Crash to Cash

George Walbridge Perkins was smart. He was a problem solver. He organized corporate structures of tons of large companies way back in 1900s. He became the chairman and managed Theodore Roosevelt’s progressive party. He had a lion's share in organizing Roosevelt’s 1912 election campaign.

During the campaigns, Roosevelt’s people made a great folly that had the potential to drain the cash flow and ruin their entire campaign. They printed a picture of Roosevelt’s on the cover of 3 million pamphlets. But they didn’t own the copyright to that picture. A studio in Chicago owned the rights. The studio could sue them and receive a huge settlement. On top of that, the news of the mistake would embarrass Roosevelt and harm his public image.

But before the news of the mistake spread, George Perkins took control and converted the mistake into money. Perkins sent a telegram to the company: “We are planning to distribute millions of pamphlets with Roosevelt's picture on the cover. It will be great publicity for the studio we use. How much will you pay us to use yours?”

The company wrote back saying they would pay $250. A studio actually paid them money to use one of their photos instead of charging them.

George's inventive brain had not only got Roosevelt out of a messy situation, but he'd actually turned crash into cash.

Action summary:

Audit all your marketing expenses. Can you have an arrangement with the supplier to reduce the price or change the terms? There are dozens of ways to get a better offer.
For example: you could contact another company to pay you to print their logo on your brochures. Kodak used to pay photographers to use their logos.
You could ask another company to chip in with you to cover the advertising costs. Arrange a joint venture and send both of your offers in one mail.

Also read: The Gold ain't in them hills, it's in yer backyard!

[This article is licensed under a Creative Common License]

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Snip:

Roosevelt's campaign people screwed up and used his picture on 3 million pamphlets without owning the rights to use it. They would have had to pay a huge settlement.
George Perkins saved the day. He wrote to the studios that owned the rights, and asked them to pay up instead, for the exposure they would receive when their photo was shown to millions of people.
George Perkins kept his cool and turned the mistake into money

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