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Issue #34

Icing On The cake

Early in my career (just after the Roman’s left for good) I was in retail distribution. I ran the supply chain for a book distributor.

Our value proposition was simple: we would increase the profit per metre of bookshelf in the shop by over 30%. The actual books we dealt were irrelevant (sorry authors, that’s the business) except that they were high price.

We did this by merchandising the shop. Every couple of weeks, we’d visit to see what had sold and what hadn't. Then we'd create a new order based on that.

It was a managed inventory system and if they played it right, by the time their bill was due, they had already sold the stock.

An absolute win / win situation and the business was a massive success until Bezos arrived and f*cked it for everyone.

I used to go with the reps to explain the fulfilment side of the operation to new customers. It taught me a lot about real selling, but more importantly it got me out of the office.

I expected everyone to immediately see how it all worked and sign up with a smile. But every now and then we had a customer who just kept delaying.

It was on a trip to one of these that I first learned about “exciting” needs.

These are needs that are almost pointless in the grand scheme of things but very attractive to certain types of customer, or to all of us at certain times.

They are things like getting a free umbrella that slips into the door when you buy a Rolls Royce, or that blue bag when you buy a diamond at Tiffany.

See here for more about customer needs and their types.​

I was out with our top rep Marie one day, calling on a customer that she had persuaded to do a trial for a month. He had called her back in because, despite making loads more money, he was getting cold feet again.

As we walked into the shop, Marie stopped, “Hang on a minute, I forgot something in the car,” she said.

I started to go through the figures with the owner, they looked great and I suggested he should consider giving us extra space.

Nothing doing.

Then Marie came bursting back in, all smiles, “I nearly forgot this, Michael,” she said, handing him a trophy. He looked delighted but confused.

“It’s our award for best newcomer. You made more money than anyone else in the Northwest this entire quarter and you’ve only been at it a month. Congratulations!”

She handed me a camera (no smartphones in those days).

He signed up on the spot and placed the trophy right next to the till.

“Marie,” I said as we got back to the car, “We don’t have awards for Best anything, let alone newcomer. What was that all about?”

“Some people like the cake and some like the icing,” she said. As she opened the trunk to put her bag in, I saw the box of trophies in the corner.

Here’s the thing; we distributed specialist computer books and Marie didn’t know Windows from a sliding door. She never missed target though because she did understand that for some people, status needs are the most important, and they matter for all of us.

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