This morning at Spar Groombridge, Harare- aka they had an in-store promotion for an energy drink called Volt. In Zimbabwe its main competition will be Red Bull and the Coca Cola Company’s Burn.
So there was the little stall, samplers and all, along with a young lady in a black t-shirt with the Volt logo boldly emblazoned on the front.
One tinsy winsy little problem though. The girl new NOTHING about the product she was promoting.
“Oh nice,” I said, “competition for Burn and Red Bull.”
She looked back at me blankly.
“Does it work better than Red Bull?”
“Er, I don’t know.”
“How much does it cost?” My friend asked her.
“Er, I’m not sure but you can check by the fridge there.”
“Who is promoting it in Zimbabwe?”
“Aaaaah, I don’t know?”
“Ok, who employed you? Er, I’m new. Just started, so I’m still learning.”
“Do you have a card, or any contacts?”
“No, I don’t”
We gave up that line of questioning and went back to the drink. “So what’s in this?”
“Er, I don’t know.” She pointed to a sheet of paper that had information about the drink. Thank goodness! Some sort of answers at last.
But what a disappointing experience that was! You cannot and should not have an in store promotion JUST for the sake of it. You can have a really awesome product, but if you don’t have the right person with the right KNOWLEDGE and the right ATTITUDE, then perhaps you should just not promote.
A valuable lesson for entrepreneur! Sometimes just having a body to help you is the worst thing you can do if it leaves your customers with this sort of experience! – 101 Brand Management: Know your product and its USP in and out before you or our team try to sell it to anyone!
Heh heh!