In today’s blog we will cover the first two steps: RAPPORT AND QUALIFICATION
SECTION ONE: APPROACHING AND GREETING/BUILDING RAPPORT
We only get one chance to make a good first impression. In retail selling, the first impression is critical. It takes 7 seconds or less to make that impression, good or bad. Unfortunately, customers have a longstanding impression of those individuals who earn a living in sales. Their perception is that sales associates are unprofessional, usually incompetent, and are always looking for ways to mislead the consumer into buying things they don’t want for need.
PAUL’S NOTE: Do not consider yourself to be a sales associate/sales person; you are a consultant, you are a Home Furnishings Expert, you are here to solve problems for your customers and help to find the right items for them.
Telephone Greeting: The first impression for your customer often happens via the telephone. Calling a store can be a challenge at the best of times. Unfortunately, as a cost savings measures, many retailers have replaced receptionists with automated systems that make the initial contact impersonal and cold. Customers can be frustrated by automated messages and endless messages until they decide to hang up and call someone else. If they leave a message, sometimes no one calls back, or if they are lucky enough to speak to a person they can be transferred immediately after explaining their question and have to repeat the process again, or accidentally hung up on.
Fortunately, this is easy to fix:
- we should answer the phone as quickly as we can, usually no more than two rings;
- if a person leaves a message, we should call them back within 15 minutes as a rule.
- When we speak on the phone, you should always smile, that smile will be reflected in your voice.
- Always identify yourself.
For example: “Thank you for calling INSERT YOUR COMPANY NAME, Paul speaking. How may I help you?”
Social Media Greeting: This is a little more difficult; however, people that are on-line should be considered exactly as if they were on the phone or in-person, make sure that you:
- Respond to on-line inquiries as quickly as you can, the person is literally waiting for you to respond
- Smile while you key your response
- Always identify yourself
Store Greeting: The greeting your customer receives in the store will also confirm or refute their impressions concerning salespeople. We want to quickly establish that we are a cut above the rest. We want your customer to see you are a professional and competent whose only priority is to find them the right product at the right price, and to deliver outstanding customer service.
To ensure that you make that exceptional first impression, we need an exceptional greeting. The old familiar standby “Can I help you” will only serve to confirm negative expectations and will put them into a defensive posture. That type of greeting is done out of habit and will be seen as insincere and counterproductive. Your goal is to bring down the customer’s defenses and allow us to engage them in a warm conversation and to begin building a rapport with them.
When the store is busy, be certain to acknowledge as quickly as you can so they will know someone has seen them. Customers should never feel that they are being ignored.
PAUL NOTE: If a customer looks like they have a question – THEY DO!
Eye Contact: Customers think that sales associates who avoid eye contact are not interested in helping them and initiating eye contact will tell them that we are ready and interested. People who avoid eye contact can be perceived as dishonest or sneaky. By maintaining eye contact, we assure our customer that we are honest and open.
10 Foot Rule: Every customer that comes within 10 feet of your or any other associate should be greeted. That does not mean that every sales associate needs to actually engage the customer in a sale. It simply means that every customer should be made to feel welcome with a friendly “Hello” or “Good morning/afternoon”. We do not want anyone to feel ignored.
Keys to Acknowledging your customer:
- Do so in a timely manner indicating to your customer that they are important
- Make and hold eye contact
- Smile
- Nod slightly
- Remember your customer has come to us because they have a goal or a problem to be solved; they believe that we may have the solution; and they will make a purchase if they feel comfortable.
Just looking: Customers are conditioned to say this, WHY – this reaction is totally defensive based on their past experiences. They have had less than great experiences and therefore would prefer to look on their own and then seek help at their discretion. This is why COSTCO has become so successful; fortunately, we offer a specialized product line that requires professional assistance so we need to find a way to initiate a positive interaction even when we get the “just looking” response. One of the keys to avoiding the “Just Looking” response is to approach at the right time.
Approaching the customer: Here are some basic rules of approaching your customer:
- No longer than 1 to 2 minutes after arriving in the store
- Never approach a customer from behind
- A 45-degree angle as opposed to blocking them from moving past you
- If a customer initiates eye contact
- If a customer is engaged with a product
- If a customer looks like they have a question
If you follow these basics, you should avoid most “just looking’s”, if for some reason that response appears; here are some points on how to get past it and into a productive positive sales interaction:
- Understand that people are not just looking, they came in with a purpose and it is your job to find out why
- Everyone has said “just looking”, it is a buyer’s reflex, many customers don’t even like to shop. If they were just looking, then obviously that would be easier to do with a professional’s advice, so make the interactive a positive experience by asking “What brought you in today?
- A good response is to go directly into qualification. For example: That’s great sir, feel free to browse as long as you like! What are you looking for in particular? As soon as they answer that question, go directly into further qualification, once you have some information, then go back and build rapport.
The purpose of the greeting is:
- Acknowledge the customer
- Make your customer comfortable
- Establish your expertise and desire to help your customer
Keys to building a great relationship with your customer:
- Be sincere
- Be brief initially
- Ice-break throughout the sale, 35%-40% of your sale is getting to know your customer
- Find common ground or common interested
Examples of Good Ice-breaking topics include:
- Children
- Current/special events – avoid politics and religion
- Weather
- Sports, especially if the customers are wearing logos
- Lifestyle – upcoming holidays
SECTION TWO: QUALIFYING
During the first two steps of selling, perhaps the most important qualification to identify is your customer’s motive for buying:
MOTIVES FOR BUYING – An important part of qualifying is to discover which one of the 5 primary motivations apply to your customer.
SECURITY
- They have trust that they will get good service and selection here because they have in the past
- They trust that the store has integrity in their pricing
- They have read the reviews and know that service is a priority for our company
UTILITY
- The customer knows what products we have available for sale
- The customer knows that we have product available for pickup TODAY! Or delivery within a few days (customers do not like to wait)
- The customer knows that financing is available relatively easily
PRESTIGE
- The customer does not want to buy something basic; they want something they can “show off”, THEIR PURCHASE IS AN EXTENSION OF THEIR PERSONALITY.
- They want something that suits their “comfort and lifestyle zone”, in fact they may not a “big box” store’s truck to even come to their home.
- This customer will want the “newest”, “the best”, and sometimes the most “expensive”
- This customer will be a good candidate for “custom” orders and will almost always have the means to pay for them.
PLEASURE
- This customer is different than the Prestige customer in that they do not buy to show off, they buy to enjoy the things they have
- They will buy motion furniture will all of the bells and whistles because they are “fun”
- These customers will usually buy the “step up” items rather than just the basic items
SAVINGS
- These customers will usually tell you they are in your store for a “deal”
- They can include the wealthiest customers right to the poorest customer and nothing drives them more than “saving a buck or three or four”.
- Show these customers the “deals” in the store and be prepared for them to try to grind you even more, just because they like to do that.
- Recognizing this motivation is key and these customers will spend lots of money as long as they perceive that you gave them a better deal than they could get anywhere else
If you can recognize their motive and tailor your presentation around satisfying that motive, your chances of successfully completing the sale today increase dramatically.
PAUL’S NOTE: Every great sales person always wants to close the sale today; if you cannot, then ensure that you have used some form of a “lead tracker” and that you have all of the information to stay on top of the potential sale.
The Art of Asking Questions – Some customers will tell you immediately why they are in your store, but the vast majority of people will not … at least not right away; you have to earn their trust, earn their respect, and earn the right to know. Fortunately, if you listen and hone the art of paying attention, you can succeed where many sales associates fail. In some ways, you almost need the beside manner of a great doctor, someone who radiates sincere concern and who wants to make things better.
PAUL’S NOTE: This portion of the QUALIFYING STEP of the 6 steps of selling was suggested to me by perhaps the most successful furniture and appliances sales associate I have ever met. Tom Gillies, Tom has been a friend and a mentor for many years and I have learned something new about selling every day that I have worked with him.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is falling in love with certain products. They can be very good products and pay very good commissions and they might even be an excellent option for many customers, many but not all. If you promote these products to each and every customer, you can virtually forget to take time to know your customer and what it is that they are looking for. Eventually, customer needs are no longer a factor at all when you determine which products you are going to recommend to your customers. Your customer will not be excited about the prospect of owning these products because they have no way to relate them to their own needs and experiences. You must sincerely want to find the right product for your customer because the moment you don’t, you become one of those stereotypical salespeople who is only interested in “selling” your customer rather than “helping” your customer. You will not make a sale when this happens.
As a sales associate, it is imperative that we understand the needs of our customers so that we can relate these needs to the benefits offered by our products verses our competition. If a customer goes to three different stores and deals with three different sales people, the one who truly understands the customers needs will be the one best able to relate their products to the needs of the customer. Invariably, this is the salesperson that will make the sale. A simple way of illustrating this concept is to relate your next retail sale to selling a product to a close family member or friend. Would you have built a good relationship with this person? Of course! Would you know and understand the needs of this person? Of course! Would this person ever dream of going and buying from your competition? Never! Our goal, then, should be to know and understand each customer as well as a close family member or friend. That is not to say that every customer is prepared to provide that much information during a sale. Our goal, remains the same, find out as much relevant information so that we can relate our product benefits to their needs.
PAUL’S NOTE: Many companies, can fall into the trap of providing “spiffs” or internal contests to push certain products, which may not be the best products for their customers. Avoid this trap unless the customers need align with the product.
Exceptional sales people are as rare as exceptional athletes or business people; fortunately, much of selling is a learned skill and the simplest strategies are the most effective. Knowledge begins with KNOW, and usually the salesperson who KNOWS the most gets the sale. If a salesperson knows the following intimately, they will rarely lose a sale to the competition.
- Sales Techniques
- Product Knowledge
- Your competition
- Your company’s guidelines
- The needs and wants of your customers
Active listening: One of the key points of in qualification is to actively listen to your customer. Active listening is more than just waiting for your turn to talk, it means processing everything your customer says with one goal in mind; to find out everything necessary to recommend the right product to suit your customer’s needs.
Keys to active listening:
- Let the customer finish what they are saying
- Ask more questions
- If the customer hesitates, urge them on, and don’t interrupt
- Let them finish, process the information, then respond
- Give appropriate non-verbal clues – see below
Non-verbal clues/communication
- Maintain good eye contact
- Smile
- Nod and repeat back key information
- Maintain open body language (never cross your arms)
- Respect their personal space
- Make notes
- Never challenge a customer, even if they might be wrong, find a better way to correct them
Open ended questions: A critical point to remember when qualifying is to ask “open ended questions”. By definition, these are questions that require an elaborate response rather than simply as yes/no answer. Open-ended questions can be asked by starting the question with who, what, where, why, or how. Open-ended questions will get you more information in a shorter period of time. For example:
- What brought you into our store today?
- What did you like best about your previous ___________?
- Where are you going to be putting your new __________?
- What features are important to you?
- What are the things in the room already?
- Who will be using the ______________?
- What have you seen in the market that you liked?
Examples of close-ended questions to avoid:
- Can I help you?
- Did you like your previous _________________?
Customer keys: Your goal in qualifying is to determine which features and benefits are required to find the ideal product for your customer. These are referred to as “customer keys” or “hot buttons”, they will unlock your customers passion for your products. Ideally, you will use these keys later in the sale, but for now you need to remember what they are because the keys are different for every customer. You should have 3 or 4 keys to illustrate later in the sale that you have found the ideal product for them. Throughout qualifying, listen carefully so that you can pickup the keys and increase both your sales efficiency and your customers satisfaction.
Qualification Tips:
- Make notes
- Try to have 3 or 4 customer keys
- Summarize their needs before moving to the next step
- Use lots of open-ended questions
Planting seeds: This is an idea that we will discuss later in more detail; however, planting seeds is an idea that will grow, like a seed, as you discuss the extended service provided on our products.
PAUL’S NOTE: Try to avoid using the term “extended warranty”, there are many bad extended warranty references in the world, and using that term only hurts you.
Tips for “planting seeds”:
- Provide helpful hints for the customer
- Focus on positives
- Mention early and often throughout the sale
- Avoid going into detail at this point
- Never use “scare” tactics
An example: “Mike, you mentioned that you have four kids and two pets. Keeping your new sofa clean and well maintained is something that will be important to you. Remind me later about how we can help you maintain your new sofa for years to come.”
Next we will discuss steps 3 and 4 – EDUCATION AND DEMONSTRATION.