My family spent the first week of June vacation at Boracay, Estacio Uno Resort, and Philippines.  Boracay is the 2^nd best beach in the world according to trip advisor. It has long stretches of white sand beaches that are amazingly breathtaking.   You can catch the ocean breeze, enjoy the powdery sand and relax in the clear waters.  We spent most of the time enjoying ocean breeze and beach activities.  My additional favorite activity is watching people.

What caught my attention were not only the beaches. It was the Boracay children who made sandcastles versus the peddlers who sold sunglasses/beach hats/handicraft/aqua sports along the beaches.

For hours, the peddlers have been approaching tourists along the beach, trying to sell their merchandizes to the tourists. They spent most of their time, aimlessly, back and forth along the beach front hotels, and approached every tourist along their way.  The same peddlers have approached me twice or three times.  Although I sympathized with them, I was equally annoyed by their selling approaches.

However, it was a different case for the children who created the sandcastles. They didn’t approach the tourists like the peddlers.  There wasn’t any hard selling and push strategy. 

I saw how the children constructed their sand castles.  It took them about two to three hours to complete their piece of art. After completion, they just waited patiently. Sometimes, while waiting, they took a break to have fun with their friends at a distance away from the sandcastles. Yet they were very alert whenever tourists moved towards their sandcastles.

Within the next two to three hours I saw many tourists – be it single, couples, family, and friends –feeling excited when the sandcastles caught their attention.  They found the sandcastles irresistible and walked towards it for souvenir shots.  The boys at the same time acted as the photographer for the tourists’ pose. In return, they asked for a free donation from the tourists who took the pictures with the sandcastles.  There were exchanges of value (money) for pictures taken with the sandcastles. At the same time, I could see the smiles on both parties’ face.

Case learnt:

• The sandcastles were appealing and attractive to catch the tourists’ attention.
• The tourists (customers) felt the needs of capturing the special feelings or moments for memory.  They were more than happy to pay to pose with the Boracay sandcastle and share it with others.
• The amount payable (the price) for the picture shots (the value) was considered reasonable to the tourists.  It was a price decided by the tourists in term of the worth of the souvenir pose.
• The customer delight was obvious from the look of the tourists.

And most of all, the boys were not peddling for sales. In fact they practice cross selling and customer service quite well.  The boy I took pictures with has repeatedly asked me “Do you want me to make your name?” This sales closing technique could definitely help him to get the tourists to spend more.  By the time he destroyed his sandcastle and grinned at me with his cheeky smiles, it was 4pm in the afternoon.

I had made friends with the 10 year old boy and counted his money that he made for the day.  You would probably think that the tourists may give only a few coins for some picture shots. To my surprise, he made $1800 pesos, which is equivalent to $54 Singapore dollars. On top of that, he still had coins that I didn’t count.

He certainly did well in understanding his customer’s needs and made a handsome profit for the day.