Being the researcher that I am when it comes to making purchases I decided to check out a number of options for umbrellas before buying one. I started with a larger department store (it was right next to the place I parked my car).
I couldn’t find anyone to ask where is ‘umbrella department’, so I set out on my journey to discover the ‘umbrella department.’
After about 15 minutes of searching up and down floors and in different sections I eventually found it hidden away in an obscure corner on an upstairs floor. I was frustrated and flustered by the time I found them and wasn’t really too impressed with the range or prices (they started at $30). I guess they were nice enough umbrellas to look at but I wasn’t in the mood after my hike around the store to fork out that much for an umbrella. It seems no one else was impressed by the location or the range because in the 5 or so minutes that I was there testing what they did have, I saw no one else shopping for umbrellas despite the heavy rain outside. It was Seattle; you would think they would want to sell umbrellas.
I left the department store (without making a purchase) and proceeded down the street that the department store was on. Within a half block, I saw a guy with a bit of a crowd around him. Near Pikes Place Market is a tourist area, and the tourists were buying umbrellas. He was standing outside of a discount shop next to a massive stand of umbrellas with a massive A frame sign that said ‘UMBRELLAS $10'.
As I approached him I was fascinated to see people digging around in their pockets for loose change and handing him money in exchange for an umbrella as they walked by (barely stopping). The umbrellas he was selling were all black and quality (not the best as you’d expect for $10) and virtually no one was stopping to check out whether they were any good or not.
As I stopped to watch him sell the umbrellas I was amazed to see how many he sold in just a few minutes. He was selling so many that other sales people came out to help, bringing with them more boxes of umbrellas to sell. The scene couldn’t have been more different to the umbrella department I’d just been in.
Over the next few weeks, we will examine the ‘umbrella sales.’ And what can we learn from this scene with regards to service selling at the credit union? Write in what the department store did wrong and what the sidewalk salesman did right.
Comments
Does it make sense selling umbrellas in a department store where the customer is removed from the very rain which the umbrella is to shield him from?
The sidewalk salesman understood that umbrellas, just like any other commodity, are demanded right here and right now. He understood that umbrellas are best sold in conditions where they are of most use, which happens to be when it's raining.
The department store made three mistakes, and they are:
In the hectic, 30-minute lunch world in which we live, people simply don't have the time to take special and precious time just to go into a department store and buy an umbrella. The sidewalk salesman understood that and therefore chose to sell his umbrellas where the Near Pikes Place Market is, which indicated by Rory in his post, is no stranger to people, or in this case, wet consumers.
To be successful, as they say, you have to be in the right place, at the right time.