It takes people...

“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.”

— Walt Disney

We are huge advocates of in-person sales, always have been and always will be. 

When we were shooting with film (remember that?), we would send our film to be processed and scanned to create slides to project, the only way at that time to do in-person appointments. We never had proofs printed for the client to take home (similar to doing a sale online). 

We wanted to retain control of the sale!

It was critical to us then...and it is still critical today!

With the digital revolution, it is now so much easier, but we cannot be lazy and let the client do all of the work themselves.

The trend today...

More and more, businesses are requiring the customer to serve themselves, clear a table themselves, order through a kiosk themselves, check out and load groceries themselves…where does it end and what is the impact?

For a boutique business, having this business model would, in my opinion, be the kiss of death.

Why?

When you eliminate in-person interactions, you eliminate the basic building block of a luxury business…the personal touch.

 What self-service eliminates…

• The ability to create and establish genuine relationships with clients. 

• The ability to address a client’s needs that may only arise during a conversation with them.

• The opportunity to show kindness, empathy, friendliness and build trust.

• The ability to answer objections and have a positive outcome.

• The opportunity to rise above and create gaps that only a personal touch can offer.

• The excitement of human to human encounters that online interactions will never match.

It causes the client to have to think through the process with screenshots and explanations when all they want to do is feel and enjoy! 

And all EMOTION and EXCITEMENT is lost!

All in all, online sales instead of in-person sales gives a wrong connotation that we don’t care for our clients and that is the farthest thing from the truth.

“Customers subconsciously appreciate a company better when they receive top-notch customer service from actual humans.”  -Max Harland, CEO of Dentaly