They went that-a-way

Basics of helping customers in your business

The title of this article is also a line that was repeated in many western movies as well as shows such as Gunsmoke. You probably remember seeing one or more of the good guys riding up to a house or way station and asking the locals about their having seen the bad guys and the direction they were going. The local would think for a moment, point in a certain direction and then say the famous line. Hence the title, "They went that-a-way." 

With just that bit of information, someone like Marshall Dillon went in the direction he had just been pointed, looking for the bad guys. The locals would watch the good guys as they went in that direction and continued their effort and search.

Because this writer spent many an evening watching westerns while sitting on the sofa at his grandmother's house, he remembers hearing this line over and over—sometimes several times in the same show.

From numerous shopping trips recently, it is easy to think that many of the sales help we come across in stores have watched the same shows. Why? Because when we go into stores and ask a salesperson about the availability of a product, we often witness the same scenario. The salesperson will think a moment and then say something like, "Yeah, we should have that."

And as you head in the appropriate direction, the salesperson may continue, "You might try over on aisle 14; and if not there, try over on aisle 5."

The salesperson will wait for your nod of approval, watch as you head into one of the two suggested destinations, and then return to whatever he or she was previously doing, thinking the job was done and anticipating that you will get what you are looking for.

While this is repeated often in many stores, there are two major problems with this type of experience. The most obvious is that the salesperson, perhaps more appropriately referred to as a tour guide, does not have the opportunity to expose the customer to other products. The second problem is that the customer will most definitely not see this store as being any different from most of the other stores in the community; perhaps not any worse, but definitely not any better.

If this is a situation you have witnessed as you have shopped, or worse yet this is a situation that you know is occurring too often in your store, let's talk about the alternatives.

In computer terms, this is referred to as "multi-tasking." In the early years of computers, you could work in one, and only one, software application. When you wanted to go from one to another, the first program had to be completely closed before the second program could be started.

Today, we all know those extra steps are unnecessary. The same is true in retailing. Those who are good at retailing know how to be stocking a shelf, hear the phone ring, quickly make sure no products are sitting in the aisle, and then move to answer the phone within the first couple of rings.

Of course, that is about the time the salesperson hears the distinctive sound of the front door opening and a customer walking in. While still on the phone, the salesperson gives a smile and wave to the customer and probably even places his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone and says something to the customer like, "Good morning. I will be right with you."

In retailing, this is multi-tasking; but the key difference between our two examples is that this salesperson then spends quality time with the customer. If we have a salesperson performing in this manner, he is probably aware of several things. The first is that nearly 85 percent of consumers believe there is no difference between one store and another, so this unique behavior by our multi-tasking salesperson is going a long way toward placing the business in that distinctive 15 percent of stores.

While stores go to great lengths to have unique logos and spend thousands of dollars for signs and displays, they still cannot break out of the 85-percent group. With an expense that is substantially less (the cost of having sales-education classes for your staff), our example store and salesperson have moved into that small and unique group. While we are not watching the conversation as the salesperson and customer visit the appropriate displays of inventory, there are probably a couple of other things that are going to happen.

The first is that our salesperson is going to pick up an item and hold it out for the customer to take into his or her own hands. The second occurs when the customer decides to make the purchase, and the salesperson asks this question, "Is one enough, or would two be better?"

The importance of these two occurrences? Each has been shown to make a double-digit difference in sales. More than one in 10 customers will take the suggestion and purchase the second product; and by having the customer hold the product, there is that double-digit increase in sales of that product to the customer.

Probably our salesperson is using unique tactic: asking the question "Why?" Imagine a customer walking into this shop and asking for a can of WD-40. Our “multi-tasking-in-the-15-percent-group-double-digit-sales-increasing salesperson” asks what the can of WD-40 is going to be used for.

The answer is that the customer, new to the hobby of remote-control cars, wants the WD-40 to "fix" his car. And of course, our salesperson invites the customer to talk about what kind of car he has as they walk to the appropriate shelf. In many stores, that can of WD-40 has a very low margin because so many competitors are selling it at a discounted price.

Our salesperson explains to the customer what will happen when the WD-40 gets on the electrical contacts. "So what should I use?" asks the customer. With that, the salesperson hands the customer a can of electrical contact cleaner. The customer says, "I'll take it."

Our salesperson responds with, "Is one enough, or would two be better?" And as the customer is handed a second can of electrical contact cleaner, our salesperson follows up with the invitation to see cars that are of a better quality than what our customer currently owns.