Random thoughts from your Grocery Store Product Demonstrator

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My part-time weekend job is Product Demonstrator in grocery stores (sometimes warehouse clubs too). Some Demonstrators work for a demo company and demo different items each visit; some work for one food company only and demo the same product all the time. I’ve been doing this for a couple of years and would like to get some observations and suggestions off my chest!

My job is to get your attention so you come over and try a sample. If you don’t want any, just say “No, thanks” and keep walking. If you have stopped to see what I’m demo-ing and, after finding out, are not interested, just say “No, thanks.” It doesn’t matter to me WHY you don’t want to try. I will just move on to the next customer. My feelings aren’t hurt if you don’t want it!

Feel free to try a sample, hear my sales pitch, maybe ask a question, and keep going. I am happy to give them out; you are under no obligation to buy anything. I hope that some customers will try a sample, and even if they are not buying today, perhaps they will buy it the next time they are in the store.

That being said, I do have a sales quota to meet. I am being paid to be there, not for entertainment, but because the company wants to make more sales. If you take up my time, trying all the flavors I am sampling, asking numerous questions, etc. then I do expect you to actually buy one.

I keep my table as clean and sanitary as possible, following safety and health procedures. If the demonstrator is showing a tray filled with prepared samples in individual cups or plates on the table, go ahead and pick one up. If the demonstrator is handing out individual samples, let him/her hand it to you. If you take a fork out of your mouth and put it back into the samples, the demonstrator has to throw them all out, clean and sanitize everything, and start all over again. Also, don’t leave your dirty plate/napkin/fork on the table! Nobody wants to see that. I have a trash can next to the table for that purpose.

I love giving samples to your kids. If your kid tastes, and then actually likes the product, odds are that you will buy one. Easy sale! But please don’t send your kids over to me alone – I have to get your permission to give a child a sample (in case of allergies, or if you just don’t want them eating it). If you are two aisles over, I have to send the disappointed child away empty-handed and ask them to bring you back to my table. Just pop by and let me know it’s okay with you.

2

Cool. Any funny or crazy stories from on the job?

3

How often do people ask where some item is located?

4

I did this for a while, too! I was a cashier at BJ’s - one of my first jobs, when I was seriously having trouble being able to eat - and when it was slow, I was sent to do food samples. I had the same issues as the OP. I liked doing it on the whole, thouhg.

5

Probably a dozen times during my shift. It’s understandable - they see an apron and cap, and assume I work for the store. It’s hard because I visit stores all over the area and I’m not familiar with the layout. I usually explain and then either try to find a nearby store employee to help them, or sometimes I’ll look around and see if we can figure out where in the store it would be.

6

This didn’t happen to me, but I did hear a story about a demonstrator who was demo-ing in a market that had a kosher section; she went into the kitchen to wash her equipment, and inadvertently contaminated the entire kosher kitchen with her non-kosher product! The store apparently had to go through all sorts of procedures to purify the kitchen so it could be used again.

I frequently have customers who don’t want to buy but will want to stay and chat with me for 10-15 minutes, telling me about their families, health issues, etc. I assume they are lonely and don’t really have many people to talk to, so I try to be friendly and listen. It’s tough sometimes, though, if I have other customers who may actually BUY something, and the talkers are getting in the way of me making a sale.

7

I assume you can’t leave your post when you have food out or have an oven on?
Do customers try to drag you away from your post?
“Can you find somebody that can help me find the olives?”
“I can’t find the product I just sampled even though you just told me where it is, can you show me where it is?”

Do you get pigs that try to make a meal out of making multiple passes?

8

Dang, that would be embarassing. Are the quotas tough to meet?

9

Do you have those Peter Griffins that come by in different disguises? hahahaaha

10

Sometimes. The quotas are tailored to the individual store, but there are factors that can affect traffic in the store. For instance, stores are usually mobbed right before Super Bowl or Thanksgiving, and you’ll sell more, but a snowstorm can ruin your day.

11

I’m allowed two short breaks during my shift, so I can get off my feet, and occasionally I have to leave the table (to refill the shelves with my product or to wash my hands again). I secure the table as much as possible (no food or sharp stuff left out) and put up an official sign that says I will be right back. Once in a while I will come back and I can tell that someone has been there (brochures are pulled out, product packages moved around), but I have never had a problem.
Regarding “pigs” or “Peter Griffins” - Actually, not really. I’ve seen people do this in warehouse stores, moving from table to table, but it seems they only take one or two per table before going to the next item. Sometimes they will ask me for an extra sample to carry back to their companion, that’s ok with me. People will make jokes about me providing them with lunch, which is funny the first time you hear it but not the 100th. :slight_smile: But I laugh anyway.

If the product I demo involves multiple flavors, I am supposed to get a customer to try as many flavors as I can. Usually people will try a few, and once in a while someone will try them all and then ask to try their favorite again to be sure they liked it before they buy. But most people just take one of each flavor. Little kids will often ask for more, and I am happy to oblige, but usually the parent will put a stop to it after 2 samples. I think it’s really cute when a little kid will take one and thoughtfully hand it to their baby brother first without prompting, then come get another one for themselves. Good parenting there!

12

Do you bring your own product, pull product from shelves…? We have an issue at my store with how demos get supplies. We get shipments of product from our distribution centers to hold for demos/vendors at a later date, but also have a small warehouse in the store that can barely hold our own backstock. Many times, the product gets palletized and “disappears”/becomes inaccessible without a few hours’ time of moving stuff around. Or a moron manager puts the stuff out for sale, and we sell through before the demo occurs.

Last one we had was the launch of Boost nutrition bars; we got in a half-pallet of assorted flavors of the drink and two flavors of bars. When the demonstrator came in to set up, none of the daytime crew knew where the products had been stored by night management, and could only find the strawberry shake. We sold the hell out of that one flavor, and stuck with everything else when the pallet was pulled out days later.

13

For my job, the stores know I’m coming well in advance, and they order extra stock in anticipation of my visit. Ideally, I will try to sell everything the store has by the end of the day, although usually there is a little bit left.

I estimate how much I will need to demo for the day, and then “buy” my product from the store stock with “free” coupons, so the store is compensated for what I demo. I can “buy” more product during the day if I underestimate.

Occasionally I have gone to stores and found that they forgot to order stock, or they have misplaced some of the cases and don’t find them until it’s too late. I’m amazed that they don’t misplace things more often! The backrooms in grocery stores are huge!

14

They give out samples in the US too? In Australia I don’t remember seeing people giving out samples. I thought it was a safety issue and all Western countries were like that.

15

And this is why I don’t like you. It’s my attention. I’m using it already. You can’t have it; I don’t want you to have it. It’s busy helping me do my shopping, which I hate, and giving it to you just makes my hellish trip to the store that much longer and more annoying. I don’t want to say “No, thanks”. I don’t want to be distracted. Leave me alone.

Nothing personal.

16

Yeah, and don’t even get me started on those brats selling cookies outside. Shut your trap you little monster or I’ll forget where I parked. And the cashiers, can’t you just stop with your “Have a nice days?” Just give me my change and shut up. Scowling at you has made me waste two seconds that I could have used to tell people to get off my lawn.:rolleyes:

17

To echo Smeghead’s opinion, I feel the same way in general, but it depends on the situation and the pushiness of the staff. I dislike managerial-enforced courtesy scripts. Contrary to their intended effect, I find them dehumanizing and a waste of time and focus for both the customer and the employee. I don’t feel I’m receiving friendly specialized service when getting unsolicited “Excuse me sir, could I interest you in our…?” “Thank you Mr Gargoyle, would you like assistance with that out to your car?” etc. I also am turned off by any pushy walk-by soliciting such as clipboard surveys, product pitchpersons, and the like.

For the OP’s comment:
…"That being said, I do have a sales quota to meet. I am being paid to be there, not for entertainment, but because the company wants to make more sales. If you take up my time, trying all the flavors I am sampling, asking numerous questions, etc. then I do expect you to actually buy one. "…

I personally had no idea that you folk were working to a quota, I’ve always assumed it was purely promotional. Honestly, if I were the clueless MBA manager, I would be using this to judge the value and the appeal of the product for its future market value, not to push product. My decision not to buy should be of just as much value to a demo promoter as a purchase would be. Honestly, quota-based employment would tend to make me avoid your hosting-establishment entirely.

18

Because that’s exactly what I said. Well done.

19

  1. How do you get a job like that? I always thought it was the store employees who handed out samples, not someone from outside. Really, how did you get that job?

  2. How is the pay? Do you go from store to store? One store per day, and go to another supermarket chain the next day?

  3. What do you do with the leftovers if you have a lot? Put them in the employee break room, throw them out?

  4. Shouldn’t you know where the product is stocked in a grocery store? Because people are going to ask where they can find it. Some things speak for themselves - canned beans are in the vegetable aisle, snack crackers in the cracker aisle. I would ascertain the location of your products beforehand.

Yes, I have many burning questions about the wonderful world of free sampling!

20

do you use toothpicks at home or can’t stand them?