This Xmas we enjoyed a fantastic holiday in Mangawhai, a bustling seaside town an hour north of Auckland, and it was while ducking into the local bottle shop for some last minute New Years eve supplies that I was reminded of the awesome power of packaging. 

As I was standing in line for the cashier, I noticed that the enterprising store owner had sellotaped mini bottles of Jagermeister to cans of Redbull, which were displayed on that prime piece of impulse-purchasing real estate - next to the cash register on the counter.

Those who know their drinks will know that a shot of Jagermeister combined with a can of Redbull combine to form a potent brew known affectionately as a "Trainwreck". "That's a good idea," I said to the checkout lady, "I'll have a couple of those too thanks." To which she replied, "Yes they've been selling like crazy - would you like some chilled ones from the fridge?" 

Now the lesson here is not that Trainwrecks are a great drink. The lesson here is that it is very easy to add value to your products and services (and therefore make them more attractive) simply by packaging them in a way which makes life easier for your customers. 

Alone, neither the Redbull nor Jagermeister, caught my eye. I had no desire for just Redbull and no desire for just Jagermeister. In fact I had walked right by a whole fridge of Redbull, and a prominent Jagermeister promotional display. But when packaged together (and let's face it, a piece of cellotape is about as simple as it gets!) the two solved a problem I (and many other customers) didn't even know I had.

As a result of this simple exercise in value creation, this bottle store was able to add an easy few hundred dollars to their tills for the day. How much could you add to your business' sales by applying this proven and simple concept?

Richard Liew started his first business at the age of 23 and founded the Rev Sales Network, a personal and professional development network for salespeople when he was 27. Along the way he has helped develop sales strategies for several startup’s, helped extreme sport ‘le parkour’ (freerunning) find it’s feet in NZ, and is a regular newspaper and magazine contributor on the topics of sales and marketing. He is currently working on a recruitment related internet business. Email Richard here.