Sales or Marketing?

nick wilde · Joined: 08 Jun 2007 Posts: 7 Location: London

In my previous posting I talked about an aspect of customer service that is important in the Argentinian market. I need also to mention another aspect of selling to tourists. Unfortunately, as I have found in other markets, once some sales people discover that you are in fact a tourist, the dollar signs light up in their eyes. All of a sudden you are seen as an easy target in a retail environment, and unscrupulous salespeople pull out all the stops to get a sale. This includes putting pressure on you, when you clearly don´t want to buy the thing that you have picked up, and being economical with the truth. The piece of clothing that you try on, which you know isn´t the right size, looks fine, according to the seller. If your size isn´t available then you must try on something else. In other words you are not leaving here without buying from me. Even the price tags start to disappear and the price is inflated. Well, you can afford it anyway, is probably what they are thinking. The problem is that places develop reputations and it puts tourist off. Ask the first visitors tp the Costa Del Sol in Spain, and they will tell you that this was a common experience in Spain. It is such a shame, because I find Argentinians to be some of the nicest people that I have ever met, and pleased to call a number of them good friends. Time for some more marketing classes Mr Holden. How is your Spanish these days?

Phil H · Posted: 18th June, 2007 11:54 am UTC Post subject: Sales or marketing?...mmmm

¿Cómo es mi español?

Isn't Babelfish great?

Well, of course, marketing is a way of conducting business and selling is one of the things you have to do day to day to keep in business. You can do either without the other.

[Desperately lonely readers can insert a four-box matrix here...!]

The thing with holiday resorts (and I experienced the same thing in Tunisia) is that they are distorted markets. The customers are effectively walking down a one-way street. All those harbour-front restaurants don't survive on their own merits, they survive on passing trade. The trade keeps passing by because there are new tourists being poured in at one end and coming out and going home at the other end.
Some of them come back, some of them don't.

By definition this kind of market is about selling. In fact you do anything it takes to sell. Hence scams abound - *real* Rolex anyone? Time share? Rolling Eyes

And when the tourists aren't as gullible as you'd like them to be, you can be as rude as you like - as proven by the foul language of the vendor in the souk in Hammamet directed at me and my young children when we looked but didn't buy. Mad

So I guess the lesson is about the way you look at your customers. Are they 'tourists' passing through who you'll never see again? Or do you want them to come back time and again.

Whatever you think they ARE now. There is almost always value in thinking about some of them as future customers too.

Almost ANY business (actually I can't think of an exception) can enter into a dialogue with customers to find out what they might need in the future and to give them the opportunity to keep in touch.

Imaging having an outdoor store or maybe a deli. At the till you make a point of giving the customer a card with the web address on and perhaps giving them a 5% discount. But you also tell them why you're doing that.

"If you need any repairs or replacement parts just look online or call us. We just charge postage at cost and we can find the most obscure things."

"If you like that pate you can order it and have it delivered directly. We've got some other things from the same producer too. You can see the full list online. We giftwrap things too."

At the same time you could get information from them that may help your online or other direct marketing. The 5% discount above could therefore be tested by tracking customers; for a couple of months you give it to some and not others to see if it's worthwhile.

So if you are actually a business in a tourist resort. Why would you do anything more than take the easy money from the passing tourists?

Well the simple answer is that you want to be around the next season. And also that if the typical tourist is in town for a week, you don't want them to visit you just once, you want them to come again and again. And you want them to bring friends, and recommend you and, in short, be prepared to pay a little extra to visit you as opposed to the cometition next door and all along the street.

My challenge to anyone on the forum is to contribute examples of a business where this approach could NOT work.

¿No es que la verdad?

Phil