By extension I work for Motorola building brand awareness and fresh motivation for district managers, store managers, and retail sales representatives to sell more and more Motorola smartphones.
But I think I can speak for nearly everyone in the world of retail sales that we all look forward to Black Friday, and the following Saturday — the longer hours, the holidays commotion, the quicker buying decisions, and all those enticing promotions! Bring all that holidays bonanza back once again!
Throughout the year manufacturers consistently introduce new faster, more powerful products that offer more nimbleness, more positive experiences, more customization, more options, more durability, and more new features that can all amaze most everyone. We design, manufacture, then promote endlessly to be ready for the holidays season at the end of the year when most everyone is fully motivated to shop for family, friends, or themselves when the biggest sales arrive.
However, every product is really a little teeter totter. The more features you add on one side, the higher the price goes up on the other side. Are we missing a feature or two this year, or did we add too many? What will consumers really want to spend this holiday season?
Fortunately, at Motorola, we build very very good, even better, and the very best smartphones to make it easier for consumers to decide for themselves what they want to pay for their next phone! We beat our competition by offering more features, more reliability, faster speeds, and fresher designs at better prices!
Black Friday Cloud Meetings
The other day at Motorola we had a very spirited conference call together in our online cloud to highlight coverage on the biggest shopping weekend of the year. There were over a hundred of us from all around the country assembled together, listening to leaders, clarifying assignments, and committing to being the most helpful we can be with our business partners.
It played out like scenes in a movie where airplane pilots had momentarily assembled together making eye contact with each other while sharing positive expressions and hand gestures as presentations were fully shared. Then, when the meeting ended, we all barrel rolled back towards our areas in the country ready to take on our Black Friday assignments.
While gliding back home after our big meeting it was easy to imagine corporations all around the country having their own Black Friday Pep Rally Cloud Meetings. Those online cloud meeting areas offer exquisite security but there isn’t much vibration insulation in the clouds because I’m sure I felt some vibrations from other nearby spirited Black Friday Pep Rallies. It felt a lot like those competing business meetings in hotel banquet rooms where different groups made a point to sound louder than the other meetings nearby.
Barrel Rolling All Day Long
Consumers have long histories of barrel rolling into another Black Friday shopping frenzy moving from store to store, from one shopping district to another, and maneuvering around those limited parking options.
Before going forward much more though, let’s quickly explain barrel roles.
A barrel roll is an aerobatic maneuver in which an aircraft performs a full 360-degree roll while also flying in a helical path, which can be thought of as a combination of a loop and a roll. The aircraft follows a “corkscrew” path and ends up on its original heading and altitude, but with a change in direction.
Sounds a lot like shopping on Black Friday, doesn’t it?
It also sounds like the trained movements of all those retail sales representatives need to accomplish to help others all day long as consumers make their buying decisions. It can also describe how manufacturer representatives move about all day on Black Friday as we monitor successes and what extra incentives the competition may be using to help sell their fresh products.
So, there we have it. Consumers are barrel rolling around with their funding limits to purchase what they want. Retail sales representatives are barrel rolling around and around the store helping all those fast moving consumers, and us manufacturer representatives are barrel rolling backwards as we talk to everyone politely in order not to infringe too much as we answer technical questions, suggest upgrades, and document all the activities.
Eventually, progress is made by everyone willing to adjust their speed, direction, and orientation just a little extra to help the purchase of more and more wonderful holiday gifts!
Consumers when they arrive at that full understanding on what they want and can comfortably afford often share that universal sound, “Ohhhhh!”. Followed by, “I’ll take it!” That may be the most fun on Black Friday as consumers can hear each other saying, “Ohhhhh!” throughout the day at store after store!
American Black Friday Sales
It should be noted that some consumers have chosen to barrel roll away from all this Black Friday extravaganza! Those consumers have a different moto — “Buy Online, Ship it to Me.” Or maybe, “Buy Online, I’ll Pick it Up in the Store Because I Love that Restaurant Nearby.”
In 2024, consumers spent $17.5 billion during Black Friday in the U.S., a 7% increase (per Salesforce). Online traffic: 87.3 million Americans shopped online, while 76 million shopped in physical stores. If you’re taking notes, that’s more shoppers online already than are out visiting stores on Black Friday! Covid helped push more customers to make online decisions on their own away from store staff and manufacturer representatives as they shopped.
If someone barrel rolls at home by themselves, and no one sees them, did they really barrel role? Did they really say, “Ohhhh!?!
We may never know!
Let’s change the results this Black Friday and get back out there! Enjoy your barrel rolling with everyone else. Get there early before the stores open. Maybe, even bring some doughnuts for some other early shoppers, and sales reps too!
Happy Black Friday Barrel Rolling no matter which way you roll but it sure would be great to see you in those busy stores again so we can hear you and others keep saying, “Ohhhhh!” out loud when you discover more great values!
We have a strong feeling that your next “Ohhhh!” could very well be during your discovery of the latest, greatest Motorola smartphones at just the right price!
“Ohhhh!, Ohhhh!, Ohhhh!”
Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy your Happy Black Friday Barrel Rolls!
See you out there!
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