{"id":9581,"date":"2023-06-10T21:19:11","date_gmt":"2023-06-10T21:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/how-to-reach-retail-customers-in-spite-of-their-cocoons\/"},"modified":"2023-06-10T21:19:11","modified_gmt":"2023-06-10T21:19:11","slug":"how-to-reach-retail-customers-in-spite-of-their-cocoons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/how-to-reach-retail-customers-in-spite-of-their-cocoons\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Reach Retail Customers In Spite Of Their Cocoons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Retail<\/a><\/p>
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Let\u2019s admit it; we are now a society of individual planets. <\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve created our own worlds by letting in just what we want to\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump smackdown videos…yes<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Cat videos…no<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Banksy…yes<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Candy Crush…no<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

People who like X…yes<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

People who believe in Y…no<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We have surrounded ourselves with images, content, and opinions to protect ourselves from the fear of the outside world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Actually, we haven\u2019t created <\/strong>worlds<\/em><\/strong> as much as we have created <\/strong>cocoons<\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

With every new friend we add, video we share, or product we <\/span>like<\/span><\/em>, the web shapes itself more closely around our cocoon. <\/span><\/p>\n

App developers have discovered that people trust a machine more if it has a personality, especially a sense of humor, and not just the ability to answer a question correctly.<\/span><\/p>\n

This NYT article details how the app designers for Siri and its siblings give them more personality by scouring the billions of conversations on the web to learn how to replicate some of that natural banter.<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems humor with a natural banter can break the cocoon.<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Same with your retail customers.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Like when I heard about a woman shopper who walked into a store, held up her hand, and said in response to a friendly greeting, \u201cI\u2019m not buying anything today. I\u2019m just looking.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Seeing the need to engage, the professional retail saleswoman simply said, \u201cWell, that\u2019s good to know, then let\u2019s just play!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The shopper ended up buying.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Or another time when I heard a salesman use a Window of Contact<\/strong><\/em> with a customer who casually mentioned she had a 3-year-old as she walked by. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a 3-year-old too! Would you like to see a picture?\u201d he asked. <\/span><\/p>\n

She replied, \u201cSure.\u201d He then pulled out his smartphone and proudly presented a picture of his Great Dane, and the customer burst out laughing. <\/span><\/p>\n

And the woman ended up buying.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Or when, many years ago, I was closing a big sale by showing the customer how the luxury items he\u2019d picked out matched what he had been searching for high and low. He stopped, looked up at me, and asked rather strongly, \u201cYou\u2019re not trying to <\/span>sell me<\/span><\/em>, are you?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

I replied, \u201cLet\u2019s get the cast of characters right – you\u2019re the customer who wants to buy; I\u2019m the salesman<\/em> here to <\/span>help<\/span><\/em> you buy.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

He laughed and simply said, \u201cOK, I\u2019ll take it all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On The Other Hand<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Many working in brick-and-mortar stores would approach these three scenarios very differently.<\/span><\/p>\n

To the woman who said she wasn\u2019t buying<\/em>, most clerks would accept her at her word, add their own narrative about what a witch she was, and go pout behind the register.<\/span><\/p>\n

To the woman who shared she had a young daughter, most would simply say <\/span>how nice <\/span><\/em>and wait silently for the customer to pick an item – or leave.<\/span><\/p>\n

In my case, most clerks would run as quickly as possible from <\/span>ever<\/span><\/em> saying they were indeed <\/span>trying to sell <\/span><\/em>something. They would apologize, trip all over themselves, and say, \u201cOh no, I\u2019m not trying to <\/span>sell<\/span><\/em> you something,\u201d then leave the customer without pushing through to the other side.<\/span><\/p>\n

So many salespeople are so unsure of their abilities that if a customer says something to put them off – to keep themselves in their own cocoon – \u00a0those employees take it as a purposeful building of an impermeable wall. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But more often than not, it should be taken as an opportunity to find something funny to share to crack the cocoon.<\/em><\/p>\n

Humor goes a long way in letting the butterfly of the shopper out.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Otherwise, they\u2019ll walk.<\/span><\/p>\n

And you need<\/em> to coax that butterfly out of the cocoon…especially if you sell luxury items.<\/span><\/p>\n

A sales professional helps customers see everything they\u2019ve wanted is on the other side of fear.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

What to do<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Do you want to sell more, to give better customer service? <\/span><\/p>\n

Get your employees to talk<\/em> with their customers about their travels to other cities, cultures, and countries. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Get them to talk about what excites them. <\/span><\/p>\n

Get them to mimic better conversations than they text.<\/span><\/p>\n

Get them to explain, with a few details, what they are feeling or seeing or doing. <\/span><\/p>\n

Get a copy of <\/span>30 Days To A More Powerful Vocabular<\/span><\/em>y, and have them use a new word each day.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Sum<\/p>\n

We are becoming illiterate of humanity at an alarming rate.<\/span><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know how to talk to each other face-to-face. <\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>NYT<\/span><\/em> article concluded, \u201cAs voice-activated assistants become more prevalent, moving from our smartphones into our cars, living rooms, and television sets, they will need to be more articulate and, most of all, funnier.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I would modify it for retail to say, \u201cAs cocooned shoppers enter our stores and boutiques, our salespeople will need to be more articulate and, most of all, funnier.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather than robotically <\/span>pushing<\/span><\/em> messages on a smartphone – discounts usually – to consumers, retailers need to <\/span>pull<\/span><\/em> shoppers into their stores through exceptional experiences they can\u2019t find anywhere\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Humans meeting other humans.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that takes retail sales training to get past shoppers’ cocoons.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Click<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n