28. Nod your head when
asking a customer if
they would like
something
Woop – woop – sneaky tactic alert. Call the café police. This is a
cracking wee tactic, but you do need to be careful of it. If you ask
the customer would they like something to eat as well as their
coffee and simply nod and smile at the same time, you will get an
appreciably higher amount of sales. If you make the same offer and
shake your head and frown you will get an appreciably lower
amount of sales.
We have tested this in a pretty rigorous way in a number of
environments and it always makes a difference.Just try it out
and see. It’s sneaky, but not so sneaky that you can actually change
someone’s mind. Research has shown that this technique can only
reinforce what they are already thinking about. So if a customer
wants something to eat but is trying to argue with themselves not
to have it, then your wee nod can tip them over the edge. If they
really don’t want something because they’ve just eaten a huge
lunch then you could be nodding like one of those stupid dogs in
the back of a car and it won’t make a blind bit of difference.
So get all worries of “mind control” out of your head and just try it
out. It willmake a difference. Trust us. We’re lovely guys, really.
53