The Lengths a Business Has Gone for a Customer: Standing with Hope

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Recently Kevin Price, Host of the Price of Business on Bloomberg’s Home in Houston, 1110 AM KTEK, interviewed Peter W. Rosenberger is president and founder of Standing With Hope. Rosenberger is the author of two books, and hosts a weekly radio show for caregivers of chronically ill, disabled, or elderly loved ones. His lengthy list of media interviews include The TODAY Show, WEB MD, FOX News, and People Magazine.

Tell me about your firm (number of employees, location, type of companies you work with, etc.).

Standing With Hope is a Nashville, TN based “mom and pop” organization with a handful of employees. Our primary focus is a prosthetic limb outreach in Ghana, West Africa. Recruiting prosthetists from around the country to travel to Ghana, Standing With Hope provides ongoing training for local technicians on how to build artificial limbs for their own people. Through ongoing shipments of supplies, Standing With Hope equips those technicians with materials to fabricate and maintain those limbs. With the help of inmates in a Tennessee correctional facility who volunteer, Standing With Hope collects used prosthetic limbs from around the United States and recycles all the usable components for the work in Africa. In 2013, Standing With Hope established a high-speed wireless connection in clinic which now allows for real-time video training and patient evaluation.

Tell us your story about the lengths you have gone to get a customer?

Emerging from a horrific car accident that has cost her 78 operations, including the amputation of both legs, Standing With Hope founder (and my wife), Gracie Rosenberger’s dramatic story continues to serve as the inspiring story behind the work. Her numerous media appearances have helped draw attention to our small organization. In a desire to grab the biggest interviewer of them all and bring international exposure to Standing With Hope, I set in motion a plan to reach Oprah Winfrey by mailing a used prosthetic limb to the media queen. Inserting a copy of Gracie’s book, materials about the organization, and a note about the work, I attempted to “get a foot in the door.”
Although the idea “stood on merit,” Oprah’s people never responded – and the moment was lost. Innovation and “out of the box” thinking, however, continues to define our unique company – as it equips hundreds of amputees to continue standing with hope.
Do you know of other examples of the lengths businesses have gone through to get customers?
I know of many business who have used extreme creativity to get a client. One man chartered a Leer Jet and spent his life savings to fly from an event in Vegas to NY. He got the client, and more than paid for Jet ( WAY MORE).
In this interview with USA Business Radio, the question was presented about the lengths businesses have gone through- and by always looking to tell a story about the business, we found yet another outlet. Although the connection with Oprah never happened, the story has now allowed Standing With Hope to be connected to KTEK’s audience.

What lessons, if any, do you derive from these stories?

When selling a product or service, a great story will form a lasting impression with clients. Although not every attempt ends with “closing the deal,” organizations who share a great story about their products or services will, in the long-run, connect with customers. The key to building great customer relationships is a bit of creativity, an authentic core message, a lot of persistence, and keeping a good sense of humor.
Standing With Hope, Inc.
www.standingwithhope.com
www.caregiverswithhope.com
PO Box 159115
Nashville, TN 37215
1 (866) 377-7175