One of the biggest differences between a typical specialty store and an extraordinary one is the number of sales made during a customer’s visit. Don’t confuse multi-sale with multi-unit. Although multi-unit purchases are certainly important to a store’s ability to achieve its daily goal, multi-sale visits are vital to long-term success.
In most specialty stores, the staff facilitates what is necessary for a customer to make a purchase. That might involve actions such as answering a customer’s questions, unlocking the dressing room, getting a product from the back, ringing up the sale, and bagging the product. It’s a transactional sale.
Extraordinary specialty retailers are significantly more customer-focused and can make up to seven sales in one visit. That’s right, seven! I suspect most of you make most of these sales although you may not label them as such.
Selling is not only “the transfer of goods and rendering of services in exchange for money.” Selling also means “to persuade or convince people of something.” The first definition of selling is what all retailers do; the second is what the best do, too.
Here are the different types of sales we can make when we engage a customer.
1. Sell your customer on you. Trust and likeability are two key factors in any relationship between a customer and a sales associate. This is as true for a two-minute interaction as it is for a two-hour sale. This sale is made by a combination of:
a) Making your customer a priority.
b) Displaying interest in your customer.
c) Being authentic in your approach
d) Demonstrating product, industry, and store knowledge.
e) Engaging your customer on the level he/she wants to be engaged.
2. Sell your customer on the store. Product mix, merchandising, in-store communications and store standards are the biggest drivers in making this sale. Associates can also impact this sale by sharing stories about the company and its place in the community.
3. Sell your customer on making a purchase. The best associates make a sale on a purchase, not a product. That’s where the units-per-transactions come in.
4. Sell your customer on developing a longer-term relationship with the store. The first three sales influence this one but employees must be proactive to complete it. If you don’t capture an email address or add the customer to a client book, you didn’t make this sale.
5. Sell your customer on advocating the store and/or associate to friends and family. This sale is most often the result of delivering an experience that exceeds the customer’s expectations, but it can also be as a result of an associate asking the customer to tell others about their experience.
6. Sell your customer on returning. Next visit intent begins before a customer even leaves the store. We can improve the chance of that happening by engaging the customer on a personal level. A few examples:
“I look forward to seeing you on your next visit.”
“I’d love to hear how that room turned out when I see you again.”
“Bring in pictures when you get back from your trip.”
7. Sell your customer on wanting to hear from you. By telling your customer you’re going to contact them again and the benefit to them of that contact, they’ll look forward to hearing from you. As an example:
“I’ll give you a call when those new products arrive. I want you to see all of the different patterns before they sell out.”
“I’ll follow-up to make sure everything works the way we planned.”
“Watch for the invitation to our customer appreciation event. The events are a blast and you’ll be able to take advantage of some amazing specials.”
So let me ask, how many sales can you make to your next customer?
