Embraced?

I visited Italy for the first time this year. I wanted to see what it was like where my mother lived when she was a girl. I was going somewhere I have never been before, meeting people I have never met before. I was anxious. How would I be received?

I visit a car dealership that averages close to 800 new customers a month.  That is 800 people who have never stepped foot on their lot before. The majority of them are there for service and most have decided to hang around till the work is done.
Just stop and think about that for a moment. Imagine your favorite church with a loyal congregation and more than 175 new visitors every week! Seeing the opportunity to grow and spread the Word, they would probably design a process and have people in place to engage every new arrival and welcome them to the family!  

I went to their Sales manager and said, “I have a guaranteed program that will bring hundreds of new prospects to your showroom each month”! Most sales managers would jump at that opportunity to sell more cars and I’d be a rich man.  When he asked, “How would you do that and how much will it cost?”, I said, “You already have it in place and it didn’t cost a dime!” I walked him to the full “waiting” room and pointed out that they were already there.

Get everyone’s head in the game. Have them imagine that you are in the theater business and suddenly you have an audience file in and sit down. You don’t have anything planned, yet.  You haven’t decided which show to put on, what roles the actors will play or what the set looks like.

Then, have them consider this. Instead of looking at service customers in the showroom as an inconvenience (for you and them), look at them as your audience. It cost you nothing to get them there. They are folks who already know, like and trust you enough to do business with you. They paid the admission and are waiting for the show to begin. Entertain them properly and they will return and tell others.  They may even want to participate in the production, (be drawn into the selling process). What a huge gift to have people there, watching the show, just waiting to be engaged!  Your theater is filled.  Now, take advantage of it. The choice is yours.  You can ignore them, avoid doing things to upset them, or engage them.

Even though I don’t speak Italian and my distant cousin doesn’t speak English we were embraced and invited into his home, the same one Mom lived in. We celebrated New Year’s Eve with 22 other family members and were welcomed into another cousins home on New Year’s day to continue the celebration of family. 

​When someone new contacts your business for the first time they are anxious. How do you receive them?  Are they embraced in a way that will make them eager to return and tell others.