Keep It Simple Run retailers need to speak in terms customers understand when selling shoes. / By Tom Griffen
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ave you ever traveled to a destination where you don’t know the language? A place where the culture is utterly unlike your own? Where every spoken word is elusive and where a simple gesture – a wave, for example – may mean something unintended. If so, you had to develop strategies for successful communication. Maybe you used a language dictionary, elevated your speaking volume or made your body language more animated. Or maybe you drew crude caricatures on paper or in the dirt to convey your basic needs. All of these methods, and others, are common ways to get your point across. And frankly, they are part of what makes world travel so much fun. But what if you are in one of these places and you have an emergency? What if you don’t have the luxury of time to play these communication games? In this dire moment, what do you need more than anything? You need a translator! A helpful local who speaks both languages fluently and can navigate your plight with ease. The Local Guide In your run specialty store, you are this helpful local. You speak the strange language of running retail (you know how to actually say plantar fasciitis), and you know the ins and outs of the running culture. You have multiple opportunities each day to fulfill this role. To take entering customers under 18
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4/23/22 6:03 PM
