When my oldest son was about 9 or 10 years old, he perfected the skill of convincing people, especially mom and grandma, that whatever he wanted was exactly what he should get. He would anticipate our objections before we expressed them and always had a very good argument prepared to persuade us to go with his plan. His grandpa used to say he could “sell ice to Eskimos.”
“Mom, I really need a PlayStation.”
“They are too expensive.”
“I have been saving my lawn mowing money and some of the birthday money grandma gave me, so you only have to pay $50, and I’ll pay the rest. I’ll do extra chores to pay you back that money.”
“You will waste way too much time playing it.”
“Playing video games has been shown to improve hand-eye coordination, so I will have a better chance of growing up to be a surgeon if I have a PlayStation.”
I’ve thought about that expression a lot over the years. How do you “sell ice to Eskimos” when they are surrounded by it? You find a way to convince them they need to buy it!
A perfect example is paying for bottled water. As Daniel Gross, economics editor for Yahoo! Finance, recently said, “Paying for something you can get for free, or close to free, would seem to be positively un-American. But with one product, it happens all the time — every day, over and over, to the tune of $21 billion a year. Water.”
Even though tap water is actually a lot safer because it is much more heavily regulated, the American water system is widely distrusted, and citizens open their wallets wide to pay high prices for bottled water, believing they are protecting their health. Bottled water manufacturers capitalized on that perception of distrust and made millions. Many people think bottled water tastes better, and it is easy to demonstrate how handy it is to grab a bottle out of the refrigerator and take it with you. Safety, convenience and taste are three of the main reasons manufacturers try to convince consumers they need bottled water through very persistent marketing efforts.
This concept applies to selling almost any kind of product. Find the right customers to target, identify their needs, wants, desires, fears (real or perceived) and any other purchase motivators your product could help them meet, anticipate any objections that may come up and find ways to address them.
This bottle of water costs $2 at our store, but you can take it with you into Disneyland and save $3 per bottle because they will charge you at least $5.
It is worth it to pay $5 for bottled water inside the park because it will be cold, you won’t have to drag your own water around with you, and you’ll lose too much time if you leave the park to get some and come back.
It is critical to find out from potential customers why they would, or would not buy your product and identify any unmet needs they have early in the development stage so adjustments can be made as needed to help ensure success. A good approach for this is to conduct concept testing using focus groups, online surveys, telephone surveys, and/or store intercepts. To be successful, this type of research should continue throughout the process of turning a concept into a viable product or service that can be taken to market.
Remember, an idea is not a product, no matter how good it is, and it won’t sell itself. But, if you follow this process, you’ll be ready to sell your “ice” up north or wherever you discover your target customers reside.
