Summary: A few years ago I visited Venice, Italy while on vacation and had the pleasure of walking through hundreds of little mom-and-pop shops selling everything from miniature statues of Jesus to oversized crystal chandeliers and everything in between. I distinctly remember walking into one shop where they were selling blown glassware. Now if you’ve ever been to Venice you know that there are as many glassware shops as there are McDonalds here in the US. Not to say that the glassware was very inexpensive but it was available almost everywhere. I tell you this because the shop that my wife and I went into had an older gentleman sitting behind the counter and he smiled when we entered. We stuck up a conversation and he was very personable. During the course of the conversation he asked us if we came into the store because of the rich history behind his glassware. Not knowing “the history” we asked him to tell us about it. He proceeded to tell us that his son personally made every piece of glassware in the entire store and that he too used to make glass. In fact, the skill has been passed down through his family for generations and it takes years to master the trade. He showed us the difference between a high quality piece of glassware and a poor quality piece of glassware so when we are shopping the streets we know how to spot the good quality. Most of his glassware also had gold designs on the outside of the glass which was put there for both design and to give the glassware added strength (at which point he slammed a glass onto the wooden counter and the glass did not break). He also explained that the base of all his glassware was weighted so that the glass will stand itself up if accidentally knocked over (which he also demonstrated). He put the glassware back on the shelf behind the counter and said “Thanks for listening to my story. As you can see I’m very passionate about my glass since this has been my family’s life for many years”. Needless to say, my wife and I purchased a set of those glasses from that nice man that day. We probably could have saved a few dollars by buying it from another street vendor but we felt compelled to buy from him. Why? Because he made us feel good about our purchase by listening to his amazing story. What kind of amazing story are you sharing with your customers about your products or services or business?
