Want to Improve Your Business development? Smell the Coffee !
Be judged more favourably… your hot coffee makes you seem warmer and also enhances the way you perceive your prospective client.
So says that wonderful blog: Neuromarketing: Where Brain Science and Marketing Meet in a post called: Heat Up Sales – With Coffee!
After years of experience, we tend to trust our judgment but good old research can offer a competitive advantage, if we pay attention.
Many of your competitors will either not know about this research or think its balderdash (and continue to offer those cold drinks).
Punchline: Perhaps "Can I get you a beverage" should be replaced by: "How do you take your coffee?
What do you think? More importantly, what will you do?
I'm a SOLO Family lawyer in Barcelona (Europe), and I've just moved my office to a new one, and first of all, as my client enters ant the office, I'm offering them a coffee, then we share this coffee time to talk about their problems and triying to find the best way. I have no big tables to sit one in front of the other, but a sofa and two armchairs and an small center table. We share questions and answers while we have our coffee and some biscuits.
Probably is something that it works with people (clients) who like "feel" the service (kinestesichs in PNL) but some others want action and can observe this excellent coffe meeting as a "wasting time" or some others prefer check a worklist of their requieriments instead.
I think is a good action, but considering first client preferences according thier psycho profile
Nice idea - I could use your marketing tips!
Josan Garcia
This may on part be a cultural difference but I think every client would appreciate the offer of coffee if seen as a courtesy or hospitality. Having said that, I completely respect that you need to exercise independent judgement based on your context and your clients.
Thanks for posting your comment :-)
Gerry
COFFEE TALK!
I would use this approach when dealing with clients that I may need to stick around for a while, which could be beneficial to me. Hey! if it's a great cup of JAVA, they may just ask for seconds! Which of course will equal more of their time. Just don't offer the second cup "to go"!
Interesting. I was already doing that, but had not considered the ancillary benefits.