10 Commandments of Retail Sales

As one who writes exclusively about retail sales and sales training, in particular, I was curious when a potential client mentioned he’d read an article by Grant Cardone entitled 10 Commandments of Retail Sales.

I thought I would provide my opinion because selling in a store environment isn’t like selling houses or cars. I encourage you to adopt some and break several of his commandments.

Here's why...

10 Commandments of selling

1. Thou shalt not believe anyone is just looking

This first point is spot-on about attitude in a store. We want to believe everyone is in your store to buy something. He says it’s good to ask a question aimed at pinning each customer to a purchase.

His favorite question to ask is, “90 percent of the people that come here start off by having a look. Why did you come in today?”

If you want to send customers out the door, ask them that.

Why? Because you are aggressively trying to pin down why the customer is there. Maybe they don’t want to tell you. Especially at the front door when they are still trying to get their bearings.

You might as well say, “What the hell are you doing here?”

You need to give your customers space to look around, adjust, and take in your various areas of display. And if you’re still greeting customers with a simple “Can I help you?” stop. You’re making them answer, “Just looking.”

Instead, have your employees greet customers throughout the store with a simple, “Good (time of day.)” Then give them their space to browse before returning and building rapport.

2. Never ignore the customer

Again, right idea. However, the admonition that “It’s better to pester a customer with offers of help than it is to ignore” is way off for retail. No one wants to be pestered.

Develop a selling system or use my SalesRX.com program to support your intention to connect with the customer as a human being first and secondly as a customer.

3. Aggressively sell

Having received South Coast Plaza's Greatest Increase in Store Sales Award during my tenure there, I know his intent to sell is right. But that adjective aggressively will still spook all but the most hardened old-school retailers.

Millennials, in particular, will feel you want them to be a caricature of the hard-sell, always-be-closing salesman. One who reaches out and aggressively shakes a customer’s hand while asking their name. That went out of fashion a long time ago.

4. Never let a customer wait

This one is very right. What's missing from most shopping experiences is the appreciation that your shoppers could have gone anywhere else but chose to walk into your brick-and-mortar store.

5. Treating every buyer like they came to spend money

That is also spot on. You honor each customer when you build rapport before trying to sell.

6. Have a greeter at the door

Wrong. If nothing else, the sheer volume of foot traffic means a greeter can rarely get much more out than “Hi” as customers try to avoid them.

And I'll bet your employees would rather clean up a used diaper than have to be stationed upfront as a greeter.

7. Management shall engage with every customer

Wrong. Not only is this impractical in a store, but also ineffective. The most important thing management can do is work with their staff to keep them motivated, trained, and able to excel at creating an amazing experience for their customers.

Having managers help customers is a waste of valuable money as they can only influence that one sale. It’s even worse if they are relegated to ringing up customers. You pay a manager to manage the process, not try to touch every customer.

If you want to do that, get a dog.

8. Provide the best solution, not just the lowest price

That’s good, but the suggestion of asking, “What are you looking for you didn’t find online?” is again wrong-headed. Do you really want to raise the specter of shopping online to your brick-and-mortar customer? I don’t think so.

Likewise, asking, “Why did you come here today?” is really a lot like the “Why the hell are you in my store?”

Customers tell friends their wants, not just their needs. Unless your training gives concrete ways how to develop rapport, you’re just going to sell the crumbs, not the whole banquet the shopper could buy from you.

Remember, your goal is to get your customer to share with you all their desires, not just tell you the one widget they came in to buy. Develop one open-ended question that seeks to build rapport, something like "What’s your project today?"

9. Attempt a second sale

I call this closing with an add-on. It is always a good idea to suggestively sell, and the more specific you can be, the better. He got this one right!

10. Thou shalt help customers extend beyond their budget

The last suggestion probably works better for selling cars. Store employees are the ones most likely to hear the budget objection, identify with it, and retreat from selling more.

No customer comes in saying, "The sky's the limit," so it is up to you to help each one see all they could purchase from you. Don't ask if they have a budget and hope to get them to extend beyond it. Just don't ask so they won't tell.

The real work is to convince your Millennial employees that your $200 widget will be purchased by a Baby Boomer customer even though it could be found online for maybe $50 less.

Takeaways from Cardone's 10 selling commandments

Domination or aggression on your sales floor might get you a sale – might – but it more often smacks of a 1960s do-this-so-I-win-and-you-lose to your customers.

The only way to grow your brick-and-mortar sales is to employ people who are willing to engage a customer. Your employees must be able to meet someone, and must be able to connect with their quest to fix, replace or add to their lives.

They must then sell your products in a way that makes each customer feel, for those few minutes, like the most important person in the world. That lets your customers see the unique possibilities your employee has provided and more often results in “I’ll take it,” than in, “I’ll think about it.”

Four concepts that should guide your training:

1. Help everyone with an open heart

That means the party is in the aisles, not behind the counter.

2. Get to know the person before the problem

Take your time listening to the customer and acknowledging their exact situation and position before you assume which products will suit them.

3. Never assume you know how much a customer will spend

Present all the products starting with the most expensive.

4. Help the customer decide today is the day

Today is the day to solve their gift, replacement, or desire for something new.

Retail is different. It should be more human.

And if you believe that but aren't sure how to train it, check out our latest features and benefits course launch.

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