…Sell More

Selling comes down to a verbal exchange between two people. Understanding what flows between two people is the best way to improve your selling results.

The single most important exchange of information takes place between the salesperson and the customer. This is where decisions are made that have the greatest impact on your company’s cash flow.

It’s pretty simple actually; it all comes down to talking and listening. Too many times the salesperson thinks that the talking part is most important. It makes no difference how smooth your delivery is if the reception is closed. 

People think faster than they listen. If your customer is talking at a faster rate than you are listening, you may fail to hear some very important information. Salespeople, intent on making the sale sometimes start thinking about their responses before the customer finishes talking. Missing one key point from your customer could easily cost you a sale.

You will enjoy more selling success by concentrating more on what your customer is saying than what you want to say back. Listening when you want to talk can be difficult if it is not your habit.

Developing good listening skills is like establishing any other habit. Practice makes perfect, but you need to be certain that you are practicing the right way, not the wrong way. Practice this at home and in your social activities so that when you find yourself with a customer it will come more natural.

Keep your ego in your back pocket and let the customer talk. Your time will come, and when it does, your presentation will more likely be on target than if you jump in assuming that you know what the customer is about to say. Remember also that non verbal communication is revealing as well. Watch as you listen to pick up on small body language messages that can keep you in synch with your customer’s thinking.

And always remember that selling is for the customer more than you. Your customers are most likely to have what they buy from you much longer than you will have the money they give you.

Customer Contact

Dealing face-to-face with customers can feel like “mental combat” at times. Not everyone is cut out for it. While customers are not always nice, salespeople must be.
“We found that we could hire nice people and teach them how to sell. We had problems hiring salespeople and teaching them how to be nice.”
-The Nordstrom Way

“Leave Me Alone” 

Customers do not always welcome a salesperson’s approach, even when it is a friendly one. Customers have all encountered pushy salespeople, and think you just might be one of them. Customers can be pretty “closed up”.

“How about…?” 

Getting close to a customer is a lot like flirting with a love interest. One person may want more out of the deal (at the moment) than the other, but both have an interest, or they wouldn’t be there. You want the sale and the customer needs your help. Timing can be everything.

Togetherness 

Your goal is to build a bond with the customer and break down those barriers early on. 
The tricky thing is doing it without appearing phony. The best way to come across as “real”, is to be “real”. The customer is in your store. Talking about the weather or anything outside of the store can be seen as insincere. Sincerity sells!

“Come On In” 

Your customers take a big step when they make the decision to enter your store. Their purpose is not to tell you how they are doing today, so don’t start off by asking that question. Doing so (unless you know one another) is phony. They don’t think you care how they are doing today, and you probably don’t. Be Real!

“Relax and Look Around” 

You probably have a lot of things for your customers to look at, and if you ask, “May I help you?” the answer will most likely be, “No thanks, I’m just looking”. Bad Question!
Always ask a safe, but meaningful question to get started. When you ask a question that assumes a purchase before the customer has seen what you have to offer, like; “Is there something in particular you are looking for?” you set yourself up for an answer you don’t want to hear.

Launch the Discovery 

Most customers are on a discovery mission. You can get in synch with your customer’s mission, launch their discovery and seize control all at the same time by asking the right question. Ask, “Is this your first time in our store”, or in the case of a repeat customer, “How long has it been since you have been in our store”. These are both non threatening, safe to answer questions that set you up to talk about the store and fulfill your customer’s mission.

How Important is Selling in Retail?

How well do you know your job? Unfortunately the answer for many in the retail sector is, “Not well enough”. The sad thing is that they don’t know it. There is a belief that customers know what they want, will ask questions if they have them and seek help if they need it. All of these assumptions are wrong. Selling in a retail store is a trade that must be learned.

 Money Down The Drain

You cannot count the money that runs out of the faucet and down the drain when customers fail to get the information they need to make intelligent buying decisions. It is not enough to ask, “May I help you?” Your job is helping customers and you do not need to ask for permission to do your job.

If you work in a retail store and are certain that you have it all figured out, I suggest that you take this little quiz to find out. E-mail your answers to me and I will let you know how you did.

If you find yourself struggling for the right answers, get yourself a copy of RETAIL SELLING MADE  EASY today.

 Who Needs Them?

In professional football the best of the best play. In spite of this talent there are more coaches on the sidelines than there are players on the field. One might assume that highly “trained” and “gifted” athletes playing at this level already know what to do. Well, they have been taught what to do, but sometimes in the heat of the moment, past lessons learned are forgotten and they might make on the field judgments and decisions that could cost them the game.

The head coach never misses a down

As the ball moves down the field, so does the head coach. Imagine this; the head coach calls the team together before the game and says, “Okay guys, this is a big game. There is a lot of money at stake and we need to win. You have been practicing the plays all week and you know what to do, so get out there and win. I’ll see you after the game; I need to go to the bank” 

Travel - Meetings - Errands 

This sounds ridiculous, but it happens in retail sales. The manager (head coach) is oftentimes nowhere near the field (sales floor) during the game (selling time). Sales managers and owners have “other things” to do. They go on buying trips, sit in meetings and go to the bank. Too many times these “other things” are done when it’s “Game Time”. Some of these absences cannot be avoided.

Priorities Rule 

Retail salespeople do not have the advantage of a team of coaches watching their every move, listening to everything they say. Retail salespeople, are many times (too many times) left alone to do what feels right (or good) at the moment. When feelings govern behavior, something as natural as eating could take the place of customer awareness.

Accountability Works 

The answer to this apparent dilemma is results accountability. Owners and managers have the right (and responsibility) to expect, even demand results. When salespeople are held accountable to sales goals they make more money and the store is more profitable. Something as simple as expecting success can eliminate failure. The Success Dynamics Morning Report is the coach that never misses a down for hundreds of retail businesses in all industries all over the country. It’s all about making success easy.

 How Do Customers Rate You?

This story appearing in TRANSWORLD Business Magazine raises concern about manufacturers and vendors selling on line and in their own stores.

Mikke Pierson, owner of ZJ Boarding House in Santa Monica, California said it all when he said, “For ZJ Boarding House that means a dedicating ourselves to hard goods, product knowledge and great customer service.”

You Can Compete With the Web 

The Internet is here to stay, but so are the brick and mortar stores that offer what you cannot get on the web. People still like to touch, feel and ask questions of a human being. The Internet cannot compete with human beings provided they do what the Internet cannot. Retailers that stand back and let customers walk around the store without assistance will fall prey to the Internet where they can do that from home.

Pro-Active Service Is Crucial

Success Dynamics works with many retailers with a large number of surf shops being among them. Those that remain focused on their customers will not lose business to the Internet. In fact, shoppers will browse the vendors site to narrow the choice and then come into their favorite neighborhood shop to buy and “talk story” with their “friends”.

People Make the Difference

People buy people first, and what they sell second. Money isn’t everything.
One of the best examples I see is Surf-n-Sea in Haleiwa, Hawaii where there are about 20 surf shops all competing with the same merchandise at similar prices. Surf-n-Sea continues to see rising sales month after month.

Strive For Excellence
A previous article that appeared in TRANSWORLD Business Magazine illustrates what Surf-n-Sea is doing to remain competitive with anyone and everyone. You can do the same.

It Can Be Taught

I make the point in RETAIL SELLING MADE EASY that there is no such thing as a “natural born salesperson”, yet many people think there is. Selling is a skill that can be learned.

The Green Bay Wisconsin Press Gazette ran a story entitled Selling Takes More Than Asking. “May I Help You?” The contributing writer, Paul Lotto, is a marketing/business teacher at Ashwaubenon High School. He teaches the class “Selling and International Business.” In the class, his students learn how to sell. It is a skill that retailers need to teach employees.

Lotto said. “The vast majority of retail stores have very poor sales training programs or they do not provide training at all.” I call it the “Bible Method of Selling”. That’s where you hire people, put them out on the sales floor, and pray to God they sell something.

Lotto’s seven steps of selling outline what needs to be done. I am sending Paul a copy of RETAIL SELLING MADE EASY to round out his program. Maybe it will become his new text book.

4.6 Million Visitors a Minute

“Cyber Monday” is a new phenomenon going hand in hand with Black Friday.
CNN Money reported that by 2 PM Eastern Time, more than 300 retailing Web sites tracked by Internet monitoring firm Akamai were drawing 4.6 million visitors per minute. Major retailers said that Internet traffic was up more than 80 percent compared to a normal Monday.

Why Monday?

The irony here is that Monday is when a lot of people return to “work” after a four-day Thanksgiving food fest. One might think that a lot of work might be waiting to be done on that Monday, and it is an appalling thought that so many people “shop” while supposedly working. It was estimated that 72 million people would shop sometime during that day.

“Web Surfing” during work hours has become far too commonplace. Have you ever noticed that most workplace computers cannot be seen by passers by? I say, “Turn things around” so that managers can see what their employees are doing on line while “working”, or would that be “micro-managing”?

 Amazing!!!

 The parking lot at Ala Moana Shopping Center looked like the 4th of July at dawn this morning. Old Navy led the pack by opening at midnight. The rest of the mall opened at 6 am. Local station KHON; Channel 2 even ran a story on their web site stating the hours and parking opportunities at various malls.

As I read about the efforts placed to save a few bucks on “Black Friday”, I can’t help but wonder how much effort these same people put into “making money” all year round. Hawaii has one of (if not the lowest) unemployment rates in the country and employers are scrambling to find full and part time help.

Santa seemed to be putting his back to the whole thing, preferring to look at the park and ocean.

Longs Beware!

Pacific Business News announced today that the Walgreen Co. plans to open their first store on Maui late next year.

The store will be 15,000 square feet, and will be built in Lahaina across from the Lahaina Cannery Mall. It will include a drive-through pharmacy, and they are expected to employ more than 40 people. With unemployment being as low as it is, this should be very interesting.

They announced earlier this year that they intend to open 30 stores in Hawaii and will position them as close to Longs as they can. This one will be right across the street.

The nation’s largest drugstore chain is set to make its Hawaii debut on November 1, when it opens its first Hawaii store on November 1 in the former Tower Records store on Ke’eamoku Street in Honolulu.

Promotions and Deals

CNNMoney quotes the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) as saying that this year’s holiday sales will be “the softest levels seen since 2004″. Their prediction is that “retailers will be relying on promotions and other deals” will be the way most retailers will deal with the softening trend.

While these marketing efforts might bring more customers into the store, my suggestion would be a stronger focus on selling to those in the store.

It’s amazing to see the lack of attention that shoppers get these days, and the biggest violators seem to be the biggest stores. My father told me that “volume can make up for a multitude of sins”.

While that is probably true, why not capitalize on what is in front of you with better service?