Traditionally, sales were determined by one’s ability to sell. While being able to sell ice to an eskimo is a valuable trait if won’t earn you sales in today’s market. Consumers are concerned about being tricked because of past notions about sales people which is why relationship selling is the selling of today. However to sell by developing relationships takes time, sometimes weeks depending on how large the sale is. There’s no time to waste selling which is why it is important to know what the ideal customer looks like. If a customer comes in and you can ascertain if they are the “ideal customer” in one or two questions then you don’t have to waste any time, just go straight to the sale. However most times customers don’t fit this profile perfectly. They may be on the edge about the product, whether they are price sensitive or concerned about the features.
In retail a huge percent of walk in customers have no intention of buying anything at all. In this situation it would be most important, if there were no yearning customers in the store at the time, to determine which browsers should be left alone and who would buy if given the right stimulus. Most customers will blow off a salesman, so keep your distance but watch their behavior to see if there is something of interest to them which you could expand on and make a sale. If they are walking around with their hands in their pockets, leave them alone. If they are talking about and touching products keep an eye and an ear on them. On the other end of the spectrum, there are customers who are very passionate about your widgets and just want to tell you all about their widget and their opinions of other widgets. While I wish I could talk more on something other than retail sales, I make the point that you should not waste time on customers who will not buy, to do this you must know what they look like.
BoweryJE22
I found this article very interesting. The interactions between salesmen in the store and customers can be very difficult. Most people want to be acknowledged but not pestered. At the same time, you have to know when a customer is desiring help and when they may not even know they desire help. Being able to distinguish this may simply come from practice and experience.
This article provides a very interesting topic. If you understand who your customers are and when someone classifies as a potential customer, you can be a much more efficient salesperson. If you spend a half hour on a customer that you have no chance of selling to, they you aren’t being a very good salesperson. Knowing your customer is half the battle.