Not all customers come in because they're celebrating. Sometimes guys come in because something awful is happening in their lives and they want some distraction.
How do you handle those guys?
This is what worked for me last night: I sat down with a guy who, after a minute or two, volunteered that he was getting divorced after twenty years of marriage. I made soothing noises but didn't ask questions, cause I didn't want to get the conversation going down that track. Pretty soon we were talking about something else...to wit, his father's funeral back in January. It just went on and on like that: I reminded him on an old girlfriend...who's in jail now for drunk driving. And so on.He was a nice guy, just in a really gloomy mood.
Usually I would just move on at this point, but it was REALLY slow last night. Then he asked me about the scar on my torso. I told him about the car accident I was in, and he asked lots of questions and seemed much more interested in me, so I downgraded my hustle from "wheeeeletshavefun!!!" to something much more down to earth. I also talked about the time my dog got shot, and he liked that story, too. He ended up spending a lot of money on me and swearing to come back. I have a feeling that if I'd stuck with being silly and fun and trying to cheer him up, he wouldn't have liked me nearly as much.
This hustle took a lot more time than my usual, and I probably wouldn't use it on a busy night, but in this instance it was worth it. Maybe sometimes it's important to share your customers mood, even if it's not the greatest mood...what do you think?



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