One Size/Style Doesn't Fit All

During my last visit to the barber on a busy weekend, there was a long queue ahead of me and I was told that the waiting time would be about 15-20 minutes. It was an insightful wait, and I had the opportunity to observe the variety of customers/clients (and the differential approach that the barbers took, to each of these customer types). I found a lot of these aspects very similar to what we see in the enterprise world too. Sharing what I saw..

Customer Type 1 : “I know what I want”

This customer has been getting the same haircut/keeping the same hairstyle for ages and knew the exact length of the cut he wanted. This customer walks in, spends 5 mins in explaining the exact type of cut and even has a picture of his last haircut as a reference for the barber. He keeps a constant watch while the barber works on his hair, and also keeps asking the barber to show him the back of his head on a mirror from the time to time, to make sure everything is according to the template. At the end of the process, he takes another hard look from all angles possible, and then gives a final nod of approval and a smile to indicate satisfaction.

The barber here is just the order taker and executor, and knows that there is limited scope to upsell. He tried, but was quickly told by a senior that this customer has been a regular for a decade and always opts for a standard set (and doesn’t entertain any up/cross sell). This was a transactional and a plain sell.

Customer Type 2 : “I have a rough idea of what I want, but need someone trusted to help me decide”

This customer wanted to try out a new hairstyle, but wasn’t very sure of whether it was the right one. He had brought along a friend, to help him decide on what would suit him the best. In this case, the friend was the one making recommendations to the barber on the styles that would best suit the customer. The customer would periodically ask his friend to monitor while the barber was going through the process, to make sure that he was on track. The customer was visiting this barber for the first time, and at the behest of his friend who was a regular here.

The barber here was interacting more with the customer’s friend since he quickly realised that it was the friend, that the customer trusted the most. His aim was to make sure that the friend’s recommendations were fully complied with, and in that process he would get another loyal customer. This was a transactional, yet relationship-oriented sell, where the idea was to gain trust by getting it right in the first go. Perhaps after a couple of occurrences, this customer might transition into Type 3.. 

Customer Type 3 : “I have no idea of what I want, but I will look up to your advice on what’s best for me”

This customer has been a regular, and has been considering a style change for a while. However, he isn’t able to zero in on something that would look good on him. He walks in, finds his favourite barber and asks him to give him a haircut that would suit him the best. The barber asks a few questions, to understand the kind of look that the customer is aspiring for. When he doesn’t get any good answers, he makes a few recommendations and also helps him finalise a style to go with. He also up-sells during the process, and convinces the customer to get some hair colour, a treatment to prevent hair-fall and a head massage to complete the package. He also got the customer to agree for a fortnightly check-in to touch up the colour and maintain the style.

The barber, in this case is driving the sale and manages to extract the best for this organization, while also making sure that the customer gets good value from the transaction.

There were just two barbers in the shop and it was quite entertaining & insightful to watch these guys step into different modes of selling depending on the customer type. 

No two customers are alike, and every customer has their own pace/comfort in terms of how they slide up/down the value or relationship chain. The success of a sales person depends on how quickly they can gauge the preferences/personality dynamics of customers and how well they adapt/cater to these dynamics. Same holds for us business partners too!

#businesspartnering #salesessentials #customertransformation