How I start a great conversation (that's not about me).
Photos by Ashli Truchon Novak
The very first thing I learned about my customers at the Easton Winter Village was that they don't want to come inside a booth if they're not sure that they want to buy something. They'll stand outside and poke their heads in, but they won't breach the doorway until they see something that they like.
So if you come next year, you'll notice something about my booth. You can't come inside. I pushed my displays to the front, into the doorway, and I greet people on the sidewalk.
The experience at my booth is the result of a thorough study of my customers' behavior and opinions, gathered through conversations on site.
And I found that people were much more open to talking with me when I made one simple shift in my approach: I stopped asking questions.
I'm a small operation, so the process of gathering information conflicts with sales. I can really turn customers off by asking a lot of questions.
In cities, people are more patient with information gathering, but outside cities, not so. My customers are much less willing to suspend judgment throughout an unexpected process, especially if it seems insincere.
But they're not a vault. And, of course, they have a perspective to share.
Borrowing from Marshall McLuhan here: The effects of an experience do not occur at the level of opinions... and you can't ask people for opinions that they haven't yet formed. That's why gathering information often seems so mundane. We feel the web of information collection in our lives implicitly, and I think that people check out when asked to give feedback, especially if it feels unimportant or poorly timed.
At my booth, there are no insincere interactions. There's no "How can I help you?"
Instead, I queue people to talk about themselves by talking about myself.
"These ornaments are all original artwork, and everything is made in my shop in Easton."
My customers hear this, process for a moment, and then they open up... And they tell me all kinds of things about themselves. Of course, I already know some of what they tell me. The price is great, the art is beautiful, and they like the tradition of buying my ornaments.
But they go deeper: where they live, their jobs and careers, why they came to the Winter Village, and, importantly, what ornaments they've bought in the past, who they'll buy ornaments for this year, and why.
I don't think I could get all that information if I asked, and I don't think I would sell as many ornaments if I did.
My big exhibit design takeaway from the Winter Village has been this:
People want to talk, but I have to go first.
The simple practice of introducing myself with a statement about who I am rather than asking, "How can I help you?" completely changed the way that customers interact with me.
Cheers,
Matt Laska