A better way to approach Retail Sales

If you work in retail sales for a big company, it's more than likely that you will have been given a fairly in depth training program to ensure your sales skills are up to scratch.

Usually this is divided up into separate sessions, firstly an induction, secondly examples - sometimes with video footage and finally some practical work. With the training it is then really for you to go out onto the shop floor and put it all into practise.

Yet, when I visit my local high street stores, I very often find sales people not use any of the techniques that they would have been taught. Instead I see slouched staff who fail to make any eye contact, and even worse seem disinterested.

Many retail sales Jobs are commission based, meaning that you can earn yourself good additional money on top of your standard wage if and when you make sales. With this in mind it is hard to believe that attitude that some staff display.

One of the worst examples which is very common in the retail world is staff that ask closed ended questions to potential customers. If your not familiar with this terminology, basically it is when you ask something that can invite a simple "yes" or "no" answer.

A prime example of this cardinal sales sin is asking "Can I help you?". The standard response to this question will nearly always be "no thanks" or "I'm just looking". Although in some cases this may be true, this response is usually given as people don't like to think that they are going, or going to be forced into making a decision when it comes to parting with their cash.

A much better way of breaking the ice with a potential customer is to ask questions which will invite them to think about their answer and put more effort into it. For example if you are selling televisions, you could ask about the type of television and even if they have a preference with a brand.

This will invite conversation and once the customer is more at ease with the situation, you will be able to move forward with the sale.

A simple change like this one to your opening approach to new customers can have a huge impact on the amount of time you spend with them and the amount of sales you can make. You will be surprised at the number of people who will indeed open up to the fact they wanted help to make a purchase, they were just pre-programmed to say that they didn't!

This article is written by Jonathan Walker of Sales Jobs