Give Them a Taste, and They’ll Want More

Things we experience regularly during our lives, often become the catalyst for concepts, stories, and unique ideas – or the spark for an article – like the story I'm about to tell, and how it sparked some ideas, I have used in the past, which I hope will serve as a catalyst for YOU to help you grow and become more profitable.

The other afternoon, after playing a vigorous two hours of tennis with my wife, we went to our favorite restaurant for a bite and beverages. Fifteen minutes into our visit, the executive chef came out, greeted us as he typically does every time we visit.

In his hand, he brought after a “teaser” appetizer, set it in front of us and said, “…have a taste, give me your thoughts….” Chef knows I was a former foodie, and I am always interested in trying something new and exciting. The morsels were Pasta Chips, thin slices of cooked flat pasta, then deep fried. The chips were tossed in grated parmesan cheese and sea salt, finally garnished with a pureed white bean and olive oil dip, with a drizzle of balsamic glaze – it was stellar!

Chef mentioned, ‘we are thinking about giving everyone a small taste, and hopefully they would want to order more,’ we did, so it worked. I asked the GM, what the food cost was on those $5.00 appetizers - $1.00? he said, ‘…maybe fifteen cents…’

It got me thinking about our industry, what do you do, how do you get clients to ‘taste’ your offerings with the hope they will ask more questions and come back for more? Allow me to share a few techniques I have used over the years which generated huge sales and impressive profits.

Poly-bagging

I made it a point to have EVERY apparel sample in my office to be cleanly polybagged and sealed. When I went on a client presentation, I wanted them to ask, ‘can I open it?’ YES, of course, I wanted them to experience what it was like to be the recipient of a product in this manner. Inevitably they might ask questions about packaging. They now tasted it, and hopefully they wanted more.

Accessorizing

Adding to the tasting of poly-bagging, were other ‘add-on’s such as: hang tags, belly bands, wraps, printed collateral, and custom engraved hangers. Any time I was selling a high-end jacket or piece of apparel, I would have my local laser engraver mark a wooden hanger with the client’s logo. When I went in to make the presentation, the sample was presented on the wooden hanger; I would not say a word, and nine times out of ten the client would make a comment about the banded hanger and inquire of the cost. Just a taste, which is what I wanted, just to experience the offering. I would close approximately 50% of additional sales at 700% PM (that was NOT a typo).

Over-run samples

In 80% of the sales cases, I would always do an over-run sample of an additional item; for instance, if someone ordered embroidered polos, I might add and embroidered sweater of the same quality. The sample was folded, poly-bagged, and placed inside with the polo shirt order.

I recall a very good fiend of mine, was owner of a very popular sports bar in the Washington DC area; he had placed an order for 144 embroidered golf caps, so following my traditional M.O., I ordered a sample of a beautiful tri-fold black golf towel, had it embroidered with their logo, folded and poly-bagged and placed on top of the caps.  When my friend received his order, he immediately called and said, “Cliff, there must be a mistake, I ordered hats, not towels,” I said, “Louis, the towel was to say thank you for the business, I hope you like it.” Days later Louis called ma and asked for the cost on 144 golf towels, placed the order, and as tradition would have it, I sent in a nice embroidered hooded sweatshirt. And as one might imagine, I got a call thanking me for the sweatshirt, laughing as he inquired about the pricing stating, “…so this is how it’s going to go…?”  Of course, this is how I chose to show value, giving them a “taste” of other things on my menu. It worked, over-and-over again. Be willing to invest in yourself and your clients.

Close-Out Products

When building my marketing campaigns, and in-order to ensure the most cost-effective promotions, I would first go to closeout or merchandise that was on a huge discount. Most every time I built a creative marketing campaign and sent it out to clients and prospects, I would get numerous inquiries, firstly, I would hear, “who did this for you” or, “I didn’t know you did this”’, and “can we use this idea?”

One of my very first campaign I used a Swiss Army© knife. While walking a trade show, the vendor pulled me aside and stated they had a special with one, multi-functional knife (they gave me a taste); and given my employer at the time, split the cost of any self-promo we did, I bought in right away. I order 150 knives and set out designing one of my very first creative campaigns which netted stellar results!

I remembered writing about this case history in a trade publication, distributed to end-users, and one gentleman called me stating he, ‘would love for me to come build a campaign for his company,’ who at the time, was one of the largest, construction companies in the United States. I told him, I was out of the selling game, and now only writing, speaking, and consulting. He said, “You might be interested to know I have a million-dollar marketing budget, and I have never seen anything like this before – are you sure?”

I must say, that “taste” was tempting, but I decided to stick to my newfound path.

My friends, there is no one-size-fits-all program, you must look at ways to differentiate yourselves in this extremely competitive space we work in. For me, giving my clients, AND prospects a taste of what we did, was one of the many offerings that set us apart. If you do a sample, and client does not buy, consider it a goodwill gesture and the planting of a seed, a talking point, for your next encounter. What are the things you and your company do which are exceptional? Share those with your clients.

Remember the pasta chips? I ordered more, AND I told multiple people who sat down near us, and guess what – you got it… more profitable sales. Always leave a good taste in their mouth. Stuff that tastes good people talk about, as well as the bad things. Make every encounter count, make every taste sweet. You will be well on your way to a more profitable business.

As always, continued good selling, and here’s to the sweet taste of success -
YOUR SUCCESS!

My absolute best - CQ