Debbie Fields was only 21 years old when she opened her first Mrs. Fields Cookies store in Palo Alto, California in 1977. Seven short years later, in 1984, the marketing \u2018novice\u2019 had 160 stores selling more than $45 million worth of Mrs. Fields Cookies.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of lessons we can learn from Debbie\u2019s marketing success. Her passion and determination caused her to succeed even though she had no experience, and was told by friends, family, bankers, and others that her \u2018idea\u2019 would not succeed.<\/p>\n
The marketing campaign that drew customers to her stores consisted of simply going out into the streets with trays of free cookies for people to sample. If you have a great product, consider finding a way to offer free samples to your customers.<\/p>\n
Car dealers know the value of the free test drive, and vendors at local farmers markets have learned they sell more produce by offering free samples.<\/p>\n
Advertising that you offer free trials or samples also speaks volumes about the confidence you have in your products or services. Mrs. Fields did not wait for customers to come into her store to offer them free samples, she went out into the streets with trays of goodies.<\/p>\n
\u2018Free\u2019 is one of the most powerful words in advertising and giving samples of your product engages \u2018psychological reciprocity\u2019 in the minds of your prospects.<\/p>\n
Psychological reciprocity is defined as \u2018a deep rooted sub-conscious need to do something for those who do something for us\u2019.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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