Two summers ago, I used to work at a boat retail and repair shop where I helped out with cleaning the boats, keeping the shop in order, and helping the mechanics with anything they needed done. During some brief moments were there was a lull in the work for the day, I sometimes caught glimpses of one of the mechanics helping out a customer who had wondered into the shop in search of some part for his boat. The mechanic, who I regularly heard swearing and muttering curses throughout each work day, behaved as if he was the nicest human being on the face of the Earth. I was amazed at how he was able to converse with the customer as if they had been friends for decades; making them feel as if their needs were important and the only thing the mechanic cared about.
This, in my opinion, is an example of a good salesperson. Instead of trying to throw parts and deals at the customer when he walked in, he simply asked how he was doing and whether or not he needed any help with anything, then proceeded to have a good conversation. This inevitably lead to a sale of the exact part the customer needed.
A stark contrast of this is another salesperson I encountered at another store while running errands for the shop. When I walked in, I simply waited; nothing happened for a good 15 minutes. The shop keeper saw me, even acknowledged I was there, but seemed to write me off in favor of something he was doing on his computer. I talked to him a bit, asking for whatever part I needed at the time, but received such a skimpy answer that I contemplated just walking out of the store and finding a different location to take my business.
In comparison to my coworker, the difference were night and day. One made the customer feel like an old friend, while the other made me feel as if I was unimportant. If my job didn’t require me to purchase a part from that store that day, I would have simply left. In summary, it’s important to make the customer feel comfortable, and by no means should they feel unwanted. That’s just begging for a lost sale.
testacr22
I worked at boat rental over one of my summers in high school and there were two owners that worked alongside the employees. One owner was more concerned with the business side while the other would work on the boats and stay behind the scenes. It was interesting to see their different approaches on how they interacted with customers, but both approaches worked well.