THE "HONEY BUCKET"
SALES APPROACH
with an Addendum: PA'S OFFICE
If you can sell EDELWEISS at the "HONEY BUCKET"
you can sell EDELWEISS anywhere.
with an Addendum: PA'S OFFICE.
With 20,640 bottles of beer on the wall, now came the time to sell Edelweiss.
Being untrained in conventional sales approaches, I nevertheless proceeded
with love, devotion, energy, and enthusiasm toward my new endeavor, and
here follows my own, unique method. Although most certainly not a recommended
sales approach for anyone, if you enjoy a few beer on your "off-time,"
let me relate this experience. The point here is to develop a clientele
for a speciality beer in a locale where the word spreads, firstly at a beer-bar,
but one where a broad mixture of society drops in.
The Honey Bucket is a great beer-bar with all of the beer-bar connotations:
Long Neck Bud and Coors bottles, schooners from tap, pool table and shuffle
board in back and everything from moose antlers and desert steer skulls
to oils of American Indians and nudes hanging on the walls The Honey Bucket
is located off the beaten track in Long Beach and is a "locals"
beer -bar with a great reputation for "Buffalo Wings," and a great
owner/bartender staff.
In November 1988, I sold three cases of Edelweiss and a few glasses to the
owner (an American of German descent who taught French in the High School
for seventeen years) for what I thought would be mostly his personal use.
I never returned assuming that nobody would drink Edelweiss in such a beer-bar.
In March, 1989, I dropped in for a beer (well a Bud), to relax, and was
greeted with wild enthusiasm. "Where were you? We lost your card! We
need Edelweiss." So begins the saga of the Honey Bucket.
In the next few months the Honey Bucket became my "home," in reality
my OFFICE, - my place of relaxation where I would sit in the corner, do
my books, my customer lists, read the paper, and enjoy my Edelweiss in its
distinctive glass. Gradually other Bud-drinkers started trying it. I asked
the owner why it was selling. His comment: "I drink a few, and you
know, - MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO!" The key here is that the Honey
Bucket is willing to use the authentic glass; the customers, enticed by
the Edelweiss glass, order Edelweiss firstly out of curiosity; hence, the
authentic glass,
MANDATORY FOR ALL MONKEYS.
My sales record of Edelweiss in the Honey Bucket has grown to about five
cases a week. Keep in mind that I have the option to deliver Edelweiss at
any time, and I always carry a few cases with me, - obviously for sale.
This solves the small-order customer, two to four cases, - not worth the
cost for a distributor to deliver. My most recent example is as follows:
One Tuesday morning, I delivered a case of Edelweiss Dunkel (plus other
Edelweiss). At 3 p.m. the first bottle was cool enough to drink, - obviously
a bar-tender (Rick) had put six bottles on ice, at least one for his "shift-drink."
The following morning, 11 a.m. (8 p.m. Munich time), I dropped in for my
Dunkel, and they were all gone: NOBODY DRINKS DUNKEL, especially
on Tuesday!
The saga does NOT end. In my travels, I encounter "people," drinkers,
bar managers, owners, etc., who tell me that they have tried Edelweiss.
My skeptical question is usually, "where," and I hear, "in
the Honey Bucket."
I have additionally "set-up" a liquor store in the area which
will sell Edelweiss by the case at a discount. I give their business cards
to anyone who asks about buying Edelweiss, and I inscribe on the back "Alan,
- Edelweiss case discount, - Thanks, PA."
Furthermore I have found devoted Edelweiss drinkers who will fight the "aura"
of the Honey Bucket, crowd into the narrow quarters to drink Edelweiss from
the distinctive glass. (A few glasses are broken, a few are sold, but very
few are lost, ripped -off.)
People constantly ask me about the beer. Donna, living about ten miles away,
comes to the Honey Bucket, and tells me, "I used to tell all my friends
- Go to the Honey Bucket for their wings; now I tell them go to the Honey
Bucket for their Wings and their Edelweiss." So builds the reputation!
Even Bud drinkers have learned how to pour Edelweiss. One day, I ordered
my usual Dunkel, happily poured it, and suddenly I heard a voice beside
me saying "You know, you should roll the bottle to get all the yeast
out of the beer." I looked up, he looked up, and to our mutual amazement,
a Bud drinker (Danny) was telling PA, the originator of the various Edelweiss
pouring techniques at the Honey Bucket, how to pour Edelweiss.
The Honey Bucket, we have found is typical of our "success locales."
Our experience has been that the reputation grows from the
locals who "travel" within a certain area, who have their favorite
bars to relax. For instance, Frank, a Honey Bucket frequenter, nagged me
into visiting his "other bar," George's Between Rounds.
George and his brother Mike, both retired professional boxers, drew a diverse
clientele from dockworkers, boaters, ironworkers, bikers and professionals.
They ran a down home "Sports Beer Bar" in San Pedro with great
food and a significant selection of imported beers. And they surpassed the
Honey Bucket in sales of Edelweiss (over 200 cases in 6 months with 1/2
being Dunkel).
What would life be like WITHOUT THE HONEY BUCKET ?
Addendum: PA'S OFFICE
Well, the Bucket, the second oldest beer-bar in Long Beach is long gone,
and George's has changed hands. Thank heavens for O'CONNELL'S, just
down the street from the old Bucket, and according to the "natives,"
the real "down-home," local bar . Furthermore, O'Connell's, established
in 1934, immediately following prohibition, is definitely one of the first
legal beer-bars, the owner's insist that it's a cocktail lounge, in Long
Beach. (Don't worry about the caustic comments from the owner, Jim; they
always come with a twinkel in his eye, much like Santa.)
Here PA has established his new OFFICE, and is introducing his latest Austrian
import, ZIPFER PREMIUM LAGER, with over a case being consumed daily
since its introduction approximately four months ago. Now the patrons are
demanding Edelweiss as well, albeit primarily Dunkel.
Now we all know what life is like
WITHOUT
THE HONEY BUCKET
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