“May I help you Sir?”  

“No…I’m just looking…”

“Arrrrrrgh!”

Those words, “I’m just looking,” often strike terror in the heart of many sales people, anger and frustration in some and a sense of helplessness in others.  This one extremely common phrase causes some retail sales people to simply throw up their hands, walk away from the prospect and wait until the customer announces that they are no longer just looking and have decided to buy something.

Not an Objection
However, the term, just looking, is not an objection.  In fact, it is a logical, valid and honest response that actually spells good news for the sales person.  Consider this thought: When was the last time you walked onto a car lot just to look when you had absolutely no intention of ever buying a car?  If you have went out and looked at some new cars, it is only because you had some desire to eventually, purchase a new car.  

Even the preverbal window-shopper still has a purchase in mind, even if that purchase in their mind, is more of a dream than a reality.  The fact is that people do not “look” at things they do not want.

What Does it Mean?
So what does it mean when a prospect says, “I’m just looking…”? 

1. The prospect has the purchase of something in mind
2. The prospect may not yet have an idea of how much they will spend or can afford
3. The prospect may not have a clear idea of when they would make a purchase or if they can

Help the Prospect
The way to deal with this is to do your job….help the prospect.  Three ways to help the prospect who is just looking:

1-      Assume the prospect may want to look
2-      Encourage, thank and help the prospect look
3-      Embrace the “looking” and help the prospect look more efficiently

 #1 – Assume the prospect may want to look

Instead of…
Sales Person:               “Hello, Mrs Prospect, may I help you with something?”

Prospect:                     “No, thank you.  I’m just looking.”

Try…

 Sales Person:               “Hello, Mrs Prospect and welcome to ABC Jewelers.  Is there something I can show you or would you like to just look around?”

This instantly prevents a defensive response from the prospect in regards to just looking. 

#2 – Encourage, thank and help the prospect look

Sales Person:               “Hello, Mrs Prospect and welcome to ABC Jewelers.  Is there something I can show you or would you like to just look around?”

 Prospect:                     “Ah, yeah, I’d like to just look around for a while.”

 Sales Person:               “Great!  And thank you for choosing ABC Jewelers to do some looking.  We encourage people to look as we have the finest collection of jewelry in the area to look at.  Please look all you wish.” 

 You have avoided defenses and stayed on the same side as the prospect.

#3 – Embrace the “looking” and help the prospect look more efficiently

Sales Person:               “Mrs Prospect, as you can see, we have many sections and some of our collection is not openly on display.  Is there some area I can direct you to so you can look?  This way you can at least look at the things you want to look at.”

Prospect:                     “Well…I was thinking of looking at something that I might use for a gift for my granddaughter’s graduation…just thinking about it though.”

Sales Person:               “Ok.  Then you may want to look in this area…we have many gift items and you won’t waste your time looking at wedding rings and things for which you have no interest…”

Assume the prospect may want to look.

Encourage, thank and help the prospect look.

Then embrace the looking and help the prospect look more efficiently.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

How many customers have you lost in the past year or two? Are you certain of that number? How many have simply stopped buying from you, but you don’t know it?

Remember; people don’t stop buying, they just stop buying from you.

Why do we lose customers? Well there are many reasons, some of which are below. But the interesting fact is that most salespeople know why they lose customers…they just don’t do anything about it.

Customers will walk away from you without telling you, unless you have built up a really good relationship with you, in which case they might tell you why they are going to use your biggest competitor.

Here’s why many customers leave:

1. You show no genuine care or personal attention. It’s the main reason we all leave a supplier…we just don’t matter to them. If you don’t care, they will go somewhere that will care. People will even sacrifice quality for speed.

2. You’re hard to do business with. Long waits on the phone, difficult to get hold of the right people, a thousand buttons to press before you get hold of a human being…all these things and more tell the client that our processes and procedures are more important than you ever will be.

3. Unfriendly people. I’m staggered by how many unfriendly people there are on the front line of service providers. We all have a bad day, but don’t take it out on the next customer. It’s not their fault. If you don’t want to serve people, leave and let someone else do it who has manners.

4. You blame the process or system for poor service. Apologising for the delay only scratches the service. If you can’t be bothered to invest in updating your systems, don’t expect me to put up with delays and problems. I’ll go somewhere who puts customers first, thank you.

5. Poor professional image. Everything your marketing and advertising says reflects on your professionalism. There’s a shop in our town I drive past on the way to work. It’s totally and utterly filthy outside all the time. I’ve never been in there. Wonder why?

6. Making up excuses about why you cant do things. If you’re not set up to help customers, why are you in business? Customers want help with their problems, and they don’t want excuses as to why things can’t be done. They want solution-finders, please.

7. Poor staff training. The wife of one of our consultants works in retail. She has been in her current job for six months. She has had five minutes of training. Everything else she has learned on the job, by default. The quality of the service offered at that establishment. You can guess!

8. Cutting the price of everything, along with quality. By slashing prices, you are telling customers that quality and service will not be invested in. Many people will go for the cheapest and nothing else, but you’ll lose the majority who have a little more dignity than that.

I wish I had a pound for every time I have heard that customers are to blame for businesses losing profits. Customers will go where they see they are cared for and appreciated. If things aren’t as good as they could be for your business, stop blaming customers and look at your own systems first. Only when they are in-synch with customer demand will you see improvements.

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

A really interesting survey was carried out by an American company called ‘Success Masters’.

They asked their clients to complete a ‘Customer Service Evaluation’ form, where, amongst other questions, they asked this one: “How many customers walk away from an encounter with you or your staff “absolutely astonished” at the level of Service you have provided for  them”?

They were asked to rate the number out of ten; in other words, how many customers out of ten would rate your service as ‘absolutely astonishing’?

Believe it or not, the average score most staff gave themselves was an 8!  That is, they actually believed that they were giving astounding, superb, incredible and astonishing service to eight out of ten customers!

Do you think that could be right? I have my own opinions, and it doesn’t come out in favour of the salesperson!

What does this mean? Well, before you can find a solution to a problem, you have to admit that you have a problem in the first place! In retail sales, this isn’t always the easiest thing to admit.

And  if you think you’re providing excellence in 8 out of ten cases, and in reality you’re only providing a 3, “denial” is costing you lots of money – every day!

The best way to improve sales and profits has been proven to be the giving of excellent or remarkable service. And it’s a skill that can be learned, if you have the right attitude to start with.

Firstly, decide that you WILL learn to give nothing other than excellence in everything you do. It means making sure you accept responsibility for all outcomes and accept nothing less from yourself than absolute integrity towards excellence.

Then decide to learn the customer service and sales skills that will set you apart from your competitors. You don’t have to be perfect; you only have to better than the competition. Act as if this customer is the only one you will see today. Give them all your attention. Provide them with good reasons to remember you. Make their day.

If you learn the skills that will provide the foundation to create a great experience for the customer, you place yourself head and shoulders above the competition and offer something that maybe will make your new prospects advocates for your business.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

I was in Dublin yesterday with a MAJOR player in the food retail industry and it reminded me of two of the very best retail sales tips that every store should use.

So it doesn’t matter what you sell in your store, use them! And if you don’t sell in retail then next time you are in store see if the sales assistants use the following two one liners on you. If they don’t they are missing out on tons of sales!

RETAIL SALES TIP 1

When a customer reaches the counter ask:

“Did you find everything you were looking for today?”

Simple as that. Sometimes you forget what you went in for. Sometimes you just couldn’t lay your hands on an item.

Let’s look at the math.

If you had 50 stores and during each interaction at the till your staff asked:

“Did you find everything you were looking for today?”

Over a day I would assume that each store would make an additional £20 (let’s be ultra conservative here).

50 stores x £20 = an additional £1,000 per day

Let’s assume 300 shopping days.

300 shopping days x £1,000 per day = £365,000 in additional turnover!

A no brainer if ever I saw one!

RETAIL SALES TIP 2

“Can I help you?”

That’s what you normally get asked when a shop assistant creeps up on you in a store.

And how do you reply?

“Just looking”

Of course you do!

Try saying this instead…

“Hi there, what can I help you to look for today?” or “Is there anything I can help you to look for?”

How are they going to say “Just looking now”?

Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

So I did my Christmas shopping yesterday and I experienced a mixed retail shopping experience.

A week ago my wife Donna and I had already completed all of our shopping for our little 15 month old Daughter, Holly and all of our friends and family but now it was the dreaded “Shopping for my wife’s presents” time!

Let me tell you about just one of the experiences I had:

STORE 1 – H SAMUELS
MISSION: A locket and also a necklace

Everything was ok until the shop assistant asked me whether I wanted a 16 or 18 inch chain! Keh? Then he just left me to my own devices to choose – no advice whatsoever. He should have been asking the height of my wife, length and width of neck etc. Along those lines. Then, I asked them to be gift wrapped and he had to physically construct the boxes in front of me – this looked awful especially as they were very expensive items. By this time, all of the 8 staff in the store were with customers and another 6 customers needed help. The thing with jewellers, especially at Christmas time is that jewellery is very much a “see” and “touch” sale.

What I mean about this is that a customer almost always needs help from the shop assistant. They either want to see the product or touch it before making a buying decision so to be short staffed is a cardinal sin.

I can tell you that there were a lot of “tuts” and “comments” from the customers waiting around and a few of them left as I was walking out the door mumbling “bloomin ridiculous”

Just think how much money is walking out the door!

On a Saturday, especially at Christmas time you should be overstaffed if anything to make the customer experience that bit special. Why would you scripm and save during a month that makes you around 20% of your whole year’s turnover? It’s just crazy!

Think about the type of sell you have to make? If you are in retail, do your customers rely on you for guidance and help? Do they need to “see” and “experience” your merchandise? Or can they be left to their own devices as in a bookstore?

Think about this, your staff levels at times of the year and of the day and act accordingly.

DON’T LET MONEY WALK OUT THE DOOR WHEN IT IS READY TO BE PUT IN YOUR TILL!

Sean Mc

PS Click here for a free sales training course

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

If you run a shop or are a manager in a retail store then listen up as I’ve got a really good tip for you!

We’ve just completed some retail sales training for a retail store and as part of the training we also looked at their sales processes too.

Now I’m not saying that this sales technique will work for your retail outlet but the results we have had with just one technique has added £13,000 to the turnover of each store!

Within this particular business it was sometimes hard to find what you were looking for so I recommend that everytime someone purchases an item that the person serving should ask “Did you find everything that you were looking for today?”

Want to know the results?

Well, it generated on average an additional 5 sales per day. Now it doesn’t sound a lot as the average additional sales amount came to £7.25 per item but it generated an additional £36.25 per day when annualised came to around £13k! The fact that they have over 30 stores as well means that they were adding an additional £400k turnover just by asking a question at the point of purchase!

Making sales in retail is about working smarter not harder!

Make an enquiry today to see how we can help you improve your sales performance!

Sean Mc

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Retail sales training is a real joy because of the nature of the sale. There you have people coming in to your store and if someone doesn’t buy, another prospect comes along very quickly!

Do you work in retail sales?

If you do then the “Oh, I’m just looking response” must frustrate the hell out of you.

But let me tell you this – it’s all your fault!

You allow your browsers to come back with that line because of the question you ask them!

Now you know that 80% of people will say “Oh, I’m just looking” to your opening question of “Can I help you?” so guess what you should do?

You should just help them to look!

You should say:

“Hi there, is there anything I can help you get a look at? “

Or

“Hi there, is there anything in particular that you wanted to look at?”

Can they come back and say, NO, I’m just looking?

Acknowledge the fact that they may want to look and help them do it.

Happy selling

Sean Mc

PS
We train, consult and advise many retail stores on how to improve their sales through effective retail sales training and sales consulting. Often after we have conducted some sales training, we will get members of staff to mystery shop the store! We have even got a dedicated MTD Mystery Shopping team in place to ensure that the standards of selling are top notch!

PPS
Have you got any retail sales training requirements in mind? If so, please make an enquiry at: http://www.mtdsalestraining.com/enquiry.html

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…