3 Customer Service Tricks at the Coliseum

Our tour was jam packed with activity and along the way our tour guide, Ellen, gave us little insights into the minds of Italians.  We also learned a  few of our own.  Here are three I learned the day we visited the Coliseum, Roman Forum and St. Peter’s Baslica:

1.  Make eye contact with Italians when you enter their place of business.  Owners believe it is important to make eye contact with every customer.  In fact, if you enter the store and appear to want to have a conversation rather than make a purchase – that makes them the most happy.  If you enter a store and the workers are not welcoming – leave – don’t reward them.  There are too many other places to make a purchase where you will find someone friendly.  Two points here:  the shop owner who is most successful puts building a customer relationship ahead of the sale.  And competition is fierce – don’t reward bad or indifferent customer service.  Wow!

2. Know your customer.  I passed a vendor outside the Coliseum selling tourist favorites (t-shirts, mugs, key chains, etc) and as I passed he said “Prego, souvenirs cheaper than Target.”  Now according to the Target website there is a store in Italy, SC and Italy, Texas and you’ll find items depicting Italy if you shop at a Target in the United States, but I didn’t find a Target in Rome, Italy.  The vendor understood his customer and crafted a pitch that would get my attention and be immediately recognizable to me.  I learned later that other vendors used the same phrases and substituted KMart and Wal-Mart. 

3.  Plant the seed for additional purchases.  I went to a snack shack for a Coke.  They also sold other snack items like pizza, paninis, pretzels and pastries.  I just wanted a Diet Coke.  So I greeted the sales person and said “Coke Light, please?”  And he said “And….”  He didn’t assume the sale was ended with my request – he assumed there was something else I wanted but just hadn’t asked for.  In truth, I just needed a Coke - I was thirsty.  But his prompting to add an additional purchase led me to order a pretzel before I even realized it was what I wanted.  Clever.

Simple stories – powerful messages.

Andiamo! (Let’s Go!) We are off to Florence – Firenza.