The Hindu Business Line : Has this happened to you?

YOU enter a restaurant. The hostess leaves all else she is doing and comes straight out at you with a beaming smile. She holds out her hand and welcomes you in. She leads you to the table you will sit at for the evening, and she is smiling all the way, filling her smile with words now and then. You sit down, and she leaves. Even as she does, she is a different animal altogether. The smile is gone. Her gait is hurried. She moves on to welcome the next guest in. The smile is off, back in the factory, gone in for that overhaul just before she needs to use it again!

Doesn't it look a wee bit artificial?

Has this happened to you?

You walk into this great big store that stocks garments of every variety, from the six-yard variety to the one that that takes in only a wee bit of cloth and lots of strap and lace and all! The hostess lunges at you from a corner. Holds out a bag for you, smiles and accosts you as you make your journey through the store. All the while she is offering suggestions that just don't match your mind and mood. Her chatter is constant and you are literally embarrassed into the purchase!

Is this not a bit too intrusive?

Has this happened to you?

You walk into your hairdresser's saloon. Your favourite barber comes up to you, leads you to the throne, wraps that white cape all over you ... and then starts talking non-stop. The talking is fine, but he has garlic in his breath. Add strong onion to that and the smell of rice stuck between his teeth! The smell of biriyani is a bit much to take, if even for all of ten tonsorial minutes!

Is this not an olfactory assault that lacks sensitivity?

I can go on and on. Life is full of its unique assaults. Assaults made by insensitive sales and service persons that clutter our life. Salespersons who come in the guise of hostesses in restaurants and malls, just as those of the barbers and beauticians that litter our life.

Selling is overt and selling is subliminal. Both processes go hand in hand towards creating that end sale that is truly memorable, satisfying and one that you would want to repeat. My two dear hostesses in shop and restaurant alike, and most certainly my loquacious barber, are all examples of folks who just don't know where to draw the line.

Selling is fine stuff. Selling is a profession that demands grace, passion and a yen to be perfect. God is certainly in the details here. Details that demand the salesperson to be perfect. Selling is in the dressing just as it is in the talk. Selling is in the scent you wear. Selling is equally in the smile you flaunt. And selling is surely there in the amount you talk.

Few people in selling realise, understand and practise the fine art of selling in the way it must. The lady in the restaurant stopped her smile a bit too fast. I felt like a chore that was handled. I felt like a job that was performed. I felt a part of the unreal process of being sold to. The lady who tagged me in this big clothes store was a bit too intrusive. A bit too insensitive. A bit too loud! And my barber needs to be sensitive when he eats biriyani on a working day, working close to the nostrils of his hapless customers!

When must a smile stop then? And how much of a private life must a salesperson have, while at work? And how much must an airhostess complain about others on board not cooperating enough with her? And how loudly? And how nosey must a salesperson be with the customer at his outlet? How much must he let go, and how much must he control?

The answers to all these questions are actually blowing in the wind. The answers are very specific to the category we are speaking about as well. But largely, one needs to get sensitive about it all. Sensitive enough to coach and cajole the best from your salespersons in the world of retail.

Take the smile for one. The smile must first of all be as real as it can get in an artificially articulated environment. You need the smile of a mother. A benign and friendly smile. A smile that will be as real as they come. A smile that will remain and caress the customer long enough.

And what is long enough? The hostess at the restaurant must make sure that her smile does not disconnect too early. If the smile is one that is close to real, it will not. If she has had this great big fight at home and is forcing it all, faking it for the moment, it will be seen. The customer will not eat less for this, but the customer will feel that much less comfortable. That much less pampered and that much less cared for!

Must the barber, offering the sale of a haircut to his client be more careful then? Must he wash his mouth well after a lunch? Must he control his natural urge and desire to belch in joy on the job? Yes, he must. Add mouth-wash to the whole process as well!

That not so petite head airhostess screaming at her crew is certainly not on. The lady just doesn't know how she is putting off the passengers in earshot!

Is there selling power in a smile? Yes, there is! Is there power in the clean breath of a biriyani-gobbling barber? Yes there is!

There is power in a salesperson's every nuance and appearance. Taking care and peeking into all of those that make for your interaction with a customer is a must! Do a time and motion study on everything that you do in a selling day. Check out those trouble points. Give your selling style and language (the hidden one) a complete overhaul. God is certainly in the details of the selling process. Get Godly!

(The author is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.)

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