Struggling to create new products and services? Maybe you’re trying too hard…
The Mario Kart Syndrome
By Chris Morrissette
At 109 miles an hour the speedometer is still climbing. I have almost caught up to him… the tortoise shell with the huge monkey is in front of me as we swerve left around the corner and jump over a cloud. We take a hard right on two wheels and leave skid marks on the track. We approach the checkered flag… come on… come on… almost there… almost got him. Oh No! Not the banana peel! I freak out as my right front tire slams into it. Spin out city, baby! Oh man! And Donkey Kong takes the flag!
I throw the controller against the TV in disgust and ultimate irritation. After a minute, I take a sip of my soft drink, a bite of my turkey sandwich and with a sigh, pick up the controller to express my desire to command and conquer once again! “Let’s get it on Donkey Kong!”
I am so entrenched in the video game “Mario Kart”, made by Nintendo, that when I am driving down the street and take a corner and I see a banana peel… Yes, I still swerve out of the way. Whew! That was close.
The Mario Kart syndrome you say? Yeah, think about the last time you have bought seven items of the same exact thing and enjoyed every minute of it. In the last 10 years, I have bought the video game Mario Kart seven times: one for the original Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Game Cube, the original Game Boy, the Game Boy advance, the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Wii. Wow, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7. That’s right seven different times I have bought the same title; the same game. Very little changed from version to version, the only thing that changed was the platform and package.
Then I started to look at other products I have purchased. Books for instance, I have a e-book copy of As a Man Thinketh, a hard back copy, a paperback book, an audio CD and a workbook; all of the same book. And you know what? I have purchased all of them. I have two UNC ball caps, one is dark blue with white lettering and the other is baby blue with dark blue lettering. They are the same hat, just different colors. I have three versions of the Rocky Theme Song; an audio tape (remember them?), a cd and I just downloaded it again from the Apple iStore. The Rocky theme song never changed just the media and package that it came in and I purchased it 3 times.
How do you increase sales? One way is you can make the same product in a different form and people will buy it again. When you have support or a following for a product make it in a different size, color, platform, or pattern and walaa! You will have a new product and a new sale!
Now please, let me get back to Donkey Kong.
~
About the author:
Christopher Morrissette has been a top sales producer, with a Fortune 500 Sales Company, for 6 years of his 7 year career; regionally and nationally. Christopher has been crushing sales targets repeatedly before launching his first company, Easy Giving, and now his new company For Free and For Fun. www.forfreeandforfun.com
To order the book Chris wrote called “For Free and For Fun” get yourself over to http://tinyurl.com/d6d3ky
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Today was very helpful in just learning to build better business relationships. Very well done, especially in covering the amount of material that you did within the time limits. Solid refresher overall – really liked the formula given!