Lift the Spirits of Your Customers

It was in spring 2005 that Ben & Jerry's ice cream shops introduced customers to a special selection of new flavors. With names like Chocolate Therapy, Apple-y Ever After, and The Last Straw, these flavors were not, as it happens, designed to stimulate the romantic urges we associate with spring. No, the Ben & Jerry’s folks intended the new flavors to soothe rather than stimulate.

      You see, Ben & Jerry’s had been receiving what Advertising Age called “scads of letters” about what an entire sorority had named their “breakup ice cream brand of choice.” The ice cream shops were ready to lift the spirits of their recently-dumped customers.

      An abundance of research finds that if store staff exude a positive mood, it increases sales. But there can be too much of a good thing when the customer is feeling down. Customers in a bad mood still buy, and if your customer is feeling grumpy, that customer usually doesn’t want the salesperson flaunting all this happiness. It comes across as insensitive. Research from the Northeastern College of Business Administration finds that a customer who is in a bad mood is especially unlikely to buy from a salesperson who is obviously in a much better mood than they are.

      The exception to that rule? When the customer has endured the last straw. If the shopper is feeling truly desperate, they’ve no objection at all to dealing with a highly cheerful salesperson. So if you’re working at the Ben & Jerry’s counter, have a bit of a “you poor dear” attitude when the customer orders Chocolate Therapy. But it’s fine to yell “you go girl (or guy)” when the request is for a cone filled with The Last Straw.

      Not working the Ben & Jerry’s counter these days? Adapt the tactics to fit.