Approachable...

My family vacationed in Galena, Illinois for a few days in the beginning of April.

Galena, a town of 3200 near the Iowa and Wisconsin borders, was Ulysses S. Grant's home. It’s full of history that predates Chicago (which is about150 miles east).

It's also a tourist trap.

Downtown Galena is row after row of folksy, historic storefronts carrying stuff I never knew I needed or wanted to overpay for.

It was off-season, so it was quiet. Sales were slow. That's when merchants need to be salespeople.

I was surprised by the lack of approachability of many shopkeepers. Oh everyone was nice -- most even friendly. But few were approachable.

One looked up from her book long enough to say “hi”. Another talked to a salesman the entire time we were there. One never greeted me at all.

But two impressed me with their approachability...

At a stationery store, Beth asked for a folding bone (a tool to manually score and fold cardstock). The owner spent several minutes looking, and then apologized sincerely for not finding one. You could sense her sadness.

At a popcorn store the owner greeted us with a handful of fresh caramel corn. He offered us samples of any flavor we wanted to try. He put aside his work to talk to us. We left with four bags of flavored popcorn and an ice cream cone for PJ.

As we loaded up the van to leave town, the stationery storeowner came running out to Beth.

"I found it!" she said with an excitement that was contagious.

She had two styles. We bought them both.

Takeaway: People like to buy from people they like. Being easy to talk to isn't a gimmick. It's about being real, sincere and making the customer the most important thing for that moment in time.