1. Greet each customer and introduce yourself by name. A salesperson says, ‘Hi, I’m Chris. Welcome to our store.’ Compare this to, ‘May I help you?’, ‘Can I help you?’, ‘Do you have any questions I can help you with?’ Which greeting do you feel is more likely to lead to a relationship? 

My mother drives 35 miles from our home on the Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis, Maryland to Baltimore, where she could do some serious shopping. I am too young to stay by myself, so she takes me with her. This is good and bad. I like the tall buildings in Baltimore and I like the turkey sandwich I order for lunch at the big store’s restaurant. But I dread the rest of the trip.I sit in chairs by dressing rooms of every store on Charles Street, and I am obedient. I do not move and I do not to make any noise – difficult to do at five years old. I thus begin my career as a retail consultant, for it is during these hours that my young mind searches for diversion and finds it : I observe the sales process. A salesperson approachesmy mother and says, ‘May I help you? My mother says, ‘No, I’m just looking.’ This is the play; this is the script; this is the punchline that I hear all day. As far as I know, this is what salespeople should say and this was how customers should respond. Why? Because I learn it from my mother as she did from hers.Customers have been customers much longer than typical retail salespeople have been salespeople. They have rehearsed their lines for years. They know what to say when a typical salesperson greets them with, ‘May I help you?’ The answer is, ‘No, I’m just looking.’

2. Invite call-ins to visit the store, and give them reasons why. Ask them to ask for you by name. A salesperson says, ‘Hi, thanks for calling Wireless Town, this is Chris.’ 95% of the time you will then hear one of four questions, ‘How late are you open?’, ‘Where are you located?’, ‘Do you have [some unit model] in stock?’, and ‘How much does it cost?’ To dispense with calls quickly, many salespeople offer short answers only.
How late are you open? ‘Till 9:00.’
Where are you located? ‘Next to the Sears entrance.’
Do you have [xyz] in stock? ‘Let me check … Yes, we have it.’
How much does it cost? ‘It’s $329.’
Instead our model salesperson says, ‘Yes, we have it in stock. We’re open tonight until 9:00 and I’d love to show you how you can actually use the new iSpurt-630 to send and receive email. Do you think you might visit our store tonight?’ If yes, add, ‘Again, I’m Chris, please ask for me when you arrive.’
How much more time does it take to respond to callers in this way? Is the extra effort worth it?
How often might you have to repeat this approach to ensure the predictability of your success? You will find this approach does not (repeat not) guarantee that (a) your call-in customers will actu¬ally show up, or (b) if your customers do show up they will ask for salespeople by their names. But it does increases the possibility and it’s this incremental improvement that creates new sales.

In short, do this 100 times and you may pick up 20 new sales. That’s the discipline of making the most of your traffic.
3. Never prejudge your customers. The prejudging mind thinks, ‘There’s one that will never pass credit.’ So, the salesperson gives this customer short schrift. The nonjudging mind thinks, ‘Even though this customer doesn’t look like he can afford it, I’m going to give it my best effort. Maybe I’ll be surprised.’ And many times you are.

My father sold Lincolns, the land yachts of the early 70s. It’s 1974 and the gas crisis hits. People wait in lines for two hours to buy two gallons of gas. The new car buyers want economy and sales of Lincolns fall. My father sees his traffic dwindle each day, and he sees the morale of his fellow salespeople fall as well. Inside the showroom salespeople take turns, ‘ups’, to talk to customers. And since traffic is slow it can be a long time between ‘ups.’ It’s Monday morning. Cold buckets of rain conspire with the gas problem to make things worse. Finally, my father spies a lone woman in the lot, holding a newspaper over her head, looking at the interior of cars through their windows.
It’s not my father’s ‘up’, but the saleperson whose turn it is, looks at the rain, looks at the woman, looks at my father, and says, ‘You can have her.’ He accepts. My father asks a few questions and learns that the lady’s husband has just passed away. As a consolation, she takes part of her cash from his life insurance and buy herself not one, but two new top-of-the-line Lincoln Continentals. It’s the biggest sale of my father’s life. I asked my father how that made the other salesperson feel– the one who had prejudged his customer and relinquished his turn. My father said, ‘He felt like taking the pipe,’ which was my father’s way of saying, ‘He felt like inhaling exhaust fumes from the tail pipe of a car and thereby ending his misery.’

Learn from this story. Treat each customer as a precious opportunity and make the most out of it. In the words of my father, ‘Never prejudge your customers. They can look like schlepps and have $10,000 in their pockets.’

4. Ask questions to determine needs before you recommend. Chris, our model salesperson, asks his customer, ‘Have you ever shopped with us before?’
His customer says, ‘No, I haven’t.’
Chris says, ‘At Wireless Town we like to get to know our customers and we’d like them to get to know us, too.’ Chris introduces his company and himself. He tells his customer why people like to do business with him and his store.
Chris says, ‘What brought you into our store today?’
His customer says, ‘I’m thinking about replacing my cell phone and I’m checking out what’s new & what kind of service deals you have.’
Chris says, ‘How familiar are you with the new trends in wire¬less service?’
His customer says, ‘I see the ads. I know what I see on TV, but I’m curious to learn more about what’s new.’
Chris says, ‘There’s a lot of new things you can do with wireless these days. Did you know … ?’ Chris plants seeds about cool new wireless applications.
Chris says, ‘I’d like to help you find the right phone and service for your needs. To do this, I’d like to ask you just a few questions. May I?’
His customer says, ‘Yes.’
Chris says, ‘First, how do you plan to use your new wireless phone and service?’
His customer says, ‘To keep in touch with my fabric suppliers. To be available for my kids when they need me.’
Chris now asks questions to discover clues that will help him recommend the right phone with the right functions and features that will be give his customer the right capabilities for the applica¬tions she desires.
Will customers actually ask for SMS, MMS, mobile commerce, mobile email, or wireless Internet? Some will; many will not. Creative salespeople interpret answers and recommend applications based on their findings.
This is a no-nonsense form of empathy. Your people prove they understand how their customers think and feel by asking questions, processing answers, and responding with wireless product and service recommendations that match their needs.

One of our client’s mid-level managers said to me, ‘Bruce Willis,[the well-known actor]just bought a new phone from one of our stores.
I said, ‘What did he get?’
She said, ‘The salesperson sold him the promo [free] phone with the promo [low-cost] plan.
I said, ‘Do you think Bruce Willis might have been able to afford a better phone and a better plan?’
She did’t say anything, but her excitement over selling Bruce Willis something faded, as she realized they might not have made the most of the opportunity.
Now it’s your turn to play the part of the consultant. What crucial part of the sales process do you think the salesperson might have neglected to perform? How might you help management identify this shortcoming and realize what they lost, what they might have gained, and how they could have helped their customer make a better buying decision?

5. Ask your customers to draw on your coverage map where they will use wireless service. Chris says, ‘Where will you use your new phone?’
His customer says, ‘Mostly the Northside area.’
Chris says, ‘Here’s our map. Could you draw for me where exactly you mean?’
His customer says, ‘OK … Let’s see – it’s right in the Highway¬61, Route-66, Interstate-75 triangle.’
This exercise in projected imagery helps your customers define more clearly their usage habits and offers the nice benefit of helping your salespeople close more sales. Why? Because when you engage your customers in mapping where they might use wireless service, they begin to visualize themselves actually traveling with their new devices. You’ve transferred possession.

6. Explain why your company offers a choice of rate plans. To prepare for a presentation I went to the Web sites of the top six wireless carriers and printed out every one of their rate plans. As I mentioned previously, I found nearly 300 plans. What is the thinking behind the carriers’ decision to place such a burden of choice on the market?
Imagine going to buy a toaster at Sears and the salesperson said, ‘How much are you going to use the toaster? When are you going to use that toaster? Are you ever going to use the toaster on weekends? Nights? Is your family interested in using the toaster? Are you going to use the toaster for bread only, or would you ever put Pop-Tarts in it?’
Sounds crazy doesn’t it? But what would you do if the electric company paid you a premium for selling toasters with better plans that give your customers more time to make more toast? This presents a sales dilemma. To find out about your customers’ toaster usage you need to ask questions, but will customers tolerate the in¬terview? They may, if you give them a reason why. Consider this: Chris thanks his customer for her responses and then adds, ‘Let's now look at our Service Plans. We offer a number of different plans that can save you money by giving you the best rates depending on your usage. To find the right plan for you, I wonder if you could help me? When are you most likely to use your phone?’
His customer says, ‘Mostly during the week from the time the kids go to school until dinner time. Less on the weekends.’

7. Instead of defaulting to the lowest cost service plan, help your customers project their actual usage. Like many customers, Chris’s will use her service during prime hours of the day for the most part, and some on weekends. But Chris still doesn’t know how much she really needs.
Chris says, ‘How much do you plan to use your wireless service each month?’
His customer says, ‘I have no idea. [Chris helps his customer project usage and arrive at a target number of minutes needed per month.]It looks like you’ll be using your phone about 1400 minutes a month. Do you feel comfortable with these projections?’

8. Determine their level of interest before you demonstrate. Savvy salespeople check to make sure that their customers approve of the legibility of the display, the feel of the device in their hands, and the weight and size of the phone before demonstrating. Why? Because they don’t want to waste time on a demo of the wrong product or one that the customer doesn’t like for any reason. How can salespeople find out if customers like the recommendations they make? They ask.

9 Sell the obvious. Appeal to the five senses. Let your customer play with the phone. I arrived for my interview at nine and was hired by 9:o5. The department manager, Salvadore Petrocelli, handed me a pamphlet on selling. He suggested that I use the 55 minutes before the store opened to read it. He then left and did not return until four that afternoon.
I was in the big ticket department : Packard Bell TVs, Motorola radios, 5000 btu air conditioners, 35mm Yashica cameras, and major appliances. Console stereos – the living room jukebox credenza so fashionable in 1971 – lined one wall. With no product knowledge and no time to learn, I read the condensed version of the salesman’s bible, and waited for the doors to open. My first customers were an older couple looking for a stove.
I said, ‘Hi, are you looking for a stove today?’
They said, ‘Yes, we are.’
I said, ‘Well, this is a stove right here.’ I patted the top of the Magic Chef to show that I knew what I was talking about.
I said, ‘It’s got four burners. Two big ones for big pots and two small ones for smaller pots & pans. And it’s got four heat controls.’ I turned each knob, felt the pause, and heard the satisfying click at each one’s detented high, medium, and low settings. I was rolling.
I said, ‘And it has an oven.’ I opened the door.
Had I been the witch in Hansel and Gretel, I could have easily made my meal, because both the husband and wife stuck their heads in the oven to look around. They emerged, I closed the oven door, and I continued.
I said, ‘And it’s got a window so you can watch your food cook.’ I turned on the oven light switch and a bulb illuminated the dark interior. They looked through the window into the oven.
I said, ‘This one is white,’ Our other colors were avocado, dirt, and yellow-matter custard, but they didn’t seem to mind the white one, so I pointed to the price tag, and went for the close.
I said, ‘It’s $329. Would you like to get it today?’
They looked at each other, exchanged mumbles, and then the husband said, ‘Yes.’
I was thinking: ‘Hey, this selling stuff is easy, I just made $16.45, and I didn’t need to know anything about the product I just sold.’
But I was smart enough to know this : Sell the obvious. What is obvious to you, may be new and interesting to your customers. So before you explain to them how to drill down through five layers of your smartphone’s menu-driven features, you may want to consider letting them make a call, hear how the speakerphone sounds, and try out a headset.
Having said this, I still visit stores that have no (or very limited) living, breathing, ready-to-demo phones or accessories. If the carriers won’t give you enough demo units, what should you do? Should you : (a) Sell all that you can using the demo lines they give you? or (b) Pay to activate your own lines and make the most of additional opportunities?

10. Ask for confirmation : do they like what they see, hear, and feel?
Sometimes you don’t have to ask; your customers’ body language and verbal clues will tell you when they like it : upturned head • smil¬ing • head nodding ‘yes’ • use of possessive language – ‘my phone’, ‘my service’ • raised eyebrows • questions about activation or billing. Other times cutomers put on their Texas Hold’em poker faces. You may have to ask, ‘How do you feel about this?’ Since you seek confirmation, it’s okay to ask closed-ended questions, as well. For example, ‘Do you think this phone is right for you?’ Either way, the questions you ask are trial closing questions, designed to give you customers plenty of room to express their likes or dislikes.
Confirmation questions seek, find, and reveal the most difficult objections to handle – the ones your customers are not telling you about. Once expressed, your salespeople can now continue with the closing process.

11. Anticipate and prepare for common objections. Some objections are concrete. They deal with specific concerns such as price, technology issues, the strength of your competitors, or being tied-up with existing contracts.
More difficult to handle are abstract objections. These sometimes manifest as avoidance cliches, such as, ‘Let me think about it?’ What are they trying to avoid? Your customer may be confused, insecure, or fearful of making a buying mistake. You’ll find many schools of thought on how to handle objections. The methodologies will usually include steps such as (1) listen, (2) clarify, (3)justify, and (4) close again.

If you hear 100 customers say, ‘I’ll be back,’ how many actually return? Answer : Close to zero. If they don’t come back does that mean that they don’t buy? Answer : No. It just means they bought somewhere else. 
When empathetic salespeople handle objections, they do something else. They play catch. They field obections and take ownership of what they hear. They pause, reflect, and seek to understand more than what their customers words mean, but what their customers are feeling and thinking.
Chris says, ‘How soon would you like to start your new wireless service?’ [This is another example of a trial closing question.] Chris hears 18 objections.
1. I want to look at some other stores.
2. You’re too expensive.
3. I’ll wait till they go on sale.
4. I don’t pay retail for anything. Knock $50 off and I’ll take it.
5. Give me an additional 120 minutes free/throw in the carrying case and I’ll do it.
6. I can get a cell phone at B&B Audio for free. Why isn’t yours free?
7. I just can’t afford the monthly charges.
8. I’m going to go with WCDMA. It’s better.
9. Your coverage is too limited.
10. I’m going with XYZ Wireless. They’re better.

decision dilemma
11. I’ve decided not to do anything at this time.
12. Silence.
13. I’ll have to think about it.

I’ll get back to you.
I’ll have to sleep on it.
I’ll call you Friday.
I’ll be back.

14. You’re moving too fast – I don’t like to be pushed.
15. You’re a great salesperson, thank you so much for your help.
16. My brother-in-law worked with Radio Repair Depot for 19 years. He knows everything there is to know about your products. I’m going to ask his opinion before I do anything.
17. I’ll have to ask my husband/wife.
18. I’ve got 9 months left on my current cellular contract.

Poor Chris has got one tough customer. But, how many of these objections do your people actually hear everyday? How many are they prepared to answer? How do you know? What might you learn if you hold a meeting and conduct a round-robin exercise where each salesperson on your team has to handle objections like these?
Imagine the confidence they’d gain if your salespeople anticipated and owned the answer to each of these 18 objections. But is it reasonable to expect performance like this?
Our recommendation is : Establish a 2-time (2x) closing criteria. Salespeople must close; handle an objection; and close again. This may sound too easy for you. You might want to set the bar higher to a 3x or 4x. Resist the temptation. Start with 2x. If your salespeople meet the criteria, you will increase your wireless sales dramatically. When they gain confidence with 2x, they will naturally take it to the next step – a multiple cyle of 2x closes.

12. Never say, ‘Will that be all?’ Sometimes I wish I owned a chain of convenience stores – like Quickie Marts or 7-11s. Everday they get a gazillion customers in their door to pay for gas, buy soft drinks, chips, or the newspapers. But what do their customers usually hear at the point of sale at the convenience stores? ‘Will that be all?’ And what do their customers say most of the time? ‘Yep. That’s it.’
I might recommend to these stores that they train their people to ask one question : ‘Have you have this week’s TV Guide? Because I know a secret – most of the people in the United States own a TV. And if they handed the new TV Guide to a gazillion customers everyday they would not sell a gazillion copies, but they might sell a zillion. And that’s called making the most of your traffic flow. Now think about what happens in your wireless retail stores. Try to visualize this interchange between a salesperson and a customer who buys a new phone :
Your salesperson says, ‘Will that be all?’
Your customer says, ‘No, that will not be all. I’m interested in

13 & 14. Suggest accessories that will help your customers get the most out of their phones.  Suggest enhanced services that will help your customers get the most out of their service. A carrier in Canada sold over 25 service feature packages. Each had its own story and each offered benefits to specific customers. I asked their product manager how well these value-added services were selling.
She said, ‘They’re not. They’re dead.’
I said, ‘Why aren’t they selling?’
She said, ‘Because our people won’t sell them.’
I think she nailed it. For example, many customers would benefit from roadside assistance. What might happen if your salespeople offered it regularly?  Service features are to service plans as accessories are to phones. They help customers get the most out of their purchase. If you make more money selling service features, add this step to your sales performance criteria. 

15. Suggest universal impulse items that anyone can use. Everyone likes flashlights. Some might even think of them as safety devices, especially when they’re on the road. Since they fit snugly into a car’s glove compartment, flashlights are nice mobile accessories. They’re inexpensive, and when displayed in mass as an impulse item, they look great. Another good thing about flashlights is they take batteries. So when you sell them on impluse you have a built in accessory sale on top of the impulse sale. But people don’t come into your store to buy flashlights. You’re a wireless retailer, why should you bother with trivial goods such as these? There is only one reason – profits.
If you get 20 customers a day in your store, and if you expose every one to your flashlights, you might sell five flashlights and 20 batteries. That’s about a $5 sale with about $2.50 of profit per sale; $12.50 gross profit per day; $4562.25 new gross profit per year. This may not sound like much to you. Or it may mean that your sale of flashlights has paid for one month’s rent each year.

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©2005 by The Edmond-Howard Network