MaxiChopper to Ninja thanks to demonstration sales strategy!
When you go into a store and visit the kitchen appliance aisle, isn’t it a bit overwhelming? How does a customer choose which of the 10 toaster ovens he should buy? How does a retailer decide which toaster oven gets the best shelf space?
As a consumer, I am initially drawn to the look, design and style of the item that best suits my taste and personality. Then I look at the price tags and find the ones that fit with my budget and THEN I start reading boxes and really looking at the different items to see what features each has or doesn’t have before I make a decision.
This is a fairly good plan, one most people probably follow, but wouldn’t it be so much better if you could actually have the the different products explained to you? Wouldn’t it have been nice to know that the oven you are picking out has a tendency to cook more on the right side than the left and forevermore you will have to rotate your pizzas half-way into the cooking time? Yes, I believe this information would impact a customers buying decision.
Case in point, the Bravetti MaxiChopper. This item did horribly at retail but once it was sold on HSN, and people could see exactly what it did, it sold like crazy! In fact, thedemonstration and sales went so incredibly well, Bravetti/EuroPro changed the name and made it into an infomercial…ever heard of the Ninja?! Why the big improvement in sales? Customers could see it in action and they “got” why it is better than the competition.
But here’s the new twist…as internet sales are becoming bigger and bigger, they now account for almost 30% of the sales on these shopping channels! This says to me that customers want it all. They want to be able to see the item demonstrated but then they also want to go online and compare similare items for price, style, features, etc. Customers are becoming very savvy and shopping channels are stepping up.
Networks are recording each presentation, uploading it to YouTube and then posting it on their websites. This boosts sales in two ways, first it gives the shopping channel viewer the ability to immediately watch other videos to compare competitors products before making a purchasing decision. And second, posting videos on YouTube vastly improves a websites SEO (search engine optimization) so that when a non-shopping-channel customer searches the internet for a toaster oven, they are likely to find it on a shopping channel anyway. The shopping channel has just doubled it’s chance of making a sale.
What about you and your company? What are you doing to double your sales? If you traditionally sell to, or are, a brick and mortar retail store you already know that online store is a must have. However, a static page online store is not enough to compete in todays market because without a visual demonstration, the customer is left to wonder which item is the best. He/she needs to be shown.
Live on air, in a video online, live in a store or all of the above, product demonstration is the key. To take it back to the beginning of this article, how do retailers choose which item gets the best shelf space? By deciding which item they think will grab the customers attention and sell the best.
How can you get that shelf space? Again, by demonstrating the product. Either by doing a live presentation which, in the case of most kitchen items, is not feasible to do in someone’s office or by showing the buyer a video demonstrating the item in action. If you make the buyer want it, they will have more power to make the customer want it by educating their salespeople, giving better self space and possibly spending their advertising dollars to promote it.
Including a demonstrations into your sales strategy is a must in todays market. If you need help developing a demonstration for your product, like the one I developed for the MaxiChopper, get more information and tips at TheKitchenAuthority. -Alison
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