How To Sell Something To The Wrong Person.

A while ago I did some voluntary work (I’m in the Air Cadets) and we were at an RAF (Royal Air Force) band concert and to help out, we sold RAF concert programmes before the concert began and flags during the concert break. The programmes cost £4 each (about $6) and flags were 50p each (about $0.80). All profit went towards the RAF charitable trust. We were assigned partners, so me and my partner got to work.

The night started off slow, we had about an hour to sell as many programmes as we could. She began pitching everyone that we were selling programmes and this really turned people off. Not only could everyone blatantly see that we were selling programmes but they had most likely been pitched by the other people selling the same thing (as we were competing for a top prize, some merchandise).

Anyway, out of all the people she was going out of her way to talk to, I would only say a handful come forward and bought a programme (they were already interested anyway as they were getting their money out to pay before she asked).

Of course she didn’t know a thing about attraction marketing. I just smiled, welcomed people and did not pitch at all. And guess what – I was way more successful. My partner got disheartened when SHE was not selling anything due to her clueless (and aggressive) marketing techniques. I accepted that I would get people uninterested, but I let them walk past me.

I used the same concept with the flags during the break. After bringing all the cash we made to the charity manager, we sat down and watched the second half for free.

My partner and I won (hoorah!), we made a total of around £330 (about $400) from flags and programmes in just a few hours. I wonder if some of my marketing success rubbed off on her 😉

My main point is this; don’t pitch people who are obviously not interested. Based on the attraction marketing theory, people will come to you and you will not bother chasing them. I talked to people and networked, told them a little about me and I didn’t even ask them to buy a programme (some didn’t even want a programme even after all that – it was for charity!).

LEARN THAT MOST PEOPLE WILL NOT BUY FROM YOU.

Want to learn more about Attraction Marketing? Visit my resources page to find out how to apply attraction marketing to your current business.