Unit 14: Working on A Stand

USEFUL TIPS:

When working on a stand, ask questions rather than simply presenting products This will give the stand visitor the feeling that the focus is on their interests and needs.

Find out what business the visitor is in and who their customers are.
Find out what their customers want.
Find out what would make the visitor's life easier and suggest ways to help them achieve that goal.

Conversation

Amanda is a salesperson for CompixInc, a software development company. She is on the stand at a computer industry trade fair in Los Angeles.

Amanda: Hi there. Can I help you?
Colin: What? Oh me? I was just looking at some of these brochures.
Amanda: Well, I'm Amanda.
Colin: Ah. I'm Cohn.
Amanda: What field of business are you in, Colin?
Colin: I'm a specialist publisher. I don't really know much about computer software and hardware, I'm afraid. I publish books about stamp collecting.
Amanda: Really? Who are your customers?
Colin: Well, different types of people. Children, teenagers, adults, people who have retired... mostly male, of course.
Amanda: I see. And what are your customers looking for?
Colin: Well, information and books about stamps. Particularly prices, trade fairs or articles about the history of particular stamps.
Amanda: OK... but what are the challenges you face in reaching them?
Colin: Well, there are lots of stamp collectors, but they're all over the world. It's very hard to reach them so it's difficult to sell my company's books. Normal bookshops won't take them. So I put advertisements in stamp magazines, but that's expensive.
Amanda: Of course. Well, would you be interested in something to help you reach a worldwide audience, 24/7?
Colin: Using the Internet, I suppose I would. But I don't know anything about programming.
Amanda: Ah, but what would you think about a tool that does that for you? A tool that lets you just upload the documents that you want into a template? And one that also saves information about customers so you can...
Colin: ...but that's really very interesting. So you think that a free newsletter would help my business?
Amanda: Definitely. At Compix, we have one that we send to our customers every quarter with information about new developments in the industry. In fact, can I add you to our mailing list?
Colin: Hmmm, well yes, of course.
Amanda: Great! Can you give me your card? Then I have all your details and I'll make sure that you are kept up to date on what we're doing...
Colin: That sounds great. Can I take one of these demo software packages?
Amanda:Unfortunately, I'm afraid I can't give you one today. I'm so sorry about that. But can send you one.
Colin: OK. That's better. That way I don't have to carry it around with me all day.

Understanding

Amanda made some notes following her conversation with her potential customer, Colin. Complete her notes with the missing information.

Name: Colin
Field of business:
Customers:
Customers looking for:
Challenges:
Add to mailing list? Yes/No
To do:

Saying it accurately

Using the prompts, make questions to find out more about a potential customer.

1.What / line of work / in? ………………………………………………..
2.What I involve / exactly? ………………………………………………..
3.What sort / customers / have? …………………………………………
4.What / your customers / want? ………………………………………..
5.What / help you / help your customers? ……………………………...
6.What / issues / face in your line of work? …………………………….

Match the questions in Saying it accurately I to the following answers.

A.Competition and rising food prices are our main challenges.
B.I own a small catering business.
C.It would help if we could set up a better way of communicating with our customers so that we can make sure that they are satisfied and use their feedback to improve our performance.
D.Mostly large companies.
E.They want us to supply a high-quality product for a fair price.
F.We supply food and drink to conference venues around the country.