6 things salespeople can learn from merchants at Tel Aviv’s Shuk HaCarmel
The Carmel Market, called “Shuk Hacarmel” in Hebrew, is the largest market in Tel Aviv.
It is a vibrant and typical Middle Eastern marketplace where traders sell everything from fruits & vegetables, clothing, arts, and electronics.
Marketplaces like the Shuk HaCarmel have been around ages before their online equivalents like eBay or Amazon (who actually acquired their Middle-Eastern competitor called “Souq”).
While the latter are dominating today’s world of commerce, I believe there’s quite a bit that sales people in today’s tech companies can learn from the “old school” merchants at the Shuk.
Hustle
I often hear sales people complain about how hard their job is, so I’ll start with one of the obvious elements that makes a successful sales person: Hustle.
The merchants at the Shuk get up at 6am each morning to build and fill their stall with products.
After that’s done, they stand on their feet for +10 hours in 35°C (95°F) heat trying to sell their products to visitors — some days they’re successful, other days less.
Regardless of outcome, they do this six days per week with no paid vacations or benefits whatsoever.
So the next time you think your desk sales job is hard, think of the Shuk merchants.
Knowing your customer
No matter which product or service you sell, you have to know your customer in order to be successful at convincing them to make a purchase.
The Shuk is one of the biggest tourist hotspots in Tel Aviv, drawing in thousands of tourists from around the world each day.
When you visit the Shuk, you’d be surprised at how many languages the merchants (who most of the times received little-to-no formal education) can speak fluently.
When a tourist group approaches their stall they hear which language they speak and address them accordingly.
I have seen simple grocers speak German, English, Spanish, and Italian (next to the local languages of Hebrew & Arabic) to customers from the respective countries.
While this might seem trivial, ask yourself how many people on your sales team can actually speak, negotiate, and sell in more than five languages. Language aside, unlike the merchants, you have the power of the internet to better understand your customer before approaching — perhaps they recently published an article that shares their perspective on an industry, their company just made a major announcement, etc. — so use it.
The Price Is Right (a.k.a. Discriminative Pricing)
Merchants at the Shuk are essentially flipping the model of the popular, world-renowned game show “The Price Is Right”.
At the Shuk, it’s not the customer who has to guess for the right price of a given product, it’s rather the merchant who guesses the customer’s highest price they’re willing to pay for the given product.
This can only be done since the prices aren’t transparent (i.e. there are no price tags), requiring visitors to ask for the prices of the products that interest them.
Once a visitor inquires about a price, the merchant will use all of the information available to him in that moment to name a price that will (almost perfectly) skim the visitor’s willingness to pay.
This information will include:
- The language of the inquiry. Since tourists usually have a higher spending power than locals (and even within the tourist segment, merchants know from experience which country’s tourists have more money than other’s)
- The way you look (which can — but don’t have to — tell a lot about your spending power)
- Your entourage (e.g. individual visitors get higher prices as they have a weaker bargaining power, i.e. no possibility for group discounts)
While this seems like a shady practice, don’t be too fast at cursing the merchants, because every business out there is either trying to or already skimming your willingness to pay in one way or another.
Some examples:
- Companies with auction-based business models (e.g. eBay or Google)
- Businesses using dynamic pricing to balance supply & demand
(e.g. Online Travel Agencies such as Booking.com) - B2B SaaS companies that price based on location, size, and other dimensions of their users
Price-matching competitors
In order to increase confidence in the given “price offer” some merchants offer to match competitors’ prices.
My gut feeling tells me that these price matchings rarely happen, because after all most customers are tourists who don’t mind spending a few more bucks on holiday shopping for the sake of convenience (instead of having to search the busy market for the cheapest stall just to save a few bucks).
In a modern day business context, promising to price match can also be a great way to sell more, without actually having to price match very often. This becomes more true if you sell a unique, customizable product/service.
Upsizing
Try your luck and negotiate with one of the merchant’s at the Shuk and chances are they won’t lower the original price, but rather offer you to buy a second water melon, bikini or DVD at a discount.
Since the COGS for these products are low in both relative and absolute terms, upsizing is a great way to “reduce the price” while increasing both revenues and profits (in absolute terms).
If you are selling a digital product where the marginal cost of another unit is negligible, you should definitely try upselling at a discount during your next sales opportunity.
Saying no to bad deals
There are some tourists who try their luck by negotiating aggressive prices.
From my own experience, the merchant’s at the Shuk aren’t afraid of walking away from a deal.
Interestingly enough the merchant’s “no” is often times followed by a visitor’s “yes” to the originally demanded price.
Likewise, it is important for businesses (and people) to identify the right time to say “no” to a potential deal — there are event books that elaborate on the importance of saying “no” in a business context.
Final Words
I hope you enjoyed reading the article — feel free to let me know if you agree with my thoughts or if I missed anything in the comments section.
