There comes a point in your customer journey when they’re about to say yes, and you’re able to start your relationship together. It’s a moment where the sales team holds their breath and waits for the customer to decide to go with them or move on. The proposal might happen on the sales floor after several days spent looking and researching, or it might occur as an impulse buy after seeing something in the window or in line. Either way, your product kits give your customers the motivation and tools to say yes. Here are three ways your point of purchase kits convince customers to buy and help your sales representatives close the deal.
We were fortunate enough to design a point of purchase kit for Janette & Co. Macaroons and French Pastry. While we would like to think that our design significantly boosted their business, it’s really the idea of macaroons and pastries that makes their customers buy. Imagine walking down the street and smelling fresh macaroons wafting out of a shop, or seeing brightly colored pastries displayed in a window. The customer is already in love — the point of sale kit just helped seal the deal. The kits we created were able to hold multiple macaroons and encouraged customers to buy a set. It’s no different than walking out of Dunkin’ Donuts with a half-dozen donuts instead of just four. Their donut boxes are made for six and easier to carry, so the decision is made for the buyer. Unexpected love at first sight quotes further explain this idea.
The key to marketing a successful point of purchase product is to find a match between your customer’s journey and your brand. If you want your customers to fall in love, understand where they’re coming from. How informed do they need to be before they make a purchasing decision? What problems do they need to solve before you can close the deal? The more you know about your customer journey, the easier it will be to present them with point of purchase materials right when they want them.
This is where the idea selling comes in. Let’s use pool installation as an example. It’s the heat of summer, and your customer is considering installing a pool. A pool company won’t get a sale by immediately talking about different ground materials and water types, but instead starts with top-of-funnel features like shape and size. Once the customer believes he can afford a pool and fit it in his or her backyard, they can then more into the point of purchase details on installation. Most companies need multiple kits for the different steps in the customer journey, from the initial research to the final details.
Retailers love point of purchase impulse displays because they have the power to increase the customer ticket at the very last second. Instead of buying $48 worth of inventory, they pick up a package or candy, bottle of soap, or magazine that pushes their final total above $50. While this doesn’t seem like much, it can have a huge impact on the business as a whole.
Bed Bath & Beyond and Marshalls are two companies that have taken point of purchase impulse displays to the next level. It’s nearly impossible to go through the checkout process without adding at least one item to your cart.
At Bed Bath & Beyond, customers face a veritable wall of items while they wait in line, from movie theatre candy to cheese puffs and loofah sponges. It’s hard to turn down your favorite candy or a candle when you’re already getting 20% an item with their notorious coupons. We’ve created several mini packages that are perfect for convincing customers to try new products, and say yes without much risk on their part.
The point of purchase kit turns your product from an idea into something tangible. It gives them something to say yes to, in the same way that a couple says yes to marriage with a ring. So are you ready to propose to your customers, or are they going to ignore your bland display of love?
Love at first sight, the instant attraction and feeling of devoted love that is often a theme in my books may seem unrealistic – but in reality, it’s the most common and natural reaction. There’s nothing unrealistic about it. People see someone on the street, in the coffee shop, on the Internet, or anywhere else and have an immediate attraction that makes them think that they have found the love of their life before they even know the person’s name. It happens all day long. What isn’t realistic is that it lasts. We have romantic love at first sight experiences but often quickly, or sometimes over a period of many years, find out that we didn’t know the person the way we thought, and then disillusionment sets in. Sometimes we go through that cycle and accept the person in love the way that they are and we find joy in the relationship on the other side of the disillusionment. It is an inevitable cycle: romance, disillusionment, and joy. You can get off the ride at any point. Or you can stay on till the end. But not if it isn’t good for you. Our nature is to find love at first sight. It is our experience that leads to disillusionment or “reality”. Because we are all broken people.
It’s fine to have given up on love at first sight, but that is an acceptance of the fact that the world is broken, not that love at first sight is “unbelievable”. Nothing is more believable. You have to learn not to believe in it. Your first school age crush, the one that you fell head over heels for and could never even speak to because you were so nervous is proof. You experienced that before you learned not to.
So, “instant love” happens all the time. With a person, a pet, a new car model, a new piece of technology, or a new favorite author. It’s absolutely believable and natural to do so. In my books, there’s lots of instant love. Characters devote themselves to each other immediately and live wonderful happy lives. Because they aren’t horribly suspicious and selfish. It isn’t the instant love that is unrealistic. It’s the fact that the characters find an innocent way to live there and find joy by skipping the disillusionment.