ideas from the above true story:
A. Set the mall cart or kiosk up so it has a traditional real estate yard post with a hanging sign.
Each of your “subscribers” would place their real estate sign on the post when they were at the cart-kiosk. Use a big screen TV on each side. Arrange with a computer-tech to produce a DVD every couple of weeks of the “hot deals” from the MLS, so that they rotate across the screen (the photo from the listing, the price, size, age of each).
Sell local agents time at the mall cart-kiosk by the hour. For example, The mall cart may cost you $1,500 a month (some will be more and some will be less). You may have about 224 “viable hours” to sell. What would you have to get for each hour to have this make sense? If you charged $16 an hour (you can get more in areas where the mall cart-kiosk rental is higher because the real estate commissions will be higher on home sales as well) your total gross would be 224 hours x $16 = $3,360, and a net income of about $1,500 for you. Why would this work? Because an agent can easily clear over $3,000 from just one lead! And these are really good leads because of the face to face contact – these leads make internet leads look “stupid” from an ROI (return on investment) view.
B. If your mall has a real estate cart or kiosk and won’t allow another?
Consider a mall cart of kiosk of similar design, but adapted for the trades. Plumbers, electricians, handy persons, and the list goes on of small business people who need exposure and business!
C. Life insurance sales at a mall cart-kiosk?
Life insurance sales are way down with the economy. However, people need it, if only to bury their deceased loved ones. At least one company gives away a $50,000 death benefit as a “loss leader” and others will probably use similar tactics soon. You could enlist a list of insurance sales people for your cart.
D. Small device repair mall cart-kiosk?
Imagine a mall cart or kiosk which featured a Laptop Repair Person every Wednesday, an iPhone Repair Person every Thursday, and a big screen repair and home theatre installer every Friday – and of course, others to fill in the week, sticking with the “Device Repair” theme.
E. What about static or “small screen” ads along the above themes for your mall cart-kiosk?
Flat screens are now dirt cheap. Imagine a mall cart or kiosk covered with many small flat screen DVD players, like 10″ x 9″, each with a nice brochure box next to it. You would sell time by the month in which the loop DVD of your customer would play on a particular flat screen (no sound). Potential customers would be able to view a short video clip with a lettered message on the screen, and they could then take a brochure.
Another way to do it would be with two or four large fixed screens with rotating messages. 100 subscribers or customers for your mall cart kiosk could each pay $25 to $125 per month, each. Why would this work? A short classified ad in a “throw-away” newspaper can run $100 a week!
