Sales techniques: Handle shoppers with care

There was a time when shoppers were more relaxed with their spending and were happy to browse the shelves and racks waiting to be inspired to buy. Not any more. The collective need to save money has turned most shoppers’ experience into something far more functional.

In these straitened times consumers now know what they want and how much they are willing to spend more than ever. Unfortunately, it takes a lot to get them to deviate from their plan. The challenge for retailers is to try to understand this new shopper mindset. With an adaptable approach to store operations and sales staff who understand this change in shopper behaviour, retailers can make sure they are not wasting opportunities to maintain and capture that all-important market share.

But while it’s crucial to be attuned to changing shopper behaviour, moving too much away from the tried and tested formula could also prove detrimental. So how much should retailers adapt the way they approach customers, and can you go too far and risk a relationship that has been built up over years?

“It’s not only about price,” says Simon Puryer, director at store operations consultancy Itim. “The ones that are doing well are the ones where the staff are going that extra mile. All retailers have done a lot around pricing so it comes down to how you stand out from the crowd.”

You only have to look at how aggressively value and single-price retailers such as Aldi, Lidl and 99p Stores have expanded over the past year to see how much shopping has changed. No-frills value is the new priority. So how does this change in habits manifest itself once customers are through the doors?

Being more hesitant to spend money, shoppers don’t want to risk temptation by lingering too long in a store, so the amount of time they are willing to spend in a shop goes down in times of
a recession.

Jason Kemp, managing director of store operations consultancy firm Envision Retail, explains: “Customers are more focused. You’ve got to help them get their shopping done as quickly as possible. Subconsciously, they allocate an amount of time to be in the shop and if they don’t have it all done within that time they might leave.”

Shopfloor employees therefore need to be acutely aware that fewer shoppers are now willing to dither and they must respond accordingly. The key, says Kemp, is to be particularly sensitive to individual shoppers. Some people’s way to cut down their shopping time is to go it alone, others will be more demanding in terms of asking staff to find products rather than trawling the store themselves.

So staff need to be ready to have all the facts at their fingertips when approached so that they don’t frustrate a customer or slow them down, particularly in a supermarket.

Staff also need to make sure that they are being observant and learn to read shoppers’ buying signals because opportunities to make a sale are far less common and converting a sale
is far more difficult. Rather than bombarding every customer who comes through the door, the best approach is to be more judicious and selective.

“A lot of retail staff are going up to customers and saying: ‘Do you need any help?’, but doing it with a blanket approach,” says Kemp. “They should be holding back and waiting to target the right customer at the right time.”

Retailers need to make sure their staff are aware of the different types of customers and pick up on their different habits. This means carefully watching them as soon as they enter a store and choosing the right moment to approach them.

With this in mind, Puryer advises listening to the people on the front line if retailers truly want to assess how their shoppers are behaving in the current climate. The way to do this, he explains, is to forget preconceived strategies built up during the good times and let sales staff judge shoppers’ moods.

“It’s all about how you empower your staff to make that customer experience more enjoyable,” he explains. “It’s very easy to sit in an ivory tower and become removed from what’s happening on the shopfloor. Retailers need to give their staff much more opportunity to give feedback.”

Training day

One option for retailers is to go back to the drawing board when it comes to training. While training is always an area that is hit early on in a recession to cut back on costs, it is vital that, if a
different approach to customer interaction is going to be taken, all staff are adapting consistently.

But before new training is undertaken it’s vital to first plan your store operations policy properly. For example, commission-based selling, Kemp believes, can “often make things worse” at a time like this because their mind is preoccupied by selling, often at the expense of customer service. As such, he advises those retailers that do base sales around commission to rethink this approach.

Carphone Warehouse, which used to motivate sales staff with commission, is going back to what it says is a more impartial customer service.

“Commission doesn’t always help drive the right behaviour,” says Carphone Warehouse HR director Lynne Weedall. “Those that drive for a short-term result rather than building relationships will pay a price.”

But the move, says Weedall, is not a response to what is going on in the wider economy, but more of a return to core values, which she believes are even more important for retailers to stick to in tough conditions.

“In hard times you’ve got to hold your nerve and believe in what you do and what differentiates you from your competitors,” she adds. “That’s more powerful now than ever.”

A strong retailer clearly needs to be pragmatic and flexible, especially in the crucial area of customer interaction.  Because customers are so cautious about spending, a sales approach that worked during the better times will in many cases no longer be relevant.

Importantly, though, retailers should be careful not to overdo it. A total overhaul of shopfloor behaviour could risk alienating the customer unless executed correctly. Any changes introduced to sales techniques need to be consistent with the brand. Shoppers will spot an overeager and obtrusive sales assistant a mile off.

Fred Perry retail operations director Dexter Kirk says: “In a recession people tend to go for brands they trust. When there’s a bit more money around people are less discerning about service, but they remember which retailers have good reputations.”

Above all though, retailers need to remember that focusing on adapting shopfloor sales techniques and customer service in a downturn is futile unless customers can find what they want at a competitive price.

Anupam Jhunjhunwala, chief operating officer of discount fashion brand QS, says that for this reason, having the right product and working on availability is just as crucial.“The customer is more value-orientated than brand-orientated,” he says. “It’s about trying to get the customer to see the value in every product,” he adds.

Today’s consumer is an altogether different breed to their pre-recession counterpart. Failure to ensure that shopfloor staff are able to adapt accordingly to that could prove fatal.