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When Good Marketing Assists Good Selling

One of my good friends, Marshall Sylver, once taught me that, “Marketing is the wink, sales is the kiss.” That phrase has always resonated with me for years and years. Today, I had an awesome experience of witnessing how the two go hand in hand.

About a year ago a new grocery store moved into Las Vegas…Fresh and Easy. They seem to be popping up everywhere and one even opened less than a mile from my house. Since they opened, my wife and I have probably shopped at the big supermarkets less than ten times. We’re HUGE fans of Fresh and Easy as they package and price things for people with our kind of lifestyle. Plus they make the buying process a real pleasurable one and definitely push their staff huge on customer service importance.

Wanting to make a nice dinner for my wife this evening, off I went to the local store. One of the cool marketing techniques that Fresh and Easy uses is to have a sampling station in every store which always has tastings of their specific in-house brands. Today it  might be fresh veggies and fruits and tomorrow it might be corn chips and mint infused water. While I’m not usually interested in a sample of something I generally walk on by. Today though, I was wandering past and the woman behind the counter asked if I wanted a drink. Today they seemed to be pushing different juices. A bit thirsty, I obliged. “What’s in that fluorescent orange cup?” I asked. “It’s really quite tasty. It’s Peach Mango Fusio but the name is a bit deceiving as there’s also a lot of vegetable juice in there. It’s really healthy and tastes great. Here, try a cup.” she says as she hands me a sample. “Not bad” I said

Not really that interested in buying any, I was about to walk away. That’s when I noticed the cup sitting next to it with a sludge of a drink that looked like something dredged from the bottom of Lake Erie. “What in the world is that stuff?” I asked, pointing to the green slime in a cup. This is where the conversation got real interesting. She leans over the counter, stares at me right in the eye and says in a near whisper, “You look like a man of adventure! You look like the kind of guy who never says no to a challenge. I’m correct, aren’t I?”

Shocked, I took a step back and laughed. “OK, what’s in it?” I ask. “Pay no attention to the look and don’t worry about what’s in it. It’s juice and it’s good for you. Just drink it!” she commands me. I take a sip and WOW was this stuff good. I immediately finished the cup and asked what it was. “It’s our Mighty Green Superfoods drink. It’s got a variety of different juices in it but it also has Blue Green Algae, wheat and barley grass, and a whole lot more. It’s the healthiest drink we carry. It’s awesome, isn’t it?” Nodding my head yes, I asked where I could find it in the store. The woman replied, “Here is your very first bottle” handing me one over the counter, prepared to make the sale. I took six.

As I was leaving the store, I saw the store manager and told her, “That woman you have in the back. The young girl with the tattoos at the sample counter. You really need to give her a raise. She’s awesome.” The manager looked at me and said, “We just did 2 weeks ago. Don’t tell her this, but she’s being promoted to Assistant Manager at the end of the month.” Brilliant.

So, I walked away from this experience recognizing the true difference behind how successful companies operate and how others fail. At some point in time, a marketing person came up with the idea for always offering product samples and possibly even which ones to choose from. For all I know, they had 2 trillion bottles of this stuff sitting in the back that they were having difficulty moving and so they figured offering samples of it might make them sell faster. Ultimately though, it was a marketing decision to put it out there. HOWEVER, pushing a product that the majority of customers would resist means you have to have the right person selling it. The woman who sold me on this juice was VERY creative in her approach. She made me laugh, she made me feel important, and most importantly, she closed the sale! Not every person working in a supermarket has those skills and I’m glad that someone higher up in the chain of command recognized that. Getting the customers to the opportunity is about marketing. Getting them to buy is about sales. It’s important to understand how the two differ and also how they complement one another.

SOME PARTING FOOD FOR THOUGHT…

If the circus is coming to town and you print a big sign that says, “Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday”, that’s advertising.

If you get some rope and tie the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it down Main Street, that’s promotion.

If the elephant walks bumps into the mayor’s car and leaves a dent, that’s publicity.

And if you get the mayor to laugh and make a joke about it on the evening news, that’s public relations.

If everyone in town goes to the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, carnival rides, petting zoo, explain how much fun they’ll have spending money at the circus, answer their questions and then ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that’s sales.

And, if you planned the whole thing, that’s Marketing!