About Us

Once upon a time, two brothers and a sister grew up in a working class family, whose
compelling interest was the family glass business. Our whole lives revolved around it. Three generations of our family lived together in a two flat in Skokie, Il. When my family moved into the castle, it was in the middle of no where. Wild ducks walked down the newly paved street in front of our house, and during the first 2 Halloweens, a neighbor farmer named Brown( I kid you not), gave hay rides to the 6 kids who lived in the area on a real wagon pulled by two horses. This area, which was the sticks when we moved in, would eventually becoming a booming village of over 60,000 people and famous for its holocaust museum.

But in the beginning, Dad, Uncle Albert, and Aunt Rose worked hard every day at the family glass business. Mom took care of all of us, and especially grandma. Mom used to run up the back steps of the two flat ten times a day, making sure Grandma was o.k.  (Grandma lived on the second floor.)

Each night, we all gathered around a rather small dinner table, in a little kitchen. In the 1950's, the builders didn't believe in big rooms. As dinner was served, the topic always was the business and the events of the day. It seemed like that was all my family talked about. Often I would here my mom say " Isn't there anything to talk about besides business?". But apparently there wasn't. At least as far as my Dad and Uncle Al were concerned. They talked about the best ways to get new customers, how to make deals with suppliers, how to keep the employees happy, and how to collect money. These topics were dug into, even while we were watching the Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers, on a 26" black and white tv. ( Color hadn't been invented yet!)
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Years later, when I ran my own successful glass business, with my brother and sister, I would often say that the business lessons and street smarts we learned listening to those conversations at the dinner table, were the foundation of our business success. And the stories passed down from one generation to the next were as valuable as if we were given nuggets of gold. And when we had a particular problem ( after my Dad passed), my brother or I would often say, this is what Dad would have done. We often followed his advice, years after he was just a loving memory.

It is 50 years later, since those once upon a time days. I  have almost raised my own two boys and a girl, and successfully run a similar family glass business with my brother and sister My brother, sister and I did not live together, like we did when we were growing up, but that was better, since my Dad, Uncle, and Aunt really got on each others nerves as the years went by and they grew older. And in the end, they paid a heavy emotional price by living together to save money. At the end of their lives they had had too much of each other and split apart badly. (One of the lessons I learned).

In the last few years of my business career, I learned how to use  a cell phone complete with texting ability, and a computer with internet skills. I did this out of self defense ,as the world was rapidly changing before my eyes. In the past if you wanted to make a deal, you went to see someone face to face. It was the only way to sell yourself, your company and your products. Toward the end of my construction career, some of the biggest deals we ever made were over the phone and fax, with no personal face to face selling. I liked the business, but missed the personal contact and face to face combat. However, I couldn't roll back the clock.

Today, its all changed, and it seems to me that my kids and their generation have lost old fashioned communication and selling skills that worked so well and still do. Add to that all the little neighborhood stores that are closing faster than they should, and you have a real business dilemma. Then add the high cost of living, the weak dollar, the overuse of credit, high unemployment, increasing home foreclosure rates, two foreign wars, a government that totally cannot communicate, and all you want to say is roll the tape back and lets start over, cause this world sucks. But the world doesn't suck. It the way it has been for 5000 years. All that's changed is Egyptian tablets of carved words have become Apple Mac Books, and chariots have become clunkers.

I have been on the cusp of change and technology my whole life. And as a member of the boomers, have seen many good improvements in the world. But the one thing that sticks in my gut is that people are beginning to lose their ability to communicate with each other face to face. And that's sad.

It's such an important skill, that I have built a reliable advertising system around the old lessons I learned at the dinner table 50 years ago. These communication lessons are powerful and helped see three generation of my family through both good and bad times. I would love to spend 30 minutes together, face to face, where you could drink a double latte with whipped cream and I could eat a bagel with shmear and  drink a chocolate phosphate.

And at that meeting I would open up your mind to old fashioned friendship, relationship building, and fun that ultimately lead to tons and tons of sales. We would share a timeless truth that we buy from people we know, like and trust. But we need to give
customers a way to know us better. And it just cannot be done with text messages alone. I know I have a system that is so simple you cannot help but include it in your business and so necessary to your future success, that you will be astounded that it
has never been brought to your attention until now.

 If you are interested in making history repeat itself for the benefit of your business and your family, I offer you a precious opportunity to explore the possibility that my advertising system and its in store advertising products, may be just what you need to make your business grow and grow. My products are based on today's short customer attention span, but include powerful face to face selling tactics that have almost disappeared.

 You will get a rare invitation to my old family dinner table, where you will get a detailed point by point instruction based on the old stories of how to get a customer in the door, how to make him a friend so he will come back again and again, how to get him to buy your stuff and not return it. And you will even learn how to have fun with your customers at the same time. I promise you great take aways like the ones my father and uncle gave to me. It is very possible that you will have the enormous breakthrough you  have been looking for in your business.  And as a gesture of goodwill and a tribute to my Dad and Uncle, I'll pay for the latte and whipped cream. That's what they would have done.

Please call me at 847-559-8856 or email me at joel@customercoupons.com, so we can arrange a meeting  where you will be introduced to an in store advertising system, that will rocket up your income, way past the number you dream about.

Joel Helfer