The fascinating adventures of Refrigerator Shopping… (Part 1)

It’s the beginning of 2023, and for me, it’s been a bit of a rocky start – with my New Year’s Eve CVD positive test, the cyclone rain bombs (and it’s still raining btw).

And, finally, getting my Mom on a plane home…

It was the best of times and the worse of times… 😉

I’m doing as much self-care as I can and focusing on what I’m grateful for…

And one of those things is you!

That’s why I wanted to share with you my spouse and I’s fascinating adventure of shopping for a refrigerator. I promise there will be some interesting lessons that will apply to your business. 🙂

I haven’t shopped for a refrigerator in ages. Our current fridge is just painfully not deep enough to hold what we need. We felt that pain over the holidays and constantly tried to stuff things in there.

Plus, we’re overseeing a renovation of a family member’s property here, and we need a used or inexpensive smaller fridge.

The first thing we did was our homework with make and models, what we liked, didn’t like, etc.

We really wanted to see the fridge and check out the features in person after doing our online research. We narrowed it down to 3 stores.

The first place was a midbrow store. We were the only customers there. It was clean and neat, and they had a lot of appliances.

The salesman greeted us and showed us some models. He was polite and answered our questions. We thanked him and left.

The next store was for preowned appliances. With all the rain, the place was a bit of a mess with water, leaks, etc.

It honestly felt more like a junkyard. His prices for used fridges were not all that great. And the ones we saw were pretty dirty and just felt icky. Not to mention the proprietor, who reeked of alcohol.

We thanked him and said we’d think about it and left.

After having those two wildly different experiences, I noticed a few things:

1. No Follow-Up – Neither place ever asked for our contact info to follow up with us. This is typical for a small local store. And it’s also sad because the best way to build your business (as you know) is to get contact details to follow up with potential clients.

Take Away – Always have a follow-up or feedback system for your business. One of the best ways is to have a free lead generator on your website that folks get access to in exchange for their email address.

2. No Questions – At either place, they didn’t ask us what features we were looking for. That’s fine, except we don’t know what we don’t know. I’m always open to learning about new features and upgrades. Yet, they just showed us what we asked for and said goodbye. This was a huge missed opportunity.

Take Away – Asking questions, finding out more about your potential dream client and what features and benefits they want, what they like, don’t like, and what problems they have, and how you can help solve them. It’s a must to create more success in your business.

3. Aesthetics – The first store was nice and clean, but it was not as inviting. They had a lot of inventory. Plus, there was no one it but the salesperson. So it was a little creepy – where were all the people? The second place that looked more like a junkyard should have been closed with all the leaks and water on the floor.

Take Away – If you have a brick-and-mortar store – your physical space is everything. And if you have an online store or an office – having a space you love that’s inviting, speaks to your dream clients and emits your values and mission is critical.

4. Being Aligned With your Soul’s Purpose – As an entrepreneur, how do you feel about your business? Are you bored or tired of it? Or does it light you up, and you want to learn and grow? The two places we went to appeared to be in it for just a paycheck. Only doing what they have to do to get through the day. This is NOT what I want for you!

Take Away – When you’re aligned with your soul’s purpose, you’re in your genius zone. It won’t feel like work. If your business doesn’t feel like that, might be time to step back and reassess why you’re in business and what changes you can make.

Next week, I will share with you the third place we went to check out refrigerators and the very different experience and what we decided.

Until then – let me leave you with this gem –I read this article last week, and it totally got me stoked about the change that’s happening in marketing – it’s becoming more soulful.

It’s about the vitamin company Nature Made.

They unveiled an unusual January ad campaign. They moved away from the “new year, new me” type of campaigns and went for a more holistic message, “The Start of Something Great.”It’s about appealing to the emotional positive side of wellness, and not about fear and self-loathing to make changes.

New research from Nielsen IQ suggests that consumers aren’t connecting with “scared-based” advertising like they used to. YES! Cue confetti…It’s time for more holistic, positive, and integrity-filled marketing.

Want more?

I’m here for you – email me, and let me know how I can help – I’ve got you covered.

Some photos below of the snowy mountains in our town. We haven’t seen snow like this in a while. Then I had to include some pics of the rain – from my office window and our deck. Plus, it wouldn’t be an email without the appearance of Emma, the water dog!