The

Entrepreneurial

Code

Lessons from an

Ivy League Entrepreneur

Chapter Thirty-Six

Every time schools trashed College Card in the press or sent warning letters to students about it, a customer was lost.  Eventually, the phone lines grew flooded with angry callers.  Such a negative buzz was building that it felt to Johnny like things were spiraling out of control. 

The partners had always assumed that of the 4,100 colleges and universities, they would lose about 100 schools due to the competitive environment.  Unfortunately, the bad press tainted customers from the other 4,000 schools.  Families that had already enrolled began demanding refunds.  These were supposed to be core customers, but the company was losing them because of the bad publicity. 

The following note from a customer was indicative of the correspondences they began having with customers:

“After reading a recent article in the Trenton Times… I discovered this was all a scam.  I already sent you a check for the $25, so I would like a refund.  Your cooperation would be greatly appreciated.” 

Johnny’s company’s public image became so bad they started to receive mail containing cutout newspaper headlines usually with “fraud” or “scam” in the title with comments written along the top like “No thanks!”  More creative people sent $25 of Monopoly money or pornographic pictures torn out of magazines.  There was even a death threat. 

The partners quickly plunked down $30K to retain a public relations firm in the hopes of alleviating the situation, or at least making sure the correct information was being circulated.  The partners still believed they could somehow “spin” the press back into their favor.  Johnny and his partners became so desperate to fix things that they accumulated letters of recommendation from students and Bullfrog Card merchants about the company.  They intended to use them as some form of proof that they were a legitimate company. 

Some of the merchants wrote letters that acknowledged “the tremendous increase in sales” their business had seen due to the program and how “everyone in the community seems to benefit from their service.”  The Bullfrog Card holders gave testimonials about how popular the program was with students.  Meanwhile, Bullfrog Card merchants commented how prompt and accurate the company was with its payments, and how they planned to continue to use the program.  

Maverock, forever the motivator, had Johnny and Abe convinced they could somehow use this bad press to their advantage.  What was the old saying -- no publicity is bad publicity? 

Copyright  2005 by Chris Cononico
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