My wife and I were having a grand old time at Lowes on a Saturday evening - searching for just the right toilet. Shopping for a toilet is kind of awkward. Especially when you're having to divulge the criteria for buying your new toilet. Flush power is key for us because, well, let's just say one of the family members seems to need a plunger more than the others.
But that's not so much the point here. What anyone could learn from an experience like the one I enjoyed this evening, is that you can spend all the "marketing" dollars you want, but if you're product is in a click-and-mortar (offline) environment, and it's not being sold solely in your store, then you could imagine how much you're at the mercy of the person doing the selling of your product. In the case of "Steve", the very knowledgeable employee at Lowes, he listened intently to our criteria, even raised a few important issues/questions, then led us to what he thought was the best "Flusher" (taking into consideration our other criteria such as length from the wall, height, efficient water usage, color).
In this scenario, while looks were part of the equation (we were tempted to go with Kohler's new, stylish toilet!), it was Steve's expert guidance and recommendation that served as marketing that ultimately resulted in a sale. And at the end of the day, who can argue with the fact that anyone spending money on marketing is attempting to get people to "convert" in some manner. Be it joining a group, buying a product or service, etc. That's all conversion. And that's why per the environment I described above, if you're not focusing on your most powerful point of contact with the customer, you're truly flushing your marketing dollars away.
Kohler, American Standard, Jacuzzi...they all should be spending quality time and money with folks like "Steve"...people in his position...people that are powerfully, directly affecting and influencing the buying decision. Yes package design, toilet design, stylish displays are all part of the decision making process in this case. But when "performance" and "functionality" are on the minds of a consumer, the "sale" really does come down to who is doing the selling.
We consumers in America want to "consume". And even more true is that we consumers want to be SOLD to. We rather enjoy an "expert", someone who will sell us with conviction on what it is we need to buy. But I think that need to be sold to diminishes as you venture away from functionality and performance. And that's where the shift in marketing dollars needs to go from point of contact with the customer to more attention given to a shaping the non-rational brand in the mind of consumers (that's when people buy but can't really tell you why they did...in other words, they bought something they really didn't need but because of its "package" or "brand", they most likely bought it thinking it would bring them some form of satisfaction). But that's another post...another day.
