While reading Mrs. Fields’ (of cookie fame) auto-biography, One Smart Cookie, I was struck by her unique sales approach. She firmly believed that the more cookies she gave away, the more she would sell. Given the success of her business, this sales technique worked very effectively. She also promoted a zany approach to customer service by singing a cookie version of Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah and emphasizing that making the customer feel good was the ultimate good for sale.
She truly epitomized a perspective-taking, empathetic approach that Dan Pink emphasized in his book, To Sell is Human. Mrs. Fields realized early on in her life that making others happy was her life goal and for her, selling cookies was the way to achieving that life goal.
BoweryJE22
I think more people need to learn from Mrs. Fields. So many people think that as long as I am happy with my product, you will be too. This is like the “Sales and the Fandom” article too in that the best way to sell is to allow the customer to test out the product. I think this is evident in a lot of industries with the freemium model and buy up and i do think it is successful because people are pleased with the product before they have to pay for it and be forced to like it.
http://gccwebsites.com/startupsales/sales-and-the-fandom/
Its interesting that her philosophy of giving away cookies to increase sales was successful. I have been considering a similar approach for my pocket square business, and it is reassuring to hear that it worked well for someone as successful as Mrs. Fields.
This is a really cool post and some great ideas. The idea of giving up something like a cookie instead of selling it in order to make more money is awesome. I’ve seen other places do this where they sell some of their products at a loss in order to have people buy other things from them allowing them to still make a profit.
I just watched an episode of Undercover Boss and Moe’s Southwest Grill does this to increase their catering business. I think it is a great strategy because it allows people to fall in love with your product and they will hopefully buy in the future and tell others about it.
I think on the one hand, giving out free products gives potential customers a chance to experience a product, but on the other hand it makes the seller much more trustworthy. If someone is confident enough in their product to give it to me for free, because they know I’ll buy more, it’s probably pretty likeable. There is a man who sells chocolate at the Grove City Premium Outlets during Christmas, and he makes enough money to not work the rest of the year. His approach? He gives out free pieces of chocolate. Good sales approach!