Offer What They’ve Never Seen Before

As the support ship R/V Lulu was lowering the deep-sea submarine Alvin into the ocean, the cradle support cables broke. Because the hatch on Alvin had not yet been completely closed, Alvin began taking on water.
     The three crew members quickly escaped with no more than a single sprained ankle among them. But, alas, there was insufficient time to extricate the crew’s bologna sandwiches. The lunch and Alvin itself gently sank to 5,000 feet below sea level.
     It was nearly one year before the submarine could be retrieved. Understandably, the bologna sandwiches were soggy. But how tasty were they?, the scientists, being scientists, wondered. Quite salty and otherwise quite fine was the conclusion from sampling.
     This led to the next question: At 5,000 feet down, you wouldn’t expect fish or crabs to be around to nibble the bologna. However, what about bacteria? Cold sea water can be an excellent preservative, but if you leave bologna sandwiches in cold salt water for a year on your kitchen counter, the bacteria will have had a feast.
     The scientists’ answer to the question: At that depth, there are no bacteria. Life has its limits.
     This was in 1969. Over the decades, the original answer has been declared dead wrong. Or more accurately, wrong about dead. There are plenty of bacteria and other life forms at 5,000 feet down and beyond. The current salty answer regarding the highly-seasoned sandwiches comes from John Parkes, a geomicrobiologist at Cardiff University: “It was just that at that depth the bugs had never seen a bologna sandwich before.”
     They hadn’t physically evolved to consume bologna. And your shoppers may not have intellectually and emotionally evolved to consume highly novel products and services. What you’re selling could be sitting there perfectly preserved for a year, and still no bites.
     Small to midsize retailers commonly avoid this happening by waiting for others to go first before introducing the product or service in their stores. That’s okay except for you missing out on opportunities to gain a foothold in the marketplace before others imitate you.
     An alternative to waiting for others to go first takes inspiration from the scientists who tasted the bologna sandwiches: Offer shoppers a sample while describing to them the benefits of purchase. And, research findings from University of Michigan suggest, stimulate a number of senses with descriptions in promotional materials, signage, packaging text, and face-to-face selling.

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Talk to Multiple Senses with New Products 
Show Them What They’ll Never See Again