Customer Education and Relationship Building – “Hello, I love, won’t you tell me your name…”
In these series of weekly blogs on the cannabis industry I’ll explain why now, more than ever, it’s important to have an educated and caring staff at your dispensary. A Certified Dispensary Technician’s influences are heavy, and the spotlight is bright.
Prologue
Think back to your mentors in your life, were they positive or negative influencers? I can guarantee you probably remember the positive ones more than the negative ones. And in thinking back, I’m sure those positive mentors influenced your life in a way that forever sent you on a path that you could not have achieved on your own. I, myself, can say my parents and a few work executives were shining examples for me! Whether it is a career trajectory, the people you surround yourself with or which box of Tide you’ll be bringing home to laundry your underwear it’s probably due to a positive influencer that has seeped into your psyche. And they didn’t do it just through words, they did it through actions. You could feel that they had a vested interest in your well-being, education and development-they exhibited the five key characteristics of an effective mentor, as outlined by author and well-known business columnist Harvey MacKay. It is that same kind of passion and caring that a Certified Dispensary Technician (CDT) must have behind the counter at your retail store. As we’ve spoken about in previous Blunt Talks, this burgeoning industry we’re in will keep on bringing new and inexperienced consumers in through your front door. These folks need education, guidance, and compassion. Because one “bad trip” could not only change a customer’s future ideas of the cannabis industry it could affect their lives-so take hiring, educating, and fostering your employees seriously because they do effect customer royalty and lifetime value.
Customer Education and Relationship Building
A growing number of people working in the cannabis industry believe that consumer education, starting at the dispensary level, is the preliminary driving force behind greater public acceptance of the legal cannabis sector. As written in Forbes magazine:
By educating the customer, you are also establishing a relationship where you are the mentor; the voice of experience who can offer up friendly advice. While not as formal as a teacher-student relationship, you might often find that same hunger for information good teachers experience when they successfully engage with their students. And unlike an academic situation, you should become a friendly source for information and advice — and the dispensary a place where the consumer can always stop by to find out about the latest new developments in cannabis.
Creating a relationship
The great majority of people shopping at dispensaries are new to cannabis and, they will need guidance when they come in to shop. This is where building a relationship with the consumer is key. Because of this growing and inexperienced consumer base, most customers will instinctively take advice and recommendations from you. They are most likely in this particular dispensary because it was recommended to them, either by a website, a friend, or a family member.
Class is in session
It’s at this point in the customer experience that you can educate the consumer, set proper expectations regarding the products available and also continue to build a trusting relationship with the customer.
An example: A dispensary customer is familiar with smoking cannabis but wants to try edibles for the first time and needs advice.
This is where your training and your ability to relate to that customer comes into play. In this scenario, you can walk the consumer through the differences between smoking flower and consuming an edible. You can explain that, unlike with smoking, the effect from a cannabis-infused edible is not immediate – and because the THC in an edible first has to go through the digestive tract, it might take an hour or more before they feel any effects.
You should also warn the consumer against over-consumption of edibles. Just because they don’t feel any effects in an hour or two doesn’t mean the edible is not working, and that taking more will instead most likely lead to an uncomfortable situation.
Another example: A customer wants to know the differences between smoking flower and vaping. In response, you can talk about the differences in potency between vaping and smoking flower, as well as their relative expense, the importance of purchasing licensed vape oils and how vaping might not be as irritating to the customer’s throat and lungs as smoking.
It’s situations like this that not only help educate the consumer but also establish a relationship between you and them.
In next week’s “Blunt Talk” we’ll cover “Branding Importance and Reinforcement Strategies”