by Bruce Baker
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by Bruce Baker |
You, Your Customer and the Third Wheel
What to Do When One Person
Is Eager to Buy, the Other Eager to Leave
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When there are two people shopping together, there is often one person interested in your work, while the other is waiting to move on to the next booth, holding the wallet, or both.Whether the shopping companion (i.e., a husband, sister, mother, daughter or a friend) is the one who validates the purchase by giving their opinion, the person with the wallet, or both, this person plays an important role in whether or not a transaction will take place.
When this dynamic is at work, you’d better be paying attention to what is going on, or you could lose the sale.
One has the interest, the other has the money
If the shopper’s companion is the person paying for the purchase, this sales dynamic is pretty easy to spot — one person will be enthusiastic, or pleading with the other, and may make comments, such as, “This one is nice,” or “What do you think about that one?” Sometimes the enthusiasm is nonverbal and exhibited by body language, such as clutching an object to the heart.
If the person carrying the money is also enthusiastic, your job will be easy. However, if the payer is bored and not engaged, or protesting the purchase, you have some work to do to complete the sale.
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Time to turn on the charm
When the individual with the wallet is not protesting the purchase, but is bored, it’s time to turn on the charm. These individuals tend to wander off, or exhibit body language like rattling change or yawning. Attend to these bored shopping companions right away, before they’re gone for good. Stimulate them or charm them any way you can, because when they wander off, the interested shopper will soon follow.
Keeping these people in your booth and entertained is critical to making the sale, and your actions can take on many forms. Feed them something or stimulate their senses. Uncovering their interests is a great way to engage bored or burned-out shoppers. You might say something like, “What do you get for being such a good shopping companion?” Listen carefully for the answer, it usually will reveal something about their interests. The response might be something like, “I get to go home and watch the football game.” Use this information to your advantage and remember to always bring the conversation back to your work. This is the mark of a good salesperson, someone who can talk on any subject then relate it back to what he is selling.
The main rule is to include everyone in the shopping party by giving each person the same amount of attention. Your attention to the shopper might be in the form of convincing her that this pillow will look great with her sofa. The attention you give to the companion (the payer, in this case) might be in the form of an oatmeal cookie or a copy of Sports Illustrated.
To know how to handle these situations you will need to rely on your intuition. Do a quick analysis of the shoppers in your booth, how they relate to one another, and how they relate to you. Remember, all of your dialog needs to be sincere — if your conversation lacks sincerity, you will lose your customers. Make the conversation fun; a huge part of selling is entertainment.
One is eager to buy; the other is eager to leave
All too frequently, it is the practice of craft sellers to concentrate on the active or enthusiastic buyer and to ignore the passive or bored shopping companion. This can prove to be a serious oversight, no matter who holds the cash. If you pay more attention to one shopper than the other, a division will develop between the three of you. This could have a negative effect on the sale if the interested party begins to sense that her shopping companion is uncomfortable or bored and wants to leave.
Seeking approval
If one enthusiastic shopper wants what you have for sale, but seeks the approval of their shopping companion, the same rule applies as before — treat both equally, with specific regard to the attention you give each person. If you have given them equal attention, the companion’s response is more likely to be favorable.
Also, shopping is frequently a competitive act. If one customer gets something, then the other one might get something too. It is likely that they both will purchase something from you if you have given them equal attention.So much of why people buy from a particular artist is about attention. It is not only about what we make, it is also about how we treat our customers. Each craft medium will draw in different sets of shopping companions, but the rules for selling to them are pretty much the same. Treat customers with equal attention, take charge, be assertive, be entertaining, be sincere and have fun.