It was a mid-week afternoon and the jewellery store was empty. Three assistants, and one customer shopping for a ring. A selection of diamonds was presented. The assistant talked about size and shape, colour and clarity, and a twelve week wait when she couldn’t find a ring to fit.
The customer made to leave.
She didn’t have twelve weeks of forward ‘ring buying’ planning up her sleeve.

“When do you need it for?” the assistant asked as the customer gathered her bags.
And then came the answer to the unasked question, that would have made all the difference had it been known.
“It’s our wedding anniversary in two weeks,” said the ring shopper as she walked out the door.

People can find everything they need online in couple of clicks, they no longer need to pay you for access to products. So forget about the emergency of the logistics for a second.
Instead work out what’s scarce. Stand in their shoes and try to understand what’s driving their decision in that moment.

A sale is never an exchange of goods. It’s a transfer of emotion.

Image by Martin Jarosinski.