When it comes to serving in-store customers, here are three words to banish from your sales team’s vocabulary: “Need any help?”
The well-intentioned query is a dud, according to Bob Phibbs, of the retaildoc.com, for many reasons — it’s overused, easy to bat away (“No thanks.” “I’m just looking.”) and, worst of all, it puts shoppers “immediately on the defensive.”
A better approach, writes Phibbs, is to train your team to “grab a prop,”— ahem, that gorgeous potted orchid you just got in — “walk up to them with a cheerful greeting and walk on after mentioning something specific.”
“To the customer it just looks like you are stocking something,” Phibbs writes. “If you are a gift store, when you see someone milling about in front of a display, get over there with a prop and greet them with something like ‘Welcome to (name of your store,) take a look around and I’ll be right back.’ Then go on with your prop to something else.”
The second part of that advice — to move along once you’ve greeted the customer — is key, Phibbs explains. No one likes a lurker, and customers can easily “feel smothered” by too attentive salespeople. When you do follow up, several minutes later, don’t ask if the customer is “finding anything.”
“Instead, walk past them and make a statement about a specific piece of merchandise,” Phibbs said. “An example would be, ‘We have some more gift packs over here with Belgian chocolate in them.’”
The point, he said, “is to make statements, not ask questions. That way, no response is required. The customer can’t say no.”
Looking to formalize your in-store sales training to emphasize greeting customers and following up? Read about one shop that did just that—with great success.
