I used to work at a clothing store. I always hated (and still do) having salespeople approach me when I first enter a store and pitch the current sales, new items, etc. so I never did that. I did however greet them for three reasons 1) to acknowledge that we see them and are available for help, 2) to let them know I was an employee, which wasn't very obvious with the casual dress attire allowed and 3) to let potential the thieves know we are watching them.
This always pissed off my district manager who would insist on demonstrating to me how to greet customers by basically attempting to instruct them on what to buy. Anyways I don't have any explicit proof that my approach produced better sales, all I know is that when I enter a store and feel like someone is trying to help me solve the problem which prompted me to come to their store, I'm less anxious about buying things. On the other hand when I feel like someone is pitching a problem to me that I'm not interested in solving I just feel disgusted and often leave.
In my mind that roughly translates into building an emotional attachment. It's the difference between listening and talking. Good salespeople make you feel like they are listening to you even if at the end of the day they're just trying to take your five dollars.
As a salesperson in a retail store myself (I'm actually at work right now), I understand completely what you are saying. People can be very cold when you first approach them as they walk in, but you can turn their attitude around instantly with simply being polite and staying out of their way. If you're good, you'll know exactly when and how to engage them.
Steve Blank is a huge proponent of this methodology which he refers to as consultative sales. I encourage anyone and everyone in business to look further into it.
Similar experience - it is essential to greet each customer ("good afternoon"), and you can let them know that you're available if they need help, but don't start selling them before they are ready.
I don't know if it's just because I've become more numb to the aggressive greets (or gotten better at brushing them off) but I used to despise shopping precisely because of the badgering.
Now it seems that in most small stores I walk into, they simply greet and shuffle off after offering assistance if necessary. It certainly makes shopping there much more pleasant.
I wonder if shops noticed the exodus towards large stores (where you're never bothered but can barely get help if necessary) and adjusted accordingly. For years I refused to enter any small clothing boutique because I knew at least 1 but probably more people would try to pressure me into buying something. If they did notice, good for them.
Not quite the same but some years back my parents bought chickens for eggs. A lot of people nearby sold eggs from their house, but my parents set up a stall, put all the eggs out and a sign saying people could take eggs and pay what they liked. They ended up averaging more per egg, even with the freeloaders, than other people were selling their eggs for.. with none of the sales labor!
Back to Derek's story though, yeah, I've heard a lot of bands that were "so so" but I could probably get into their music on CD, but the mandatory $10/$20 put me off straight away even thought I might have donated that anyway!
That reminds me of here, my small province, it's harvest time and you see small stands at the ends of lanes where farms are located. Offered for sale is honey, potatoes, corn, turnips, apples etc. often with just a box for the money, a sign of how much it costs and nobody there to make change or watch out for anyone stealing the money box.
That's a very interesting Freakonomics-ish experiment!
I've worked in a company where they left a fruit basket for people to pay whatever they wanted - the outcome of the fruit lady, in that case, was pretty good (people overpaid a lot).
In another company, the cleaning lady used to bring cookies. Until she stopped since people were not paying (and taking all the cookies)
Wonder if that's because people tend to pay for non-processed/industrialized goods (like eggs or fruits) but would rather steal processed goods (such as cookies)? Nah, disregard my theory... :-)
Cookies are more addictive than fruit for most people. They probably disappeared so quickly because more people were willing to take more than 1 or 2 cookies.
While people that took a fruit or two were willing to pay (or over-pay) for what they took, people that took multiple cookies were probably only willing to pay for the first cookie or two (if at all).
Also, I'm of the view that most people that would be willing to 'steal' in such a situation are people that are less attracted to 'eating healthy' (i.e. less attracted to the fruit and more attracted to the cookies).
I'd hazard a guess it's less scientific than food types, etc, but more about people's relationship and scenario regarding the cleaning lady vs the fruit lady. There are a number of social reasons why one might get donations and the other not (superiority, personality, how the produce was portrayed, how the initial "deal" was defined, where the produce was left, etc).
I have a serious problem with this. About half-way down on the comments he THEN writes that he doesn't know what band it was and he doesn't know what the actual numbers were.
What?!?!
Basically he just assumed this was a great idea, that it worked, and that it "probably" made all that money.
This is theory only right now with an "example" being his own guess.
This isn't serious journalism. It's just passing on an idea worth trying.
Terry McBride from Nettwerk talked about this at a music conference I was at, and while I didn't write down the exact numbers, I think these are correct.
Since the experience will be different for everyone, it doesn't really matter. Someone else in the comments (#80) said this technique has already pushed them from 5-10 CDs to 150 CDs per show.
I don't understand this comment. It's like talking about sharing the pub experience on the Internet whereas the article was more of an affirmation of the AOL style of distribution/publicity from the 90's.
As others have pointed out, Sivers may have over-cooked this example a bit.
Statements such as: The people that took a CD became long-term fans and brought their friends to future shows. may make you feel good but there's no way the evidence suggests that.
A better question is how to make this an experience versus just another of the hundred million freebies. Everything online is free, so it's no differentiator any more and the few bands who could get a bit of press from it have gotten it now. But how can we actually connect with listeners online?
Services like thesixtyone.com are a good start. For those artists who want to put that effort in (and figure out how), they can connect with listeners as peers in a system. And that's a start.
The iTunes LP is another attempt at the online experience but we'll see whether that proves to actually provide a real experience people want. I'm hopeful myself.
So, what else? Virtual concerts? extras? ideas? :)
It's not quite the same. If bands attract more fans, these fans are more likely to pay to go to another concert the next time they go through town (the concert tickets are not pay-what-you-can). Even if Terra Bite was selling coffee accessories, but the actual coffee was pay-what-you-can, I would expect that they would have a hard time making ends meet.
In the case of bands, they are 'giving away' one product to promote another. Not only that, but when people come to a concert they are committing an entire slot of time, and throughout the concert the band builds that emotional bond/connection with the audience. When you go someplace for food, a lot of people are just going to pop in, grab some food and pop out. I'm sure that a lot of the 'coffee-house regulars' type people paid a fair price (or more) for what they got at Terra Bite, but not nearly the same.
I wonder if this, or a variation of this method, could work with a product that the customer was not used to it's price/value. Almost everyone expects the price of a cd to be in the $10-$25 range, but what about something that it's value is completely relative to the customer's attraction to it, and his knowledge/expertise on the subject, e.g. a painting or maybe a consumer electronic device?
(I suspect the need to create an emotional attachment plays a vital part in succeeding with this)
This always pissed off my district manager who would insist on demonstrating to me how to greet customers by basically attempting to instruct them on what to buy. Anyways I don't have any explicit proof that my approach produced better sales, all I know is that when I enter a store and feel like someone is trying to help me solve the problem which prompted me to come to their store, I'm less anxious about buying things. On the other hand when I feel like someone is pitching a problem to me that I'm not interested in solving I just feel disgusted and often leave.
In my mind that roughly translates into building an emotional attachment. It's the difference between listening and talking. Good salespeople make you feel like they are listening to you even if at the end of the day they're just trying to take your five dollars.