Tips for Success in Retail Sales

I readily admit I am not the most qualified person to write this article. There are men and women who have been selling for years, even decades, and could share countless anecdotes about sales interactions and related pearls of wisdom. They could write books about selling and the psychology of the sales floor.

I am not writing a book. At least, not yet.

With two years' experience selling cell phones and other wireless devices under my belt, I do feel I have something to share with sales novices. Drawing from my own experiences and those I have gleaned second-hand from my more seasoned coworkers, I intend not to create an in-depth narrative about the life of a salesman, but instead to share some bite-sized insight into the mindset of a successful salesperson.

Not that I have always been successful. A salesperson's success or failure has a little to do with chance and a whole lot to do with his or her tendency toward being dominated by emotion and self-doubt. There is nothing simple about looking down the long barrel of a loaded sales day and keeping it directly on target. For this reason, I will blow right past what your trainers will tell you as a new hire: those little platitudes that are easily digestible but won't do as much as they say toward keeping your knees from knocking.

I summarize: always smile while greeting the customer; give 'em a good, firm handshake; use their name; ask open-ended questions (not, "Do you need GPS navigation?" - instead, "How much do you travel in your daily life?"); use open body language (no hands in pockets or arms crossed); as often as possible, let no barriers stand between you and your customer; assertively ask for the sale ("So what do you think? Ready for me to ring you up?"); educate the customer about their purchase (might be irrelevant if you are selling a T-shirt or something); thank them for their business; ask for referrals and give them some of your cards.

The above tips consist of the bare minimum for successful sales interactions. Every item points to the psychology of gaining trust, letting the customer feel he is in control and that he has made an excellent decision making his purchase with you. Master these basic skills, but know that they are not enough to make you successful.

The following information might be offered as part of your sales training, but probably not.

1. Be the best, nerdiest student in the world.

This is about gaining respect. There are many customers out there who will respect you just because you care about their needs and show you are willing to help. There are a great, great many more who also expect you to be prepared to teach a university course on the product and the entire industry you represent. You need to be able to drop some knowledge at the snap of their fingers. It will take some time to learn all the ins and outs of your business (especially if it is wireless). Don't let it take any longer than it has to. Be a big nerd in your field ASAP, and use everything you learned in speech class to prepare to share this information. Organize your thoughts on as many subjects related to your field as you can so you can sound like the expert you are. The best response to every question includes a thesis, a body with supporting information and a conclusion. Learn how to effectively define, explain and summarize. In speech class it was about getting a passing grade, but now it's about your commission check. Stay sharp.

2. Respect your customers, no matter what.

Often you will have to outright ignore what you were taught in training in order to do the right thing. More often you will have to ignore your personal feelings. In the former case, I mean that if you work in a retail store like I do and it is full of people, you have a responsibility to get through your interaction as quickly as possible. Your trainer may have instructed you to keep your customer in the store until you make the sale. In reality, you need to develop the skill to tell in the first two minutes whether your customer will be buying anything. This may involve even asking them whether they are just looking today and whether it would be all right with them if you moved on. By being forward about this, you are both respecting your customer's ability to understand that the store is full of other people and respecting the time of everyone who is waiting. In the latter case, ignoring your personal feelings means showing respect to lots and lots of people you know do not deserve it. You must do everything in your power to win over a person who is jumping down your throat, because if they are willing to call you names to your face, how much more willing do you think they will be to badmouth you to their friends? Their friends will believe them, not you. Make every effort to do what the customer wants even if it feels like a sin against nature, then go punch a stuffed bear or something. The bear can take it but your commission check can't take a hit to your reputation.

3. It always comes down to price. Always.

Sales training always involves the central tenet of selling: building value. It might be called something different from place to place, but what it means is directing your conversation with the customer toward the features of the product while avoiding price until the very end. The idea is that by this point, the customer will be so head-over-heels that the price won't even matter. This idea is very often baloney, especially with the current state of the U.S. economy. It is a good practice to discuss the features of a product before you get to price, whenever the customer will let you. But you need to develop a sense of when to completely abandon this strategy. If the first question out of the gate is about the price, answer. Don't waste time "building value" if it's obvious you have a customer who is so worried about how much it will cost that they are actually getting increasingly uncomfortable with the temptation you are fostering. Some people just straight up don't have the money. Find out what leniency you have in discounting or price matching with other stores. Make the sale as quickly as possible without making the customer feel rushed, or let hopeless causes go. Yes, there is such a thing as a hopeless cause. Move on!

I hope this article was helpful. If so, please let me know in the comments.

Have a blessed career.