Turn Customer Habits Into Rituals

As the shopkeeper spots the ten-year-old boy coming in the door, he says to a customer, “I know this is the first time you’ve been in my store. I want you to see probably the dumbest kid you will ever see in your life.”
     While the customer watches, the shopkeeper opens the cash register, takes out some money, places a dollar bill in one open palm and two quarters in the other, and says to the kid, “Okay, which do you want?”
     The boy hesitates for a moment before pointing to the hand with the two quarters. The shopkeeper shakes his head, chuckles, hands him the coins, and returns the dollar bill to the register. The boy picks up items from the shelves, comes to the counter, plunks down the two quarters, and pulls more coins out of his pocket to pay for the rest that’s due.
     This entire episode without the kid saying one word. Nothing.
     The customer who’d watched all this is intrigued. She quickly makes her purchase and follows the boy out the door. When they’re both outside, she asks, “I’m wondering, why’d you choose two quarters instead of the dollar bill?”
     “The day I take the dollar, that’s the day I stop getting fifty cents every time I come by.”
     I’d say that kid was far from dumb. I’d also say the shopkeeper was on to something, too, even if not realizing it consciously. The boy had become a reliable repeat customer. A habit of coming into the store had been turned into the ritual of a game.
     Any retailer who opens the shop early in the morning and serves fresh-brewed coffee can change customers’ habits of dropping by into a ritual so embedded in the psyche that those customers won’t feel just right unless they’ve started the day at the shop.
     With any product line and at any time of day, think of the importance of rituals in building repeat business.
     As salespeople gain experience, they learn to engage with regular customers in going through rituals. And even if not engaging, at least staying out of the way of the rituals as much as possible. Consumer rituals are compelling because of being deep-seated in the personality. Many took form early in life as the child watched others shop and was coached by parents
     Don’t let yourself be exploited. But go along with useful rituals.

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