Marketing strategies are everywhere.
In this case, she could have served us crickets for all I care.
Well, OK, that’s exaggerating.
But there are marketing strategies to learn from our restaurant experience last night.
Let me set the scene:
We went out to dinner for my daughter’s 15th birthday.
She loves a particular restaurant. And, she loves sitting on the top patio.
So, we get our table.
The first thing we notice after sitting down, is how HOT it is.
We look up and see a barrage of heaters lining the rooftop.
It makes sense, because the patio is an all glass enclosure right now. Because it’s winter here.
So it’s a tad bit cold.
But when I say it was hot, I mean HOT.
Especially since we had two space heaters positioned directly above us.
We felt like WE were the ones on the grill.
So, we call over the hostess.
“Hey, can you do us a favour and turn down the heat a little?”
She says “Unfortunately…
By the way, if you ever begin a discussion with me with the word “unfortunately”, you’ve pushed my Sicilian button.
Back to the story.
She says “Unfortunately, I can’t. The heaters are on a temperature control for the whole building and we can’t touch it.”
I dunno, something like that. Because like I said, “unfortunately” shuts down my ears.
Bad call.
In the wink of an eye, I’m p!ssed that I have to endure this heat throughout the meal.
Enter our waitress.
She takes our drink orders – as usual.
And, I have my usual. Ginger Ale. So does my son. Ice tea for my daughter and water for my wife.
All that doesn’t really matter , but I’m sure you were wondering ;-).
Onward.
Our waitress comes back with the drinks.
She notices we are looking up at the blazing heaters.
“Is it too hot?” she asks.
“YES” I say. “It’s really unbearable.”
“I’ll turn the heat down for you.”
“Really? That would be great. I already asked the other girl over there if she could do it, but she said it was impossible.”
“No” the waitress said, “I can turn your section down…give me a minute.”
DONE.
In that ONE moment, that waitress earned her tip.
As I mentioned at the top of this post, she could have brought us crickets for all I cared…
…because ALL I DID care about was being comfortable. I wanted to eat my meal without feeling like I was being cooked.
In other words, that waitress made us FEEL comfortable with her “marketing strategies”.
She did it by simply noticing our discomfort and taking the proactive initiative to ask.
Which earned huge brownie points for her.
Even the delays in getting the food, and the loud music was now bearable.
What’s the point of all this you ask?
It’s about marketing and selling.
Believe it or not, what that restaurant ‘sells’ to my daughter (and us too) is a FEELING.
In fact, EVERY restaurant, mechanic, doctor, hairdresser, corner gasoline station…sells a FEELING.
So do you.
We have said over and over again…we go back to that restaurant “because of the vibe.”
The food is expensive and it’s not the best cooking we’ve ever had wither.
But we go for the “vibe”. The atmosphere. How it makes us FEEL.
Except the beginning of last night was off to a bad start.
The “vibe” destroyed (at least in my mind) because of those damn heaters.
And, the “I-can’t-do-anything-nor-will-I-check” attitude of the first girl.
The vibe returned only with the help of the second in command.
The person responsible for making us FEEL welcomed and comfortable.
So, the question is;
How are YOU making your prospects and customers feel welcomed and comfortable with your marketing strategies?
Are you pushing them through the door as fast as possible? Do you shove “menus” in their face and ask them to buy “overpriced mediocre food” while they sit at an “uncomfortable table”?
Or, do you take the time to notice the “heat” might a bit too high?
All this stuff matters.
One of the way it matters in our business, is through email communication.
If you are doing what every other marketer is doing…
…such as “hey! thanks for downloading my FREE PDF…now GO OVER HERE AND BUY MY SHYTE” stuff…
I’ll bet the “vibe” of your tribe ain’t cool.
Your market has changed. They expect you to care.
Part of caring is PROVING that you care through the marketing strategies you choose.
L
And that means taking the time to communicate with them.
Joey
BTW – so many people ask me how to write emails. They want to know how to write personal and set the right “vibe” for their customers. So, I created Email Archery. It shows you how to write emails without being “salesy”.
You will learn how to develop a trusting relationship that will let you sell stuff – without slamming people with hard sales tactics, spammy emails and annoying hype.
To get on the next release of Email Archery in Feb 2019 – click here.