Marketing Lesson: Turkey and Havarti at Borders Books and Music

There Are Marketing Lessons All Around You If You Just Look

There's a part of the brain that's called something like The Reticular Cortex. Here's how it work:

Do you know when you buy a new car and then you start to see the same car all over the roads? Did other people just buy the same car OR were they always there but you didn't notice them until you started to focus on them?

Right – the latter.

So… when you start to look for marketing lessons, you'll find them all around you.

And not those institutional ads you see many companies wasting their money on. I'm talking about direct response marketing ideas that you can use to make you some money.

Each week I go to Borders Books and Music near where I live (it's in Springfield, PA USA) (Read About My Borders Books and Music Here!) for what I call DPS Time – Dreaming, Planning, Scheming Time when I can work ON my businesses and not IN them. We spend so much time DOING but we need to spend more time thinking through what we want to do with them.

Last Tuesday I saw a marketing lesson I want to share. They are all around us if we will look.

There is a part of the brain called the Reticular Cortex. Here's how it works:

When you purchase a new car, have you ever noticed that all of a sudden you see LOTS of those cars all over the road? Question: did others just start driving those cars OR did you just notice them because you were focused on your own car?

Right: the latter.

So it's important to be open to marketing lessons wherever you see them.

At my local Borders on Tuesday there was a young woman (I'd say college age, comfortably dressed) walking away from the Seattle's Best counter with her drink and sandwich.

In the line waiting to order was a somewhat older woman: smartly pressed black pants over slow heeled boots, attractive blouse mostly covered by a black suit jacket, modest jewelry, nice red nail polish on well-groomed nails, and her hair looked like she just came from the salon.

Here was the interchange as the younger woman walked back to her table and stack of text books and laptop:

"Wow, what is that? It sure smells good," said the businesswoman.

"It's turkey and havarti. It's really good," replied the other woman.

"I'm really hungry – I think I'll get one."

That was it. Three lines. How many marketing lessons do you see there?

Let me suggest these:

• 1. We Sell What We Show. Having the sandwich right there (and in the display case) made it easy for each woman to purchase it.
• 2. Use As Many Senses As You Can. Notice the SMELL was one of the reasons the businesswoman wanted the sandwich, not just the appetizing appearance.
• 3. Price Wasn't A Factor. The businesswoman had made up her mind she wanted the sandwich before even asking for the price. She never asked the price (ok… so I didn't tell you that part) but even so, she had made up her mind when speaking with the younger woman.
• 4. Let others do the selling for you by using Testimonials. Even if the person behind the counter had said the exact same thing, the impact would not have been as great. Testimonials are KING (well, perhaps QUEEN in this case!).

Here are some other lessons that took place AFTER that exchange. And since I'm always coaching the people behind the counter I paid particular attention to find out what would happen next.

When the order for the sandwich was placed, here's what was said:

• 5. "Would you like a drink with that?" Ahhhh, the upsell… straight from the McDonald's Handbook ("Would you like fries with that?")
• 6. And pay attention here: just as the order was being rung up, the person behind the counter asked, "Would you like a cookie to take with you on the road?" You see, the sale had been made. What would one more small decision be? If the hungry businesswoman had been asked all these questions up front, she might have been overwhelmed, and we all should know that "a confused mind always says NO," so it's great that the person behind the counter waited. "Sure, that's fine."
• 7. Notice that the question about the cookie wasn't "would you like something else" or even worse (which is what I hear most of the time at other places), "Is that all." WHAT? Is the sales person tired? Does the sales person want to get rid of me? Isn't the salesperson there to find out "what I want and help me get it," so why do I hear "is that all" ever? But even "what else may I get you" isn't as good as a specific suggestion. Sure, it's still a close-end question, but at least this way the buyer has some idea of what the options are, rather than the very vague, "is there something else?"
• 8. And notice that NONE of this was institutional advertising. No "make them feel good" about what is going on. No "Frogs Drinking Beer" advertising (that's a phrase I've coined – Go here and click the audio player to learn more. Read About Frogs Drinking Beer Marketing Here!).

So… what else do YOU see going on here? Leave me a comment with the lessons YOU see here, ok?

I'm ready to learn more too!

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad, succeeding in this economy
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