Have you ever walked into a store looking for something in particular? Of course you have. When you do this, do you find that you usually leave the store entirely satisfied with your purchase?
Let's say you are looking for something to clean your new ceramic stovetop. You go into your preferred supermarket and start wandering down the cleaning supply products aisle. For the sake of my example, let's pretend there is a clerk in the aisle. There are many variations of what can now happen:
- The clerk might avoid eye contact, leaving you to read boxes and chew your fingernails hoping that you get the right product, the one that will not leave scratches, streaks, residue and salmonella behind.
- The clerk might ask if you need any help. You would then smile in relief and say, "Yes, please! What would you recommend for cleaning my new ceramic stovetop?"
- Perhaps the clerk gives you a confused look and then looks at the shelves and starts to read boxes, biting his fingernails before handing you a box at random and exclaiming "This one!"
- S/he might reach over with authority and hand you a product that has been recommended by other customers
- There is always a chance the clerk will tell you, "Oh, I've heard you don't need any special products. Just use soap or your regular cleaning supplies."
- You may also see a glint in the eye of an ambitious clerk, who then starts putting gels, creams, liquids, and special cloths into your basket because they all need to work together for best results.
Are any of these answers going to help you leave the store feeling confident in your purchase? Are you going to march home and clean your expensive new stovetop with confidence?
Maybe not.
What if, after your told the clerk what you were looking for, s/he followed up by saying, while making and keeping eye contact: - Well, to be honest with you, there are quite a few products on the market. May I ask, what color is your stovetop?
- And how long have you had it?
- Have you ever used any other cleaning products on it before?
- Are you concerned with using chemical products, or do you have any allergies or asthma?
- Well, based on your needs, I would recommend using "this" cleaner once a week or after spills, and trying "this" type of cloth for general day-to-day usage.
Would you be happy with your purchase after that? What if the clerk then recommended a new, "Green" brand of cleaning solution that you can use as a multi-purpose cleaner through your entire house? Would you think about adding that to your list, even though it is not exactly what you came into the store for? What I am getting at here is that there are many different types of selling. Many customers will walk in and out of retail stores unhappy with their purchases, if they make any, simply because there was no reliable person to convince them they were making the right decision. I read an article the other day by Action Coach Mark McNuity titled "Would you like fries with that." It talks about the importance of helping your customers find the RIGHT product for their needs, which is not always the product they THINK they want. If you aren't there to help them, and if they are unhappy with their purchase, they might connect the dissatisfaction with your store, not necessarily the product. If you go to McDonald's and order a burger, and they don't ask if you want fries with that, you might initially feel like you are making the responsible decision. But then you realize the burger just isn't the same without the fries, and you are dissatisfied.
Are you asking qualifying questions when customers come into your store? Can you help them find what they REALLY want, instead of what they THINK they want? |
Comments
Thanks for your many thoughtful posts.
As you say making sales with the best interests of the customer in mind is always a win/win for both parties.
I know that this attitude on our part here at PoolDraw has ultimately led to more sales and opportunities .... even when I re-direct a prospective customer. If we are not the right product I don't want to make the sale ... often just being willing to point out different options at the onset often results in a sale later on down the road - I have been getting a lot of calls from pool builders that appreciated my straight-forward answers in the past and are now ready to get started with PoolDraw in 2011.