By Nancy Friedman, Customer Service Keynote Speaker, President Telephone Doctor Customer Service
Went grocery shopping Saturday and, on the way in, seven Girl Scouts and their moms stood at the front door talking with each other while some of the kids were fiddling with some ‘props,’ aka signs that said: “Please Buy” etc.
One 8-year old yelled out to us: “Wanna buy some Girl Scout cookies?” I told them what they’ve probably heard all day, “Maybe later when I come out.”
While shopping I thought to myself, “Self,” I said, “why not help them out?”
I told my husband what I was going to do and he felt it was a good idea. So on the way out I pulled 3 of sharpest looking Girl Scouts aside (I didn’t let them in on that though) and said, “Here’s what I’m going to do. We’ll buy 2 boxes IF you’ll open them up, split them in half and offer them to the folks as they go by. Will you do that?”
Silence. I explained further. “You see, if you let the folks taste the cookies your chances of selling them are greater. You want to sell more cookies, don’t you?” That they understood.
Frankly, I think the kids got it before the moms did. And since it didn’t come out of their pocket, they agreed to let the girls do it.
As we were leaving I saw slight hesitation so I went back and said to the group, “Which are your two most popular flavors?” We all know it’s Thin Mints and Peanut Butter. And that was promptly confirmed.
“So,” I said, “open those boxes, go into the store and ask the bakery department to give you a paper plate. Come back out, split the cookies up in half and offer them up as the folks go by.”
Now we all know Mrs. Fields does that too. In fact, many of the food courts have folks standing in front of their stand offering tastes. And it works.
So these kids don’t know it, but we gave them the first taste of Sales 101. Let the customer try it out.
* Drive the car a few miles before you buy. Take it for a spin.
* Take the puppy home & see if the kids like it. (Oh yeah…. our favorite.)
* Show your husband the dress and make sure he agrees you look great.
* Take a demo of our www.serviceskills.com to see if it’s right for you.
* Visit nancyfriedman.com and see if there’s a program you like that will fit your group’s needs.
There are so many ways to get the customer involved.
I probably won’t see those Girl Scouts or moms again, but my bet is they had a very good day of sales. What can you let your customers try?
