The Art of the Conversation in the Luxury Retail Industry

One of the most influential books I have ever read these last few years was “Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari. This fantastic book suggests the hypothesis that our species – Home Sapiens – although physically ill-equipped to face the constant dangers of our natural habitat was able to take control of the planet and all other species thanks to our unique ability to communicate in complex forms and to collaborate. Indeed, it is our capacity to communicate in a complex fashion that has led our ancestors to collaborate. And it is because we have been able to collaborate and share the knowledge that we have been able to advance our understanding of sciences, leading to the development of the various technologies that we all use on a daily basis. Yet, with the advent of the communication technologies of the last two decades, it seems that our ability to naturally communicate with one another is increasingly weakened to benefit what could be called "screen-based communication". Indeed, the younger we are, the less likely we are to develop our more "natural" communication tools to master what I call the Art of the Conversation.

From childhood to adulthood, we learn every day. Being able to learn new things depends on several factors that are not entirely unique to us as human beings. Indeed, if we look at the animal kingdom, we notice that cubs – like human children – learn by doing. Better yet, by playing. Indeed, playfulness in learning is surely a great way to ensure that new information or skill is acquired. Playing will imply fun and fun is the opposite of boredom. As we are having fun, we do not mind repetition, and repetition will allow improvement in the mastery of a skill. This will be the topic of a future white paper.

The other great way to learn – this time unique to our species – is the art of the conversation. The conversation can be defined as “An informal interchange of thoughts, information, etc., by the spoken word”. We all have had a great conversation with someone at some point. You know exactly what I am referring to here. These would be the conversations that have left you uplifted, more knowledgeable, interested, curious, etc…

In the Luxury Retail industry, there is an increasing focus on the search for the perfect customer experience. Indeed, we are increasingly asking our Retail Staff to try and have their role evolve from a simple Sales Associate to that of an Experience Provider (see a previous article https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/from-sales-associate-experience-provider-omar-chaoui/). While the former is looking at triggering a monetary transaction, the latter will focus his or her energy on creating a memorable experience. One of the best ways to make that happen is to make sure that the retail staff truly masters the Art of The Conversation.

What is a Great Conversation?

To put it simply, a great conversation is one that has a perfect balance between the acts of “Listening” and “Talking”. It may sound like an obvious statement, yet, you’d be surprised at our collective ability to rather Talk than listen. When we talk, we are in control, we are asserting ourselves, bringing the point home, dominating the person in front of us. Indeed, we do love the sound of our own voice. On the other side, when we are on the receiving end, we easily grow tired of listening. We start focusing our energy and thoughts on our response rather than understanding what is being said to us. This will simply lead to a low-quality conversation. Stephen R Covey, author of “The 7 habits of highly effective people” has put it eloquently: “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply”. And so, if a great conversation is the pursuit of a balance between listening and talking, let us at our individual level make sure that our listening skills are at their best. Such an attitude will systematically force your counterpart to reciprocate. Congratulations, you’re about to have a great conversation

We are all experts

Every single person you will ever meet knows something you don’t. As we keep that in mind, we will find ourselves more open to listening with the intention of learning. That will certainly change the whole dynamic of the conversation. In the context of a Luxury Retail store where traffic is relatively low (especially during these trying times), and time is given to focus on the experience, our Retail staff, we should focus our energy on acquiring as much information as possible about our customers. Indeed, the more information we capture, the more likely we will be in a position to give the visitors the best possible orientation to have a satisfied individual. Your customer is the expert on what he or she needs, we are not. Therefore, we need to find a way to drive the conversation in such a way that this expertise is shared with us.

The Art of the Question

Again, this might very well sound like a basic statement, yet, times and times again we see retail staff that are not making the effort to ask the right type of questions. Keeping in mind that our psyche is built in such a way that we will respond only to the strongest words in the questions, we must – as Retail professional – remain aware of our vocabulary. All the questions we ask should have a purpose and yet, have to remain non-intrusive. Indeed, from our standpoint, we are trying to acquire information, but to do that not only do we need to ask the right questions, but we also need to develop our ability to LISTEN to the answers. The answers we shall be receiving are not only verbal. Indeed, the body language and the tone of voice are informing us as much as the words themselves. So while we must indeed master the Art of the Question, we also need to be fully capable of properly listening.

The Art of Listening

I was recently reading somewhere that if we have two ears, two eyes and only one mouth, it is because we need to listen and observe twice as much as we talk. The reality is that we are inclined to try and take control of a conversation by taking the ACTIVE role of talking rather than what is perceived as the PASSIVE role of listening. Yet, listening can and should be done in a very active way. Our body language is how we show that we are an active listener, although – if we are truly tuned into the conversation as listeners – we need no artifice to show it, as our natural attitude in itself will demonstrate that. If we truly listen, and we ensure that way that the other person is also inclined to listen to us, we are then a lot more likely to find common ground. In the case of a Retail Staff-Customer conversation, the whole discussion can be looked at as a negotiation, even when it appears that it is not. Somehow, somewhere deep in the psyche of both persons, they are aware that one is a potential seller and the other, a potential buyer. If – as retail professionals – we do not find a way to deconstruct that belief, we will simply make it very hard to materialize a transaction. On the other side, if we STOP selling, if we truly consider ourselves as Experience providers rather than Sales advisors, and we do not even try to by in a PUSH mode, our conversation’s counterpart will themselves move into a PULL mode. They will pull out of you several information and advice that you should be providing in the least interested way.

Final Word

This is a topic that could easily fill out several books and workshops, and yet, everyone in the Luxury Retail Industry might believe that these elements are relatively clear and well known when we tend to forget. Focusing all the time on the game is not an easy task. I would like to finish this article with this humorous, yet very true, statement that I picked up “A great conversation is like a Mini-skirt. It should be short enough to retain attention and long enough to cover the essential”

Omar Chaoui – Founder & CEO DynaLux

DynaLux Consulting is a Dubai-based boutique firm that is specializing in supporting the Luxury Industry with a specific focus on Retail and Distribution. Besides the Consulting, Training, and Coaching services that are always customized to the specific needs of the client, DynaLux has also developed a proprietary technology to assist luxury retail stores in understanding in detail the actual audience that visits luxury stores, unlike standard CRM tools that focus only on paying customers. By understanding the complete audience of visitors, DynaLux assists brands and retailers alike to improve their conversion rate by addressing the specific issues that can be noticed thanks to data collection and analysis. For more information, write to: [email protected]