Top Secrets of Bestsellers

Or how I got Sold and Upsold

It happened with me recently. I was at Ostrava music festival, walking around the area in the pause between two concerts. It was in the evening and I was searching for food and something to drink. I bought some nicely spiced Taiwanese noodles and was looking for something to satisfy my thirst. I had enough beer, water was also not an option. Maybe Sprite or juice?

Passing by the food courts and trucks I saw something bright and colourful far in front of me and became interested. Coming closer I saw two smiley people in bright yellow outfits selling fresh coconuts. I checked the price - 100 czech korunas, pretty expensive taking into consideration that it was 3 times as much as I would pay for the beer. Nevertheless I decided to give it a chance. The guy selling coconuts asked me : "do you wanna open it yourself using the axe?" I was in doubts for a while, however he ensured me "look, it's pretty easy" and showed me how to do it, putting the sharp end of the blade nearby the handle deep inside the coconut top. I gave it a try. Yep, the guy was right - there's nothing difficult in it. More people were coming to the coconut court asking for the price and looking at me as a "coconut lumberjack". In a minute I was done, walking to my friends with a big open coconut drinking fresh juice with a smile on my face. Before I left the man told me giving my coconut and putting a straw in it "you can come back when you are done and we'll open it so that you can enjoy the coconut chips". I came to my friends and shared my drink with them and they loved it so much that they went to get some as well. After I was done and the concert was over I went back and asked to open the magic fruit. The guy asked if I want to do it myself. Having lost my fear I checked how he started the process and in the end cut the coconut with one final move in two pieces. I thought I was done, however the game wasn't over. The coconut chips were covered with the husk and the guy asked me if I need a spoon and offered to buy it for 20 korunas. Taking into consideration my dirty hands I decided to buy it, plus 20 korunas was nothing to me at that time compared to a 100 I've spent earlier. I left the place with a bigger smile on my face eating coconut chips. Walking down the way to the concert scene I suddenly started to realise what just happened to me from the Sales perspective and was amazed by the fact how well it was planned.

Here are 5 points that came to my mind, which made coconut a festival Bestseller and got me Sold and Upsold:

1) With any type of product you wanna sell to the public think about your niche first. The product itself doesn't need to be revolutionary at all and your target audience doesn't need to be huge. However the stuff you sell should stand out from the crowd and be unique for the given audience at a given time. Given the example of a coconut - it was within this niche. Beer was everywhere, water - easily available, what else is left? It's hot (it was sometimes up to +32 during the day) and fresh coconut seems to be the perfect fancy option for those who are thirsty.

2) While your product is in the niche - set the right price, taking into account the buying power of your potential consumers and the alternatives available. 100 korunas for the coconut was pretty expensive, but it was a rare good compared to a much cheaper beer and after a while of thinking me and my friends were saying: "ok 100 is not so expensive - I can afford it! "

3) Engage with your customers. By showing how to open a coconut the seller was able to provide me with a rare piece of extra fun experience while buying the product. This coconut opening I will never forget.

4) Make Champions out of your clients and let them spread the word. By opening a coconut and being visible to the other potential buyers I was basically a moving piece of advertisement. After having a short live opening demo I was able to do it myself and by doing it and having fun I was also sharing it with others. Later I went to my friends and shared coconut juice and my experience of buying it with them. They liked it and went to buy some. There was no extra budget spent on customer acquisition, just a free reference from a satisfied client.

5) Satisfied client is the upsell opportunity. After I finished with the juice, I came back for the chips. The opening demo happened again and I was offered a coconut spoon for 20 korunas. After a hundred, 20 was nothing + I had a need and my dirty hands would force me to do some extra moves to enjoy my meal otherwise. I didn't want to spend some extra effort on it and decided to go for an easy shot and bought a spoon.

To sum it up, I wish all the Sales people sell the products which bring real value and satisfy customers so that they will be within the 5 points mentioned above. In that case both the buyer and the seller will be happy and the sale process itself will be more fun rather than pure money exchange for the goods we want and need.

You liked what you've read? -> give it a thumb up

Have any questions, thoughts or feedback to share -> ping me here or send me a letter to [email protected]