A discussion about sales, sales tips and advice, and about those who land the deal

Part two in a short and somewhat pointless series:

So here I am, happy to be helping out the family during vacation by doing some laundry at a laundromat in Morro Bay, California.  As you can tell by the picture, I can find fun in even the most mundane task.

The first sales lesson I picked up when I went into the laundromat: I was immediately hit with a wall full of ads.  Everything from political statements to a van for sales to an offer to board horses to something talking about how KFC tortures chickens to someone offering to run errands for you.

It was spam.  Dozens of different sales messages, dozens of different audiences.  The trouble was, people who frequent laundromats probably aren't looking for errand runners or a place to board their horses.  Keep that in mind when you, as a sales professional, market your services to prospects.  Is your sales message cluttered?  Is it relevant?  Is it permission based?  You can see what kind of company you keep it the answers to those questions is "no".

So, who is the "audience" at a laundromat?  If its the same kind of way you can see who is watching a show by what kind of commercials are running, it appears that the audience frequenting laundromats are leftist revolutionaries who have a sophisticated taste for today's finer wines.  These are four representative samples of the magazines available on the rack at the laundromat.  The most provocative of the four was the "Central Coast Rogue Voice".  If you're planning to overthrow the U.S. government anytime soon, and need recruits, you might want to advertise in this tabloid.  That's another sales lesson for me from the laundromat...know your audience, and give them relevant information based on their likes and interests. 

This advertising free-for-all got me in the mood, so I participated by leaving my own "ad" (i.e., spam) on the laundromat wall promoting LandingTheDeal:

 As you can see, it has a little bit of everything...some "permission marketing" aspects, but also a little political intrigue that would obviously play well with the patrons of the Morro Bay laundromat.  I even threw in the "must be over 18" line as a final little jab at their curiosity. 

I'm expecting LandingTheDeal's site traffic to be going through the roof over the coming weeks.