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

As my wife was recovering from her C-Section earlier this week, she asked me to run down the street to buy her some ear plugs.  Hospitals are noisy, after all, and she needed her rest.  I was happy to do it.

I get to the drug store and find the ear plug aisle.  I look at the display shelf.  There are about eight different packages to choose from, all of them looking just like the others.

Except for one package.  This one:

"Wow, Teresa would love these!"  Why?  Because they were pink, of course...very girly.  I bought them.

Then it hit me: What an awesome example of a "purple cow"!  Here's a company that was selling something that you really can't improve upon, especially in the look-and-feel department.  Ear plugs are all the same...foam, squishy, and skin-colored beige.

But do they have to be that color?  What if they spiced them up a little?  Added their own little carrying case?  Hey, let's change the color to pink!  Women love pink!  Wow, look how they stand out on the shelf compared to the boring competition!  And, why stop there?...Let's give our new, cool ear plugs their own website, www.SleepInPink.com.

And that's how a pink ear plug becomes a purple cow.  Taking something ordinary, changing it and making it unique, and re-defining the product.  Their marketing boasts that they are "specifically designed for women".  Translation: They're pink!

The cost for this innovation and marketing plan?  Cheap.  Add a little dye into the vat of squishy foam-like stuff and watch the women (and their husband servants) buy them up because they're "designed especially for women".

What does this have to do with you and what you're selling?  Just imagine how easy it might be to take some ordinary part of your business and make it extraordinary!  These guys did it with something that has been pretty much the same since who knows when.  I'll bet there's something in your business that could be changed, restructured, twisted, smashed, reformatted and made remarkable without a lot of expense or effort.  Think about it.

My hats off to Hearos, the company that makes them.  My question for them: When will you come up with the camoflauge-colored ear plugs with little NFL team logos on the end sticking out of the ear?  The male ear-plug-buying public beakons!