Wake up at 3 AM, take a bath and drive to an empty park to sell stuff.

 

Yes, Every once a month. I go to work with my father helping him with his business.

 

He runs a clothing business here in germany and once every month. We go to this famous marketplace to sell more than we usually do.

 

For that weekend, I go from typing online about marketing to selling products with zero marketing. Only sales led growth.

 

And it feels better. Marketing sometimes feel like  one-sided love, no one listens.

Here are two lessons I learned while talking to over 400 different customers this weekend.

 

Don’t ask, Show them

 

Customer is looking at a product, they are trying to find the sizes.

 

You opt-in for help and they say I’m just looking. No need for help.

 

This happens a lot. I ask “What size are you looking for?”. They leave.

 

And these are german consumers. Direct questions are bad for sales.

 

Because you are the selling character in the scene and many have your image in mind as someone trying to oversell.

 

That is why either be indirect or show.

 

What I did was simple, tracked what sizes they dropped and what were left. I decided to take the size they wanted and indirectly said, What do you think about this one?

 

I didn’t pitch that I have their size. I pitched I have what interests them and asked for their permission.

 

What I learned was consumer wants control of their decision. Respect that and take the permission.

 

What Brought them

 

Last year, The owner of that marketplace sold the space to a new individual and he changed few things around impacting all businesses, including my father.

 

We saw a  30% sales drop even with additions of a new product line. The same situation with other businesses, but what increased was amount of people visiting the marketplace.

 

The number of people visiting increased  by 15% and he did OOH Ads in the city for the weekend market.

 

More marketing ≠ less sales.

 

Teaching me again that, chasing more brand awareness isn’t going to help a business. It is all about reaching the right customer and bringing them to your business.

 

 

Bringing wrong audience online costs mostly money. On ground, talking to them as a salesperson can be exhausting and sometimes can make you angry.

 

That is why be precise with your marketing.

 

Find what brings the best one to the market.

 

I don’t want to turn my family business experience into a marketing or sales masterclass. Only wanted to share that building good relationships with sales as a marketer is important. Especially for small businesses.

 

Fun Fact: I write my newsletter at 3AM usually when I am there to help him. I Can’t give up on 10,000+ people.