I spent Spring Break in DC with my two roommates and a friend from high school. One of my roommates, Madelyn, lives just 20 minutes from the city, so we were able to stay at her house. This was incredibly generous of her family, because, as broke college students, staying at a hotel wasn’t exactly in our budget.
Madelyn was the one who convinced us that DC was the perfect place to spend our break. With the promise of quality time, sightseeing, and most importantly, delicious food, I- a college student with a less-than-full bank account- was easily persuaded.
As promised in an earlier post, this post is about food.
Some of my favorite places we visited were an Indian restaurant, a Mediterranean spot, and a Korean restaurant. This post, however will be about Mezeh, the Mediterranean restaurant.
It was Saturday- Madelyn, Anastasia and I had spent an entire day out and about and were exhausted and hungry. This led to us looking up places to eat- Madelyn, knowing we love Mediterranean food (we go crazy for the gyro, falafel, dolma, and tzatziki when it shows up in MAP), first searched up Mediterranean restaurants. Sure enough, she found a place that only showed two dollar signs ($$) on the map program and was within a 10 minute walk of where we were in the city. A tiny part of me was skeptical, given that the only food Madelyn’s family ever eats is Chipotle and Outback (solid choices but I love trying different cuisines). The walk was bitter cold (the day had started off at 60 some degrees but by the evening had lowered to about 30 degrees) but the second we walked in the restaurant, I knew Madelyn had done well. It smelled of spices- cumin, cayenne, cilantro, deliciously cooked chicken and steak, buttery rice, and roasted peppers and garlic. It was everything we wanted and more.
So how does this relate to sales? Madelyn identified our pain: we were hungry and on a budget, as well as tired. She also knew we liked Mediterranean food and that I would want to try something new. This led us to Mezeh and the wonderful bowl I have pictured below:
Madelyn non-sales sold us on going to DC and on trying out Mezeh! I cannot wait to go back.
SchrieberBE23 
FrenchJA21 
andersonsa22
Thank you for sharing, Leyla! That food looks really yummy. Madelyn was able to quickly identify your pain and work alongside you and Anastasia to find a solution.
Sounds like you had an awesome time while in DC! I’m glad you were able to get a bite to eat even though the journey of walking there was freezing, looks amazing.
I love the way you took a personal conversation and connected it to sales! Madelyn definitely sold you on DC and the Mediterranean food, I should take some notes from her lol!
You WOULD write a foodie blog post.
Nonetheless, I like how you related sales to this experience. You’re totally right! Madelyn knew her audience; she knew the pain points AND she knew what you liked, and because of that, was able to create a mutually beneficial atmosphere!