PCA Magazine Fall 2019

PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2019 | PCA The Magazine 59 the best possible deals. The nice aspect of cigars is that if you maintain inventory (humidity, turn cigars, avoid sunlight, etc.), the shelf life of your merchandise is relatively long compared to other goods. But you need to know your business and keep on top of the margins on product, what products are moving and what products are not moving, and making sure your customers are seeing all their options. I work under the philosophy of FIFO (first in, first out) and so I’malways making sure older inventory gets moved, often by offering a promotional deal. Events are also very important because they expose new customers to your business and bring together current customers. As we all know, cigar smoking is a social hobby, and so it benefits a tobacconist to offer events or, simply, scheduled gatherings that bring people together. With that said, I’ve found having more than two events a month risks exhausting the customers. We like to have a promotion once a month with an event tied in every couple of months. Your customers will appreciate the event more if it’s periodic, rather than every week. It also depends on the size of your store and customer base. If you have a large store, with thousands of regulars, two events plus several promotions a month might be more appropriate. Small stores, on the other hand, benefit from fewer events and promotions. At the end of the day, it depends on you, your store and your market. I find there are three standard customer questions: Q: What are the new cigars? This customer is typically a regular who walks in the store and asks this question every time. Know how this customer has purchased in previous visits—number of purchases, types of cigars they like, typical spend, all the way down to their filler preference in a cigar. I can recommend to the customer something they would like based off of new inventory or something I have not seen them smoke before. I always look to understand every customer who comes into the store, especially regulars. Based off of the reaction to the recommendation of cigar, I can either recommend another cigar or have the customer try one stick. I always have at least three other recommendations if the customer doesn’t like my recommendation. If the customer tries the cigar and likes it, odds are they will buy a box or more. Q: I have been smoking Montecristo White Series cigars; do you have any suggestions for something new? For this customer, whether he’s new or a regular, one must know the strength and flavor profiles of all cigars within the inventory of the store. I like to build and test cigar smoker profiles based off of the type of cigars they smoke and/or are willing to try. A traditional cigar smoker does not like to leave the safety of the bay and explore. Their preference is typically for traditional cigar brands like Punch, Cohiba, Montecristo, Macanudo and Romeo y Julieta. The first question I would ask is are you looking for something bolder than the Montecristo White Series? The next question would be what do you like about the Montecristo White Series? If the answer is yes and a woodlike taste, I would recommend they try Montecristo Platinum Series, which is more medium to full, with a strong woodlike flavor. Another route would be to recommend other brands that fit the profile of medium or medium to full with the woodlike flavor, like a Cohiba Blue, La Palina or Perdomo Champagne 10 years. It’s about teaching cigar smokers to explore the exciting varieties of cigars within the various brands. Q: My friend is a cigar smoker, what would you recommend he or she try? This customer is typically coming in to buy something for a friend or family member and doesn’t know one cigar from another. To get more information, some questions to ask are: Do you know how much your friend smokes cigars? Do you know the color of the wrapper—does it have a paper bag, red clay or dark chocolate color? Do you know the brands he likes? You are trying to get as much detail as possible from the customer. Suppose you find out that the friend smokes regularly, the cigar wrapper has a brown paper bag to slightly dark brown in color. Once you have a fairly clear idea of the cigars the friend smokes, the next question is budget. Based on that, you can recommend Arturo Fuente OPUS X, Padron, Davidoff, Atabey, Byron, etc. If the budget is lower, The Oscar a great brand. The more information that you can gather, the easier it will be to suggest a wonderful product that the customer will enjoy. I work under the philosophy of FIFO (first in, first out) and so I’m always making sure older inventory gets moved, often by offering a promotional deal. ” T H E T O B A C C O N I S T