Inside-Out Marketing
May 27, 2010
This weekend, Lorie and a group of her friends ran a Triathlon. Actually, they were supposed to run a triathlon, but a combination of bad weather and mismanagement caused her to sit this one out. That part of the story is still playing itself out, and I’ll give you an update soon…there will be some customer-service lessons here for sure…
But what I want to talk to you about this week is not the event itself, but rather the day before the event.
Lorie and a few of her friends drove about 30 minutes to pick up their race packets, including the participant numbers they place on their shirts, bikes, and helmets. The pickup took place at a store in Cary, NC, that specifically targets triathletes, and this company is a major sponsor of several large events in the area.
When Lorie and her friends arrived, there were some large tents set up where the participants could go to sign in and collect their packets. Then, they had to go into the store to pick up their T-shirts in the size they had designated when they registered for the race.
There were two problems with this: first, the store was small and very crowded, making it difficult to even move. Clearly, they could have had the T-shirts available outside, but their goal was to get people into the store so they might actually buy something.
Mind you, I don’t begrudge them for doing this any more than I blame Disney for funneling all traffic leaving a popular ride through the gift shop themed around that ride. In fact, I applaud them for doing this, even if it is a bit inconvenient.
But – and this is where they stopped halfway – they gave no incentive for people to step up and make a purchase: no coupons, no one-day sales, and no special “pre-race packages.” They had the perfect opportunity to get people to make that all-important first purchase, and include a “bounce-back” coupon good for the next 14 days to get them back into the store – and into the habit of shopping there.
But they were too busy, too lazy, or too uninformed about effective marketing techniques to take advantage of this incredible opportunity.
Make sure that when you have hundreds of your perfect, ideal customers literally standing inside the door that you do something immediate and deliberate to bring them into the fold – that’s the only way to start building repeat business and lifetime value!
Comments
Got something to say?
