Here's What I Learned At Lunch Today
 

Japan vs. Thailand

I went to the mall's food court for lunch, today.

After I sat down to eat, I noticed one of the Japanese food workers was giving away free samples of chicken terryaki.

On its own, giving away a free sample is a good marketing tactic. But he gave them something else with every sample. A small slip of paper.

While I was sitting there, about half the folks who took the sample and the slip of paper ended up buying food from that Japanese kitchen.

There were about 10 other food places to choose from.

There was a Thai food joint right next to the Japanese place.The Thai kitchen also had a worker handing out free samples.

But that's all the Thai worker had. He didn't have any tiny slips of paper.

I was there at about 11:30 and left at about noon. For the half hour before the heat of the lunch rush, the Japanese kitchen outsold the Thai kitchen. I believe the small slips of paper was the deciding factor.

The slip of paper was a coupon...just 50 cents off. But it was more than the Thai place next door had offered. That slip of paper was the deal maker for the Japanese kitchen.

Your Own Japanese Kitchen Strategy

You can do the same thing.

If you have a report you're selling...take a page or two from it, spin it off into its own little sample report. Or if you have a number of reports, give them one of the full reports as a sample.

If your shopping cart software features the ability to offer discount codes or coupons, then make a full page coupon ad on the last page of your sample report.

If your report is $7, give them a dollar off if they order through the link in the sample report. If it's $100, give them $10 off. Be generous...make it big enough to appeal to their sense of striking a deal.

See if this increases your sales. It sure did for the Japanese kitchen.

Michael Taylor

How To Ethically "Steal" Ideas From Unrelated Businesses...
 

Hi Michael,

Wow, great idea! I haven't seen this idea implemented with reports... But it's a good idea... Why not?

By the way, I think a good way to get good ideas for your business is to observe what other businesses - in totally different fields - are doing (just like Michael wrote about)...

For example, Henry Ford had big success by using an assembly line to build cars. A few decades later, the McDonald brothers adapted the assembly line idea to build hamburgers (at the first McDonald's!).

Some other ideas (on implementing Michael's idea)... I think the payment processor 2Checkout www.2checkout.com supports discount coupon "codes"...

Another idea is to create a new "time limited" discount purchase link. For a limited time, that special link allows people to buy with a discount. After the date has expired, the link just forwards to the regular purchase link...

Thanks for sharing!

Cheers,

Dien