marketing 101

Ken, a vendor at one of our markets likes to wear ‘message’ t-shirts. One that he’s particularly fond of asks, “How can I NOT help you today?”

I’ve been looking for some gravity chairs lately. I picked up two red canvas ones a couple of years ago, but they now have some weird yellow scale all over them. Last week I went into the local Canadian Tire and asked two sales guys in official red shirts clutching clip boards where the gravity chair display was so I could see the various models out of the box – how were they constructed, what exactly does a ‘brown’ or ‘black’ one look like?  I was told that the store didn’t have enough room to display.

Today I drove down to a much larger Canadian Tire in Barrie. I think it’s one of the largest in Canada. I asked where the gravity chairs were set up. “Oh, we don’t have any,” the salesgirl said offhandedly. “Every time we set one up, someone buys it.” WHAT?

Based on that marketing theory, I should just keep our honey in the truck when I roll into the market and not bring it out so people can see it. Because, before I know it, someone might actually buy it. I’ll just keep it in the back – cap shut, and make people guess what it looks like.

I’m going to find out where Ken gets his T-shirts and start handing them out to a few of the crew at C.T.