TOUCHY SITUATIONSBut as potent as touch is in selling, it also carries an innate
danger. The wrong kind of touch or touching someone at the wrong
time can destroy trust. With any touch that lingers too long, is
heavy-handed, or seems inappropriate, the immediate question
is "What did that mean?"
The successful salesperson's touch was to the upper arm or
on the upper back, but it was brief, and, most important, it
came at the right moment, just as the customer was half-
convinced. A touch too soon, or too heavy, or in the wrong place
can be devastating.THE EXPECTED AND THE
UNEXPECTED TOUCH
In his book The Hidden Dimension, anthropologist Dr. Edward T.
Hall says that the ability to respond to touch is one of the
basic criteria of life. Dr. Hall believes that one of the reasons
that many Americans favor small, foreign cars is the sense the
cars give of being in touch with the road.
One interpretation of touch depends on a number of different
factors; one is love. We allow our loved ones to touch us; in
fact, we welcome their touch because the subtext is affection.
Children deprived of touch cannot develop properly, cannot learn
to respond to love and affection. The closer we feel to someone,
the more readily we allow that person's touch, and the warmer
the subtext of that touch. This is an expected subtext. We expect
love and affection from our close friends and family, and because
we expect it the subtext is comforting but not too intense.
The touch of a stranger, however, since it is unexpected, may
send a different subtext. The librarian and the salesperson men-
tioned earlier sent a strong, subtextual message: "Even though I