The wind and the sun – a modern sales tale

The wind and the sun – a modern sales tale

I was on my first cruise last week, island hopping in Greece.

Needless to say, it was beautiful and the weather was even hotter than in the UK!

As well as some proper R&R on the beach, we got out on a number of excursions, including the Parthenon and Ancient Olympia, and at each stop we were dropped in front of the cruise line’s “preferred suppliers”.

No doubt the commercial relationships between the cruise line and the local shops are mutually beneficial, but what was interesting was the different approaches to get us to go in the shops and spend.

And like the wind and the sun, there was a type of approach that worked and a type that didn’t.

In Athens, our guide spent a good 10 minutes of our very hot walk to the Parthenon extolling the virtues of a jewellery shop that was right next to our meeting place.

“It’s amazing, you HAVE to go in there, I bought my necklace from there, you should buy one”

Ad infinitum.

I did go in the shop, but the hard sell combined with the lack of aircon made me bid a hasty farewell, head out and actually soak up Athens rather than buying jewellery to line the ship’s coffers.

Conversely, at Katakolo – the site of Ancient Olympia – the guide didn’t even mention the preferred supplier list.

She just walked us around the (very hot) attraction, giving useful information and then took us to the high street.

But rather than plugging a shop and giving it the hard sell, she just took us straight into a shop by the drop off.

It had fabulous air conditioning, and after the long slog round Olympia, the coolness was a real treat.

Oh, and guess what? The shop happened to sell jewellery.

Did any of us want to leave this air conditioned haven?  Not on your nelly.

Naturally, we started browsing, and – as often happens – browsing turned to buying, and before long I’d spent $100 on a pair of earrings, with zero push from the guide.

And that’s reciprocity.

Enjoying aircon and want to stay in it? Browse jewellery and buy pretty earrings. Fair bargain, to be honest!

What are you doing to make it easier for your clients to buy from you? Are you push, push, pushing or just putting them in a situation where it’s easy for them to buy?

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