Like many aspects of retail,
salesmanship is going through a renaissance, and the latest version of
attending to your customers is very different.
In the good old days
(whatever they were) attending to customers involved approaching every customer
directly and launching into your sales pitch. You would extol the virtues of
your products, explain why they were essential to the customer, and of course
before the customer left the stall, get in the line “so, how many would you
like?”
There was some tweaking to
the technique of course. We went through a stage where “Can I help you?” was
replaced with the more sophisticated approach “That product has just been classified
as “most valuable” by the Caroline Springs Housewives Association, and do you
know it comes in 5 different colours?” You get the idea.
"BUT THINGS HAVE CHANGED"
But things have certainly
changed and the big change is the shift from a salesperson dominated discussion to
a customer dominated discussion. And often the customer choice is “no
discussion”. Customers have entered a new world of control. They can even
decide not to visit stores and do their shopping online, which increasing
numbers are doing. Why should they put up with the interference of sales staff
when they can choose and purchase un-interrupted?
Abuse of sales staff is now a
thing. Smartcompany recently reported that over half of Australia’s retail
sales workforce have been physically or verbally abused. Conflict training is
now an important part of retail training programs and the ABC published an
article before Christmas last year entitled “Why You Should Be Nice To Sales
Staff”. The bottom line is that the “pushy” approach with customers is no
longer appropriate.
So, what is the best way to
deal with customers these days? One of our more successful traders is famous
for being regularly absent from his stall. In fact he is never far away and
keeps a close check on customer behaviour. He likes to give customers a free go
to get hooked on his products but as soon as their body language suggests they want
to take the next step, he is by their side. This is customer attention but in a
different way.
The thing that doesn’t change
is your awareness of customer behaviour. Sitting at the back of your stall
immersed in a game on your mobile phone doesn’t qualify. But carefully watching
behaviour and then moving in when the time is right can reap rewards. Don’t be
pushy, but be attentive and hopefully you will end up with a sale, and maybe a
handshake from a happy customer who has respected the fact that you gave them
space.
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