Elisa and I served a couple who were shopping for the groom's wedding ceremony shirt and tie. I did a terrible job.

We flipped through almost all the sample fabric booklets, as we weren't sure of the colours that are in our collection at all.

We called to ask for specific prices as we didn't know where else to get them.

We showed them 5, 6 ties but they liked none.

I have to confess that I chased the customer away, by saying that our master tailor (uncle) wasn't around, and that I could get back to them regarding the specific colour they were looking for. I shouldn't have said that. Because it indirectly made them want to return for an appointment with uncle, which might not happen if they were to change their minds. It was a terrible blunder.

Apart from saying the wrong things, this incident also exposed my inadequacy in terms of product knowledge- instead of selling and convincing the customer, I was frantically searching for information, which should jolly well be in my brain. I didn't sell. I was basically throwing the customer anything that vaguely fits their description, leaving them even more confused than ever.

I hope to have a very good idea of the product and prices in the boutique by the end of this week- which brand offers what design. That, if a customer gives me a list of description, I want to be able to come up with a few top choices of ties to recommend. I want to be able to match a tie to the customer's personality.

And to be able to do that, I would start from the fundamentals. I will have to start getting acquainted to all the products in the boutique, from the most basic level- stock taking, trying on, and drawing personal experiences. I hope that by making things more personal, I would know the products in the shop faster.

Chris taught me a few useful tips during our sales practice as well. He told me that I just needed to be like the customer's friend helping him decide/ shop. I thought this was quite useful because it'd probably make me less nervous. And also, simple body language like nodding the head can be a gesture to confirm sales as well. He mentioned that my sales talk was incoherent and truncated. My reaction probably wasn't fast enough, especially when I get a negative response. ( for e.g. I don't like it), I get stunned and have difficulty carrying on the conversation.

I also had a fair bit giving out flyers today. Learnt a lot about positioning myself such that it pushes the customer into the boutique. Only managed to chase 3 customers in, I will have to try out different phrasings and words, and find out for myself which is the most effective method to guide customers in. I think I do not observe and think enough.

However, there are quite some things which I don't agree with.

Maybe because I am a marketing major, that's why I scrutinised the materials we were giving out.

I thought that the b/w flyers printed on white flimsy paper didn't convey our brand image well. Like, I can't imagine if Takashimaya or LV gives our these black and white flyers? I would think that they have down graded or something. And all along I thought we were the equivalent of LV and takashimaya? In addition, although the black mini catalogued looked much classier, I thought the big cravate ( which means tie, in french) word on top was misleading - if I were a typical unrefined customer I would think that the shop name was cravate. I talked to Chris about it but he says that these materials works. So I shall see how it goes in the next few weeks.

I will observe, and who knows, my opinion might really turn out to be wrong.