Dolores “Dee” Lowe
Sales Advisor
There’s no doubt that some items are harder to sell than others. Cookies and crackers often fly off the shelf (and Sales Advisors’ carts), while items shoppers are less familiar with may have less broad appeal.
Take seafood, for example. Most consumers fall into one of two categories: either they love or hate it. But Sales Advisor Dolores “Dee” Lowe, who specializes in seafood demonstrations, says she never lets an individual’s reluctance to try something new hold her back.
“Whenever I offer a sample and someone tells me that they don’t like seafood, I always try to find out more,” Lowe says. “First I ask if they are allergic. If they’re not, then I ask them if they’ve ever tried it the way I’m preparing it. A lot of times shoppers have had one bad experience with fish or they tried a recipe they didn’t like.”
If that’s the case, Lowe says she encourages them to give the product another try, highlighting the great opportunity in-store demonstration events provide in allowing shoppers to try new types of products before they commit to buying them. Using well-tested, tasty recipes to showcase products—and sharing those recipes with shoppers so they can recreate them at home—often adds to the appeal.
Lowe finds the risk of encouraging shoppers to try something they might not like is well worth taking. When reluctant consumers find they enjoy a product, they often buy it. Many even return the following week reiterate how much they liked it—leading to more opportunities to share new products with shoppers.