After I graduated from college, I had an opportunity to go backpacking in Europe.

I took the entire summer off in 1985 to travel across the Atlantic to visit Ireland, England, Amsterdam, France, Germany, Greece and Italy.

It was the trip of a lifetime.

Up to that point, I had never traveled outside of the United States.

And I always wanted to visit Italy.

My mother was a full-blooded Italian and her maternal grandmother (my great-grandmother) was from Bari.

Her husband, my great-grandfather came from Rome.

I studied Italian in college because it allowed me to have a few conversations with my great-grandmother, who at best spoke broken English.

Oh, she got a kick out of my attempts. But the true test was when I was in Italy.

One day I visited an outdoor produce market. And I was standing in line to buy some fruit.

Suddenly, the woman in front of me started to jabber to me in Italian. She spoke fast.

As I was trying to figure out what she was saying (and not feel like a complete idiot), an elderly woman behind me started yelling at her in Italian.

For some reason, I could understand her. She reminded me a little of my grandmother.

Evidently, the young woman in front of me was asking if I had change.

The older woman behind me started chewing her out.

She said, “What do you think she is? A bank?!!  Go get your change somewhere else!”

Then she turned to me, patted me on the cheek and said in Italian, “You… nice girl.” And smiled.  Just like my grandmother would have done.

The whole thing was funny, touching and a bit surreal all at once.

Here’s your tip:   Your customer feels a little out of her depth with whatever problem she’s facing… and it’s a problem you can solve.

Let me re-phrase. You’ve got a solution. Something that is going to help make life easier for your buyer. 

But at the moment, your buyer is overwhelmed with information.

And she might not even realize how serious her problem may be. Not until you remind her. 

She needs you to come over to her and put that problem in its place.

A pat on the cheek is optional.  Sometimes a little guidance in a busy world is exactly what your buyer is looking for.  Need to translate your message to a hungry market?

Stay tuned.

Tomorrow I’ll become the “Italian nonna” who watches out for you.

But if you need some help now, shoot me an email and we’ll get the ball rolling.

Ciao bella…
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