Selling to Consumers | Sales Training Blog by Skip Anderson

Retail: Customer Service is Good but Selling is Better

Customer Service. Every consumer looks for it. Every retailer strives to provide it.

But the term is so overused and so under-executed that I have tired of hearing and thinking about it. In my own consumer life, there have been so many missed opportunities by individuals and stores where I have shopped to provide excellent customer service that I'm just about at the point where I want - no, need - to give noogies to every retail salesperson / clerk / customer service representative that I come into contact with. 

[Having said that, here are two recent examples of good customer service which were provided to me:

(1) The woman at the cosmetics counter at my neighborhood Walgreen's (it's often quicker to check out there than at the main cashier check-out) keeps a file of manufacturer's coupons for typical products sold at Walgreen's. I'm talking about Tylenol and toothpaste and Prep H and the like (I regularly buy two of those three items...you'll have to guess which ones). So when I bring a basket full of goodies to buy, she pulls out her little filing system and looks for coupons to give to me so I can use them. I don't believe anybody told her to do this, she simply does it to be of service to her clients.

(2) I stopped at a Holiday store last week. Although I've mostly given up donuts (even though donuts are one of the most desirable foods in existence), last week was it was a real treat to stop in the middle of the day and buy one. The chocolate glaze was sort of drippy and gooey and wet. When I bought the donut, the convenience store clerk brought me a couple wet wipes in anticipation of my need for one after I sat in my car and consumed my little morsel of sugar and fat.]

So customer service is a good thing in retail. But it should be a no-brainer for companies and individuals to take every opportunity to reach out to customers to make their lives more pleasant.

But if customer service is a good thing, selling is an even better thing for a retail business.

Selling is the art and science of getting prospects to voluntarily give you money in exchange for a product or service. Since all retail businesses are in business solely to get money from customers and then provide a good or service in exchange for that money, it puzzles me why more retailers don't have front-line salespeople who can and do sell.

> What if the clerk at Lowe's actually sold a barbecue grill to one out of ten barbecue grill browsers? What would that do for revenue?

> What if every clerk at Office Depot asked every single customer if they needed any printer paper as they checked out, then offered to carry a box out to their car for them?

> What if every clerk at Dick's Sporting Goods sold customers on the benefits of $120 sneakers instead of buying $49 sneakers?

> What if every clerk at the wine shop tripled the number of customers to whom they sell a case of wine instead of a couple of bottles of wine?

> What if the clerk at Home Depot sold an assortment of screws to every customer that bought a new cordless drill/driver?

Consumers want to buy things that make their lives more meaningful, easier, fun, and better. If retailers would just take a moment to figure out how to do a better job of that using PEOPLE to sell goods and services that accomplish these things (not just marketing, promotions, customer loyalty programs, merchandising, fancy displays, but the sales PEOPLE who engage their shoppers and customers), retail would be in a better place today.

Retail customers love good salespeople. They love to buy. They want and need things. When we use sales PEOPLE to sell these things, everybody wins.

-If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment-

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies that sell to consumers in all B2C sectors to increase sales by leveraging the buying potential of every prospect and shopper.

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What a Difference The Right Person Makes!

This post is about selling, customer service, managing, and relationships. and virtually all relationships.

I regularly visit two dry cleaners.

Dry cleaner #1: The front desk person always has a smile on her face, calls me by name, acts excited to see me, and we chat it up for a couple minutes every time I'm there.

Dry cleaner #2: The front desk person doesn't make eye contact with me, says thank you (but with no emotion behind the statement), and hurries to get me out of there.

Which customer experience is more satisfying?

Of course, dry cleaner #1 provides the experience I want as a consumer. Having the right people with the right behaviors in the front line of your company's work (receptionist, front desk, selling, installing, delivering, etc.) can make or break your customer service ratings.

Take this out of the retail setting. Isn't this the experience you want with supervisors and employees at work? With family members at home? With friends and colleagues and roommates and fellow committee members? Engaging others is a key to not only selling success, but all kinds of relationship success.

Selecting the Right People

> Have your job candidates role play during interviews.

> Ask experiential questions that ask for specific examples of how they handled this situation or that situation previously in their career.

> Ask what their proudest job achievement is. Use testing to hire the right personalities, the right strengths, and the right attitudes.

Getting the Right Behaviors

> Getting the right behaviors is easier when you hire the right people.

> Train your people , and when you're done train them again.

> But before you can train them, you must have complete clarity of your training objectives.

> Make sure managing and training are interlocked, each working toward the same goals.

* * * * * * *

Questions for discussion:

> What can you do differently to be the "right person" for your job?

> If you manage and hire, what do you need to do differently to hire the right people?

> And where are you falling short on training and managing those right people?

 

If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment.Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies that sell to consumers in all B2C sectors to increase sales by realizing the buying potential of every prospect.

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The Quest for Customer Engagement: Are You Overlooking Opportunities?

Sadly, customer engagement is being ignored in so much of business-to-consumer selling that in many respects we have nowhere to go but up. In many sectors of B2C selling (not to mention marketing and customer retention), customer engagement is virtually nonexistent.

I define customer engagement as the prospect's/shopper's/customer's active involvement in the buying/selling process, as opposed to participating in a passive way, i.e., as an observer.

Customers long to be engaged. They have a desire to be raving fans, to be in relationships with providers of services and goods of all types, to have productive relationships...indeed, customer engagement is a win-win for both the seller and the buyer.

While almost every salesperson, sales manager, marketing executive, and business consultant agrees that customer engagement is a good thing, many sellers don't have their finger on the real pulse of their prospects or customers. This makes it difficult to engage them except in the most shallow way. If we could allow - and encourage - the tendrils of engagement to infiltrate every phase in our selling processes throughout each customer's life cycle from cradle to grave, we will sell more.

We would be served well if we would open ourselves to seek new and better strategies for customer engagement. Sometimes it doesn't even take much. To help get your C.E. creative juices flowing, here are some ideas:

Hotels: Engaging Your Customer

If you work at a front desk of a hotel and, upon a guest's arrival, ask him "From where are you arriving?" that's a good thing. But it's even a better thing if the hotel front desk representative builds upon the guest's answer to that question. What does the front desk associate say if the guest says he's from Portland or Charlotte or Kingston or Brussels or Minneapolis?

When I tell people I'm from Minneapolis, I often get silence in return. True, many who live on the coasts or the southern U.S. view Minnesota as flyover country, and have never been to Minneapolis-St.Paul. But if you want to engage me, you'll talk with me about the Minnesota Twins' new Target Field, or our two great full-time orchestras, or our healthy theater community, or the beautiful lakes in the City of Minneapolis, or hunting and fishing in the northland, or the massive and beautiful Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness bordering Canada. I'd even settle for a mention of the largest shopping mall in the United States, our Mall of America.

"What's one thing I should know about Minneapolis (or St. Paul) that I should know?" would be a great question for a hotel front desk associate to ask me as I'm checking in or out, even if they don't know anything at all about Minnesota. Knowing me, I would provide five or ten things about MSP that I think everyone should know. When the customer opts in the discussion, that's engagement.

After your visit to a Hyatt or Marriott or Hilton hotel in, say, Dallas, how about if your local Hyatt or Marriott or Hilton hotel contacted you in Minneapolis (or wherever you live) and provided you with a special weekend rate for a weekend getaway at a local hotel in your area? That would get you another opportunity to engage with the brand, and it would prevent you from visiting Priceline when you and your spouse do want a weekend getaway in the city. What's more, Priceline puts only one issue on the table (price) and consumers increasingly view Priceline hotels at each level as being mostly generic. Generic is bad for business.

> If you're a landscape contracting company working in the residential market, maybe you should provide training to do-it-yourselfers in the areas of design, paver installation, plantings of green material, etc. This is a non-traditional view of selling landscaping design services, but some people aren't going to spend $20,000 or $50,000 on a backyard redo, while they may spend $550 to have a designer visit the house and give a preliminary sketch and then go to several hours of classroom instruction on how the homeowner can begin to turn the plan into reality.

Engaging this group of customers might even lead to more traditional business as the do-it-yourselfer realizes he has bitten off more than he can chew, but getting them to interact with your designer or lead installer or manager in a classroom setting gets the prospect actively involved, which is worth it's weight in gold.

> Banking does not have the reputation for being a "fun" industry in the mind of the consumer. Money is serious business, but the consumer experience can still be (and I would argue it should be) fun. So how can banks make it fun for consumers?

As long as banking is only about money, it will likely be a staid and dour environment. But when banking sees its opportunity to be about people, the fun can enter the mix, and fun is engaging.

Banks hand out deposit receipts left and right. But why are these slips of paper so boring and non-engaging? Of course, the customer wants and needs all the vital information on their receipt. But couldn't they be colorful? Fun? Advertising or promoting something of civic importance on the back?

What about an invitation to play an online banking game that the bank has developed to engage gamers (a really fun, well-designed, cutting edge game where the player gets to make loan decisions maybe, or catch the counterfeiter)? Gamers aren't only young anymore. They're well into their thirties, if not beyond (a valuable market segment for banks I should think).

What about making your bank cool and brightly colored with stunning contemporary lighting and a huge tile or carpet dollar bill on the floor in the middle of the lobby so little Johnny can jump on George Washington's face or examine the details of the bill (or chase his little sister around it).

I'd play cool music in my bank. I'd serve chocolates to people waiting to speak to a loan officer or give kids a token to play a video game every time they make a deposit or accompany their parents who make a deposit.

But where is the fun in banking now? It's all but absent, but with some creativity and people-oriented employees driving the process, banks could be a community-oriented center that people want to visit.

> You manage a retail store that sells clothing to tweens and teens. What if every Monday night you picked a customer to play their specially-created iPod playlist over the music system for an hour? I know, there would be legal and rights issues, but there are lots of teenagers who would jump at the chance to put together a playlist just for the retail store, and would be enthralled to hear their playlist played at the cool clothing store at the mall. Then, offer ten friends of the iPod owner to come in and receive a discount if they purchase during the iPod hour.

Retail stores are more than POS systems and merchandise; they're opportunities for richer, deeper, broader engagement of their customer base.

What assets do you have that could be used to better engage your prospects and customers? What can you do to supercharge your customer engagement?  What can you start doing differently than the same old same old?

If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment.Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies that sell to consumers in all B2C sectors to increase sales by realizing the buying potential of every prospect.

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Retail Zen: 10 Tips for a Blissful Sales Career

True salesmanship in retail has all but disappeared in most sectors of the industry. Customer service and merchandising seems to rule the day at the mall. Not that customer service and merchandising aren't important, mind you, but what about the ancient art of face-to-face selling?

When the stacks of sweaters are folded, the carpet is vacuumed, the glass is sparkling, and the till is counted, how about stepping into the zone of retail zen? Here are ten tips to help you do so:

1. Look shoppers in the eye.

Eye contact between salespeople and customers has been gradually waning in retail for years. Let's bring it back!

I once read that parents spend each day with almost no eye contact with their children. It has been suggested that one way to show children you love them is by honoring them with your attention, and attention means eye contact when they're talking or you're talking. The same applies to retail customers. Put down the scanner, the sale signs, the merchandising plan...and lift your eyes to your customers.

2. Be clever.

"May I help you?" is great for a nurse to say when a patient at the hospital rings the nurse call button, but it's so awfully boring in the retail arena that I wish retail sellers would abolish it. Come up with something more clever. Infuse some personality into the day-to-day milieu.

3. Do the unexpected.

An additional "SALE" sign isn't going to help your store's sales.

But whenever prospects are confronted with something unexpected, they tend to pay attention. One challenge with retail is that it has become profoundly boring for most shoppers. Do your customers a favor: do the unexpected. Bake some spinach puffs in the new oven your company started selling and serve them to customers. Show an episode of The Office in the recliner gallery. Wear a football uniform to work at the kids play equipment showroom. Play a polka on your PA system.

4. Suck them in.

Draw the customers in with your smile, your wit, your knowledge, your interpersonal communication skills. Lock down the person-to-person connection first, then worry about the product. Selling is all about people. It is not all about the carpet, the shoe, or the computer; it's about what those things do for the customer.

5. Take a deep cleansing breath. Now exhale!

Outside B2B salespeople get to drive across town to meet with their prospect, or fly to far away destinations. Retail salespeople get to visit the rest room.

Fight the monotony of retail selling by taking time to breathe, to refocus, and cleanse the mind of unwanted negative thoughts. You may not be able to select the music that's playing on the speakers overhead, but you can select how to react to it.

Relax those tense shoulders!

6. Ask customers what they think.

You just put a new refrigerator on your appliance sales floor? Great! Ask the customer to take a look at it with you, then ask them what they think of it. Ask them what they think of your company's new logo, or your store's new video game display, or the new LED lighting.

7. Be a salesperson, not a clerk.

Become proficient at opening conversation with your shopper. Become skilled at identifying their needs, even the hidden ones that the prospect isn't likely to talk about. Help the shopper understand her needs. Clarify. Do an impressive presentation. Ask for the sale. Handle objections.

That's what salespeople do. 

8. Be thankful.

Retail can be a wonderfully rewarding career. Revel in it. You will probably talk to more people in one day than most business-to-business salespeople talk to in a week or more.

You could be stuck in a cubicle, you know.

9. Sell add-ons.

Isn't it mundane to only sell what customers say they want? Why not sell some things they haven't said they want? Sell two vases instead of one. Sell a digital camera with the laptop. Sell underwear -- yes, underwear -- with the suit. Sell a satellite dish with the RV. Sell a subscription to Metropolitan Home with the dining room.

The possibilities are endless!

10. Have some fun.

Do you sparkle at work? Do you add value to your prospects lives? Do you entertain, make people smile, and truly make them feel welcome? Find your inner retail child. Remember how much fun it was to play "store" when you were seven years old? 

What suggestions do you have to help retail sales professionals find "Retail Zen?"

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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Engage Your Customers the Coffee Shop Way

Retailers, if you haven't already, take a look at the way Starbucks, Caribou Coffee and Dunn Bros (and independent coffee shops) have made their places of businesses comfortable for their customers. Sofas, comfy chairs, soft lighting, attractive surroundings - all in the name of a nice cup of coffee for their clientele.

I spend a lot of time at coffee shops when I'm on the road training or advising, or in between sales appointments, and meeting prospects. It's a convenient place for me and millions of other business people to set up a temporary office for a few minutes or a few hours. Sure, I'll spend a few bucks on a cup of coffee or a latte, but that's an inexpensive price of admission for a couple hours of workspace so I can catch up on my emails, finish writing an article, or plan a client training session.

But let's assume you don't sell coffee. You sell appliances, or furniture, or cars, or something else. What can you learn from the coffee shops?

1. Don't make your store all about your product. Make it about the customer.

Of course your mission is to sell stuff, but when I go into the coffee shop, it's not all about coffee. It's about me, the customer. Make your store all about your customer, too. What would they appreciate? What would they want? What do they need (other than your products)?

2. Get them to stay.

How many times have I hopped up to the coffee counter to order a scone while working on the manuscript for a new speech? A bunch. The only way those coffee shops sold me scones is they're so good at getting me to hang out there.

Is your store set up to encourage lingering customers? Do you have places to sit and chill, to meet friends, to check email? No, car dealer, the customer lounge in the back with the vending machines and harsh fluorescent lighting and the sound of air tools clanking in the shop doesn't count.

3. Check your surroundings. Do they work for the customer?

I know, your store was professionally designed by an interior design firm that specializes in retail spaces. That's great. But did you tell your interior designers you wanted a retail space that uses design to welcome customers, make them comfortable, make them want to stay, and make them feel at home? Or did you just want to maximize the amount of product displayed for the space available?

Take a look around. Would you like to spend time at your store?

Don't put the water fountain in back where customers have to walk through a maze to get to it. Put it in the middle of your store, and put interesting displays all around the water fountain. Use thirst (or children's penchant for water fountains) to help engage your customer and create sales.

There's really good LED lighting now that's energy efficient, environmentally friendly, and easy on the eyes. It belongs in your store.

What kind of flooring do you have? Is it attractive? Comfortable? Visually stimulating? Or just utilitarian?

When a family of five visits your store, do they have a place to sit while mom tries on a dress? One or two chairs by the dressing rooms won't help your family of five. Are there magazines for the kids and dad to read during this ordeal? Are the chairs comfortable? Are the dressing rooms comfortable?

The design of your retail space can engage or disengage your visitors. Choose engagement.

If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, and the financial, real estate, and insurance markets.

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Inspiring Ideas to Help You Sell Through the Retail Slump

The Customer Collective asked eleven leading sales experts to contribute to a fantastic free eBook to help sellers through the recession. The brand new eBook, "Selling Through a Slump: An Industry-by-Industry Playbook" is available at the Customer Collective site starting today. With authors like Charles Green, Jill Konrath, and Dave Stein and other respected selling authorities, I'm proud to be part of the author group.

Each author gives inspiring advice for overcoming the economic slump in one specific industry. My contribution is for the retail industry (although the information might also be helpful to those who sell in customers' homes or to those who sell real estate, financial products, and insurance). Many retailers have been hit hard during this recession, but there are still incredible opportunities for sales growth.

See the complete list of authors and the sales topics who contributed a sales strategy to the book. I've read the entire book and it is excellent. Thanks to Oracle and the Customer Collective for sponsoring the project.

Download the Selling in a Slump free eBook now!

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Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is nuts about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

Marketing Gets it Wrong, SWOT Analysis, and Ben Stein Sells Shoes

Here are three nice articles I recommend:

1. Sean d'Souza writes about why marketing gets it wrong most of the time at Psychotactics.com.

Sean says it's all about wants. I prefer to use the term "desires" instead of "wants", but I agree with much of what Sean has to say here. Most of my client companies have some salespeople that sell as if it's all about their product, their company, and their expertise. But it's more about the prospect's needs and desires. Desire is a strong motivator. If you can identify and magnify desire, you can then position your product to meet that desire, and that's when prospects become customers.

2. Read "SWOT Yourself to Success" at FreelanceAdvisor.com.

Many of you are already familiar with SWOT analysis, the self-evaluation tool that helps you understand your:

-Strengths

-Weaknesses

-Opportunities, and

-Threats.

This article is intended for freelancers, but a SWOT analysis is an excellent tool for business owners, managers, AND salespeople to do. You have to be willing to be a analytical to pull this off, but a SWOT analysis can help shine a light on your business that can help you be a more successful salesperson, business owner, or manager.

3. The actor, writer, and lawyer Ben Stein wrote an interesting article in the New York Times about the sales profession (thanks to Guy Kawasaki and his practical blog "How to Change the World" for calling my attention to it).

Read "The Sales Profession: Attention Must Be Paid." It seems Mr. Stein is a bit nostalgic for his first summer job as a teen selling shoes at "Shoe Giant." You'll have to register at the New York Times site to view the article.

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment, or subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is nuts about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

So What Should Retailers Do Now?

I have a prediction: Because of the recession, some retailers will begin to hire salespeople again, not just retail clerks, cashiers, and customer service reps. Others will (unwisely) continue to wait around for the economy to turn around, hoping it will return to "the way things used to be" (read Jim Mathis' article "The Recession Won't End."

Through the last couple decades, many retailers have moved steadily away from commission compensation and away from hiring (and then training) sales professionals. This has turned most retail establishments intro customer self-service environments with little or no added value for the shopper, and reduced abilities to turn shoppers into buyers and to turn buyers into bigger buyers.

Nobody likes pushy salespeople. But I believe nobody likes non-existent salespeople, either. Retail customers love to work with competent, professional, skilled sales professionals. So I say, let's not hire pushy salespeople, but let's also not hire robotic customer service representatives.

Retailers take a proactive approach with the prospects that come to their establishments, or they can take the reactive approach by merely showing their merchandise on their retail floors and placing human drones adjacent to this merchandise but who do nothing but answer customers' questions and ring up sales.

Can retailers afford to continue down the clerk/cashier path in a post-recession economy? I say no way.

If you like this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to our free sales tips newsletter.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is nuts about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

Three Misconceptions About Why Customers Buy

Customers' needs can be complex. When we meet those often complex needs, we have an increased opportunity to turn a prospect into a customer, or to keep an existing customer.

But I believe there are three misconceptions about why customers buy, and all are relative to customer needs.

Misconception #1: Customers always buy to solve a problem.

Customers often buy to solve problems, but there are many other reasons shoppers spend money (and choose when to spend it, and with which company and from which salesperson). If you believe everything you read on the Internet, you would be led to believe that customers only buy to solve problems. This is a common theme of articles about sales (usually written by business-to-business folks). But I believe that only looking for "problems" to solve can distract you from the real reasons prospects will spend money with you.

Sarah collects a famous brand of crystal. She started collecting these pieces nineteen years ago. She owns vases, candlestick holders, wine glasses, and many other pieces. She usually gets a piece from her husband for her birthday, and another one for Christmas. She may pick up a couple other pieces throughout the course of each year to add to her collection.

Sarah's best friend collects this same brand of crystal, as do a couple colleagues at work, including her boss. Her mother has collected the same brand since she got married forty years ago. Sara perceives that people who collect this brand of crystal have good taste, an appreciation for the finer things in life, and to be members of a desirable economic class that can afford these pieces.

Does Sarah buy these pieces because she wants to solve a problem? No. Sarah buys these pieces because she wants to belong to (or continue to belong to) the group of people who own this brand of crystal. Her buying motivation is not to solve a problem; it is to confirm her membership in this self-defined (with the help of the manufacturer's marketing!) group of people with whom she identifies.

Misconception #2: Customers buy the least expensive option.

Having the least expensive product in your product category can be desirable to a certain segment of the market. But most people don't buy the least expensive option. "Saving money" is a key buying motivation of some customers, but certainly not of all customers.

Here's a story about Richard. Richard is not real. He and his story exist only in my imagination.

Richard owns a dry cleaning company that has a competitor one block away. His competitor is a recognized discount cleaner, and Richard has matched his competitors pricing since they appeared on the scene twelve years ago. Eventually becoming frustrated with this approach, Richard decided he was tired of chasing the low price market. He changed his brand and his approach to doing business.

Richard raised his prices and offered several new services. He re-branded his business as being the dry cleaner of choice for the busy professional. Over time, this branding message started to resonate with his new market. Since most customers of dry cleaning are professionals, and most self-classify themselves as being "busy," he started to add services to his menu to attract this clientele.

He offered curbside pickup and drop off. Customers could drive up to the front door and one of the associates would come out to retrieve their dirty laundry, or deliver their cleaned clothes to the customer's car. Eventually, he added "call ahead service" where a customer could call when they leave home or work, and Richard would have their cleaning ready to deliver to the customer's car when they arrive. This was a much-appreciated time-saver for Richard's customer base.

He implemented a payment plan where a credit card would be kept on file, and the customer would sign off on the charge without having to swipe the card, again saving time. He opened credit accounts for customers who would receive monthly statements rather than pay for each order.

Richard implemented effective promotional programs. Once a month, he would promote an upcoming "coffee day." Anybody who would drop off laundry by 10 am would receive a free large cup of famous-brand coffee. Richard hired a service to come in and prepare the coffee, but he saw his business increase by 125% on coffee days. The concept of free coffee resonated with his market of busy professionals and he found word-of-mouth buzz added to the success of the program.

"Goodwill Day" allowed customers to donate gently used clothing in exchange for a coupon good for a discount on future services. Richard's valet service would deliver and pick-up dry cleaning at customers' homes or businesses for a fee, and since his market was busy professionals, this service was seen as valuable and customers paid extra for it.

Align yourself with customer needs, not with an often tired and ineffective focus on lowest price.

Misconception #3: Customers buy the best quality.

Customers may or may not buy the best quality. It depends upon their buying criteria and the customer's individual definition of "quality."

When I was a sales manager a number of years ago, I went to a department store and bought two similar men's short-sleeved shirts. Both had zippers instead of buttons. Both had a fabric with a waffle-like texture. Both were 100% cotton, both were a similar color, and both were attractive and stylish (at least in my estimation). One of these shirts was a Ralph Lauren Polo brand shirt. The other was an inexpensive house brand.

I placed duct tape over the labels of both shirts. I put a small patch of duct tape over the left chest area where a embroidered brand identifier would be if there was one. I covered up the fabric and care labels with duct tape.

I then passed both shirts around my sales team and asked them which one they would buy. Having no clues about the brand of the shirts available to them (thanks to the duct tape), they had to base their decision on other criteria.

Every single salesperson chose the house brand shirt, which sold for less than fifteen dollars at the time. Nobody chose the Ralph Lauren Polo brand shirt which sold for forty dollars (if my memory serves). When I removed the duct tape, this group of mostly stylish and design-oriented folks were intrigued and surprised.

I asked which shirt they would have purchased if the duct tape was absent at the time of purchase. The vast majority of my group confessed they would have purchased the Ralph Lauren Polo shirt. When the labels were visible, the "customers" would have purchased the brand with the perceived best quality (or maybe it was the brand with the perceived highest value). When the brand information was missing from the decision, the "customers" would have purchased the low priced option because they all felt this shirt was of higher quality and was more attractive than the other.

Customers make complex buying decisions based upon their perceptions of quality, value, and their perceived appropriateness and attractiveness of the product. If customers bought only the best quality products, then all car buyers would buy Hondas, Toyotas, and Subarus (who seem to have made the best quality cars over the last decade according to a leading consumer magazine).

Customers often buy the best quality, but often do not because other buying criteria are more important.

If you like this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to our free sales tips newsletter.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is nuts about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

Love Your Customer Award #4

A number of weeks ago, I recorded my new You Tube sales training video. The night before the studio session, the producer called me and said, "You can't wear your glasses because we'll get glare." I told him that I needed my glasses to see the teleprompter. In addition, my glasses are part of my "look" - anyone who has seen me speak or on the internet has seen me in these glasses. He asked if I could wear contacts. I told him I didn't wear contacts.

He then suggested that I'd have to take the lenses out of my glasses. Huh? The night before the recording session I learn that I need to take lenses out of my glasses?

I told him I wouldn't be able to do that because I needed my glasses to see while I'm driving to and from the studio.

"Then you're going to have to get a pair of frames without lenses in them."

What? How was I going to do this?

I decided to drive to the optical department at Macy's in Burnsville, Minnesota. This is where I had purchased my current glasses.

"I'm sure hoping you can help me," I told the associate. "I've got a video recording session tomorrow, and my producer just told me that I need to bring a pair of glasses without lenses. I bought these glasses here, and I know this is unusual, but I'm wondering if I could borrow a frame similar to my glasses, or buy one and return it, or rent one, or something. Can you help me out?"

She looked irritated.

"That's like asking somebody if you can borrow clothes to wear to an event and then return them," she said with an stern look on her face.

"So there's nothing you will do to help me out?" I queried.

After checking with the manager, she returned and said, "No."

"Great," I thought. "So what do I do now?"

I remembered there was a Lenscrafters store in the same mall. I walked in and Amber greeted me. I told her the same story about needing frames without lenses.

"I know it's unusual, but is there any way I could borrow some frames or rent them or something?" I asked.

"Well," said Amber. You could buy the frames and just return them when you're done. We have a thirty day return policy - and I can remove the clear lens for you. Would that help?"

"YES!!!"

Amber, knowing there was nothing in it for her or for her store, proceeded to help me select a frame that was similar to my glasses. Then she carefully removed the lens, put the frames in a case, and took my payment. She was pleasant and helpful.

When I returned the frames two days later, the manager of the store helped me. She knew about my situation because Amber had told her about it. The manager was fantastic.

Lenscrafters helped out a customer (me) in need, even though it didn't create any immediate revenue for their business (I should also point out that what they did for me didn't cost them anything, either - please take note, Macy's Optical department!). What it did do, is create goodwill.

Lenscrafters in Burnsville, Minnesota, is the latest recipient of the Selling to Consumers "Love Your Customer Award." They're the fourth business to receive this award. Congratulations for providing excellent customer service.

How can you and your company be more like Lenscrafters at Burnsville Center and less like the Optical Department at Macy's in Burnsville, Minnesota?

Have any comments? Do you have stories of great customer service? Just click "comments" below and share your thoughts.

Skip Anderson is a professional speaker, sales coach, and the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter.

Retail Bankruptcy Update

The Wall Street Journal reports that a wave of bankruptcy filings are expected in the retail sector could be forthcoming now that the holiday retail season is done. Bon-Ton, Claires, and Gottschalks are mentioned in the WSJ article, and there's mention of a possible liquidation by Circuit City.

Skip Anderson is a professional speaker, sales coach, and the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter.

Retail Marketing: Winning the Battle but Losing the War

Retail marketing expert Rick Segel shared this story about his retail shopping experience. With his permission, I'm passing it along here for my readers.

* * * * *

I am Mad as Hell and This Retailer's Behavior Disgusts Me

by Rick Segel

I got suckered into a store over a very deceptive TV ad that ends up hurting every retailer. I am especially annoyed because I traveled 43 miles each way to go to this phony "make-believe sale". A chain of men's stores advertised that if you buy one suit or one blazer or a leather coat or jacket, you can get 2 other items of equal or less value for free. Now I have bought things in this store several times and was always pleased with their selection, their staff (very professional), and the value of the product.  So it was worth the drive.

I got to the store at about 3:30 on Sunday and just from the look of the store you could tell they had been busy. I was sure I was going to do well there right after I tried on the first suit. It fit great and I loved the fabric. I didn't focus too much on price because like I said, I had shopped there before and the price range for suits was between $200 and $450 but the $450 range was not the strong price point of the business. So I tried the suit without looking at the price. When I went to the dressing room to put the pants on, I was shocked to see the price of $995. Ya Right! This store never carried a suit for $995 in their life.  Then I noticed that the price tag had been altered. There was a small piece of with tape covering the original price of $395.  I couldn't believe that any store could do that.

Then I started to look at the prices of the other suits. They did not carry any suit that was priced less than $595.  So then I started to look at sport coats. Navy blazers were all priced at $395 but someone messed up because they left the previous sale tag on some of the blazers. They were all originally priced at $159.  So I asked what was going on and showed the difference in the tags. The sales associate then replied, "Since they are buying 3 sport jackets for the price of one, that means that the customer is paying approximately $133 per jacket or a savings of about $28. That's pretty good in this economy."  HUH? Of course he had to add that, "Every retailer does that and the customers know it." NO, they don't!

Then it got worse. I went to look at shirts and spotted a great looking striped shirt. The price was $59.95. Although the price was inflated, 3 shirts for $60 wasn't a bad buy so I picked out 2 more shirts from the same table and proceeded to the checkout counter. I gave the cashier the 3 shirts and she told me that I really should buy another one for the best savings. I didn't get it. Then she showed me a sign that looked the same as the other signs but read, "Buy one, the second one is free." Yet that was never mentioned on the TV ad or in any other advertising at all. So I told the cashier that I would only buy the 2 shirts.

I bought the two shirts and said to myself that $30 a shirt was still not that bad. They rang my credit card through and I was signing a credit card slip for $80.  I just assumed that they marked up all of the shirts to $59.95 but my assumption was incorrect.  Some of the shirts were priced at $74.95, then with tax it became $80. Did I get ripped off? No, but I felt manipulated and deceived. I don't care about every other store that does that. It is still wrong and it will catch up with them. At a time when consumer confidence is at an all time low, we don't need retailers playing shady pricing games. It hurts the store and the industry.

You can fool some of the people some of the time but the ones you fool always seem to get back to you. Trust me, short cuts and deception never pay off in the long term. This store may have won a battle, but they are losing the war.

Skip Anderson is a professional speaker, sales coach, and the Founder of Selling to Consumers, a B2C and retail sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Sales Tips newsletter.

Your Order is Ready

Breanne Potter writes about an interesting buying experience in her MBTI blog.

She purchased an item online at Sears, then opted to pick up the item in the store. She received notification from Sears that her order was ready for pickup, so she went to the store to do so.

Sears has a five minute guarantee for picking up online-ordered items in the store. Within five minutes, the order screen in the customer pick-up area said her order was ready.

But when is a "ready order" not really ready? Read Breanne's article, A Study of Performance Metrics and Employee Honesty.

Skip Anderson is a professional speaker, sales coach, and the Founder of Selling to Consumers, a B2C and retail sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Sales Tips newsletter.

Retailing News: Selling to the Consumer

1. Order your next Pizza Hut pizza via Facebook. Read more

2. This holiday season's most wanted gift items.

3. Circuit City added to the lengthening list of company's filing for bankruptcy protection (chapter 11). Read more

4. Best Buy is predicting the most difficult holiday season in the company's history. Read more

5. The cost of theft to retailers. Read more

6. Retailers fear the worst as consumers slam their wallets shut.

7. Will Wal-Mart feel the pinch this holiday season?

8. Even upscale retailers are expected to take a hit this season.

9. At least here's one bright spot in retailing: American Girl sales strong.

Hang tough, friends.

Skip Anderson is a professional speaker, sales coach, and the Founder of Selling to Consumers, a B2C and retail sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Sales Tips newsletter.

Retailing News

Retailing news:

1. Amazon will sell wine online soon.

2. Retail Design Diva has some interesting retailing notes under the heading of How Smart is That?

3. All about Harrods.

4. Sony is #1 in Asia.

5. Chrysler mini-vans are have 2 miles per gallon better gas mileage.

6. Retail numbers in August showed downturn.

Please share your comments by clicking on "comments" below.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips Newsletter.

3 Disappointing Customer Service Stories

1. My daughter and I went to Target the other day to pick up a couple things. It was lunchtime so we picked up a couple hot dogs (and my daughter had an Icee). There were no relish packets in the condiment collection. I asked if they had any more and they said they were out. They had thousands of mustard and ketchup packets, but no relish. Now I realize this isn't the end of the world, but as someone who likes relish on an occasional hot dog, I was disappointed.

2. We were running behind the other morning, so we drove through McDonald's for breakfast (I know, I know...first hot dogs at Target and then breakfast at McDonald's; not the best way to eat, I know).

My daughter likes McGriddle's but without any filling. McGriddle's are the sweet pancake-like muffiny things that McDonald's sells with sausage or eggs in between them (like an Egg McMuffin, but substituting the McGriddle thingies for the English muffin). We ordered at the drive through speaker:

Me: "I'll have a McGriddle sandwich but without any filling..."

McDonald's Order-taker: "Okay...a McGriddle...What kind of filling?"

Me: "No filling, please."

McDonald's Order-taker: "Umm...that's a Sausage McGriddle...without any sausage?"

Me: "No sausage and no filling at all."

McDonald's Order=taker: "Umm...okay that's a McGriddle with eggs only."

Me: "No, that's not correct: I want a McGriddle without any filling at all."

McDonald's Order-taker: "Got it...McGriddle Sandwich, orange juice, (etc.)."

So, we get up to the window and guess what was in our bag? A McGriddle sandwich with a slab of sausage in the middle.

3. I got a call from Walgreen's at my home the other night.

Walgreens: "Mr. Anderson, please."

Me: "That's me."

Walgreens: "Uh, Mr. Anderson, you picked up a prescription a few days ago?"

Me: "Yes, I did."

Walgreens: "Um, well we don't think this affected you, but somehow the wrong pills got placed in the dispensing unit and we just want you to check your pills. Your pills should say ______ on one side and _____ on the other, and you should look for any pills that are exactly the same size and the same color, but on the back there will be no words...it will be blank.

Me: "You want me to check now?"

Walgreens: "Yes, please. We don't think you will have any but we should check just to make sure."

Me: "Okay, I'll be right back."

Guess what? I had 17 of the incorrect pills in my pill bottle. That could have been a potential disaster.

Please share your comments by clicking on "comments" below.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips Newsletter.

What Guys Want?

I live in Minnesota. There's a lot of retail history here:

1. The first indoor shopping mall in the United States, Southdale Center, was (is) in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina. It opened in 1956 and boasted 72 stores, including Dayton's (R.I.P, Dayton's).

2. The largest shopping mall in the United States (in total square footage), the Mall of America, is just a short jaunt from my office. More people go to the Mall of America every year than Disney World,  Graceland, and the Grand Canyon combined.

I worked in retail for quite a few years, so I spent time selling in the retail environment before I started doing retail sales training. And, I used to really enjoy shopping.

But now, as a middle-aged male, there doesn't seem to be much for me at the mall. Probably, like lots of guys, I don't enjoy shopping very much anymore. I feel a bit like a fish out of water at a mall these days (as a shopper, not a business consultant and sales trainer). Researchers at Wharton found men shoppers are more concerned about the availability of parking than they are with interacting with salespeople.

When is the last time you saw a men's clothing store that caters to the middle-aged male shopper? Have you ever seen a tool or boat store at the mall? I was at the Apple store at the mall last week, but that's the only place I stopped; the other stores didn't interest me. And read what women want from shopping centers; I'm not so sure guys wouldn't want those things, too, but it seems to me that something is missing for middle-aged men at the shopping malls.

I want to be able to buy things I like at the mall.

In many ways, I'm not your typical guy shopper, but here's what might get some middle-aged guys from the masses into the shopping mall:

1. Beer. How about the largest beer store in town...right at the mall (huge big-screen TVs on the wall; every micro-brew you could imagine; tastings; events; with a pick-up area to make it easy to get your purchases...the store staff loads your find right into your vehicle and off you go).

2. A new kind of clothing store that guys would actually enjoy. We need a new paradigm for men's clothing stores, at least when it comes to the middle-aged male shopper. I'm not sure what the new paradigm should be, but there are tons of women browsing around clothing stores at the mall, and very few men doing the same.

3. A Big and Tall clothing store. Or several. There are lots of big guys out there.

4. Why not put a Bass Pro Shop or Cabela's in the mall as an anchor store?

5. A "guy sanctuary" away from the girl stuff. Okay, I'll admit that guys like Victoria's Secret, but put all the other women's clothing and accessory stores (and the teen shops) far away from the guy sanctuary. Women's clothing and shoe stores wear a middle-aged guy down.

6. Sports memorabilia shops.

7. A truck and SUV accessory store (floor mats, GPS, towing hitches, satellite radio, doo-dads to dress up your ride).

8. A pub with the best burgers in town.

9. A recliner store. That's all they would sell: just recliners; rows and rows of them.

10. A grill and barbecue supply store. Guys love to grill. Have the biggest selection of grills and grill toys in town. Have grill-offs at the store. Let the grilling testosterone flow.

11. A store that just sells only remote controls (Especially for TVs. Huge selection. Try before you buy).

12. A brief store. No boxers for these middle-aged dudes...just the largest selection of white briefs on the planet (with a small section of colored briefs in the back).

13. Rock memorabilia. Every guy wanted (wants) to be a rock star. Figure out a way to let them be one for a few minutes or a few hours. Make a video of your favorite 70's song; buy some memorabilia; buy some cool rock-star clothes that he can wear when he's out in the garage detailing his vette. Have famous rock stars from the 70's and 80's visit the store for autograph sessions. Have a contest to receive a free guitar lesson from a famous guitar God.

Okay...that's enough...I'm exhausted. I need a nap after all that mental mall shopping.

What do you think would bring middle-aged guys to the mall? Please add to my list by commenting...

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Please share your comments by clicking on "comments" below.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips Newsletter.

The Comfortable Middle: Make it Work for Your Business

My wife and I at at a restaurant tonight. I wanted a glass of wine (Pinot Grigio).

Here were the restaurant's p.g. offerings:

1. Bella Sera (Italy) $5.75
2. Canaletto (Italy) $7.00
3. Chateau Ste. Michelle (Washington) $8.00

I like to drink Pinot Grigio, but I wasn't familiar with any of these. So guess which one I chose?

I picked the middle one, just like many shoppers will do. The middle one is safe. It's not wasting money like the most expensive one might be. It's not risking getting a low quality wine like the least expensive one might be. The middle one just seems safer to the cautious buyer. And a lot of consumers are cautious. Tonight, I was one of them.

The restaurant we dined at did two things right to maximize the opportunity with the cautious shopper:

1st thing: They offered 3 Pinot Grigio's. Had they offered two, I probably would have picked the least expensive one.
2nd thing: Their middle price one was closer in price to the most expensive one than it was to the least expensive one. To maximize sales to the cautious shopper, raise the price of your middle option. It will still feel safe, yet increasing the price a smidgen will provide you with extra revenue. $1000, $875, and $700 is better for your business than $1000, $750, and $700.

Not every shopper will be a cautious shopper. But those who are often feel safest in the middle. Make the middle work for them and you.

Please share your comments by clicking on "comments" below.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips Newsletter.

Retailing News

Some readers of this blog work in retail selling. Here are some retailing news headlines:

1. Ron Knoth wrote a nice piece over at Retail Design Diva about his retail pet peeves hall of fame. Of the ten pet peeves on Ron's list, my biggest pet peeve is "bored staffs."

2. Retailer Sharper Image announced yesterday that it's closing it's remaining 86 stores.

3. Borders has announced that it's returning to online retailing after a seven year partnership with Amazon. Read the story.

4. According to Colin Charles, online shoe retailer Zappos pays new employees to quit (or tries to).

Please share your comments by clicking on "comments" below.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips Newsletter.

A Good Day For Consumers (At Least For This Consumer)

Here are two interesting stories from my day yesterday (at least they're interesting to me):

1. Yesterday I had an appointment for a service person to do some repairs on our irrigation system at home. When I scheduled the appointment early last week, I was told his window for arrival would be between 8 a.m. and noon.

At 12:45, I decided to phone their company to see why they hadn't arrived. Nobody answered, so I left a voicemail message to inquire about my service appointment.

A few minutes later, a manager called. He apologized for their mistake and told me they were committed to getting my service call completed yesterday (which they did). He blamed the mix-up on their new computer system (I don't know if this was true, but it sounded plausible to me, especially since last week (a) my scanner quit working, (b) my wife's computer got fried, and (c) some new software I purchased did work as expected).

The Lesson: As I suggested in my previous blog post about the importance of apologies, provide your customer with a sincere apology when he deserves one. It can work wonders to defuse an angry customer.

2. I filled my gas tank at a convenience store yesterday. Directly adjacent to this convenience store is one of those quick oil change places. There weren't any customers in their establishment, but sitting on the driveway in front of the service bays was one of their employees, on a chair holding a sign that announced, "Manager's Special - $24.95."

When I crawled back into my car after fueling, I noticed that I was, indeed, overdue for an oil change. So I drove next door and told the guy holding the sign that they could change my oil if they would get the work done within a half-hour.

He said, "Would fifteen minutes work?"

Yes!

The Lesson: Thanks to the oil change establishment's unconventional method of attracting customers, I took notice of two things: (1) their business; and (2) my need for an oil change. This resulted in a win-win outcome for both of us.

What unconventional (but extraordinarily simple) strategies could you employ in your business that would boost your revenue today? Let's talk about your ideas...
 
Please share your comments by clicking on "comments" below.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips Newsletter.