A recent conversation with a client started with an a simple observation. They had made this observation when coming across a promotional stand in a busy London train station. The stand was for a high-end luxury sports vehicle with a retail value well into six figures.
The client in question had seen the vehicle from afar and was interested in taking a closer look. The stand was manned by 2 attractive female brand ambassadors (the client has assured since assured me that the vehicle in question was the motivating factor for closer examination)
Like many car enthusiasts, the client was interested to learn about some of the key credentials. Naturally, “what is the top speed” was one of the frontrunners for his initial enquiry.
“Oh” replied the girl. “it’s like fast…. REALLY fast”
At this point, the client thanked the girl, left the stand and continued his journey.
So what went wrong?
A brand experience is an experience of the brand. In this case, the brand was not a new flavour of crisps. Nor was this the latest mobile device or healthcare initiative.
This was a premium, high value product. The target audience would have been high net worth individuals who could both afford and justify a ‘six figure’ price-tag.
Assuming that the target audience would have possessed a modicum of intelligence, it would also be safe to assume they may be interested in the details of the product.
Each brand ambassadors working on the stand should have been made aware of a few key points and trained accordingly. Knowing the cars top speed, 0-60 time and what kind of fuel consumption you might expect, would be the bare minimum we would expect any staff member to know.
In this case, the brand experience for the client was unsatisfactory and he decided in an instant that further investigations were futile based on the response to his first enquiry.
He could of course go and find the information himself online perhaps, or visit a dealership where they would more than likely know the answers in detail but also realise instantly the importance of the answers. After all, there is no greater time to make an instant, positive impact than the moment a person spontaneously comes over, of their own accord.
The importance of training.
At Hotcow, we train our staff for every event or campaign we run. We know that as the frontline, our staff are often the most important part of the sales process. They are the conduit that connects audience to brands. They might be the first voice they hear representing you and the information they give could be the reason for a consumer to further enquire if they feel good about you and your brand.
Training can often take place over a full day in order to make sure staff are properly debriefed and understand the roles they are to play during the event or campaign. We make sure they can articulate the key benefits of a product, backed up with factual evidence (if required)
However, we can only do this properly if we have the right blend of personalities.
If you haven’t already been introduced to Hotcow’s ‘Herd Dynamics’ and seen for yourself how intelligent, staffing solutions bring you and your clients better results, we would be happy to show you and let you decide for yourself.
We won’t take up too much of your time either – We’re like fast… really fast
Hotcow is a multi-award winning Experiential Marketing agency. We get brands in front of consumers in ways that persuade them to buy. We fully implement our ideas; nothing needs to be farmed out. For more information or free consultation, contact us.
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