Gem from "Indispensible"

I picked up a new book last night called Indespensible: How to become the company your customers can't live without by Joe Callaway.

Callaway greatly appeals to the ADD in me by using Case Studies to present much of his information.

In one Case Study, he interviews Jeffery Gitomer, who regularly has books on sales in the top 10 list on Amazon.com Gitomer has literally become a legend in the sales training business and has a huge fan base including blue chip companies.

Callaway asks Gitomer "What's the key factor that makes you so successful?" Gitomer responds without any hesitation:

"Create value, then give it away. If you have good stuff, people want more."

Gitomer gave two examples of this practice:

1. The Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones produce a song and then let radio stations every where play it for free. People hear their songs, love them, and want more, whereby they buy the song.

2. Mrs. Field's Cookies: One of the first things that Mrs. Fields does when she opens a new store is to give away cookies. She knows that once people try them, they'll buy them, today and tomorrow and forever. I've often wondered why more companies who have their product in the supermarket don't have the little old lady giving out samples. I look at all those cheeses in the market and wonder if any of them are really good - if I only knew, I'd buy the good cheese. But I'm not willing to pay $5 for a chunck of cheese to try it.

How revolutionary could this marketing technique be in your business?

Brian.