Are Your Guests Ready to Buy?

In order to judge whether or not your guests are ready to buy, you need to pay close attention to your guests’ body language, words, and actions during their visit.

A buying sign is any action by a guest that signals that s/he is ready to make a purchase. The buying signs indicate that guests are seriously interested in buying wine. These signals give you the opportunity to present information that will help them make the buying decision.

Not all guests give you signs that they are ready to buy. Here are some of the things that you should be looking for:

• When a buyer is interested, their hands are relaxed, and their palms may be open.
• They make good eye contact and may raise both eyebrows.
• Of course, the buyer will smile frequently, nod, and her/his arms are not usually crossed.

Other things to consider:

• What a guest is looking at is what s/he is thinking about.
• If they are looking at the wine, may well be considering the pros and cons of the purchase.
• Guests asking about particular vintages or varietals.
• Smiling and nodding is always a good thing.
• Guests asking about particular vintages or varietals is definitely a buying sign.

If your guests are looking at the door, they’re probably thinking about how they wish they could leave right now. It could be that you are talking too much or giving them too much information.

You can re-engage them by turning the floor over to them, so they can air their concerns.

Stop at times in your presentation to ask for questions or to see if they have made up their minds about buying the product. Also, give clients time to digest the information you give them and make a decision.

If your clients want to talk, let them. Too much information can talk them out of the sale.

A tip of the glass from me to you!