Does That Vacuum Work?

Life has an interesting way of teaching the lessons you need whenever you are ready for them. Recently I was reminded of how much I really enjoy selling in the most unlikely of places, my first ever yard sale. (It's hard to believe it's the first one I've ever done after over 5 decades on this planet!)

Vicki and I laughed for a week at what we were willing to do to get people to get stuff we didn't want into their cars and to pay for the privilege. We were cross-selling, up-selling, asking questions, holding back in silence as the customer pondered. We displayed old irons and chipped pottery like they were classic Lalique vases, taking care to put them at the most appealing angle. Everyone was greeted with a smile and a "howdy" to encourage them to stay! (My friend Ross reminds me that if you want to sell someone a car from your lot, you've gotta keep them on the lot.) Same for yard sales - the longer they stay, the more likely they are to leave with your unwanted stuff in the trunk of their car.

Since we didn't really know anything about the whole yard sale process, we did some research before we "opened shop." One of the best pieces of advice we found - and one that moved a lot of items into those trunks and a few into the trash - was to have an extension cord hooked up and ready so that when people wondered if something worked they could put it to the test right then and there. There was no possibility of disappointment. We encouraged everyone to "plug it in first - we want you to be happy."

Today V forwarded the following little gem to me from Kovel's Komments:

The Jazz Bowl Designer's Secret

Viktor Schreckengost, who designed the famous Jazz Bowl for Cowan Pottery, told us that when he was asked to design a folding metal chair for Murray Ohio Manufacturing Co., he had difficulty creating a comfortable seat. He turned a barrel over to make a stool, “padded” it with soft clay, and covered it with plastic. Then he put it near the cafeteria and offered a free cup of coffee to anyone who sat on it. Four hundred twenty-eight “sittings” later he had a contoured clay shape curved to be comfortable for the average bottom. He used it as a mold for the metal chair that became a best seller.

Kovels Komments November 23, 2006
http://www.kovels.com/issues/newsflash/1_16/

Here is one of those wonderful success clues we hear about!

Schreckengost didn't know how to make the chair work so he went to the "end" users for literal "input." This is such a great example of practical research.

Remember this the next time you are about to complain that something isn't quite right. This designer invested in 428 cups of coffee to get the right input.

You can use the same approach to just about anything. Do you wonder if you "audio logo" is effective; do you want to know how to improve it? Just try it out four hundred times. Want to find out how well your tag line works? Yep, you gotta take it to the marketplace and find out.

Too often we try to do things in a vacuum and hope we can get it all perfectly right the first time. Most often the real world simply does not work that way. We have to test and tweak. Then test and tweak some more.

The closing point is really simple this week:

Stop Trying To Work In A Vacuum!

No matter how brilliant you are, the faster you can get real input from your marketplace the more likely you will have a real winner (or know you are backing the wrong horse).