Ashley Alderson walks through five steps to close a sale in a physical store: relate with a genuine greeting, discover what the customer needs, suggest solutions, close the transaction and collect contact info, then follow up with emails or notes. Skip the generic "Can I help you find anything?" and build a real connection instead.
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Have you ever walked into a retail store and somebody looked at you and said is there anything you're looking for or can I help you find anything today? I like to think of this as the kiss of death question. Because every single time someone asks me this, unless it's a random occasion that I've been very specific in what I'm looking for, I look at this person, I say, no thanks, I'm just looking. No thanks, I'm just looking. How many times have you heard the same thing in this scenario? So the kiss of death question, is there anything I can help you find? It's very rare that anyone is going to come back with a very specific answer saying, yes, I am looking for a chartreuse turtleneck. Do you have any? So instead, what is the process? What should we be training our staff and ourselves to do in order to close the Perfect Sale? Well, I believe that there are five steps in sequence to closing the Perfect sale and I'm going to talk about this today in order of a brick and mortar scenario. And I'll save another five minute Friday for outlining this process in an online sales scenario. So brick and mortar sales. Let's talk. This first step to closing the Perfect Sale is simply relating rather than putting the customer on the spot before she or he even decides if they like you, if there's anything in this store for them or not, or if they just want to like see what it's all about once they set foot in the door and then dart on the way out before trying to pin them down and make them commit to telling you they're looking for something. Instead, just relate to them. Is it giving them a compliment? Is it talking about the weather? Is it just saying, hey, welcome, my name's Ashley. Welcome to my small business. Just relate to this person on a human level because people hate doing business with companies. They love doing business with people. And again, people don't remember what they bought from us, but they do remember the way that we made them feel. So our very first and most important job is simply to have some sort of relatable dialogue with that person so they feel safe and welcome in our space and that they are free to roam around and take a look at what's happening. The second step in the process is discovery. Once we've made this person feel welcome, we've related a little bit, only then can we ask a discovery question that might be around. Where are they from? Or if they are looking for something specific today or hey, I love your jeans. Have you tried this brand that we carry in the store before? They're brand new. We just got them in now. Once you've built a relationship, now you can discover what they're after. Is it a special event that they're going to be attending? Is it a gift that they're looking for? Is it a certain room in their home that they're looking to decorate? How can you help them solve a problem? But first you have to know what is the problem that they have in the first place? The third question to ask is or the third step in the process. Once you've related, once you've discovered, only now can you suggest. Right? No one loves when you suggest but but really they don't know that you're allergic to cotton and you've just suggested five cotton shirts for them to try. So once you've related and discovered, now you can suggest solutions to the problem that you've discovered that they have. The fourth step in the process is the close. And this is so important. So often we fumble around the close, but the close is very helpful because you can suggest alternatives or add ons or upsells. You can ask for their email address and make sure they have a really solid and satisfying experience at the register as you're closing the business. The clothes should go so well and feel so easy and natural that they can't wait to come again. My favorite convenience store in the state of Wisconsin, Kwik Trip with a K not a Q. There's huge difference. If you've been to the Midwest you will know. They always say at the close, we'll see you next time. And I always say to myself, you bet you're going to see me next time. Because there's nowhere else I'd rather go for a number of reasons. But that's a whole nother five minute Friday. So a strong close. And then finally the last part of the process is supporting after the sale. So you've closed. But now what are they ever going to hear from you again? So making sure you have a follow up email sequence or you have a nice handwritten note or you have something to stay in touch with them after they've done business with you is absolutely critical because it's much more cost effective and easier to get a returning customer than it is to acquire a new one. So five Steps to the Perfect Sales Process that's it for five Minute Friday, you guys. I hope this one was helpful to you. You can maybe take it back to your next team meeting and discuss and outline how you can perfect it inside of your business. I hope this was helpful. Leave me a rating review and send me your suggestions anytime. If there's something you would love to hear on five Minute Friday, I would love to hear your feedback. That's it. I hope you guys have a great rest of your week. I will see you back here next week week. Take care guys.
Thanks for listening guys. I hope you took away all kinds of nuggets and new ideas from this week's episode. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a rating and review. We love to hear your feedback and give you a chance to be featured on the show each and every week. For more information on our spirit of community over competition and to access guest downloads and bonuses and all the resources we talked about on the show, head on over to the boutiquehub.com and join the community. We'll see you next week.
