If life gives you Oranges make Orange Juice :)

32 replies
It is not uncommon, in Southern California, to see men standing on street corners with shopping baskets full of oranges, selling bags of oranges for $2 to $5 for each bag.

People pull over or stop and the orange sellers run up to the car, collect the money and and hand over the merchandise.

If you ever stop to watch sales, you see that what they are doing will pay the rent. People in So. Cal. do love their oranges.

Now, let's take a trip to the very busy corner of Wilshire Blvd. and Vermont Ave. in the heart of Los Angeles in an area called Korea Town.

A few months ago an Orange Vendor started standing on that busy corner with a shopping cart full of Oranges. Observing him you would see that he was making no sales.

The Beamers and Mercedes didn't pull over to be served the bags of oranges and the thousands of passersby, walking on their way to work couldn't be bothered carrying a 5 lb. bag down busy Wilshire Blvd. and into their jobs at various banks, Colleges, law offices and you name it types of businesses.

After about a week of poor sales, the orange vendor gave up.

WRONG! he didn't give up. What he did is a marketing lesson big time.

One day he showed up with a hand operated Orange Juice Press bolted to his shopping cart.

For $2.50 he will hand you a freshly squeezed large cup of Orange Juice.

During the morning rush he can hardly run that press fast enough to keep up with the customers.

Now he has added grapefruit juice to his menu.

So it may be true "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade," But it's also true "If life gives you oranges, make orange juice."

You might have access to a great product that people are just not buying. Maybe all you need to do is figure out how to "squeeze" it a little bit to really make some good sales.

For instance, MRR products. A fresh sales page, A great bonus, Some wonderful follow up support, could be that squeeze it needs to help you and your customers.

Just an early morning thought after passing that Orange Juice seller for the 100th time. Me? I'm on my way to Starbucks. I'm a coffee person myself.

George Wright
#juice #life #make #orange #oranges
  • Profile picture of the author hugofortin
    Hi,

    What a great marketing lesson here. Something, we are trying to sell our products or services the way they are. We don't think that the need to "squeeze."

    We just don't think outside of the box

    Thanks for sharing this.

    Hugo
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    • Profile picture of the author alexudy
      Thanks. That was very inspirational.
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      • Profile picture of the author Lance K
        I wonder if he ever runs short on his orange supply and goes over to the other guys selling bags for $2 to $5 and practices a little "produce arbitrage"?

        Good story!
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        "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
        ~ Zig Ziglar
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  • Profile picture of the author TheAnnoyingOrange
    I wonder if I should sell myself
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  • Profile picture of the author humbledmarket
    Banned
    Wow quite a unique refreshment from the phase if life gives you lemon make lemonade.

    You know I think I'm going to drop this internet marketing stuff for orange juice maybe even grapefruit or better yet lemon after hearing your story....than again it's hard to get away from this stuff. lol

    Thanks for the great lesson.
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    • Profile picture of the author mcmahanusa
      If life gives you Oranges, squeeze the oranges, add some vodka and make screwdrivers.
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      Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become - Jim Rohn

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  • Profile picture of the author jasonhawk
    haha! classic

    good post/story/advice
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  • Profile picture of the author relicah
    This post is fantastic, i love it. very inspireing
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    Love this metaphor...

    BTW, I'll take a Venti Bold /6 and 6/with a shot... while you're out an all!
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Hi George - this morning my sister put some oranges on the stove to simmer - to make organic flea control extract. She forgot about it and left for work. I was awakened by the smell of smoke from burning oranges and had to rush to the kitchen to remove the pan of dry flaming contents before it burned the house down.

    So I took this thread to be an omen and had to read it.

    Thanks - it just gave me an idea. Not that they are that rare.......but I'm sure that this one may have taken me one heck of a lot of time to figure it out without the poke.
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    Sal
    When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
    Beyond the Path

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  • Profile picture of the author smarks70
    George,

    Thanks for sharing! It's amazing what you can do when you stop and think things through and get creative.

    BTW, I'll never look @ oranges the same again

    Regards,

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      when you stop and think things through and get creative
      Or when to stop to think about providing your market with what that market wants.
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  • Profile picture of the author HibikiTarek
    Thats inspirational, and teaching us not always to give up but comeup with new ideas on how to do the same thing we have been doing before without success.
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    • Profile picture of the author Fie
      Thanks for sharing. That was a motivating and inspirational story!
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      • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
        George, I love your little 'marketing lessons' from your out and about observations. Thanks for another dandy.

        Originally Posted by TheAnnoyingOrange View Post

        I wonder if I should sell myself
        Would that make you a whor-ange?
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        Just when you think you've got it all figured out, someone changes the rules.

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        • Profile picture of the author George Wright
          Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

          George, I love your little 'marketing lessons' from your out and about observations. Thanks for another dandy.
          Thanks Dennis,

          There has been so much talk lately about Squeeze Pages, I thought this might help.
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          "The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book." Mickey Spillane
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        • Profile picture of the author mcmahanusa
          Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

          George, I love your little 'marketing lessons' from your out and about observations. Thanks for another dandy.



          Would that make you a whor-ange?
          If he built an exotic dance act around the fruit, would that make it an orange peel?
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          Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become - Jim Rohn

          Visit our beautiful gardens

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  • Profile picture of the author xohaibx
    Thanks a lot for your post, I can actually identify with it in more than one way. Highly inspirational.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    That was awesome George. I go to Korea-Town (a.k.a. "K-Town") a lot for both shopping and dining. There were several marketing takeaways I got from your story: you've got to know your audience / market/ demographics and give them what they want. Secondly, positioning is incredibly powerful. Thirdly, if you make it easier for people to get what they want they will more likely buy from you.

    Now I'm waiting for the next installment: "When people throw bricks at you, build a house.....".

    RoD
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    "Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out."
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      Originally Posted by Rod Cortez View Post

      That was awesome George. I go to Korea-Town (a.k.a. "K-Town") a lot for both shopping and dining. There were several marketing takeaways I got from your story: you've got to know your audience / market/ demographics and give them what they want. Secondly, positioning is incredibly powerful. Thirdly, if you make it easier for people to get what they want they will more likely buy from you.

      Now I'm waiting for the next installment: "When people throw bricks at you, build a house.....".

      RoD
      Thanks Rod,

      If you are ever near the corner of Wilshire and Vermont around 8:30 AM grab a cup of that OJ. If you miss the OJ there is a Coffee Bean on the corner. If you see a fat old guy in there typing Warrior Posts on a Droid say hi and I'll buy you a cup. (I knew the mention of Coffee would get bring you to this thread.)

      George Wright
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      "The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book." Mickey Spillane
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      • Profile picture of the author Jeff Henshaw
        I wonder if I should sell myself
        Only of you get squashed

        Jeff.
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  • Profile picture of the author charlieboy61
    I think that this is a very positive policy to adopt. Would like to add this one as well

    "If sometimes in life you need to take a detour, make sure you enjoy the scenery along the way". You can't decide what life throws at you, but you can defintely decide how you what to respond to it.


    Charles
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  • Profile picture of the author dagny
    All for Glass of Water

    This article was too long to put up on the forum, but it's one of the most inspirational marketing ideas along with upsells that I had ever seen before I even started with IM. The orange juice story just reminded me of it.

    History of Wall Drug in Wall SD

    Enjoy

    Warmly
    Heather
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  • Profile picture of the author hometutor
    Great!

    Getting a lot more for the hand squeezed oj too. I did something similar with my bullying blog for my book

    I asked people to post their bullying stories but was getting very little response. Then one guy posted telling me

    "I try not to think of this, but here's my story"

    Then it hit me duhhhhh Mr. "Behavior Modification Expert" People avoid negative stimuli and go toward positive stimuli

    So I changed the blog to tell me your bully and self-defense success stories and got more hits.

    Rick
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  • Profile picture of the author myeanne
    Very inspiring posts. Thanks for sharing!
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    • Profile picture of the author moxxom
      Thanks for sharing this,.. its like a soup for the soul
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  • Profile picture of the author warner444
    George:

    One lesson I see in this story is watch for what people are doing that is working.

    I also like seeing how you drew this insightful story right out of your own life experience.

    Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author stephfoster
    Location indeed matters. I can't help but think of a road near where I live that often has people selling produce... right beneath the sign forbidding such activities. There are people there so often that it must be worth the risk of the ticket.
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  • Profile picture of the author NatureElf
    This is a great story, very inspiring. Makes me think of the saying- "necessity is the mother of invention"
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