Find Your Best Sellers' Three Best Friends
Hi,
Here's a really simple exercise you can try with your team this week.
Pick one of your best-selling products.
Let's say it's a great steak.
Then ask everyone one question...
"Who are its three best friends?"
You might get peppercorn sauce.
Garlic mushrooms.
A bottle of red wine.
There aren't necessarily three right answers. In fact, half the value of doing this with your team is the conversation it creates and the different combinations people come up with.
Now comes the important bit.
Where are those three best friends in your shop?
Because if your customer is standing at the butchery counter buying their steak and the peppercorn sauce is three aisles away, you're relying on them to remember it.
Perhaps the sauce could be displayed near the counter.
Maybe there's a little sign saying "Perfect with..."
Or perhaps the butcher simply asks, "Have you got something to go with that?"
It's a tiny change.
But suddenly you're not just selling a steak.
You're helping your customer put the whole meal together.
And this works with almost anything.
Pick up a great local cheese and its three best friends might be crackers, chutney and a bottle of local ale.
Strawberries?
Cream. Meringues. Fizz.
A pork chop?
Apple sauce. Dauphinoise potatoes. Cider.
You get the idea.
This isn't about selling people things they don't need.
It's about anticipating what they might want next and making it easier for them to find it. Done well, that's better customer service and better retailing — with the added bonus of a bigger basket at the till.
So here's this week's challenge.
Pick five of your best-selling products.
Get the team together and ask them to find three best friends for each one.
Then take a look around your shop.
Are you introducing those friends to each other?
Or are you expecting your customers to do all the work?
Your customers are already buying the steak.
The opportunity might be in what they're not buying with it.
Food for thought this week.
Have a great day,
Mark
