Sales, Sales Tips | Jan 17, 2020
Imagine a banana. Let’s think about the packaging: recognisable in almost any country in the world. You’re probably thinking it’s yellow or green, but it also comes in red, purple, and brown. You may think this ingenious design (with free, convenient packaging, requiring no utensils, and no hidden costs) is too good to be true but it isn’t!
And that’s not all!
It has an in-built expiration indicator, telling you whether it’s good to eat at a single glance. Like other fruits, it is biodegradable and presents no immediate harm to the environment.
It is a marvel of ingenuity and convenience but it still needed to be introduced, marketed, and distributed before becoming one of the most common fruit in the world.
American businessmen Andrew Preston aggressively marketed bananas to the American public in the 1880’s and 90’s for decades until it became an integrated element of a wholesome, healthy diet. Preston distributed pamphlets to schools, praising the nutritional benefits of bananas among other strategies to make bananas ‘more popular than apples’.
Thinking about the now-humble banana can help salespeople address a key question: how do you reach your potential customer/consumer?
Sales can sometimes be as easy as removing obstacles to the client. Could your clients be turning away too soon because of preventable reasons? Key customer service elements like face-to-face interactions going badly, a poor retail experience or inconvenient payment methods can stand between you and a thriving sales pipeline.
Clients in the modern age are informed and have a multitude of choices. A negative retail or brand experience can quickly turn customers to other providers. After all, without brands and the advertising supporting brand messages, consumers would not necessarily be shopping at their usual stores.
With the advent of the internet, so many of us thought having a great website would be enough and soon we would be one of those internet millionaires. Having a website is only the beginning of the story. Sometimes, as with bananas, even having an outstanding product is only the beginning.
Like Andrew Preston proactively marketed bananas to the people he needed to buy them; you can take initiative to drive prospects to your company.
Take the test – are you getting several calls per day about your product or services? How are your leads being generated? There are so many more elements to consider with corporate branding but if you take away one thing, remember brand awareness matters.
Make sure that people know who you are, what you stand for, and why they should buy from you. Treat clients with respect or they will leave you and find something else and maybe selling will be a piece of banana cake.
And that’s not all!
It has an in-built expiration indicator, telling you whether it’s good to eat at a single glance. Like other fruits, it is biodegradable and presents no immediate harm to the environment.
It is a marvel of ingenuity and convenience but it still needed to be introduced, marketed, and distributed before becoming one of the most common fruit in the world.
American businessmen Andrew Preston aggressively marketed bananas to the American public in the 1880’s and 90’s for decades until it became an integrated element of a wholesome, healthy diet. Preston distributed pamphlets to schools, praising the nutritional benefits of bananas among other strategies to make bananas ‘more popular than apples’.
Thinking about the now-humble banana can help salespeople address a key question: how do you reach your potential customer/consumer?
Sales can sometimes be as easy as removing obstacles to the client. Could your clients be turning away too soon because of preventable reasons? Key customer service elements like face-to-face interactions going badly, a poor retail experience or inconvenient payment methods can stand between you and a thriving sales pipeline.
Clients in the modern age are informed and have a multitude of choices. A negative retail or brand experience can quickly turn customers to other providers. After all, without brands and the advertising supporting brand messages, consumers would not necessarily be shopping at their usual stores.
With the advent of the internet, so many of us thought having a great website would be enough and soon we would be one of those internet millionaires. Having a website is only the beginning of the story. Sometimes, as with bananas, even having an outstanding product is only the beginning.
Like Andrew Preston proactively marketed bananas to the people he needed to buy them; you can take initiative to drive prospects to your company.
Take the test – are you getting several calls per day about your product or services? How are your leads being generated? There are so many more elements to consider with corporate branding but if you take away one thing, remember brand awareness matters.
Make sure that people know who you are, what you stand for, and why they should buy from you. Treat clients with respect or they will leave you and find something else and maybe selling will be a piece of banana cake.
Next Steps
You can call me on 07889 115660 or email me at, mike@thesalesacademy.com
Together we can make a difference.
