Although it might be the thousandth time an actor has performed the part, it might be the first time the customer sitting in the fourth row has seen the production.
With first-time customers the salesman conducts a lengthy interview, jotting notes, hoping to narrow the search to four or five models before taking the inevitably sweaty tour of the lot.
Drummond half listened to the tapping keys and the ringing bells and the ratchet of the returning carriage until the cowbell clanged dully a second time as the customer left.
About half of the company's first-time customers avoid the headache-provoking choices by opting for the site's Copy Cat feature, he said, which prompts you to mail in your favorite pair of jeans.
Late in the afternoon, a first-time customer walked in, scanned the shelves in bewilderment and inevitably asked, "Do you sell books here?" Not anymore.
"It became a strain to explain the policy to first-time customers," Elena Rivellino, the Bistro's general manager, says.
But there's no guarantee that the first-time customer will become a regular.
Last year's fundraising had made the bank stronger, the bank's values and ethics policies had been written into its constitution for the first time and the customers were still dealing with the same staff, he said.
E-bit expects total e-commerce revenue in 2011 of $10.7 billion and an addition of 4.7 million first-time customers in the second half of the year.
Neil Shah at Counterpoint Research, another analysis firm, says that Xiaomi has had great success attracting first-time customers in the under-$150 segment, where it competes with local rivals such as Lenovo.
"For the first time the partner and/or customer's compliance manual is live and active and not a PDF stuck in a drawer," claims Verdon.
