Lesson in Business: Don’t Give The Store Away

Recently I learned a very important lesson in what NOT to do when trying to drum up business.

Potential customer contacts The Pet Set, asking about our products. She says she loves everything we do, so unique, gorgeous…blah, blah. She is opening a new “luxury” pet boutique and our products would fit in perfectly.

Great! Her new store is close to my house, so I decide to make a visit. I get all dressed up, put together presentation materials and LOTS ‘O SAMPLE PRODUCTS. I could empathize with her — I was in the same spot she’s in now. She’s new to the industry, brand new store, bills are probably piling up.

Our first visit goes really well, she seems impressed with all of the materials, I go home feeling good about myself and my sales skills. Ha-ha.

Then she calls a second time and asks if we have a particular card–she’s going to a wedding and this card would be a perfect gift for the bride and groom. I fall for it. I get dressed up again, and bring her this 3rd box of cards. I tell her not to worry about paying for them. Again.

Here’s where I learned my lesson. Prospective customer tells me that in addition to selling kooky, “couture” outfits for teeney-tiny dogs, her real objective is to make a dog’s life better, by creating natural cleaning products. Ammonia-D is bad for dogs…so I’m thinking, no more Windex for me, I should get some of her stuff.

She brings out this honkin’ bottle of floor cleaner, that she says works just as well as Mr. Clean or some such commercial product…but there are natural ingredients, such as lemon oil and mint. So I tell her to give me a bottle. I pull out my wallet as a gesture of good faith, expecting her to say “no, don’t worry about it”. She does no such thing…she walks over to her register and rings up $6.00 (I’m getting a discount!).

Boing!  What an idiot I was. I gave her $50.00 in products, plus the $6.00 for her stupid cleaner (which I now believe to be dishwashing liquid that she dumped out and re-packaged!). And she was perfectly happy to let me do it.

That is the last time I will ever be so easy…no more free stuff. By her actions, she really taught me a lesson…never give anything away and be on the look-out for hidden sales tactics of others.

If this woman ends up buying anything from us, I will be shocked…but I’ll keep you posted.