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

This past Saturday, we opened our front door and found a flyer from a local church. 

Nothing fancy.  It was a white 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 sheet of photocopied paper.

But the copy got me to thinking.  Here's what it said:

HOT CHEETOS SUNDAY!

Everyone who brings a new person will get a bag of hot cheetos!!!

(Name of church and address)

Now, this isn't meant to criticize the church's marketing efforts.  Perhaps they had an overflow crowd and doubled their attendance, and soon Rick Warren will be writing a new book entitled "The Hot Cheetos Driven Life" as a follow-up to his runaway best seller from a year or so ago.

But, I doubt it.  Here are my thoughts on their sales campaign (yes, even churches have to sell):

• Would a bag of Hot Cheetos be the tipping point that gets someone to walk into a new church?
• Are they giving away bags of Hot Cheetos to hasten that person's trip into the afterlife?
• Of ALL the free things that they could have given away, why Hot Cheetos?  More than likely, it was a sermon that somehow tied the bag of Hot Cheetos into a person's relationship with God.  Or, how it's even hotter in "the other place" than the bag of Hot Cheetos that they just handed out?
• The bottom line question, in terms of a sales campaign, is: Would a bag of Hot Cheetos get you to try their church? 

The main lesson I see in all this is that there are people who probably shouldn't be in charge of sales and marketing campaigns.  They might be experts in their chosen profession, but not in advertising, sales or marketing. 

Alas, we'll probably never know how the whole Hot Cheetos sales campaign went.  But there are some interesting lessons that I took away from getting that little flyer on our doorstep.  I was reminded of some important sales and advertising principles that are a constant, whether you're on Madison Avenue or at the church down the street.