
Dave Zier on ABC-7 5/19/08.
Grillmaster Dave Zier on WMAQ 5/24/08 - 'Turkey 101'
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From this week's Focus
I RESOLVE TO
January 12, 2009
It's a new year, and conditions are certainly different than they were 12 months ago. Crain's asked local entrepreneurs to share the resolutions they're making to survive in '09 — and gathered some expert advice for each.
SELL ONLINE
Dave Zier, 48 • Zier's Prime Meats, Wilmette • Butcher shop • Annual sales: about $700,000
Dave Zier resolves to spend about $4,000 to revamp his Web site for
online ordering. He aims for the site to be profitable within a year. To promote it, he'll reach out via local media and direct mailings and
hopes to generate buzz on foodie blogs. "They're reasonable goals, if
not a little conservative," Mr. Zier says.
Advice: One low-cost way to raise your site's profile is to
contact non-competitors whose businesses complement yours and suggest
creating reciprocal links, says Todd Allen Hatoff, president of Chicago
meat giant Allen Bros. Inc. The best way to reach customers: direct
mail. "Targeted mailings are what generate the most buyers on the
site," Mr. Hatoff says of the Allen Bros. home page. "We've worked on
tracking that for 17 years, and we have it down to a science."
Sandra Swanson