A Marketing Lesson via a Local Ice Cream Parlor
ByWhat does an ice cream shop have to do with your Internet business? You might be surprised just how similar the requirements for success with an ice cream shop and your online business are.
We just returned from enjoying ice cream cones at a new shop in a nearby town. The shop was nice, the service was OK, and the ice cream was good. Nothing about the visit was negative; we’ll probably return again sometime.
So what was the problem?
“…PROBABLY return sometime.”
You see, we paid the $3.78 for our cones, exchanged thank-you’s with the clerk and left. The owners are making a critical mistake. It’s the same mistake most brick and mortar business owners make and one that far too many online marketers make.
When we walked into the shop, we were treated simply as a “sale.” A business owner should look at every new visitor or customer as an OPPROTUNITY instead of just a sale.
The opportunity comes in the form of all the future purchases that first-time customer could make.
The clerk could have done any number of things to take advantage of the opportunity a new customer offers. Why not offer everyone a chance to signup for a private mailing list which could offer specials just for those on the list? Or how about offering a punch card for “buy 10 cones and get one free?” Something….anything to get us back!
When the shop gets a new customer, the single most important thing they should work at is getting the customer to return. There are other ice cream shops in the area; just serving OK ice cream is not enough…. all the shops do that anyway.
Look at EACH new customer as a FUTURE customer instead of just a sale for the day!
