I’m currently reading the book Why We Buy – The Science of Shopping* by Paco Underhill.  As a business owner, I’m always trying to make things better for my customers.  Since I really don’t have a lot of insight into the “retail world” – except for my own personal experience as a shopper (and as my children like to tell me, “You’re not like other moms, Mom.”) – I thought that I could learn something to help our farm store be a better shopping experience for our GMS customers.

I’m almost finished with the book and I’ve found it quite fascinating.  Not just with how the author and his team watches and tracks shoppers, but how slight changes can make a big decision in whether or not people make a purchase.

One of the statements made in the book is:

“Our studies show that any contact initiated by a store employee – and I mean even a hello – increases the likelihood that a shopper will buy something.”

That sentence really made me pause.  I’ve always taught my children to smile at our customers.  Even before I began Goat Milk Stuff, I taught my children to look people in the eye, smile, and speak to them.

When we started doing craft festivals, that became even more important.  A smile can make the grumpiest potential customer a happy customer.

But what made me pause while reading the book was not the impact that smiling at our customers could have on our business.  It was the thought that I’ve never really taught my children to smile at EACH OTHER when they are greeting each other.

For whatever reason, that had just never occurred to me.  I wondered how many times one of the children’s bad moods could have been avoided if their sibling had greeted them with a smile instead of a command such as, “You need to milk the goats NOW, you’re late.”

Or how many times Jim’s bad mood could have been avoided if the children had greeted him with a smile instead of an immediate request to help them with whatever they were struggling with.

Or how many times my bad mood could have been avoided if the children could have greeted me with a smile instead of an immediate complaint against one of their siblings.

Now, don’t get me wrong, we smile at each other all the time.  I work hard to make sure we have lots of fun times and do fun things together.  But as many hours as I’ve spent teaching all of the children how to smile and greet strangers, I’m a bit ashamed at how little time I’ve spent teaching them how to smile and greet the people that they spend the most time with – their family.

Definitely something I’m going to have to work on!

Is this something you’ve worked on with your children?  (or your parents taught you?)