The art of selling is a complicated one—a lot of studies have been put into it over the past centuries but still there is some inexplicable stuff that defies science. For instance how do you explain that there are some random clients who when they buy from you, they open floodgates?
Of course we are not talking of influencers who are public figures with a lot of following who can be engaged as brand ambassadors. For instance Trevor Noah, Shasha, Beyonce, Jah Prayzer, Casper Nyovest, Eddy Kenzo and Diamond Platinumz.
Dear forumite, we are talking about Gogo Mthembu in Motsulu, Nelspruit who buys fresh vegetables from a market and opens up floodgates for Mpho. She buys shoes from a boutique and again opens up the sales valves.
Janet buying chickens from Nomusa and after the sale, Nomusa goes on to sell all of her chickens!
Janet goes on to buy face masks from Tinotenda and Tino sells all of her stock in record time.
Researchers call such people mavens according to the book Outliers. Mavens just have the Midas Touch and in most cases they do not even know that whatever they touch moves.
In a discussion on the forum, we had forum members who witnessed this phenomenon. Sales moving Northwards after certain people have placed orders. We had plenty of case studies and these were ordinary mavens.
In another instance a former icecream man identified certain clients who when they buy, he was assured of a great day of sales. If they do not then a tough day of moving sales.
Yours truly observed this several times whenever he stopped icecream men, stood in front of shops for window shopping or entering an empty shop and within a few minutes more people following suit. Of course iam not inviting freebies from the forum lol
Identify mavens for your business
In 2017 we advertised a forum initiative (tapestry) in 6 countries at the same time. The adverts went viral in South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi sparking a scramble across SADC. Was it a fluke? We tested again in 2018 with a hat-making initiative and got similar results! So for the forum, we have identified these 3 countries as mavens that open floodgates to the region. It saves us time when launching new products.
When icecream men plan their suburb rounds, the experienced know which street to move first, which households open floodgates and they ensure maximum results this way.
Zimbabweans should be familiar with the hero Oliver Mtukudzi launching his albums in certain countries first before doing so in his home land. We hope it now makes sense!
What made your sales move so fast? Is it the time, location, season or certain clients? Document and analyse why sales move so fast. Repeat the process continuously till you get to the bottom of the story.
Why are sales low? Who bought or did not buy? Come up with incentives for mavens and assess progress.
There are also certain social media groups where you post and make the most sales. Have you captured this? It could be possible that you make the most sales when everyone else is struggling. Same advert design, same products and prices but someone making 5x sales than others.
How well do you know your clients? Do you capture their contact details? Do you regularly engage them? Have you identified the mavens? They can be clients, location, digital platforms or more.
Knowing them may make the difference between survival and closing shop.
