By Bart Ware.

Who wants to hear a horror story?

Working with a business owner recently, I suggested I mystery shop the team to get a foundational understanding of what we were working with. The only observation provided to me prior, “the team are fantastic; they are just struggling to close sales”. I have heard this many times before, and in my experience, closing the sale is the easy part, it’s what comes before that tends to be the problem.

The store presented nicely from the outside: bright, inviting, warm. The product mix was well tailored for the location, and jewellery was displayed with precision. It gave the impression that this place knew what they were doing. However, once inside things started to get scary.

I entered the store; there were no other customers, and two salespeople near their POS discussing what sounded like a repair intake. “What brings you in today?”, came the voice from a distance. I replied the customary “just looking”. This easily dispatched the salesperson back to their repair conversation. Not off to a great start, but salvageable. After two minutes, I decided to hover at the diamond cabinet.

With the repair now entered in the system, one of the salespeople approached me, and (thankfully) with enthusiasm and a smile asked, “Did you find something sir?” 

“Possibly. What’s this necklace here?”

“Oh! Those are diamonds, aren’t they beautiful!”

“Yep!”

(… Silence …)

“So, can I have a look at it?”

“Oh…Sure thing!”

The salesperson pulled the necklace from the cabinet and performed the obligatory reading of the tag:

“It is 18ct white gold with diamonds totalling 0.50ct and is $2,290.”

I was then presented the piece on a pristine jewellery tray. I picked it up felt the weight and put it back down.

“That price seems pretty reasonable” I said.

“Yes, we only stock good quality diamonds”

“Actually, I think it would look nice on my wife and she doesn’t have anything like it…”

“Oh wonderful.”

“…and I have an anniversary coming up which this could work for…”

“Great”

…

…

“Can you write it down for me?”

And with my freshly inked company card, I left the store.

I’m not sure what scares you but what terrifies me is that this scenario (or a version very similar) is happening in retail jewellers EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I have witnessed this in stores across the globe for the last decade; it’s not a new problem but it is a big problem.

Most salespeople are hired because they are personable, nice, and like to make friends. But then they are let loose on the floor without any training in sales techniques and as a result, leave money on the table.

So lets get back to basics and talk buying signals. To clarify it for everyone: A buying signal is ANYTHING a customer does that indicates interest in purchasing a product. These can be verbal or non-verbal. During this mystery shop, I gave are no less than 6 verbal buying signals and 2 non-verbal buying signals. All of which the salesperson missed.

When I first mentioned “Buying signals” to this team, I was met with blank stares; No wonder they weren’t closing sales – they had no idea what to even look for!

But it’s not just about recognising buying signals, it’s about seeing them and having the confidence to ask for the sale.

More often than not, salespeople walk a fine line between wanting to deliver good service, and a fear of being “pushy”. The trick to conquering this is in changing the mindset of the team so that they feel confident to ask customers to buy. The question I ask sales teams to initiate this change: “Is it best for the customer to buy from you, or buy from your competitor?” The answer leads down a logical path – If it is better for a client to purchase from me, then the best service I can offer is not letting them make the mistake of going to a competitor.

It’s essential for salespeople to understand that customers don’t come in to make friends, they come in to buy things. Sales is part of offering exceptional service.

This shift may sound small, but once this mindset clicked into place, and the team were able to recognise buying signals, it was an absolute game changer for the store! The salesperson I mystery shopped closed an $18,000 engagement ring to kick start their month.

So, the question I ask you now dear reader – How many buying signals does a customer have to give your team before they walk out the door and into your competitor? The answer may scare you.

Bart Ware is a sale trainer and can help you and your teams close more sales. Connect at bartwaretraining.com.