Profiling, Assumptions, reads and tells... outside of the poker world...

I thought this was a funny realisation about myself and about sales agents...

It is my gf's birthday this weekend and I've been thinking of various gifts that might be nice. On my way home from work yesterday I dropped into Tiffanies to see if there was anything nice there. I'm not a huge fan of expensive jewellery just because it has a name on it like Tiffany and Co, but sometimes you see something really nice... so what the hey...

Anyway, in I go and check out the first case of jewellery... I see the sales agent approaching me, a middle aged guy, smartly dressed, definitely knows his stuff. I wonder what he thinks of me as a potential client... I am wearing a Nike sports / athletic zip up jumper, jeans, runners and a have a backpack on... I guess I could represent anything really. Also, as I'm foreign I tend to be approached more vigourously as the general tendancy is to think foreigners have more money (in truth that is not the case, in this case lol). 

So, he tells me a little about what's what, what collections are where, where the gold is, where the diamonds are etc. Not a hard sell, actually much more accommodating than usual. Nothing I hate more than being pestered by staff when you tell them you are there just to take a look. Nevertheless he did follow me around somewhat discreetly, in case I had any questions or wanted to check out a piece in more detail.

As I was about 75% way around the store, (I was genuinely just looking that day, intending to return on the weekend if saw something I wanted to buy), I started to think like a poker player... I know what I have, I think I know what he has, does he know what I have, what are we both representing, what are our respective ranges lol.

I figured in his eyes I was probably a potential customer with a range of say $500 (barely buys you a paper bag) - $5000 (maybe a nice necklace or earings, definitely no diamonds) to spend, depending on his sales ability, his power to smoothly persuade me to towards a more expensive piece. In reality my range for the type of piece I had in mind was $300 - $1000. I wasn't looking for the huge wow factor, just a nice pair of earings or something like that to accompany a couple of other smaller things.

I wondered that as I moved through the store did his read on me change... I imagine so, actually he seemed pretty adept and through his own body language I read that he knew I was buying nothing today, that I a) wasn't particularly excited by any one piece and b) considered some things totally overpriced. Being the professional he is though he still offered assistance and help whenever needed. 

My own read on him improved too... by his actions and non invasive, non aggressive approach I grew to like him more and I knew he understood what I had in mind and had categorised me correctly.

As I was looking at the final counter I realised my own body language even more lol... I was looking with head down, never acknowledging that he was following me around the store ready to take pieces from the casings to show in more detail, never making eye contact and the biggest tell of all... I had my hands firmly inside my pockets the entire time (around 15 - 20 mins) in the store lolllll... I couldn't help but laugh at myself, what a dead giveaway, pretty much saying "hey I'm totally uncomfortable here, I'm not buying anything, I'm not buying anything, I'm not buying anything" hahahaha. Then I left the store while he was busy with another customer.

It left me thinking too if he had a different strategy for different customers, if he puts them in a category the moment they walk in the door and then adjusts his strategy depending on the next few minutes encounter with the customer. I imagine so. While he may have seemed unassuming I am thinking he read me like a book and played me perfectly lol... knowing exactly how mch push and pull to use, knowing that if he is effective and has read me right that I will return one day and will most likely seek him out. You know what, he's right! In poker terms he just gained a lot of +EV... it may have ended breakeven for him regarding me as a customer for that particular day but he made the right plays and he will see the results in the long run.

Random story but funny to think of poker parrallels to real world situations.

I still laugh every time I think about Zimba telling his wife she is too results orientated after she ordered something that would usually be good in a restaurant and it turned out bad in that particular instance (or something like that).

Roll on the weekend, hope everyone has a good one and hope I find inspiration for an awesome birthday present!

Ross.