Outlet Retail Sales Techniques: A Floor Associate Sales Funnel

I work at the Grove City Premium Outlets on weekends and some weekday afternoons for extra money during the school year to support myself, as mentioned in past blog posts. Now that warmer weather has come, the outdoor outlet experience has livened up and more customers come through the doors. Gone are the days of working on homework behind the register and folding and refolding clothes over and over until close, replaced with constant interaction with customers. I frequently must master and handle an assortment of questions coming from an assortment of different people on clothes sizing, preferred styles and of course pricing.

Our sales team follows a sales funnel that is applied to every customer experience, and it is our job to customize the corporate sales funnel to the customer’s needs. The first step is greeting every customer within two minutes of them entering the store, in order for them to see you are available for their product questions. You must mention that “everything in the store is 40-70% off” and that “an extra 20% off can be added by registering for a loyalty card”. After greeting, the second step is giving them options of clothes to consider. This can be either done by them coming to you with a product they like, or you are showing them a product they might like after a conversation on what they are looking for. After they select a product, your job is to style them with more options of add-on apparel for them to consider purchasing as well in order to maximize their buying urge and get more product to be sold. “Here this shirt goes well with those pants if you want to try them on as well.” is a common style comment. After styling, the close can be as subtle as a walk to the cash register or a question- “Are you ready to check out?”.