Have you read the Washington Post article about Joshua Bell, a famous violinist who played a $3.5 million dollar violin in a subway station during rush hour? Those who orchestrated the experiment to see if anyone would stop and notice him were “mystified” that he was basically ignored. One analyst suggested it was because he was out of context. No kidding, that was the point!
The article concluded that everyone in a subway station at rush hour was too goddamn busy to stop and listen to a person they didn’t expect to see there and who wasn’t identified. This is called marketing. To me, this isn’t a social experiment. It’s a marketing experiment. And the Washington Post succeeded in proving that you can have the greatest product, but if you don’t target the right audience, give them the “selling points” and make it convenient and appropriate, no one is going to give a crap.
Five years ago my sister left a message on my answering machine while I was out to dinner. “I was at church and they’re giving away an old baby grand piano. You just have to pay to move it.” If you could have seen my living room at the time, there was an 8’ x 8’ void in one corner reserved the baby grand we hoped to purchase one day. If my sister had an ounce of me in her, she would have tackled the priest and told him, “my sister will take it!!!”
By the time I could get to the priest there was already a parishioner on the list ahead of me. The parishioner was the doctor my mother worked for. Agony! So we paid a visit to my mother and asked her to let him know that we were, nudge, nudge, next in line, so if he, um, didn’t want it, then we’d be the ones getting it.
My mother’s pathetic call turned out to be unnecessary because the doctor took one look at the piano in the music room of the Catholic school, and turned it down.
Now fast-forward to 6 months ago. My brother-in-law, who is a brilliant piano player and owns a Steinway, played our piano and said it sounded like junk. We wanted our kids to take lessons so we decided to sell the piano on Craigslist for $1300. The ad read, “1923 Knabe baby grand. Ivory veneer. Needs to be tuned.”
We had a handful of interested people, but no offers. We lowered the price two more times and still no offers. Then we had a piano teacher who was looking for a piano for his student look at it. He spent a long time looking and playing. He took about a 100 photos with his iPhone. He made an offer: $600. He asked that we get back to him within 24 hours. Hmmm.
Here’s the difference. EVERYONE who had looked at our piano was not an expert – not my brilliant brother-in-law, nor the doctor, mothers, couples and hobbyists who looked at it. I was lucky enough that the piano teacher – who knew what he was looking at – had such a bad poker face. So, we spent $35 to have an expert tell us that our piano is made of quarter saw mahogany, something that is considered “exotic,” today. The soundboard is made of spruce, which is no longer available at such a tight grain. The ornate hinges are solid brass and the inner framework is made with the same materials as $25,000 Steinways. And it’s not a baby grand; it’s a parlor grand…ahh even more exotic.
Hell no we’re not going to sell this thing. But if we were, our ad would look something like the above paragraph and the asking price would be 5 digits.
As the seller, it’s my responsibility to know what I’m selling and educate my audience so that I can set expectations and receive proper compensation.
You cannot be condescending to your audience – what is your problem that we dressed a famous musician in street clothes and put him in the subway and YOU didn’t recognize him. What is their problem? The Washington Post took every variable of location, timing and circumstance, and flipped it on its head then blamed society for being too busy during rush hour. Is that brilliant?
If you are an expert in your field, know what you’re selling and make it clear to your clients and consumers. Make no assumptions. It’s your job to educate.