The stories that would have had me buying

I've just returned from an excellent holiday in the south island of New Zealand.  'The best ever', but my kids laugh that I always crown our latest holiday as 'best ever'.  From that holiday I was reminded by my last post on the importance of stories.

Two encounters with 'sales' people from that holiday have stuck in my mind.  On one occassion I was asking to hear a story but my 'sales' person hadn't been taught how, and the other, a story I really didn't ask for ended up being one I would rather I didn't hear.


The family holiday took us down the west coast of the south island, truly one of the great drives in New Zealand.  We are always on the lookout for great food opportunities when travelling and so we were easily lured into the Hokitika cheese shop.  Not disappointed by the range of cheese or the presentation I asked our young 'sales' assistant if she had a chance to learn about the cheeses.  She explained to me that she had learnt about the cheeses but had since forgotten what she'd learnt.

Not put off by this and in pursuit of some enhancement to my knowledge of cheese and perhaps a pointer for the right cheese for me to purchase, I pushed on.  'Which is your favourite cheese?', I asked.  I was then told that she doesn't really like cheese.

So it turns out the 'sales' assistant was instead an 'order taker'.  This could be easily turned aorund with a refresher in the cheeses and where they're from and a bit of knowledge about their character and what they might go well with.

Even non-cheese eaters can have some tactics for telling a story about favourite cheeses even if they don't have one.  My 'order taker' could have told me that [while she doesn't personally have a favourite] 'the most popular cheese would have to be...and many people enjoy it with...'


At the very end of our holiday we were in the beautiful port town of Picton waiting for our ferry back to the north island.  Wandering through the shops looking for that last souvenir, we entered a store where there was an empty chip packet laying on the floor which our 'sales' assistant' hadn't seen from the safety of her counter.  I picked it up and handed it to her saying it must have blown in.  The 'sales' assistant obviously saw this as her time to launch into a story about the poor performance of the council and their upkeep of the steets.  'Thank you' would have done me.  So it turns out this 'sales' assistant was actually a store 'monitor', not even an 'order taker'.

Afterwards I couldn't help thinking about the conversation we could have had with any number of 'store monitors' in Picton.  What a golden opportunity to engage with customers.  Tourists are half way through, just starting or just finishing their holidays.  They're about to go or have just come off one of the most wonderful ferry trips in the world.  Whatever the stage of a tourist's travels there are great conversations to be had in Picton.  These conversations if probed and guided and engaged well enough will lead to sales.


Real conversations and stories are working for us at the Hutt City i-SITE Visitor Centre.  Following on from my post 'customers down, revenue up' we have now recorded eleven consecutive months of record revenue.

David Hancock is the visitor development manager for Hutt City, Wellington, New Zealand and would be delighted to receive comments on this or any other topic.
http://www.huttvalleynz.com/
http://www.facebook.com/HuttCity.Wellington