How Are You Promoting Your Lemonade Stand?
Over the 4th of July, I was walking around an affluent neighborhood and about every block or so, there were children selling lemonade.
Lemonade Stand 1.
At the first stand, the kids were yelling from a bench about their lemonade and how much it cost. They were so loud that people were running to get away from them!
Lemonade Stand 2.
At the second stand, there was a young boy sitting behind a pitcher of lemonade with his parents next to him. But this was no ordinary stand. No. This was professional. There was a wooden structure with an awning, graphics of lemons and a special box to place your coins for the lemonade.
Obviously, the parents went out and bought a lemonade stand for their child. I don’t know if they were trying to teach him about business or if the boy requested the stand. Who knows? After all, the boy was just sitting behind the stand while his parents chatted to customers and had a ball doing all the work. He couldn’t care less and seemed aggravated by the whole ordeal.
(On a side note, I didn’t even know they made professional lemonade stands. Am I alone, or as a kid, didn’t you just pull out whatever table you could find and decorate it with a sign?)
Lemonade Stand 3.
Anyway, I continued my walk and came across another lemonade stand. This stand consisted of a simple card table with a big sign on the front. The sign stated that it was a lemonade stand and that a cup of cool, refreshing lemonade was immediately available for only fifty cents. And there stood a pitcher of lemonade that looked very enticing in the July, afternoon heat. Then, I noticed the stand’s owner.
There was a little boy in a full on, Uncle Sam costume introducing himself to potential customers and personally pitching the benefits of his products. He was a true salesperson. And it showed. He was having a great time, and passersby bought lots of lemonade and filled his tip jar with money.
Well, this whole situation got me thinking about business. How are you promoting your products? Are you catering to the needs of your customers and pitching how you can solve their problems, or are you slamming them with messages they don’t want to hear?
How about your actual, daily activities?
Do you like what you’re doing, or are investors and partners calling the shots and actually making your business less productive and fun?
These lemonade kids broke the whole business process down very simply. If you aren’t servicing your customers or doing something you actually like to do, you’re wasting time and money.
If you are unhappy with your current business, or your sales are flat, take a moment to think about the little boy with the successful lemonade stand. By changing your promotional messaging, the way you do business or looking for another career all together, you’ll be happier and more successful. After all, it takes much more than lemons to make a successful lemonade stand work!
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July 20th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Would you agree that some people just have a knack? The most successful salesmen seem to be born with it. We can learn from them, but sometimes when we are trying to hard we end up like story number 2!
July 21st, 2009 at 2:03 pm
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July 21st, 2009 at 7:46 pm
I think some people have more natural talent than others, but if you truly like sales and really enjoy it, I think anyone can become very successful. The key is hard work, learn as much as you can, never stop and must love the field you are in.
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:16 am
Some salespeople do have natural talent, and they are lucky. But you can also learn sales-skills. And once you know how to sell, I believe you can always make a good living!
July 22nd, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Fantastic Blog Post. Makes me wonder why I don’t have any kids running any Lemonade Stands in my neighborhood.
I lived on a Highway out in the country growing up so a Lemonade Stand wasn’t really logical, it would have been great to be able to do that!
To Your Success,
Karl
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:16 am
Thank you for this lesson. I am excited about what the future holds, as a financial planner, there seems to be a huge slow down. While this may continue for some time. I do not have the time to wait for the market to rebound. I have created two patent products and I will be marketing the products over the internet. I look forward to the opportunity.
Thank you,
Leon
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:47 am
Thanks for this really visual example of salesmanship. On 4th of July in Michigan, we heard the ice cream truck coming down the street right after the fireworks. While some people were complaining about the noise and griping “What is this guy doing out here at 10pm?” my fiance was thrilled. “We never get to see this in Orange County!” So we bought ice cream bars late at night from the ice cream man.
The guy had been working all day and even though it was dark and most people aren’t having a carb fest at that hour, he was still jingling along in his truck. We asked him is he was making any sales at that hour. “I’ve made so much money I’m afriad to count it,” he said. The last sale I did, they gave me a $50 bill.” Good lesson here, I think. Most people put their trucks away by then. Most people might be deterred by the complainers, or might want to go watch the fireworks themselves. But he kept at it, and had a very lucrative evening. That’s true American entrepreneurship! Hope to do some of my own…
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Great example of why the relationship and expectation lead the way to success.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Thank you of this example of marketing/sales. It reminds us that what we do has to be about the customer. With this in mind we could sell a pink elephant to someone if our marketing addressed the clients need/benefits.
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I love this article! Sometimes some things just hit you. As I read through this and thought about it, I realized that I do have that lemonade stand. A good deal of my direct customer sales comes from my participating in the local Farmers Markets and in the occassional craft fair. It’s interesting to see the different techniques from all the venders. I think my first time out I was more like the first lemonaide stand, glad to say I am way more relaxed now and let the product speak for itself so I can focus on the customer.
July 25th, 2009 at 8:37 am
This is beautiful! I have “pimped it” all over the web (attributed to you of course)Thank you
July 26th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Having done both good and bad marketing, I can definitely say that the good marketing definitely works. These are things like word of mouth, doing a quality job and asking for referrals, etc.
As for sales skills, you don’t have to be like the Slick Rick out there to be effective at sales. All you need is a genuine wish to help others and to be able to communicate that in a way that is natural and comfortable for you. Of course, it’s good to adopt to the client as much as possible, but you shouldn’t do that in a phony way that is not “you”.
Thanks for the great story! Best regards to all the entrepreneurs worldwide!
July 28th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Wow, thanks for the great article. I have been wanting to spice up my pitch for a couple of months, I think you just gave me the push to do so. Thanks for the inspiration!
September 17th, 2009 at 6:23 am
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March 29th, 2011 at 4:05 pm
Here is the 2nd time i had come across your blog within the last few weeks. Appears like I should be aware of it.