Tales From the Road

Traffic is off the hook in this little town of New Haven. Was just over in West Haven talking to a potential tea-buyer and the roads were clogged all the way back to the apartment. The return trip should have taken ten minutes but instead took nearly thirty. But no matter, that's how it's got to be. The only way to get people to purchase our beans is to go there and show them how amazing they taste. You cannot sell coffee or tea over the phone.

Then the there's the issue of the sale itself. Every one is a different experience, and I have to make sure to approach each person as an individual. That's easy. That's what I do. Some want to know about the source of the beans. Others want to know about our roasting process. Their questions determine what I focus on. The most disconcerting experiences are when the person I'm selling to knows more about coffee than I do. That will change the more I do this, obviously. Already I can identify individual origins by taste.

However, the one thing I have to keep an eye on is my tendency to talk quickly. I like to tell people everything about our beans and all the reasons they should have them in their store and how great it is that we use wind-power to run our store, that we have compostable bags, special house blends and everything else all at top speed because I've had, yup, you guessed it, lots and lots of coffee. I have to remember to slow it down and let it flow.

Really, all I have to do is hand them some huehue and let the beans speak for themselves. I'm just there to carry them around. Fast.