RETAIL SELLING

TECHNIQUES AND SKILLS

Some Basic Facts………
– Customer is the KING.
– If an organization cannot at least meet its customers' expectations it
will struggle.
– Customers normally become delighted when a supplier under-
promises and over-delivers. To over-promise and under-deliver is a
recipe for customers to become very dissatisfied.

Rule No 1 - You cannot Rule No 2 - Customer

assume that you know expectations will
what a customer's constantly change so
expectations are ... You they must be determined
must ask. on an on-going basis.
 The expectations of different customers for the same
product or service will vary according to:
 social and demographic factors
 economic situation

 educational standards

 competitor products

 Experience

 Therefore, given all these variable factors, it is no

surprise that one size certainly does not fit all.


 Ask your customers what is important to them. Find out
why your customers do business with you. There are a
wide variety of relationship drivers. For example:

 quality
 price
 product
 location
 customer service

 What service features will keep your customers loyal to

you? Find out.
A.I.D.A. Technique
 AIDA Selling Technique
 AIDA describes the basic process by which people
become motivated to act on external stimulus, including
the way that successful selling happens and sales are
made. This technique is also known as 'Hierarchy of
Effects‘.

 A - Attention
 I - Interest
 D - Desire
 A - Action
 Simply,
 Something first gets customer’s attention


 If it's relevant to the customer, they are interested to

learn or hear more about it


 If the product or service then appears to closely match

their needs and/or aspirations, and resources,
particularly if it is special, unique, or rare, they begin to
desire it


 If they are prompted or stimulated to overcome their

AIDA Pointers
 Attention
Getting the other person's attention sets the tone: first
impressions count
– The ambience of the store
 Approach to the store, facade, Cleanliness, Music and Smell

– Merchandise set up and display

 Visibility of merchandise according to the season
 Moving space in the store – ‘Back Brush Effect’

– Visual Merchandising
 Merchandise stacking – Density of merchandise
 Window display
 Cross Display
 Color Blocking

– Promotion and offers display

 Interest
 You now have maybe 5-15 seconds in which to create
some interest.


 Something begins to look interesting if it is relevant

and potentially advantageous.

 You must approach the other person at a suitable time



 You must empathize with and understand the other

person's situation and issues, and be able to express
yourself in their terms (i.e. talk their language).
 Desire
 The sales person needs to be able to identify and agree
the prospect's situation, needs, priorities and constraints

 You must build rapport and trust, and a preparedness

in the prospect's mind to buy something from you.

 You must obviously understand your product

(specification, options, features, advantages, and
benefits), and particularly all relevance and implications
for your prospect.


 You must be able to present, explain and convey

solutions with credibility and enthusiasm.
 Action
 Simply the conversion of potential into actuality, to
achieve or move closer to whatever is the aim.

 Natural inertia and caution often dictate that clear

opportunities are not acted upon, particularly by
purchasers of all sorts, so the sales person must
suggest, or encourage agreement to move to complete
the sale or move to the next stage.

 The better the preceding three stages have been

conducted, then the less emphasis is required for the
action stage
Retail Selling Skills
 Selling Process
 PRE-SALE PREPARATION

 OPENING THE SALE

 PROGRESSING THE SALE

 SALES PRESENTATION

 OBJECTION HANDLING

 CLOSING THE SALE

Pre Sale Preparation
 Pre Sale Preparation
What are the preparations before a sale ?

 Preparing yourself
 Personal Hygiene
 Appearance
 Dressing

 Preparing the Workplace

 Knowledge of your shop - area, floors, products
 Knowledge of your floor - area, departments, sections
 Knowledge of your section - Product/Brand History, Sizes, Material
 Knowledge of your inventory system - How/When to order,
 Stock Arrangement and Displays - Color Co-ordination, Stacking
Procedures,
 Cleanliness
 Pre Sale Preparation
 Market Awareness
 Trends and Fashions
 New stores opening in the market

 Special features of competing stores

 Knowledge of Customers
 Types of customers - indicators of their lifestyles
 Buying motivations for various customers
 Pre Sale Preparations Check-list
 Counter/section cleanliness

 Display of merchandise as per planogram e.g. Color blocking,

Ascending order of size stacking, Descending order of size hanging,
Co-ordinated displays, Price-point wise displays, Families of
merchandise together, Highlighting slow/fast movers

 Organizing replenishment from receiving bay & back-store areas

 Ensure circulation plan for the section

 Check displays & focal points

 Ensure price & security tags on each item

 Cleanliness of cash counters

 Pre Sale Preparations Check-list
 Knowledge of schemes running across the store

 Yesterday’s achievement, last week same day’s

achievement, today’s target of the department serviced
by him/her

 Lighting is in workable condition

 Ensure customer convenience facilities (Trial rooms,

water coolers, toilets) are clean & accessible)

 Refresh product knowledge of existing range and

acquire the same for new range

Opening the Sale
 Opening the Sale
 The beginning of the actual sales process.
 Making the customer feel welcomed and comfortable in
the store.
 Opening the sale involves :

– Approaching and greeting the customer

 Why to Greet – making your presence felt, making the customer
feel important
 When to Greet – after the customer is comfortable in the store,
when looking around for help
 Whether to approach or not – leave the customer alone if he/she
does not need assistance
 How to greet – Politely, not in a hurried manner, choose the correct
language
 Opening the Sale
– Listening and understanding the customer needs
 No sales pitch directly

– What not to do?

 Making the impression of hard selling from the onset
 Interrupting the customer

 Always Remember
 Higher the number of one to one interactions between
the salesperson and the customer, higher is the
probability of the customer making a purchase in the
store.
Progressing the Sale
 Progressing the Sale
 Part of the selling process immediately following the
opening
 The aim in opening the sale is to close it, and a good
opening gives the salesperson a lead into the sales
presentation.
 There are two major aspect of this process :

– Discovering Customer’s needs – In least possible obtrusive

manner, how the customer is behaving, customer’s attire and
clothes, his choice of color and style, questioning the customer
and picking the clues

 Always Remember
 Progressing the Sale
– Need Analysis – Detect the underlying reason of buying like for
comfort, physical pleasure, self esteem or gifting and then sell
on these points.

 There is always some underlying customer motivation

behind any purchase decision. And it helps the sales
person immensely if they are able to identify this motive
and try to sell on those points. A list of such motivators
can be given in the form of an acronym like
“CREWSADE”.

 C: COMFORT
 R: RELIABILITY
 E: EGO

Sales Presentation
 Sales Presentation

 The process of sales presentation is tying of two areas

i.e. knowledge about the store, the various sections and
merchandise kept in them, the customer types,
inventory, the display of merchandise and most
importantly product knowledge (covered under sales
preparation) and customers needs, likes, and dislikes,
expectation and most importantly his buying motives
(covered under ‘progressing the sale’), in order to give
the customer the information that he needs and also
help him make the buying decision.
 Sales Presentation
 The various steps are as follows :

 Linking the product feature and the customer needs

and wants and of course, to his buying motives!
 Reading the customers’ mind – The questions likely to
cross customer’s mind
 Translating facts into benefits, which motivates a
customer to buy – talk about the benefits and not
technicalities.
 Developing an appropriate entry point for product
presentation – which range to show first
 Convey value through product handling
Objection Handling
 Objection Handling
 It is crucial for the sales associate to realize the
importance of objections. These are after all the
stepping stone towards closing a sale. By raising an
objection, the customer is giving you a chance to
convince him about the product or to remove any
reservations he might have about acquiring the product.

 The following concepts are related with the objection

handling:

 Reasons for objections - Some queries about the

product, customer is undecided/ apprehensive about
making the buying decision. even the sales person - his
 Objection Handling
 Responding to Objections – The following points are
needed to be kept in mind while responding to
objections :

– Listen carefully to objection.

– Remain calm
– Never interrupt
– Restate the objection phrased as a question
– Empathizes with the customer
– Seek the customer’s agreement from your response.

 Objection Handling
 Handling objections: Before starting to solve a problem
it is important to figure out whether it is a genuine
problem or just an excuse. It is important for the sales
person to treat even an excuse objection like a real
objection so that the underlying real reason for the
objection can emerge. There can be different forms of
customer objections and the sales person must have a
plethora of ways of overcoming them depending on the
specific sales situation. The methods discussed are :

– Forestalling an objection.
– The ‘Yes, But” method.
– The superior point method.
– The digging technique.
Closing the Sale
 Closing the Sale
 It is important to reiterate the point that the aim of
opening any sale is to close it. All the efforts being made
during the sale, right from pre-sale preparation upto the
actual sale process would go waste if the sales person
messes up at the closing stage.

 There topics at this step are as follows :

 The buying signals from the customer - both in the

form of verbal as well as non-verbal signals. Like the
customer flexing the shoe to check the quality of the
leather and conveying approval
 Closing the Sale
 Some sales closing techniques -
– The direct close: when the customer is asked directly about his
buying decision. Like,
 “Shall I pack this up, sir?”
 “Would you like to buy this kurta?”

 “Shall I make the bill?”

– The assumption close: when the customers body language

indicates that he has already made the purchase decision.
Example, “how do you wish to pay for this?”

– The limited choice close: giving the customer a limited positive

choice to make the buying decision easier, more so when the
customer is not able to make up his mind. Like, “which will it be,
sir, the suede or the leather jacket?”
 Closing the Sale
– The suggestion close: when the buyer requires a gentle push
towards the final purchase decision. For instance, “may I
suggest that you go for the black trouser since it can be worn
with just about every color”.

– The summary close: here the sales person summarizes the

benefits of the product and ends with a question. For example,
“this business suit is ideal office wear for winter because of it's
thick material and the color, and the wrinkle free texture makes
look good throughout the day. Shall I pack this up for you,
madam?”

– The isolation stage: when the customer has a wide range of

product to choose from, then after assessing the customer
needs, the sales person shortlists it to 2-3 most suitable item
 Closing the Sale
– The urgency or impending close: urge the customer to act
immediately rather than putting off the buying decision by
offering something special. Like, “sir, the buy two get one free
offer is valid only for this week”.
Post Sale
 Post Sale
 The sales person performs an important function of
being the product consultant or advisor, while offering
related products that go well with the primary purchase.
And this is done through ‘suggestion’, the sales person
makes suggestion to the customer and according to
data, one out of every four says ‘Yes’ to the suggestion.
 The important components of this step are as follows :

 When to make suggestions – The timing is important as

you have already closed a sale and instead of asking
“will that be all, madam?” try to suggest a
complementary item. Suggestion can also be made
when you don’t have exactly what the customer is
 Post Sale
 The suggestion can be made at the following points :

– When the customer seems undecided about the purchase.

– When you don’t have exactly what the customer is looking for.
– When you recognize a benefit to the customer that may not be
readily apparent.
– When you feel the customer is making a decision that is not in
his best interest.
– When you receive an objection.
 Post Sale
 What Suggestion to make

– Suggest complementary items and accessories.

– Suggest substitutes or alternatives.

– Remind customer of special offers or sales

– Suggest multiples.

– Suggest additional items that the customer may need or want in

order to use the main purchase.

– Educate the customer about higher value purchase.

 Post Sale
 Selling Add-ons
 The style of selling add-ons should be very subtle. Since
the sales person should look for increasing sale without
appearing to be doing so. The sales person must come
across as a product consultant or advisor. The customer
should never feel that the sales person is pushing him to
buy. The examples can be as follows :

– Suit - shirt/tie
– shirt/trouser - tie, belt
– shoe - socks
– nail polish - glitters/nail polish remover
– lipstick - lip gloss
Relationship Building
 Relationship Building
 The aim is building strong and long term customer relationships
that look beyond the sale.

 The various concepts at this step are as follows :

 The Lifetime Value Of The customer – The purchase the customer

would be making in his lifetime.

 The Personal Customer: A personal customer is a customer whom

the sales associate gets to know on a personal basis. This customer
is one with whom a relationship is built. The sales associate makes
an effort to know more about this customer, his family, his
preferences, his birthday, and his interests.

 Keeping a Customer Database: This could be a dairy / or a file

provided to the sales associate, where he/she can record
information about the personal customer.
Thank You