Friday, March 4, 2011

What is Your Power Question?


When a customer walks in your door, how do you engage them? Do you use the standard, "How are you?" or "Can I help you find something?" If you are, you are losing sales! It might not seem like much, but the way you interact with a customer when they come in your door can set the tone for a repeat visit and many dollars in sales.

Why not take a guess at what instrument they play? "I'll bet you play trumpet and are looking for a new mouthpiece." What type of response do you think you'll get? They'll most likely smile and say something like, "No, but my son plays clarinet and I need to get him some reeds." If you respond back, "Oh, I that was my next guess!" you will have grabbed that customer's attention and have a starting point to add more items to that sale! All it takes is a little creativity and some fun!

If you have multiple employees on the floor, sit down with them at your next sales meeting and discuss different ways to start conversations with your customers. (You say you don't have sales meetings? Well... that is a completely different topic and we'll just have to cover that at another time.) Give a prize to the employee that comes up with the most creative and engaging question. Try them out on each other.

Shop other businesses in your area to see how they are engaging you? How many times have you walked into a clothing store and been asked, "May I help you?". Too many to count! What if that salesperson came up to you and said, "I bet you are looking for some socks". If you were looking for socks, you would probably laugh. If you were looking for a shirt, you would probably say, "No, actually I am looking for a new shirt". The salesperson has now been able to pull more information out of you than the plain "May I help you?" greeting. And if they are really good, more sales than just the shirt you were looking for!

Give it some practice, exchange ideas and try it in your store. After all, if people like coming into your store, that means more repeat business. Or in business terms, more profit!!!