The blind man in the park

In New York City it is not unusual to see people begging for money. Some may perform small tasks such as washing a car window cleaning off the bench seat while others simply hold out a tin cup. This is how one blind man in Bryant Park asked passersby for money. Sitting on the sidewalk the place to sign next to him that said, “I am blind, please help.”

An executive from a Madison Avenue advertising agency was walking by on her lunch hour and noticed that people were unmoved by his sign and were merely passing him by. She took a thick black marker and walked up to his sign. Turning it around, she wrote a new message.

Immediately people started dropping coins and dollar bills into the tin cup. Thanks, so many people were touched by the new message at the cup was soon overflowing.

To see what the message said, click here.

This story, which once went viral on the Internet, shows the importance of having the right message for your customer. The case of the blind man, customers were buying the good feeling of helping someone less fortunate than them. But even as noble as this may sound without the right marketing message people were simply not buying.

The moral of the story is to take an empathetic look at every situation. Understand the product that is being sold in the emotion of the buyer. When you can connect a customer’s emotion to what is being sold you will see a definite spike in your sales.

About the author:

Rick Weaver has half a century’s experience in leadership development in retailing. He founded Max Impact Corporation, a leadership and business development consultancy company in 2002. His major accomplishments include working himself from stock clerk to director at a Fortune 50 retail chain and building a $40MM+ construction company in under 5 years. Today he works as an Executive Search Consultant with Patrice & Associates matching management talent with the job culture for which they are uniquely wired.