Just a Sample

After finishing a late lunch at Culver’s the other day, a client and I were sitting and discussing business when one of the staff came up to our table holding a tray. On the tray were small paper cups with a spoonful of frozen custard inside each one.

“Would you like to try a sample of our maple nut custard?” the tray-holder asked. “It’s our flavor of the day.”

“Sure,” we replied in unison, and the tray-holder promptly placed a small cup and spoon in front of each of us.

As we savored the frozen custard, I offered, “This is delicious.”

“I agree,” my client replied. “I think that I will have a dish. Would you like one, too?”

“I would. Thank you.”

While he went to get a dish for each of us, I mulled over what had just transpired. The management at Culver’s had taken the opportunity to increase the amount of money that customers already in the restaurant spent by offering a sample of frozen custard. This was an excellent example of one of the three ways to grow your business, which is to increase the amount that a customer spends each time the customer does business with you. By offering the sample of frozen custard, Culver’s had directly tickled our taste buds, thereby prompting us to buy more. Culver’s had increased the amount that we spent that visit, and we had enjoyed the frozen custard.

As I reflected on this, my mind skipped back to another recent example that I had experienced of sampling. I had received a sample of Grammy’s Pot Pie flavored dog food in a shipment of dog treats. After I dropped a handful of the Pot Pie into a dish, my border collie had dashed to the dish and growlingly had driven my shepherd away. You see, my German shepherd readily eats almost any food, but my border collie mix is a very picky eater. Therefore, I was amazed.

“Wow, she likes Grammy’s Pot Pie,” I commented.

Thinking her reaction may have been a one-time event, I offered her some Grammy’s Pot Pie kibbles at her next feeding. She hungrily devoured them.

At that point, I went to the company’s Web site and decided which size bag to order.

By inserting a sample into the shipment, the company increased how much I spent with them on my next purchase. Just like Culver’s, the company grew its business by increasing how much a customer spent on the next purchase by offering a sample.

Sampling is an effective marketing technique to employ but one many of us forget to use. Offering a sample is an easy, noncommittal way to get a customer to try a product or a service. Every business has ways to offer a sample. Even if you sell a big-ticket item, you can sample doing business with you by offering a customer advice or information on how the product can be used to the client’s benefit. That is a sample.

Do you offer samples to increase your customer’s purchase? What samples can you offer? How can you add them into your marketing plan to increase your customer’s purchase?

Remember, just a sample leads to an easy sale.