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Here comes the 2nd step to great selling by our friend Mike at Sucessful Stores…He really does give great advice and for all you independant retailers out there, you should totally listen up! I was in retail sales for a while and  those little add on’s can make all the difference and the personal touch’s you provide for your customers, definitely keep them coming back again and again! Later this week, I will have Step 3 comign!! Thanks Mike!

2 – Show More, Sell More!

The 5 Steps to Successful Retail Selling

Lesson 2

Show More,  Sell More!

A. Give A.B.C.D Service! 

I believe that every customer should always receive what I call A.B.C.D service (Above and Beyond the Call of Duty). Key Point: One of the best possible forms of service that you can give to a customer is to show them a large selection of merchandise! In many cases, giving the customer options actually helps to close the sale on other merchandise.

To reiterate our example from Lesson 1; we’ve begun the presentation process for our imaginary customer. She’s a professionally dressed, physically fit, woman in her thirties that is on her way to Vegas for a tradeshow. Our imaginary professional salesperson is on 10% commission and understands that his mission consists of 3 major points:

1. To give A.B.C.D service.
2. To “upgrade” the customer.
3. To sell multiple items to every customer.

 B. Build Credibility While Building a Rapport.

Ok. Get ready, I’m about to unleash some really “old school”, “Shoe Dog” stuff on you…

You might laugh about the simplistic nature of what I’m about to say, but trust me, sometimes it’s the little things that can make a big difference. Here goes…

Put the shoes on your customers’ feet!  Huh?? “You mean get down there and run the risk of touching a strangers feet”, you ask??? Yes. That is exactly what I’m saying.
You have credibility with a customer if you do things expected of a  professional. Let’s explore some of the little things that professional retail salespeople do.

 Again; let’s start with what not to do…

Most shoe salespeople these days just come out of the stockroom and present the customer with a box of shoes. They simply hand them to the customer, then stand back, watch the customer try them on and wait for a report. What you really should do is, sit on a fitting stool, offer to measure the customer’s feet and actually slide the shoe onto the customer’s foot using an old fashioned “shoe spoon”. If it’s a lace up shoe, you should actually lace the shoe up on the customer’s foot for them. I know, I know, you’re ROFL (Rolling on the Floor Laughing)  right now, as the kids say these days. I understand that it’s not quite like it was “back in the day” when I grew up in the shoe business. You might actually scare the customer if you try doing all of that. If you can’t sit down and put the shoe on her, you should at least do this much: Open the box; take all of the packing sticks and papers out of the shoes, pre-flex the shoe a little to soften it up before you hand it to the customer.

 Key Point: If you do not have fitting stools in your store, at least kneel down next to the customer when you hand the shoe to her. Why? Because this keeps you at eye level with her, not towering above her while she tries it on. This makes you more accessible. Your body language says you are interested and engaged in the process. Not so if you are standing, you will be easily distracted by other things. However, when she does get up and walk to “test drive” the shoe, you should get up and walk along with her. Again, this keeps you at the same eye level with the customer.

Let me give you a couple of other good reasons to actually put the shoe on the customer’s foot. It won’t take you very long at all, if you do this often enough, that you can tell just by the way a shoe slides on the customer’s foot if it is going to fit or not. This is a valuable tool in your arsenal, because you can be formulating “plan b” in your sales pitch before she even takes her first walk in the shoe. Plus, it is a little thing that establishes an “ABCD” level of service that actually sets you apart from most of the other salespeople out there in the world.

Now, you have gained credibility in the customer’s eye because you do things that are professional and that they most likely have not seen in a very long time.

C. The Old Fashioned “4 on the Floor” Rule

 It’s really pretty much this simple; the more you show, the more you sell. If you are lucky enough to be a commission based retail salesperson, no one should have to explain that to you. When I was in that position, I looked at each customer that walked in the door with the attitude of “She’s got my money in her pocket and I want it!” Back in the good ‘ol days, old “Shoe Dogs” always told you that in order to make money selling shoes, you had to bring out at least 4 pairs of shoes. It’s a little more complicated than that. Let’s explore the details.

4 pairs, 3 pairs, 10 pairs, it doesn’t really matter how many you bring out to show the customer, it just depends on the flow of the selling process. Remember our imaginary customer from Lesson 1? She came into our store and we started a conversation with her. We found out that her most pressing need is a new pair of black dress shoes to wear to a tradeshow. In Lesson 1, I described the other shoes the professional salesperson might bring out for this particular customer and gave examples of the styles:

Pair number 1. The shoe the customer had in her hand. The Vincent Camuto pumps (The one that she picked up off of the display).

Pair number 2. The same type of shoe that she picked out, but one that has a higher price tag (the Taryn Rose pump “upgrade”)

Pair number 3. The same shoe in a different color (we did not discuss this one earlier)

Pair number 4. A shoe from a totally different classification (the flip flops for poolside) or maybe we brought an athletic shoe like an MBT because we noticed she looked athletic.

Let’s discuss:

The 1^st Pair: It’s just common sense to bring her the first one that caught her eye on display. After you learn more about her needs and how the shoe actually fits her type of foot, this one may eventually be ruled out completely, but it’s a place to start.

The 2^nd Pair: The “upgrade item”. As I’ve mentioned earlier, an important reason to want to get a more expensive shoe on her, is that at 10% commission, our salesperson is going to make considerably more money by selling her the $200 shoe than he is the $80 shoe. But… There is another, not quite so selfish, reason that is even more important than this. Chances are, if he ends up selling her the $200 shoe, the quality of that product will most likely be considerably better than the $80 shoe. That means that in the long run she will be generally be happier with her purchase. This translates to her being happier with the stores’ merchandise, happier with the salesperson that sold it to her, and above all, it gives her a great attitude about returning for future purchases. So really, if you think about it, upgrading the customer to higher quality merchandise is really part of giving better quality customer service, right? 

The 3^rd Pair: The same shoe in a different color. If the salesperson gets lucky and really nails the pair of black pumps and the customer loves the fit and feel, a relatively easy way to sell her an additional pair of shoes is to try the same one in a different color. Sometimes the new shoe is the most comfortable shoe she’s had on in a long time. If that’s the case, she might just feel the need to have a couple of pair of them .

The 4^th Pair: The shoe from a totally different classification than the original need. This is where it really gets to be fun and satisfying for the salesperson! 90% of all customers that walk into the store are primarily concerned with filling a need (black pumps to wear to work or tennis shoes to wear to the gym etc.). Very few people walk into a store and think, “I’m just going into that store and buy myself a new pair of shoes because I’ve had a bad day and it will cheer me up”.  So, professional salespeople focus on the needed shoe first, but they never forget to suggest the “wanted” shoe. It can actually cheer the customer up and make the entire process more entertaining for them if they purchase an additional shoe as an “attitude adjustment”.  Again, that’s where you come in. They might never try on the ”fun” shoe if the salesperson hasn’t suggested it.  You really should consider it a form of extra service that you provide.

Let’s take a look at an example of how the conversation between the customer and the salesperson might have gone, so we can show how the merchandise was suggested.

Salesperson: Hello! So I guess you are looking for a new pair of shoes to wear to work?

Customer: Well yes, as a matter of fact, I’m about to go get on plane to Vegas and I just noticed that my black shoes look terrible.

Salesperson: The one you have in your hand is a nice choice. I’ll go get that one for you to try and I have another one in mind for you that I’ll bring as well.

Customer: That sounds good. I’d like to have another choice or two.

Behind the scenes: The salesperson goes to the back and brings out 2 pairs of black dress shoes, the one she selected and the upgrade shoe. He also grabs the upgrade shoe in a bronze color. Then, just because he now knows she is headed to Vegas, he grabs a couple of pair of the new flip-flops with a little bling-bling that just came in. He might even grab an athletic shoe as well.

He comes out, kneels down next to the customer and slides the first pair of shoes on the customer’s foot and says…

Salesperson: That shoe looks very nice on you. It looks like it fits pretty well. It feels pretty good too, doesn’t it?

Customer: Well, yes it does. I’m not real wild about the shape of the toe once I see it on though. What else did you bring out for me?

Salesperson: I brought another pair of black pumps out that are known for the extra comfort that they provide without compromising on the looks. This style is made out of very soft calfskin and has extra cushioning in the insole.

Customer: Oh my gosh, these feel so much better than the first pair! This might be the most comfortable pair of dress shoes I’ve ever tried on… Wow! 

Salesperson: I thought you’d like those; as a matter of fact, I brought them out it your size in a bronze color as well. Metallics are great if you travel a lot because they are very neutral. That way you don’t have to pack so many pairs of shoes.

Customer: Good idea! Yeah, those look great in that color! What are those other boxes you brought out there?

Salesperson: Glad you asked! I thought that while you’re in Vegas you might squeeze in some pool time, so I brought some of these new flip-flops we just got in to show you.

These are pretty cool; they have interchangeable bands so you can coordinate them with more than one outfit.

Customer: Those are great, what a good idea! How can I pass those up?

Salesperson: My thoughts exactly

To Summarize:

Good salespeople create their own opportunities to sell more merchandise. They ask questions, listen well to the answers and use those answers to suggest appropriate merchandise. In other words, just be truly interested in the customer and learn how to be comfortable when talking to people. You don’t necessarily need to structure the 4 pairs of shoes shown to the customer as in the example above, but the point is suggest other types of shoes than the customer came in looking for originally.

-Mike

mike@successfulstore.com