A story about selling

I was told this story when I was a kid, and although I have forgotten the details, the lesson has been with me for all my life. It’s a story about selling. And as writers, we are all salespeople. We’re selling ideas though, not products.

The story revolves around a large drug store chain in the United States, and I’m guessing it took place in the 1950’s (I told you I was light on detail, I can’t even remember the name of the chain). The owner managed to do an amazing deal with a huge battery hen farm to buy eggs. The deal was heavily loaded towards volume, and the eggs reduced in price dramatically as the volume increased.

The owner told his managers about the deal, and instructed them to add eggs as an “add-on” at 5 cents, to be sold with their best selling drink, a malted milk drink. The managers did as instructed and the added the item to the menus. He carried out a review after a month, and sales were dismal, with only around 5% of people taking the “egg option.”

He came up with a new plan. Whenever someone ordered a malted milk, the waiter was to ask “Would you like an egg with that?” Sales doubled to around 10%, but the total was still well short of where it needed to be for the super discount to kick in. Our owner took some advice from a friend he regarded as a great salesman. The salesman sat in a store for a day and watched what happened. He then met with the owner and gave him a new strategy.

There would be three eggs always kept under the counter. Whenever someone ordered a malted milk, the waiter would grab two eggs in one hand, and one in the other and ask “Would you like one egg or two with that?” Around 70% of people asked elected to take one egg, and a further 10% went for two eggs! The volume threshold was smashed! All with a simple alternative close!

So where does that help us as bloggers? I hear you ask.

You can use the strategy when you’re selling a product of course, but how about using it in your writing? How many people come to your site to read a single post and then move on? Too many? Same here. So instead of asking them if they’d like to see more, why don’t we offer them an alternative?

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