The marketing lessons from our vacation in Jamaica

In the middle of the winter we spent a week in Negril, Jamaica – Grand Breezes Resort. We simply loved it! I took hundreds of pictures, maybe I should install here a pictures album plugin to show them…

One day, while on the beach, a three member “mobile” band was walking around and stopping in front of sunbathing groups – offering to play some reggae music… what else? Well, they were not a world class group but on the beach with a cold drink in your hand enjoying the dolce far niente it doesn’t really matter. And it was still better to see them than the ubiquitous marijuana sellers.

When they got closer, I noticed the older guy with his portable keyboard instrument: his left arm was missing. You would think one needs ten fingers to be able to play that instrument. But this one-armed guy managed it with just five.

We really enjoyed their music and the sun, the beach, the blue see, the drink… all that package. I mean not only my wife and I but everybody else around us. The musicians were not “pushy” begging for tips. They just had a small wooden box placed on the sand in front of them that said “TIPS”, however nobody gave them a cent.

Then I stood up, took out a few dollars from my pocket and walked up to them. After putting the money in the box, I asked them the permission to have a photo together. As you can see, they agreed. (It is not that difficult to tell which one is the blogger.)

Before you know it, everybody around us started to put a dollar or two in the box… I hope the guys were having a good day.

And now the lessons.

1. The lesson learned from the one-armed musician: no matter how handicapped you are, if you want to do it and if you persist, you can make it! You can play the keyboard even if you have only one hand. It is your determination that counts.

2. People are like sheep… they have the herd mentality. Once a single person tipped the group – the others felt compelled to follow. Get a few leaders to ‘demonstrate’ the desired behaviour (e.g. buy and praise your product) and the rest will follow them