Why Snap THESE Holiday Photos

The holiday season is one of the most popular times for taking PHOTOS. Photos with Santa, photos of family, photos of the Christmas tree… etc.

This is a quick suggestion regarding holiday photos you might find useful in your business.

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My first season open in the mall, my ‘cart mentor’ called me the last week before Christmas.

He suggested that if I hadn’t done so already, I should take some photos of my CART.

He said I would find them useful, and it would be worth the few moments required to take them. Frankly, I was too busy to ask many questions. I just told him it made sense and I’d do it.

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This was in the days before digital cameras. I did however have one of those clunky old Polaroid cameras.

So I bought a box of film at the photo store in the mall, and the next morning took a bunch of Polaroid photos of my cart.

As it turned out, having those photos turned out to be helpful in a number of areas. Here are just a few:

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1) When setting up in subsequent seasons, it was helpful to have the photos as a reminder to myself and my staff of how to set the cart up.

It made it easier to get through those late night set-up sessions with the photos to guide us.

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2) When meeting with new leasing reps or applying at a new mall, it was helpful to have the photos of our past setups in the malls.

Having photos and other tangible proof of our past efforts allowed us to come off as more professional and credible right from the outset.

It certainly made it easier to get the spots we wanted.  Many malls nowadays ask for photos with their applications. 

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3) Photos were also useful when we booking seasonal show and fair events.  These events often ask for photos of a sample display when submitting an application.

The visual merchandising requirements at the mall are usually much higher than those of a show or a fair.

So our cart photos were usually sufficient to demonstrate we would set up our display in a professional manner.

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There can be other reasons why having photos of your cart or kiosk might be useful. Hopeful you get the idea.

If you have a digital camera, bring it along to the mall. Many of the newer camera phones will do.

Snap photos of your cart from several angles after you set up, and before the mall gets busy. Then just remember to download them to your computer.

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If you don’t have a digital camera, stop at the mall photo store first thing in the morning.

Pick up one of the $10 disposable cameras. Then snap photos of your cart from many different angles. Snap the whole role and take it right back to the photo store before you set the camera aside and forget about it.

For about $10, most photo stores will put the pictures on a CD disc leaving you with a permanent photo record of your cart.

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(If you won’t be at a particular mall, perhaps because you have multiple carts… call whoever is leading your cart at that mall, and ask them to snap the photos for you.

If needed, have THEM pick up a disposable camera at the photo store, snap the photos, and have them put on a cd for you.)

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For the investment of just a few minutes, and less than $20, you can have a permanent photo record of your cart or kiosk business that you are free to use as needed.

It’s just a little thing. But if you do set aside a few moments to take these photos, you’ll likely be glad that you did.

Brady Flower
The Kiosk Expert

P.S. For ideas on visual merchandising your cart, subscribe to the Specialty Retail Report magazine:

http://www.kioskexpert.com/srr.htm

Boost Your Mall Cart Sales by Applying This Simple Equation

I received a voice mail this past week from a cart operator on the east coast. He was selling a ‘demonstration’ product, and was looking for ideas to increase his sales.

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Here are excerpts from that short voice mail:

‘I look at the nail cart doing the hawking, they just do so well.’‘I feel like I can’t hawk.’‘Once they [customers] come and look, I do talk to people’

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In our subsequent conversation, it was clear that he felt he had only two options to approach customers. His first option was to use the relatively PASSIVE sales approach he’d used up until now.

He’d waited for customers to stop FIRST, and only then talked with them. At some level he KNEW he was missing out on sales by using this method.

The other option as he saw it, was to adopt the hyper-aggressive, hawking approach of the cart down the hallway… knowing it might increase his sales… but knowing also that it might turn off customers, and put him at risk of getting booted from the mall.

(Hawking is not allowed in most malls.)

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As we were talking, I was reminded of a simple equation that I heard at a session on demonstration-selling this spring:

Outflow = Inflow

OUTFLOW represents communication you direct outward.  INFLOW represents what you get back.

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When we use a passive approach, we offer very LITTLE outflow.

The lack of outflow can LIMIT the desired inflow of potential sales.

Limited Outflow = Limited Inflow

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The other approach, hawking, offers a lot more outflow and can result in a greater inflow of sales… but also can result in unwanted and unneeded inflow, such as unhappy mall patrons and a ticked-off mall management.

Inappropriate Outflow = Unwanted Inflow

(Again… hawking is not allowed in most malls.)

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In our subsequent conversation, the operator and I talked about another approach.. 

An approach that might be considered ‘middle ground’.

An approach that is ‘active’, but not ‘aggressive.’

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One of the simplest forms of ‘outflow’ is to simply greet people passing by…

‘Hello’.

Now, I don’t mean the just kind of ‘Hello’you use after someone walks up to your cart of their own accord. But repeatedly, and repetitively greeting people that pass by, ‘Hello’.

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When we greet a person hello…. ’something’ happens. That ’something’ is usually one of two things:

Either the person continues walking on down the hallway… in which case we let them go.

Or, they acknowledge us… by looking at us or our cart.

That’s ‘inflow’.

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More outflow = More inflow

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When a prospective customer acknowledges us by looking at us or our cart… we can proceed forward another step… with more outflow…

‘Have you seen this yet?’

(Or whatever phrase is most appropriate for our product.)

Again… ’something’ happens.

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That ’something’ might be that the person continues to walk on down the hall… in which case again, we let them go.

Or that person might stop, and look at our product… or they might look at us inquisitively… or they might ask ‘What?’…

That’s more inflow.

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More outflow = More inflow

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If people stop, or look, or ask, we proceed to the next step in our presentation.

Outflow. 

If we have a good product and a solid presentation… …. a certain percentage of the people we talk to… will BUY from us.

Inflow.Desired inflow.***
Want to boost your sales? 

Increase appropriate outflow.

It’s can be as simple as greeting people, ‘Hello’.

Best,

Brady Flower
The Kiosk Expert