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RETAIL MARKETING:
The new frontier of selling
Techniques and
psychology
of relationship
THE MOST
EFFECTIVE TRAINING
Today the most effective training is focused on relationship. It is
important that store assistants can communicate with customers with
professionalism to establish a positive relationship with them.
To do this the store assistants need the motivations and the know-how to
play four fundamental roles:
-
products
experts: store assistants must be capable to present new products, to
highlight features and advantages, to answer customers questions. It’s
not easy since the changes in fashion. design and technologies are so rapid;
-
consultants:
they need very sensitive listening skills to take care of customers
and their psychological motivations because “people agree only on
what they wish to ear”
-
transmitter:
polite behaviour is
the most effective channel to transmit and assert positive store image
and to retain customers;
-
persuaders:
capable of guiding the customer to the purchasing decision and to cross sell,
without giving that unpleasant sensation of wanting to sell no matter
what.
IMPORTANCE OF
THE SERVICE
The skills needed to play these four roles are strictly connected to customer
satisfaction in terms of the service which we offer our
customer. The research conducted by Rockfeller
Institute shows that 9% of customers go away because they moved or for
other reasons, 9% because of competitors, 14% because is not satisfied
with the purchase; but the remaining 68% because of the service received.
It’s important to develop in the store assistants the skills to offer
the BEST SERVICE. The satisfaction of customers must be the goal of all
the activities of the store. Unfortunately in many stores the store
assistants are so poorly motivated toward customers to not even welcome
them! The culture of service is the winning ace to increase
sales and to retain our customers.
DIFFERENCE WITH
LARGE DISTRIBUTION
The difference between a store and a department store is that in the first
there is customer assistance during the purchase and, consequently, there
is more relationship between store assistants and customers; in the second
there is more merchandising, less relationship and less assistance.
However also in the large distribution the store assistants must be capable
to play the four roles we described when the customer asks for their
help.
IMPORTANCE OF
THE WELCOMING AND “SAY GOODBYE” PHASES
The selling relationship is a path that begins with the customer welcoming
and ends with the “saying goodbye”. The welcoming and the “saying goodbye”
phases are often undervalued, even if they are fundamental. The store
assistants didn’t realize that they lose the sale in the few instants
they dedicate to the customer welcoming. A professional salesperson knows
how to welcome customers and attend to them so as to seduce them as they
enter the store. When welcoming customers to a store, a salesperson should
focus on putting them at ease and immediately creating a sincere and warm
environment. Unfortunately the exact opposite often happens! The following
are some of the most frequent errors noticed by customers:
-
Welcoming
customers with evident boredom
-
Welcoming
customers using a condescending tone making them feel inferior
-
Ignoring
a customer’s arrival.
-
The
customer goes through the sad experience of feeling invisible. This
should never happen even if the salesperson is otherwise occupied. Looking at customers
resentfully because their entrance interrupts the
job in hand. The customer must never represent an annoying disturbance,
but instead the goal of all the salesperson’s activities
-
Pouncing
on them, immediately asking “Can I help you?” which amounts to
backing the customer into a corner and saying ”You have entered my
store, therefore tell me immediately what you want to buy and don’t
waste my time!”
Also saying goodbye to a customer is very
important. It should be an elegant close to all the actions carried out.
It is a very important moment in the sales negotiation because the way we
say goodbye can maximize the customer’s positive impression of our store
and reinforce their psychological predisposition to come back and make
additional purchases. In case of failure store assistants must remember
:
-
not
to show any trace of resentment by becoming cold, distant or even
hostile
-
to
maintain the same kind manner and say goodbye with a warm smile.
Perhaps they haven’t made a sale but
they have probably induced the customer to come back to their store
because the customer will have appreciated their manner and their way of
doing things.
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