Opening the sale

The first step in building the relationship

You are the first part of the sales process and it may sound simple, but being well dressed and enthusiastic instantly conveys a message that you are professional, knowledgeable and helpful. Personal appearance matters and is the first step in making a positive impression with the customer; it communicates that you have respect for yourself and others.

If a customer is waiting at the counter and you are serving another customer or in the middle of checking something, acknowledge their presence just to let them know you are aware that they are waiting. This is simply done with a ‘good morning’/‘good afternoon’, or ‘I’ll be with you shortly’, or a nod and smile, whatever is appropriate. This only takes seconds and will not detract from the service that you are providing to someone else.

If you are busy re-stocking shelves and do not even look up to acknowledge the customer, your body language will tell them that you are not available, do not want to serve them and want to be left alone to get on with your work.

It may be that the customer is browsing, in which case you need to find the right moment to offer assistance. Rather than say, ‘Can I help you?’ to which they will inevitably reply ‘no thank you, I’m just looking’ try asking, ‘what can I help you look for today?’ This puts a totally different emphasis on the question, because it pre-supposes that they are looking for something specific, and then you are able to assist and guide them in their buying choice.

Another way of opening up the conversation if the customer is already looking at a certain product (let’s imagine it's shampoo) is to say something like ‘I see you are looking at shampoos, which particular brands do you like?’ This then gives them the opportunity to say that they were looking to try something different from their original brand and you can then use the following questioning techniques to help them make a buying decision.