When someone comes into your place of business, it’s important to keep your this person engaged and involved in the information you have to impart. Whether you are disseminating facts or giving a sales pitch, you should be aware of how the customer is absorbing the information. Are they interested or are they bored? Are you going into too much detail or not enough detail? Have you asked them some questions and assessed their level of knowledge and interest? Remember it’s not about you.
As many of my readers know I spend most of my time training staff of retail businesses, mostly wineries, Before I start I think about how my audience might feel about coming to this seminar or training. They may well not want to be there. So how do I get them involved very early in the seminar? For me it’s humor that does the trick. When people laugh they open up, when they open up they internalize your message much more readily. They also pay closer attention because they are waiting for the next joke or humorous story. So try to add some humor into your conversation with customers..
Stories are another way to engage people. So as you assess the customers that are standing in front of you, tell them stories that they can or will relate to. Give them inside information on the company or the products. Give them the impression that they now know things that a lot of other people don’t know, and leave them with a small tidbit that they can take home with them that will impress their friends. If you do that, they will talk about your business to others.
Talk to your customers about things that make them realize that they are special to you. If you have more than one set of customers in the room, don’t say the same things over and over. Every interaction should be individual.
Most importantly don’t waste customers’ time with things that they aren’t interested in, which means you have to be listening to them as well as talking to them. Give them high quality information that will help them to make buying decisions.
A tip of the glass from me to you
E Column
by Elizabeth “E” Slater, In Short Direct Marketing
A recognized expert in the fields of direct marketing and sales in the wine marketplace. Slater has taught more wineries and winery associations how to create and improve the effectiveness of their direct marketing programs and to make the most of each customer’s potential than anyone in the wine industry today.
