Once upon a time there was a tailor of bespoke suits in London’s famous Savile Row. His name was Thomas Mahon. Thomas’ business was going alright, but a steadily climbing rent for his shop and the limited amount of people in the closer vicinity who can and want to afford tailored suits costing around USD $4000.00 meant that his business wasn’t going as well as he wished it was.

One evening he met up with a friend for drinks in a London pub. His friend, Hugh MacLeod, a former advertising executive, was a passionate blogger. Hugh’s Gaping Void blog was already one of the most read European blogs at that time. Hugh suggested that Thomas should start a blog, writing about the craft and work that is being put into a bespoke suit. He would help him market this new blog called English Cut by teaching him how to best use this channel and by linking to him (to get traffic to the English Cut blog).

What happened next was phenomenal: after blogging for only three months, hundreds of bloggers had written about English Cut and linked to it. Furthermore, the sales of Thomas’ exquisite suits exploded: Thomas used to go to New York City a few times a year to sell his suits to American clients (and because he likes Manhattan). He used to sell 2 to 5 suits at the most. When he returned 10 weeks after he had started blogging, he sold 20 suits and 8 sport coats, which was more than he had ever sold before in a whole year.

Thomas’ blog didn’t only directly increase his sales, it also enabled him to form relationships with influential people that would further promote him in other channels (one of them being PR consultant David Parmet) in 2005, who introduced Thomas to a range of clients on a New York trip, knowing Thomas only through the blog).

These days Thomas can go to any place he likes and clients will find him. All he needs to do is publish when he is going to be there and people will come.

When I first read this story in Robert Scoble’s and Shel Israel’s book “Naked Conversations” (which is a great read – if you are interested in a more detailed account of this and other success stories, get it out from your local library or buy it here) I was highly impressed. It added another great case story to my research and my observations about Social Media: these channels enable anyone with access to the Internet to communicate directly with a number of people that share an interest in what you’re saying. They have real effects on your life and your business, and chances are high that these effects will be positive in nature.

On a personal note: While researching this story I fell in love with the suits, and so I contacted Thomas to find out if he also makes Ladies’ garments. I really want to buy one from the first few (thousand) bucks I earn this year. He wrote back saying that he usually only makes Ladies’ suits for his clients’ wives or girlfriends, but if his new apprentice works out, he would be happy to make one for me. This might just perfectly coincide with my flow of funds and my next trip to London (after this one in a couple of months…).

Source: Scoble, Robert / Israel, Shel: Naked Conversations. How blogs are changing the way businesses talk with customers. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006.