The Falafel stand sales approach

Falafel is a deep-fried ball or patty made from ground chickpeas, fava beans, or both. Falafel is a traditional Middle Eastern food, commonly served in a pita, which acts as a pocket, or wrapped in a flatbread. (source)

I’m not going to write the recipe (even though it’s very easy) or talk about how tasty it is…I am going to write about one thing (out of many) we can all learn and implement in our businesses.

I grew up in Israel and Falafel is definitely one of my favorite dishes, if you want to enjoy a true authentic falafel you should eat it in one of the street stands, it’s not only the taste it’s also something with the experience that makes it special.

Falafel balls (Credit: Daria Nepriakhina)

What is the Falafel sales approach?

I’m going to explain it by demonstrating a real scenario happened to me with Josef, the proud owner of a Falafel stand:

1. I was walking by Josef’s Falafel stand, wasn’t feeling hungry at all
2. Josef noticed me standing outside, battling myself whether I should go inside or continue walking
3. Josef didn’t hesitate, he reached out to his bowl of Falafel using his tongs and picked one Falafel ball, dipped it with some Tahini, and shouted:

“Hey!!! come try my Falafel, it’s fresh and was deep-fried just 2 minutes ago.”

4. I obviously couldn’t resist and ate this Falafel ball with a big smile :)

Josef knew exactly what’s going to happen, and damn he was right!
There is no chance for me to just turn around and leave without ordering something, by accepting this Falafel ball I automatically committed myself to Josef, it’s a magical combination of emotions and hunger.

5 Things we can learn:

1. Make sure you’re not missing any sales opportunities, your target audience not necessarily know they want or need your product/service
2. Identify your target audience weaknesses or pain points and make sure your marketing activities touch them
3. Offering a free trial is not enough, I’m a big fan of giving something before you ask for something in return, try to think about what value you can provide without asking for anything in return. In order to make it right, make sure you measure the value of your offer by monitoring the conversion rate and leads quality
4. When you reach out to your target audience, make sure you talk about the value of your product/service
5. It’s all about the experience…your target audience should feel comfortable and welcome, remember, Emotion is what really drives the purchasing behaviors, and also, decision making in general.

Although the above might change from one industry to another, from B2B to B2C, the general approach is what really matters.

One last thing, when you eat your Falafe…just enjoy it…do not think about marketing :)