Marketing Lessions from a Mall Kiosk Vendor

Michael,

What is this problem solving business that you are in?

An example of what you do would be great for illustration.

Thanks

> He was selling a glass cleaning and
> polishing product.

> What he would do is look for people wearing
> glasses and right before they got to his
> kiosk he would step up to them and say,
> "Excuse me Sir. (or Ms.) your glasses
> look scratched . If you will allow me to
> polish them I think I can remove the
> scratches ." He approached people who
> were most likely to buy his product - people
> with glasses. But more so... he drew their
> attention to their "problem."

> I've mentioned this before... in one of my
> businesses I cold-call business owners who I
> have discovered have a problem. Nearly 100%
> of the business I approach become clients.
> And all I do is draw their attention to
> their problem and let them know I can fix
> it. Sometimes, I draw their attention to the
> problem and then flash my business card -
> which tells them I solve the problem (they
> more fully believe it because they read it
> themselves, and we all know what's written
> is true, right?) and credentialises me at
> the same time (a fly-by-nighter would not
> have a business card).

> Markus Allen told an interesting story... he
> was contacted by someone who said something
> like, "I have spotted two spelling
> typos and a dead link on your site. For $5
> sent through PayPal I will tell you what the
> typos are and how to fix the dead
> link."

> A simple Three Step procedure:

> Find a prospect with a problem. (Look for
> people wearing glasses.)

> Let the prospect know about (draw their
> attention to) the problem. (Your glasses
> look scratched.)

> Offer to fix the problem. (I can remove the
> scratches.) You can offer your
> "solution" en masse and hope some
> of the people in the potential market will
> identify themselves and buy your solution.

> Or

> You can pro-actively contact those in your
> target market (the ones you have identified
> with the problem), draw their attention to
> the problem, and offer your solution.

> I have had great success with the second
> method - and it's real low low stress
> "selling" too. It's almost like
> letting someone know their tyre is flat, or
> something is hanging out of their car, or
> they dropped something... (I notice you've
> got this problem. Oh yeah. I can fix it, if
> you like. Would you, that'd be great.)

> Michael Ross