ATTENTION SYDNEY RETAILERS -- SPRUIKER TO BOOST CUSTOMER TRAFFIC ,

Tony Maguire is one of the best and most experienced spruikers in Sydney.

“Spruiking is a very effective way of communicating some urgency and excitement about what might otherwise be just another sale,” says Eastern Suburbs-based Tony. “With increasing competition online, bricks and mortar retailers need to consider every promotional avenue available and spruiking is a proven way of boosting sales.”

Spruiking can be traced back to the old-fashioned fairground "barkers" who used to urge people to spend money at their stalls and side-shows. In fact, it goes back way beyond that, to the first merchant who ever stood outside his or her shop in some Middle Eastern bazaar and urged passers-by to check out the amazing wares inside.

"You need to keep up a rapid-fire, race caller-like tempo," Tony says. "If you falter, it's like a musician going out of time, you lose the groove and it can take a while to pick it up again."

He says it's not a good idea to directly engage with passing shoppers because some people are resent being singled out by someone with a microphone. "I learned this very early in my career when I was spruiking outside a mobile phone shop and a man walked past who looked very much like the latter-day Sean Connery – bald head, trimmed grey beard, large stature. So I made the mistake of saying, "I wonder how much Sean Connery pays for his
phone each month?

"Next thing I found myself backed up against a plate glass window as the Connery lookalike, who as I've mentioned was large in stature, lowered his face to
within an inch or two of mine and told me, in a short, sharp sentence mainly consisting of four-letter words, what he thought of me.

"Fortunately, the Sean doppelganger left it at that, but the incident taught to respect peoples' dignity and resist the urge to be a wise-ass."

Check out Tony's 50 second spruiking video, shot at Westfield Bondi Junction, on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnpuo1i85F0