Hi friends....
Something I have noticed a lot lately at shows is when I greet people in my booth with a pleasant "hello" and a smile, they exit with great speed. What's the deal? It's like hello is the kiss of death. I've even joked that the fastest way to clear the booth is to say "hello". Has this happened to you? What are your thoughts? Thanks!
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Here's one way to look at it ... if a person bolts as soon as they hear a friendly "Hello," it probably means they've already decided in their minds that they are NOT going to buy anything and they don't want to engage with you in any way. So really, you're just clearing out the booth for likelier prospects!
I always greet people who enter the booth, however if they do not speak first ( which they usually do) I wait till they make some sort of eye contact and then I greet them and simply inform them if they have any questions to feel free to ask. The ones who look like deer in the headlights are obviously not all that interested to begin with. I like to be left alone when I am shopping, especially in a small space so I can respect them for not wanting to be bombarded with info, however, there are those who just have no manners or common courtesy to just be pleasant.
I have a yoga frog. He makes people laugh, and it's easier for customers to open a first conversation about than items that are for sale. His name is Felipe, and he loves people :)
Neat, Donna. I made a conscious effort to watch people at last two shows and I think there were 99% that responded to a hello. The other 1% were elderly or distracted by friends or kids. Maybe it's the smell of leather that brings friendly people to my booth????
Thanks ;) Actually, people certainly do respond to smells. It's a good reminder. They love Candle and soap booths too, for this reason, I'll bet. Smells are memories that stay with people long after the event - hm . . . I wonder what mind smells like. Niobium, I suppose.
I worked on niobium exploration when I was a geologist. It's odorless. In nature the primary mineral is brown octagons of pyrochlore. The guys in Brazil brought me a piece of ferro-niobium that came out at the end of processing for marketing to steel mills. It was a bright shiny silvery metal with irredescent surfaces. Somewhere it is buried in old memorabilia. Agree that smells can trigger flashbacks.
I have one of the most common hearing losses, frequency and volume. Because its frequency it is often not how loud but at what frequency I am hearing something. Mines high pitches so a strong baritone voice is no trouble but add a little higher pitch to it and/or a soft voice and it can get kinda of dicey talking to me.
After so many years of weird looks and reactions to my responding to something I didn't actually hear with something absurd I have learned not to answer unless I positively know what was said. When I was younger I might have said "no not fishing today" or maybe just something completely off the wall and unrelated to what you said and then we do this annoying back and forth with you getting frustrated and me saying "what?" a lot.
Obviously it would be very helpful if I pause and advise the person that I have a certain kind of hearing loss but when walking through a fair I would be having this same conversation in so many booths and most artist would stop caring after about two words of explanation anyway.
Anyway just wanted to point out that there are often reasons people re-act the way they do and it may have little to do with you or your booth.
They could also be daydreaming about becoming a professional artist and get a sudden case of shyness when approached by one :-)
Good thoughts, Stephanie. I can totally see where a hearing impaired person would miss my voice, as I am usually very soft spoken. Thanks for calling attention to that, something I had not thought of. :-)
Replies
Here's one way to look at it ... if a person bolts as soon as they hear a friendly "Hello," it probably means they've already decided in their minds that they are NOT going to buy anything and they don't want to engage with you in any way. So really, you're just clearing out the booth for likelier prospects!
I always greet people who enter the booth, however if they do not speak first ( which they usually do) I wait till they make some sort of eye contact and then I greet them and simply inform them if they have any questions to feel free to ask. The ones who look like deer in the headlights are obviously not all that interested to begin with. I like to be left alone when I am shopping, especially in a small space so I can respect them for not wanting to be bombarded with info, however, there are those who just have no manners or common courtesy to just be pleasant.
I have a yoga frog. He makes people laugh, and it's easier for customers to open a first conversation about than items that are for sale. His name is Felipe, and he loves people :)
Thanks ;) Actually, people certainly do respond to smells. It's a good reminder. They love Candle and soap booths too, for this reason, I'll bet. Smells are memories that stay with people long after the event - hm . . . I wonder what mind smells like. Niobium, I suppose.
I have one of the most common hearing losses, frequency and volume. Because its frequency it is often not how loud but at what frequency I am hearing something. Mines high pitches so a strong baritone voice is no trouble but add a little higher pitch to it and/or a soft voice and it can get kinda of dicey talking to me.
After so many years of weird looks and reactions to my responding to something I didn't actually hear with something absurd I have learned not to answer unless I positively know what was said. When I was younger I might have said "no not fishing today" or maybe just something completely off the wall and unrelated to what you said and then we do this annoying back and forth with you getting frustrated and me saying "what?" a lot.
Obviously it would be very helpful if I pause and advise the person that I have a certain kind of hearing loss but when walking through a fair I would be having this same conversation in so many booths and most artist would stop caring after about two words of explanation anyway.
Anyway just wanted to point out that there are often reasons people re-act the way they do and it may have little to do with you or your booth.
They could also be daydreaming about becoming a professional artist and get a sudden case of shyness when approached by one :-)
Me: Good Morning/Afternoon, these are fish rubbings. If you have any questions let me know.
Them: 95% of the time, I either get a 'Thank you' or more often 'What are fish rubbings'. 5% blank stare or ignore me.
The ones who ask what are fish rubbings have given me permission to talk about my art.
If I get a thank you or a blank stare, I act busy in a different part of the booth until the next person comes in.
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