Working in this business, I have long had an interest in marketing. I find how companies approach it interesting.
In many ways, selling a product is a matter of solving a problem or answering a question for people. Sometimes, it’s a problem or question they never knew they had.
If the problem is you need to get somewhere else, well maybe you could buy this bicycle. If you need to get there faster, perhaps this car would be a better choice. If you need to catch a mouse, you need a mouse trap. It’s all a matter of finding the right solution to the problem.
And if you don’t think you have a problem, quite often one will be created for you. There are even times when the solution is created before the problem is even identified.
For example, maybe someone comes up with a medication to treat jumping toe disease. You might think you don’t have jumping toe disease. But wait! Do your toes start tapping when your favourite song comes on? You could have jumping toe disease. Better ask your doctor. That sort of thing.
But there comes a time when solving the problem can become a problem. I’m looking at you, toilet paper. How big do you really need to get?
Not long ago, I picked up a package of toilet paper. It was a fairly large package, and I didn’t read all the print on the package. It was a good deal so a bought it. I struggled to the car, carrying a pack of toilet paper that was roughly about twice the size of the tree it came from. I was pretty happy, because this would keep us stocked up for a while.
But when I got it home, I realized I had bought not single rolls. Not double rolls. But triple rolls.
I live in a house that has not been extensively renovated for several years. Long before the advent of the double roll, let alone the triple. The holder for toilet paper is one of those that is kind of built into the wall. It easily takes a single roll. It can handle a double roll with a bit of a squeeze. But a triple? No way.
Sure, those rolls may not need replacing as often, but I may have to replace the roller they go on.
So by solving the problem of a roll running out too quickly, they have actually created another problem.
Although, they have also solved another problem. I have long gotten in trouble around the house for not actually putting a new roll on the roller when one runs out. I now have the perfect excuse, because there’s no way those rolls are going to fit. So they have kept me from getting yelled at for being lazy. Which I may be, but that’s beside the point. I now have a perfect excuse for just letting the new roll just sit there.
So I’ll probably buy triple rolls from now on. They solved a problem I didn’t know I had.