The sale all starts with the APPROACH to the customer. What, when and how do you approach the customer? The most common line I hear used in stores is, “Can I help you?” And the most common response to that uninspired line is “No, I’m just
Start viewing the world in a customer’s perspective.
looking.” We all know that this approach does not work, so let’s stop using it. Let’s commit to NEVER saying that greeting question again to a customer and replacing it with a much higher value greeting.
Start by viewing the world from a customer’s perspective. She just walked into your store. Through the window, she probably saw one or two items that caught her attention, and now she has entered your world. This is not her territory, this is yours. When you walk into someone else’s territory, our social norms are such that you are a bit tentative until you are welcomed and invited to “make yourself at home.” When you go over a friend’s house, you don’t waltz into the house like it’s your home, you don’t sit down until invited and you don’t grab food until offered to do so. The same kind of welcome works in a store.
“Welcome to Beth’s Boutique! I am Susie. Are you familiar with our place? I would love to show you the layout and help you to find the exact right thing you are looking for.”
Oftentimes a customer is already in a store and looking at some merchandise by the time a sales person can get to them. This happens frequently, in larger stores and in smaller booths. The approach to a customer who is already actively engaged in looking at merchandise should be modified somewhat. This is more akin to approaching someone at a party or club, in which you want to engage them in conversation without scaring them off.
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“That’s a great pair of running shoes you are looking at. I bought them myself and felt a real difference while running.”
“You’ve got a good eye for jewelry. That’s one of my favorite designs.”
“The fragrance from those plants is wonderful, isn’t it?” It’s a much kinder, gentler approach that helps a sales professional to be accepted by the customer. This customer approach technique is a conversation starter instead of a flippant line. Who’s going to say “No, I’m just looking” when approached in this manner?
ENGAGEMENT
This kind of sales approach helps to facilitate ENGAGEMENT, the second step in the sales process. Engagement is where the salesperson becomes actively involved with the customer’s search. Even with the right approach, the engagement has to occur properly in order to facilitate the sale.
“Are you looking for something for everyday use or for a special occasion?”
“Is this going to be for you or a gift for someone else?” “We’ve got some great pants that came in today that would go really well with the shirt that you are holding. Would you like me to show them to you?”
To be honest, the last line is not one that I came up with, but one that was said to me. I was shopping at a men’s clothing store in Oak Brook, Illinois. I walked into the store to just buy a shirt and was flipping through the rack, holding one shirt in my hand, when a saleswoman approached me with that line.
“Sure,” I replied.
“Here, let me carry that shirt for you,” she said. I gave her the shirt, and she lead me to the pants rack, asked my size and pulled out two pairs of pants, one brown and one blue. “Why don’t you try on these, and see if you like them?”
En route to the fitting room, we also harvested another two shirts that went well with the pants, and a belt too. Hook, line and sinker. I was sold. Why? Because I was engaged in the absolutely right way. I was getting fashion advice on how to update my wardrobe – which was really the whole purpose to my wanting to buy a new shirt.
How are you engaging your customers with a message of value? How is your customer engagement taking the experience to a whole new level of service? Are you providing friendly leadership and guidance within the store? Are you working from the customer’s perspective? Engage the customer like a Spark Sales Professional, and see how the selling becomes transformed into a buying experience.
45 OPENING THE SALE
OPENING THE SALE is the part of sales process in which the sales person introduces the merchandise, equipment, service or material for sale. The key here is to avoid yes or no type questions and instead offer choices to select:
“Which color would you like to see in your size?”
“Would you prefer to test drive the model T2 car or the model S3 car?”
“Are you interested in the preferred package service or the economy package service? The preferred package service is the most popular.”
When asked a choice question, the customer is lead to respond under the assumption of moving forward with a purchase decision. The more that the Spark Sales Professional can be the leader in the interaction, the more likely the sale will come to fruition. People often want to buy things but will hesitate, procrastinate and sometimes give up, because they are afraid of making the wrong decision. By using questions to provide the customer with leadership and guidance for the decision-making
Focus on their true needs.
process, a Spark Sales Professional can help the customer to reach his or her sales decision sooner.
I have seen many sales representatives make conversation with customers but fail to open the sale by never asking. The customer is in your store to buy something. You are a salesperson, not a professional conversationalist. You need to find out what they want to buy so you can help them. How you ask them though, is key to the success of the sale. Using guided questions will help the customer to focus on their true needs, and ultimately will help you to earn the sale.
Recall the last example of choice questions – “Are you
interested in the preferred package service or the economy package service? The preferred package service is the most popular.” It
includes an important component, the special tag, “The preferred
package service is the most popular.” When it comes time to make
a selection, people like to know their decisions are positively validated. If most of the other customers selected a particular item or package, then it must be a great value! Simply letting a customer know that “this is the most popular” or that “most of our customers pick this one” can help a customer to feel more confident about their decision. They like the endorsement that other people made the same choice as they did.
In addition to the customer recommendation, another popular endorsement can be similarly as powerful. This is the
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“celebrity” endorsement. A celebrity can be someone famous like a superstar athlete or a movie star, someone respected like a local doctor or community leader, or someone personal, like a good friend. When you have the opportunity to leverage such an endorsement, use it to help with the sale.