When I opened my own company (OleOla), I discovered that I'm not the worst customer a salesman could ever have.
I thought I was, because there are global elements that I believe are necessary for me as a customer to be willing to make the exchange.
Since what you pay for is never just the product itself, but the location, the staff, the logistics, the communication, and so many other aspects, I think that every aspect around the product has to work in a way that is, at least, respectful to the customer and balanced for what is the average expense.
I have discovered, however, that as a possible customer, I am a very curious, very open-minded and very fickle person, I do not compromise on certain elements, but I let myself be won over by the details. I thought I was a tiger, but I am a cold kitten.

But... It's because of the attention to detail that I still haven't managed to buy a single item at Zara (never in my life, I mean, never ever) : visual chaos, filth, dirty garments thrown away and disorder, not to mention the managerial policy of hr and the logistics of the fitting rooms, with an average waiting time outside peak hours of 45 minutes standing up. If you were to take into account the average time a person spends in Zara shops, searching, waiting and payment, it certainly could no longer be called fast fashion.

It is for the same reason, however, that I enjoy shopping at Mango, Berenice, Kiko Milano, and other brands where they greet you with a smile when you enter and when you leave, where there is order, where they are present and non-invasive (Lush is emblematic).
The question arises: Am I therefore not the brand's typical customer? It seems to me that this is a simplistic answer and as a frustrated customer I still wonder... If my customer experience was better, would I spend that 100 euros at Zara after the investment of about an hour and a half in the shop or not?
As an entrepreneur I would like my product to be bought not only by that mythical unicorn-customer, but also by the other customers, the Sceptical, the Doubting, the Poor (politically incorrect, but since this is my case, I feel obliged to speak clearly), the I-don't-really-care-about-the-product-but-I-like-it, the Purchase-compulsive, the I-need-a-Gift, etc.

I have seen, however, that it is one thing to be open to buying, and quite another to be faced with a person who rejects what you are proposing a priori. In this case, surely another type of strategy is possible, but in my case of reduced resources, he is the real non-customer.

It is easy these days to talk about understanding the human being in design.
Very often, however, what we understand is our own feeling in a given situation which we then turn into universal law. The designer is human too, and very often the desire to see his favourite concept realised is much stronger than the inclination to understand others.
I used to think like that too and I thought I was right.
Then the creation of my company (OleOla) made me humbly change my thinking.
Having created a product, having worked on it for a long time and knowing that it is not yet perfect and never will be, has made me lose sight of the fact that in front of the product and all its communication, people stop and think about it in ways that are completely different from each other, in terms of education, opportunities, experience and sensitivity. Being the direct seller of my product confronted me with this reality and made me both reflect and act, since I had to understand that I had to adapt my speech to the person in front of me and that I had to understand the person "by intuition" within a few seconds if I wanted to get my message across. Already the culture, from my point of view (I am Italian and I live in France), then the posture, the way of walking, the position of the feet, the position of the bust and hands and, according to the culture and the way of buying, the greeting, the willingness to buy, the demonstration of curiosity and finally, certainly leaving out many other aspects, to understand if the product interests, strikes, entices, remains in the memory and if I have that vague but true moment when the person really listens to me.
Sometimes I get it wrong, sometimes not. I learn, I start again.

This is now for me the basis of human understanding in front of a concept, in front of a thousand, in front of a finished product and its communication.