How far would you travel to find one customer?
Yesterday morning, I loaded the tea packets into my big food delivery bag and cycled laboriously on an ofo bike 15 km to Marina Barrage, where the EarthFest was conducted.
It was meant to be a last hurrah, or swansong, for Healing Nature, the online tea business that my partner and I started with enthusiasm about a couple of years ago.
After the EarthFest and the processing of the corporate e-filing, we will strike off the company in Singapore, and my partner, who conceived the business idea, plans to resurrect the tea business overseas.
The tea business Facebook page and online store will still be maintained, except that it will be headquartered in Canada.
Two years ago at a farmer’s market, we did a similar on-site promotion of the tea, and sold one packet.
Having no business coaching prior to that, I was deflated and felt defeated at the end of the event, feeling inept and inadequate as I compared my dismal marketing performance with others who have more outgoing sales personality and customer interactions.
Yesterday though, I was in a different frame of mind.
In the past year, I have attended workshops on internet marketing, including those conducted by iSuccess Academy and Sam Choo, founder of Singapore Internet Marketers and Solopreneur membership program.
I have been learning to cultivate a more positive mindset and self-confidence, and to focus on meeting the needs of potential clients or customers instead of having to submit to the pressure to sell products.
For someone like me who doesn’t like to be approached by people who employ salesy or aggressive marketing tactics, I wouldn’t want to be salesy myself either, when promoting a product or service to others.
I prefer to take my time to build a connection or relationship with a prospective client and learn whether or how I can meet their needs, and whether my product or service would be a good match for their expectations.
So yesterday at the EarthFest, I didn’t feel compelled to talk to every person that came along to look at the tea packets at Healing Nature stall.
But instead of remaining in awkward silence, I eventually learnt to greet some of them by asking “Hi, do you like tea?” (which drew a few smiley nods and “yes”, and also some blank responses).
I suppose that some of them might be simply content to browse at the stall briefly before moving on to the many other stalls at the event that sell various kinds of environmentally friendly and sustainably harvested products.
Others might be interested in tea but merely wanted to know the prices and types of teas available before deciding whether to buy them online some time in future.
Apart from answering some queries from people, I haven’t made any sales as the day wore on, and I reminded myself to manage my own expectations on the outcome.
Finally, about slightly more than an hour before the event concluded at 4.30 pm, a gentleman came along to survey the tea packets on display.
From his questions, I could see that his interest in tea is more than lukewarm.
Hence, I decided to share a bit more about the teas, such as their health benefits, how the premium teas are better in quality than those sold in supermarkets, and why it is more worthwhile buying loose tea leaves to make many cups of teas at his own convenience for a good price than going to a cafe and ordering one or two expensive cups of the same premium quality tea.
Although other people were also around the stall, I decided to give this person my undivided attention because I felt that it is better to focus on building connection and trust with one person than trying to promote teas to several people simultaneously who may not be interested in teas or appreciate the value of teas.
I was glad that my investment of time and energy was paid off in a tangible way when he decided to get a packet of Fo Mei (Buddha’s eyebrow) green tea.
I thanked him for his purchase and I hope that he would continue to have a positive experience and impression of Healing Nature after he returns home and drinks the tea and perhaps checks out the website of Healing Nature that is printed on the packet label.
I would rather have one customer who knows that his money is well spent on a product for its benefits than having many customers who buy a product after being manipulated or pressured to make a purchase without really knowing how they can benefit from the product or appreciate its value.
As Ignite Video Challenge coach Niamh Arthur said in one of her videos, connection marketing is all about allowing people to make a decision and giving them the reasons to make a decision that feels the best for them.
jimmytst editorial & photography 