Is Your Event Just Another Sale, or an Experience Not to be Missed?

Buy 4 get 1. Buy this box and get this swag. Come in today and get this special deal... Those are some of the typical tags we see over and over in the industry for events at B&M stores. But whether you are a retail tobacconist, an industry rep, or a customer, you have probably noticed that the traditional retail sales forward event does not have the draw or the flash it once did. As Albert Einstein said, "The height of insanity is doing the same thing, expecting a different result." In this episode we talk about doing events: the importance of them, the purpose of them, and different ideas we at Twins have tried to make events an experience you will not forget rather than just another sale. Ashton's Lauren Ferraro joins us after a long hiatus to light up the Ashton Cabinet No. 8, one of the three cigars being featured at Twins Smoke Shop's Ashton Cigar dinner that will be taking place right here in our studio on March 15th. We will catch up with her, what is going on at Ashton, and talk about the upcoming dinner, the rationale behind doing this instead of a more traditional retail sales event, and what needs to happen to make a non-traditional event like this a success. In the second half of the show, Kaz Walters from Laudisi Distribution Group joins us, fresh off our St. Patrick's Peterson Pipe event on Saturday March 12th. Instead of doing what we had done in the past, having a traditional trunk style show with a discount on pipe purchases during the event, we went in a different direction, where there was essentially a cover charge to attend the event that created an incentive to purchase a pipe. Kaz and the guys debrief the event while smoking 7-20-4 Briary Blends' Boston Tea Party, a new tobacco blended by Jeremey Reeves and produced by Cornell and Diehl exclusively for Twins Smoke Shop.  Not Just Blowing Smoke is the cigar and pipe podcast that brings the knowledge, expertise, and fun of Twins Smoke Shop right to you. Wherever you are, and whenever you want it. New episodes every Monday. Subscribe to us on Podbean, iHeart Radio, Spotify, iTunes, Google, YouTube, and to our website, notjustblowingsmoke.com, to make sure you don't miss a thing!