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But let’s start with one idea. Many stores instead decide to spend more money on advertising to increase sales. I wanted to write instead “blow more money on advertising.” Because typically if 10 people come into the store and you sell only 3 out of the 10, bringing in more people means you just bring in 7 more people who will walk. So we spend more money on advertising when for virtually no money you could sell more of the people who are already in the store. If you now sell 3 out of 10 people and could take it up to 4 out of 10 that would be a 33% increase in sales without any additional advertising spent. So how to sell one more person who walks into the store? Well there are always better closing techniques like just plain out asking for the sale, etc. But one big way is to TURN THE CUSTOMER OVER to another sales person. I know, you talk about this all the time. “We shoulda, coulda woulda.” Recently did a store visit where the store hired a new store manager. They do weekly sales meeting for an hour and every morning have a quick 15 minute meeting. They are proactive. When I asked about their turn over policy the response was “At meetings we discuss it extensively from time to time. We discuss sales we didn’t get and how turn over’s would have helped.” But that’s all they do. I was told the staff doesn’t like to turn over the sale to another sales person.
Can you imagine reading a really good book on “How to be an actor” and never practicing the part with another actor? As Harry Friedman (top sales trainer) says, every time you are on the sales floor “It’s Showtime!” So having the staff turn over sales has to be a company policy. IT HAS TO BE “IF YOU DON’T THEN THERE’S CONSEQUENCES.” Really. Now that you’ve established that it must be done, you must practice this and I suggest you give out a reward for it. Here’s where the dollar comes in. Role Play & Practice: In your sales meeting discuss the importance of the company making sales is more important than individual sales. This is teamwork. Yes we want the staff to sell but as a sales person haven’t you ever walked by when another sales person was showing earrings to a prospective customer and you looked her and said “Oh WOW, those look GREAT on you!” Then the customer says “you think so?” Then you continue with “Oh yes, it’s just right for your face and matches the necklace. Good choice.” The sales person showing her the earrings gave a great sales presentation, almost saying the same thing, but you as an unbiased “third party commentator” pushed her over the edge and the sale was made. So in your meetings you should rehearse the “pass by and compliment” routine. But I bet you do that naturally now, don’t you? A Turn Over is different. One sales person steps aside and walks away while someone else takes over. That’s the hard part and why it should be rehearsed. Why give up your chance to make a sale? Because you and your customer just aren’t clicking. The customer doesn’t need the jewelry. So they can be picky. Ever seen ads for the 5 minute dating? Where people come to a restaurant and get 5 minutes with someone they never saw before. 5 minutes to see if they click, then ding, the bell rings and you go to the next table. Hopefully you’ll find the love of your life but most of the people you sit with just aren’t “that into you”. Same with selling. Why won’t you click?
The list could go on but it should appear within 10-15 minutes that you or the customer just “aren’t that into each other.” So here are some ways to practice this so it feels comfortable. In your sales meetings describe how it should go. Give a “blow by blow” description of how to do a turn over then get 3 people up on the floor to practice. One is the customer, one’s the main sales person and the other is the person who will take the sale over. Have the person being the customer be “so so” about buying the object that’s being sold (you do need to get something from the case and use it as a prop.) The person who will take the sale over should stand aside 5-10 feet away. Let’s say it’s a watch. The sales person selling it might be saying: “You know, I think I’ve told you about everything I can think of about this watch. If you don’t mind, I’m going to ask Mary to speak to you.” (Then without missing a beat, nicely turn, wave to Mary and say) “Mary, do you have a second?” Mary comes over and you introduce her to your customer. Hopefully you have asked his name long before. “Mary, this is John and he’s been interested in this Bulova watch. John I asked Mary over because here in our store she’s sold more Bulova’s than anyone. I think it’s because of her love of watches, she owns NINE watches herself. But she’s also read all of the manuals on these watches and I think can shed some light on things I missed, can’t you Mary?” (Remember you’re on stage just like he was a real customer). Mary starts by shaking John’s hand and starts with a compliment that has nothing to do with buying this watch so she doesn’t appear to be a “pushy” sales person nor that he’s been handed off. “Hi John. Oh wow love, that funky tie“. (Or if she saw him drive up) “That’s a nice a nice SUV, how’s it drive?” The original sales person stays there for a bit but doesn’t speak up, letting Mary establish repore and start to see how she can do with the customer. Assuming the customer becomes engaged, the original person says “Would excuse me for a moment please.” and walks away. Now hopefully Mary can sell the customer and close the sale. Remember MARY you do need to close the sale by asking for the sale. The original person shouldn’t abandon the customer, she should view what’s happening from afar and if she can see everything appears OK, like a waiter in a restaurant, she should come by and check on the two to see how things are going. Sometimes a bit of humor is OK too. “I wanted to come back and make sure Mary was treating you OK John.” “Yes, she’s terrific, I’ve decided to go ahead and get the watch.” “Great, you’ll really enjoy that watch. I knew Mary could seal the deal” Now the original salesperson should ask this question: “Mary do you want me to help you out?” (This shows to John that you’re still engaged and allows John to speak up if he wants to.) Mary should respond with “No, I’ve got it from here. I ring John up and get the band sized for him. I know you have that report for the boss due in 30 minutes so you take care of that and I’ll take care of John. Thanks for letting me help him,” The little story Mary just told was to allow the original sales person to bow away gracefully so Mary now doesn’t abandon John.
This scenario needs to be role played and practiced several times so the words come out of the sales people’s mouth very naturally. Now that you’ve role played it in a sales meeting we have to push this to be done on the sales floor. As the owner or manager you might coach the staff into doing this by YOU being the original sales person with a live customer and YOU asking Mary to come help YOU out. Yes you might have a few misses but you’ve got to train them. The sale staff will split commissions on these sales. To get the staff to try this on their own, start rewarding them for trying. Keep a lookout on the sales floor and when you see two staff members “turn over” write that down. After the cases are pulled at night hold a quickie staff meeting before everyone goes home. Congratulate those that turned over, mention proudly the sales that were made from turn over but REWARD all attempts, successful or not. Here’s where you mention “Today Sally & Mary turned over 5 times and so here’s your reward for all “TO’S” no matter if successful or not. Great job!”| Hand out dollar bills to each member for each turnover they did. You give money to the “turnover” person and the “turnovee”. Hand it out in cash! If it were me I’d hand out five dollars per turn over to make it ethicizing. Try this for a month or so and you’ll see the staff try it over and over and perfect it. Closing more sales, all for some practice time and a few bucks. Great Job! David Geller
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