Products That Don’t Sell (Issue 902)

In which we are reminded that, if clients don’t like, desire, or need one of our products, lower prices likely aren’t  the issue.

9:00 pm,  Sunday night. Raining and cool, and I wanted pita chips and hummus. Had… to… have… them.  Finding no hummus in the ‘fridge, I pulled on a coat and walked the mile to my local grocery store.

From the looks of the shelves, generally, they’d had a busy weekend. After scooping up two tubs of hummus, I headed to the chip aisle to snag the pita chips. But, not just ANY chips. I like one brand of pita chips… and, although that manufacturer offers multiple varieties of pita chips – multigrain, jalapeño, cinnamon, Parmesan – I strongly prefer (and will not eat anything but) one flavor:  the “plain” version.  [You’re shocked to read this, I know.]

Mouth watering, I headed down the chip aisle and…. The space for that manufacturer‘s chips was completely bare…. empty… denuded.. vacated…. swept clean….except for the Parmesan pita chips.  There were, literally, two rows of Parmesan pita chips that looked completely untouched. Like, “restocked, first thing on Saturday morning ready to be sold.”  Not one bag was missing. Not a bag out of place.

Apparently, the store had run a “buy one – get one” offer on this provider’s chips and “buy one – get one” people did…lots of chips… except for the Parmesan chips. Apparently, the store couldn’t GIVE the Parmesan chips away. 

I settled for a small bag of “Everything” bagel crisps from another provider, thinking: “If our clients don’t like, desire,  or need one of our products, no matter whether we’re tasked with selling it or not, price is likely not the issue.”

Nick Miller is President of Clarity Advantage based in Concord, MA. He assists banks and credit unions to generate more and more profitable relationships, faster, with business clients, their owners, and their employees through better sales strategies and execution. Additional articles on Clarity’s web site.

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