A friend of mine has a great opening slide for his sales presentations. It's a shot of a run-of-the-mill convenience store with all the usual lottery & soft-drink advertising in the window, as well as a large hand-written sign that reads, "NO, we do NOT sell Ice Cream!". It seems the poor store owner was being overrun with people, fists full of money, looking for a cold treat. Rather than invest 50 cents in an ice cream scoop, he made it quite clear that he did not have what they wanted; thus keeping the store nice and empty so he could have some peace & quiet to worry about how he was going to pay the mortgage next month.
That's a rather negative example of one of things we all have to keep in mind every day: You may have a good idea of what your customer wants, but are you missing anything? And when you realize you are- are you reacting correctly? Marketing textbooks are full of more positive examples of the same lesson. Ever use an SOS pad when you do your dishes? These started out as a freebie from door-to-door cooking-ware sales-people looking to bribe their way in the front door, but eventually it became clear that they could be generating more money than the pots and pans. And of course, there's the infamous Post-It note. These began as a horrible failure when 3M was developing a new glue- the stuff wouldn't stay stuck! Some poor chemical engineer probably got fired over it, but they went on to become a million-dollar revenue generator once the hidden value of not-quite-glue was realized and promoted successfully. So, never be afraid to hear some feedback from your prospects and customers. Even if it's not exactly what you were hoping to hear, it just may point you to a more successful path. And hey, serving ice cream isn't a bad way to spend a summer day!
