4 Business Lessons By Buying Chili Sauce
Unexpected business wisdom from the weirdest places.
There’s a business owner’s perspective and a prospect’s perspective. They are different, and it helps to keep the differences in mind when you draft your articles.
‘It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.’
Sherlock Holmes
For a time I lived and worked in the city of Surabaya, Indonesia.
I shopped in a local supermarket that dedicated one aisle to chili sauce.
One whole aisle! I don’t mind chili, but my western taste buds can’t tolerate nuclear-level hotness.
What to choose? I had no idea, so I took a punt. I grabbed one off the shelf and took it home with the rest of my purchases.
It was okay, but too sweet for my liking. I could’ve done better.
I thought about this
And I realised, there were 4 business lessons here.
Limit choice. It confuses most people, especially those of us who aren’t familiar with your offer and the space it occupies in your specialty field. One full aisle of chili sauce? Too many choices. Overwhelming.
Make your offer easy to understand in terms your prospect relates to. My Bahasa was limited and the labels made no sense. They communicated nothing to me, so I had no useful information to make my selection.
Make your offer and everything surrounding it visually appealing. Books are judged by their cover, and chilli jars are judged by their pretty labels. With nothing else to go on, that’s how I made the call.
Seek help if you’re doubtful. I should’ve asked someone. There were lots of people in the supermarket and Surabayans are the friendliest people. Any one of them could have guided me to the precise product I wanted.
Closing thoughts
It’s weird, isn’t it, how a simple shopping trip can deliver lessons that spill over into other aspects of our lives?
The next time you’re off on an everyday task, slow down and just observe what’s around you.
Start with a business owner’s perspective, as a seller. What are they doing that’s right, and what could be improved?
Then change to a prospect’s perspective. What attracts you to one product over another? And what repels you?
Lessons are everywhere. Observations pays.
