Post Categories: From the Front Lines, May 2017

From the Front Lines: Keeping Events Fresh for Shoppers—and Yourself

Kathleen Durante
Brand Ambassador

For Brand Ambassador Kathleen Durante, every event is just as exciting as the first, even after seven years on the job. How can that be? “I like making events a challenge—psyching myself up to get new people to talk with me and to sell out all the stock a store has,” she says.

Durante begins prepping for each of these challenges well before an event begins. “I go online to find out more about the history of the brand and the products I’ll be sampling,” she says. “If you can show shoppers that you’re truly knowledgeable about a product, they view you in a different light. Then it’s about more than just handing out samples.”

Once Durante arrives at a store, she checks the shelves to see how much product she has to sell, what the price is and if there are any promotions. “If a product is on sale that rarely goes on sale, or if all flavors are on promotion—not just what I’m sampling—that’s something I want to point out to shoppers,” she explains.

But all that information won’t be the first thing Durante talks with shoppers about. Instead, her focus is starting a conversation first—often by offering a compliment on something they’re wearing. Then she moves on to offering a sample and talking about the product. “When you do it the opposite way—starting a conversation before offering a sample, you’re not giving them a chance to say no right off the bat,” she says.

Another tactic Durante uses regularly is to ask shoppers for their feedback on the samples they try. “Shoppers love to share their opinions. And when they stay at the cart a little longer, it builds excitement around the event. More shoppers want to come by to see what’s going on,” she explains. “Before you know it, you’ve got a crowd, you’re selling out of product and your day is flying by.”

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