Hear the Language of Your Shoppers

In AAMCO’s “We Hear You” commercials, people describe their car problems to the AAMCO technician by imitating the noise the car is making. The notion is that this retailer can diagnose your needs, whatever language you’re using.
     A few years ago, I was praising the owner of a San Francisco hardware store located in a neighborhood with many Spanish-speaking residents. “You put a lot of attention into ensuring that your sales staff are fluent in both English and Spanish,” I said. He nodded and then replied with a smile. “I also want them to be fluent in sign language.”
     “Oh, do you have lots of deaf customers?”
     He pointed his two index fingers directly at me, the fingers about three inches apart. Then he began to rotate each finger in an up-and-down circle. “No, not a lot of deaf customers. But we do have a regular stream coming in and telling us things like, ‘I need a replacement part for my ceiling fan. It’s about this long and turns around like this.’ To work in a hardware store, you must understand sign language.”
     Often, those accompanying a shopper on the trip can serve as translators, or at least encourage the shopper to state needs and wants in a range of ways. This is one of the many reasons to tempt customers to shop with you in groups. You’ll benefit from what you hear them talking about. Snoop on the chatter.
     At the same time, keep in mind that you might misinterpret a group’s messages to each other. Researchers at University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign had thirty students with a music education major and thirty students with a physical education major read a longer version of the following story:

They couldn’t decide exactly what to play. Jerry eventually took a stand and set things up. Karen’s recorder filled the room with soft and pleasant music. Finally, Mike said, “Let’s hear the score.” They listened carefully and commented on their performance. 

     The music education students tended to believe the story described a rehearsal session of a woodwind ensemble. On the other hand, the P.E. students were more likely to say this was a description of playing card games.
     At the end of the latest AAMCO “We Hear You” spot, the guy punctuating his description of car troubles with strange sounds then explains to the puzzled technician that he was just clearing his throat.

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