The best salespeople can sell snow to Eskimos, as the saying goes. Even so, you can imagine my surprise when an enterprising Eagle Scout showed up at my front door in our new home in Eagle, Idaho selling…potatoes. Yes, potatoes!

My first reaction was to laugh and he laughed right along with me. I liked this kid and his chutzpah on a cold November evening. He and his mom had a minivan loaded down with huge, Idaho-grown spuds. Turns out, his troop sells them every year. And they do a brisk business.

Which made me think about this from the perspective of a marketing writer. How often do companies really embrace their quirks? Mostly, it seems, corporations want marketing copywriters to spiff up their image with slick press releases, sparkling brochure copy and eye-catching web writing. All of that is well and good. But there’s also something lovable and appealing about a company that knows itself and puts that personal quality out to the buying public.

It’s a little like Les Schwab Tires with its fresh-scrubbed mechanics and sales folks running to greet you, selling you some new snow tires, and yep, rewarding you with some free beef! After all, Les Schwab was from Prineville, a Central Oregon town whose denizens know plenty about cattle and cold-weather tires.

Here in Idaho, the potato is more than a vegetable: it’s an emblem of state pride. Heck, Famous Potatoes used to be on many an Idaho license plate. So when I bought some of those potatoes from the Boy Scouts I was embracing a little of what it means to be an Idahoan. And because the Scout at my door is a natural at sales, he made sure to deliver a persuasive marketing message--as potent as any dreamed up by a marketing communications writer.  He emphasized these are “export quality” potatoes, meaning they were grown in Idaho but are a higher grade of potato than Idahoans normally get to eat. These were, in essence, gourmet potatoes!

So I bought a big bag of special potatoes—great for state pride, a nice contribution to the local Boy Scout troop and a starchy staple I needed anyway. Now I just need to find some way to use all these spuds!

When life hands you lemons you're supposed to whip up a pucker-worthy batch of lemonade. Right? But what if you don't get any lemons at all. Yes, there is a marketing truism here and one that applies to anyone involved in marketing, advertising, public relations or communications. It's called the add-on sale. Or, in come cases, what I and other marketing communications writers like to call a package deal. When you get your oil changed, don't they check your car's other fluids? Or when you buy an expensive gift, don't you expect some nifty gift-wrapping, gratis?

Well, I had come to expect the same kind of inclusive, forward-thinking marketing at my local supermarket fish counter. When I buy fish, I always want a lemon to go with it. Always. And that's what I got in the store where I used to shop. Didn't pick up a lemon in the produce section. No problem. They always featured a basket of lemons right on the fish counter. And sure as shooting I always bought one. This isn't a tale of selling more lemons...although the grocery store surely did. It is a tale of selling a complete customer experience, of knowing that I was getting good service, that they were thinking about me and my needs...and meeting those needs.

So when I moved from my little town in Washington state to another little town in Idaho, I didn't really think about lemons. I had too much other stuff on my mind (more fodder for another blog). But when I reached the fish counter and bought my fish I realized that they had no lemons on the counter. I had to backtrack all the way to the produce section with a toddler trying to jump out of the moving cart and a 4-year-old complaining about having to go to the bathroom. Yes, making my shopping trips easier is very important when it comes to customer service.

So am I sour on my new grocery store? Not really. But I am a bit disappointed that I'm not treated to the same level of service. Because when it comes right down to it, marketing and public relations are often about the little things, not grand e-newsletters, whiz bang Web site writing or awesome advertising copy (although all those things help!). Sometimes it's as simple, and essential, as a lemon!