Got something to sell? Make it easy to buy

A trip to any sport open championship is a lesson in successful marketing strategies.  Whether it be tennis, golf, rugby (world cup), to name only a few, the organisers have mastered the art of squeezing that extra dollar or ten out of you.

In January, we went to the Australian Tennis Open for quarter finals week, and apart from the great buzz we got from seeing the stars in action, I had to marvel at the way the organisers set up the opportunities to help empty our pockets of the discretionary dollar.

There were the obligatory souvenir shops dotted around the complex – all of them full of adoring fans making sure they got something to mark the occasion for them – clothing, hats, pens, bottle openers, fridge magnets – you name it because there was something for all budgets.

Then there were the apparel shops.  No great deals here, but all of them were full of people scrambling to make a purchase, presumably to show their friends what they purchased at The Australian Open.   The obligatory overpriced food courts sucked more dollars from our pockets – it was a case of buy from them or starve – and you could drink yourself into oblivion if that was what you wanted.

Don’t get me wrong – all of this added to the atmosphere and I don’t think anybody balked at spending the extra dollars.  I just think that it was a great exercise in marketing for the add-on sale.  And there were a number of huge screens strategically placed around the venue so that if you left the stadium for any reason, you could keep up to date with the action.

Then, the biggest opportunity of all.  Ticket boxes strategically placed so that if you needed additional tickets to any session you could make a booking if it suited your pocket.

What is the lesson here? If you’ve got customers on your premises who have already bought make sure that you encourage them to look at anything else they may need whilst they are there.  It’s not pushy, it’s just plain business sense to meet your customers’ needs rather than risk them going elsewhere to get total satisfaction.