Page 65 of In Sheets of Rain

“Does your story resonate with your readers?”

“I thought it did,” I muttered.

He started walking toward the liquor aisle. I followed.

“Telling a story is like selling things. You just have to know your audience,” he said.

“You know a thing or two about selling things?”

“I’m a medical sales rep,” he said.

“Oh.”

He paused by a South Island sauvignon blanc. He showed me the label. It didn’t mean anything to me, so I just shrugged.

“Knowing what your customer wants is half the battle to selling them what they need,” he said.

“That makes sense,” I agreed.

“It’s all about listening to your audience,” he said. “Then, when they baulk at what you sell them, you dash their objections. ‘You don’t like this in green, but you like yellow? Well, if itwasin yellow, would you like it then? Yes? OK, then what do you like about yellow? Oh, the brightness? Well, we don’t have yellow, but we do have a very invigorating green? Isn’t this green bright? Yes? Then, would you like this product in green? Itisbright. Yes? How many? Let me ship those to you right away, sir.’”

“You do know you’re crazy, right?” I asked, trying not to laugh.

“Crazy good at selling things.”

“And overconfident,” I added.

He peered down at me, and then reached out and grabbed another bottle of the South Island sauvignon blanc.

“Do you like this wine?” he asked.

“I’m ambivalent towards the wine,” I said.

“What are you ambivalent about?”

“I’ve never tasted it.”

“And if I gave you a taste, what then?”

“I might like it. I might not.”

“But say you like it? Would you buy this wine?”

“The label’s boring.”

“Is the label more important than the taste?”

“No.”

“Then if this sauvignon blanc tasted better than that other sauvignon blanc, would you buy this one despite the boring label?”

I blinked up at him. “I guess.”

“Great! Did you know this sauvignon blanc won three awards at the New Zealand wine festival held in Queenstown last year?”

I started laughing.

“That’s good, don’t you think?” he asked. I nodded. Still laughing. “So, it tastes great; it’s won awards, making itwaybetter than other sauvignon blancs. You can’t go wrong with it, can you?”