If you’ve been in retail sales at all, you’ve had an experience selling to a difficult customer. It’s like this…
You’re going along in a sale and somehow, somewhere a light bulb goes off and you realize you just aren’t clicking with your customer.
They’re difficult. Continue reading Selling Tip: How To Sell To Difficult Customers »
The retail world is upside down. And I don’t mean because of Amazon…Once upon a time merchants purchased the cheapest items to draw people in and then because they held high regard for their retail sales training, upsold what was the best answer for their customers.
In today’s topsy-turvy world, retailers are now showing the cheapest thing as the ANSWER. Continue reading Retail Training To Sell The More Expensive Item »
In an increasingly turned-on world, one of the biggest turn-offs for retailers is trying to wait on a shopper who is actively engaged in a cell phone call.
They generally aren’t doing it to upset you – it just feels that way at times.
The short answer to how to handle a customer on their cellphone is: wait.
That’s not the most helpful so here are a few tips based on answering this fundamental question:
I’ve worked in retail for most of my life.
That includes my first job as a janitor, then a regional manager all the way up to corporate VP and now as the Retail Doctor.
Throughout my career I’ve always heard merchants saying, “They come into my store and get all the information, and then go somewhere else to buy it.”
As a retail consultant, those responses used to infuriate me; it sounded like a losers limp. I felt it was an excuse for them not doing better because they miraculously “knew” their customers were at a competitor’s. Continue reading Is It Time To Start Charging Customers For Browsing? »
I was exiting the Albany Airport parking lot, returning from a great weekend of retail sales training, when I noticed the three EZ pass exit lanes were closed, so I had to go to a cashier.
I drove up, put my ticket in the automated machine and the EZ pass light didn’t light up. The guy in the booth said, $36.00. I replied, “What about my EZ pass?”
A girl in the booth behind him piped up, “You don’t have one.”
As I reached to get it I said, “That’s ridiculous, of course…” But she cut me off. “Then you don’t have any money in it.” That really pissed me off ‘cause I knew Continue reading Selling Skills: Is the Need to Be Right Crippling Your Retail Sales? »
