Matt Bacak: 5 Marketing Lessons From A Reluctant Lemonade Salesman

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School just started back here in Georgia. The day before it started, my kids decided they wanted to do a lemonade stand. I told them before I would help them, they had to make a sign, find all the stuff to make the stand including a chair for me to sit in and I told them they needed to find a location. After they had done all that I asked them to do, we set out for the main drag in our neighborhood and set up shop.

The first thing they did right was waving at each and every person who passed by. Acknowledging each person you come across isn’t that hard but goes a long way towards building a relationship. When you begin building a relationship with someone, you inspire trust. Someone who doesn’t trust you won’t buy from you

The second they did right was doing the assumptive close. My son would ask them for the money and my daughter would make the lemonades. I didn’t even coach him on this. He just automatically asked each person, “How many lemonades would you like?” It wasn’t “Do you want a lemonade?” It was just a simple, “How many would you like?”

Now quite a few people said that they didn’t have any cash on them and they would return once they got the cash. I told my kids that whenever someone said they’d be back, tell them, “Can’t wait to see you when you get back.” Instead of just brushing them off, it’s important to tell people you’re expecting them to come back when they say they will. When you do this, people are more likely to return because it’s like they’ve made a promise to you to do so.

Another thing I told my kids to do was to thank the customer. When we finished with the first batch of lemonade, we made a sign that said, “Thank you. Sold out.” I had my daughter hold out the sign as people drove by. Then we made some more lemonade and sold out in about twenty minutes. After we sold out the second time, we stuck the signs in the ground near where their stand was so everyone would know we appreciated their business.

The cool thing is in about a couple of hours, my kids made $81 just from selling homemade lemonade. My daughter was hooked and after my son and I went outside, she actually made another batch of lemonade and went out with her mom to sell it.

The big lesson here, the lesson I want you to remember, is that once something works, do it again. A lot of times people think that when you do something once, that’s it. You’re done. But that’s not the case. People also think that you can’t make money where everyone else is making money because the market is oversaturated. That’s not true! If you find a market that’s making money, jump on it. If you find a product, create something, sell a webinar and it makes money, keep doing it. Keep doing it until it doesn’t make you money anymore. If you don’t, you’re missing out on easy cash