There is a small anecdote popular in our
place about the attitude of people. The story may be popular in your area too.
A famous leather shoe manufacturer in
India sent two of his business executives to one of the African countries many
years ago. At that time Africa was a primitive and poor land. The two men went
to Africa and made some research on selling shoes there. After two or three
months’ research they returned to the company and presented separate reports. One
of them reported that he found none in Africa using shoes and hence there is no
scope for selling shoes there. The second one reported that he too found none
using shoes there and so the land is a big market for shoes. This story speaks
about the attitude of two people towards the same situation.
What would be the next step of shoe the manufacturer?
That is what I want to discuss here. Let us take it that the manufacturer was a
positive man and he accepted the second report and decided to open a market in
Africa for his shoes. But how shall he create customers where there is no
customer for his products.
How shall we create customers out of
nothing? Let me note down some tactics (This is not an exclusive list.)
·
Create a need for your product.
None in this country used shoes so far.
None felt a need for it. Otherwise they would have created some kind of shoes
for their daily use. Thick leaves and bark of trees were used by ancient people
to create shoes for their foot. But these people did not have anything like
that to cover for their foot. Necessity is the mother of invention. If there
were necessity, they would have invented.
So awareness is the first step.
In my childhood, a company who produced a
health drink visited all over the area with short films. They used to exhibit
three short films. The first one was a cartoon film. It was to attract the
villagers. The second and third were about their products. One spoke of the
nutritional problems that villagers faced. We were never aware that we lived in
acute shortage of nutrition till then. But that film sent a new light or fear
into our mind that the cause of all diseases was lack of nutrition. The film
ends with introducing the health drink. The third short film was a eulogy to
the product. We were thoroughly convinced of the danger and the solution.
Besides the film, a drink made of the product in a small cup was free for all
present. After that we could not even think of living without it.
There is another story about the
introduction of cigarettes in India by the British people. I am not sure
whether this is true. The white people stood at streets and crowded markets and
distributed cigarettes freely to all and encouraged to smoke.
Creating awareness about the product is
the first step.
Products that improve the comfort of
living may be introduced through persuasion.
Products related to health may be
introduced through fear and urgency.
The shoe manufacturer may use the second
method.
He has to convince the people that all or
most of the diseases affected them because they walked bare foot. There is no
other solution to the problem available now in this universe except to wear a
shoe. If is delayed more diseases may attack them.
The comfort and beauty of wearing a shoe
may also be introduced through persuasion.
·
Present your products as the best solution.
Why should they buy your product?
People are convinced that walking bare
foot is dangerous to their health. So the necessity will lead to invention.
They will immediately invent a covering/shoe from whatever is available in
their land.
So the next step task is to convince them
that your shoes are the best solution to the problem.
Shoes cover the whole foot.
It is made with thick leather – protection
from thorns and sharp stones.
Leather is flexible and never restrains
movements.
Leather covering makes their foot look
neat and will make it soft.
·
Relate the product to their purse.
No
product that none can afford financially will be sold out. Frame your target
customers. Make a study of their financial condition. Fit your product to their
purse.
Remember
there are many poor people in this world who die because they cannot
financially afford a better treatment for their diseases. Financial poverty
cannot be overcome by any business tactics.
The
product must be affordable to your target customers.
·
Make it an integral part of their life.
Free samples, discounts etc. maybe tried
to make them use the product.
How long should you give free samples and
discounts? Until they feel that they cannot live without it.
Create your own customers out of nothing.
Successful business days are ahead.
Professor Jacob Abraham
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