BrainTrust Query: How Can Retailers Raise Associates’ Conversion Rates?
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of an article from The Retail Doctor’s blog.
Brick and mortars have one significant advantage over e-commerce players in turning browsers into buyers: the customers are actually standing there.
To make the most of this advantage, a variety of retail sales training techniques can raise the conversion rate of their retail associates.
Here are five:
Facilitators, Not Just Greeters: Saying "Hi" is good, but being interested in a customer and getting them to their desired destination in a minimum of time is better. Most customers have a buying agenda and will move on to another retailer if they do not perceive that your establishment appreciates their business. No amount of upselling can overcome a customer who is frustrated.
Demonstrators, Not Just Pointers: We’re all familiar with the stores that mandate that their associates bring a customer to the exact product that the customer is looking for. It’s a nice idea, but usually poorly implemented. Mostly, at the end of the short trip, the employee (a pointer) merely wags his finger and says, "It’s right there. Have a nice day." Instead, associates should remove the product from the shelf, demonstrate its features and benefits and, if appropriate, ask them if they want two or three.
Fitting Room Salespeople, Not Security Guards: The experience at Victoria’s Secret is widely seen as first-rate because the focus is on getting a customer to a fitting room where the associate can show her everything that will fit perfectly. The best retailers station their top employees at the fitting rooms to build rapport and sell the merchandise at the key purchasing decision point. Putting your least trained employee on the position to clean up and watch for shoplifters ignores the fact that customers who use a dressing room are 70 percent more likely to buy.
Personable, Not Just Cashiers: As your brand’s last touch point, your cashiers must be personable or they are just not worth their payroll. Also, the customer is generally relaxed and impulse items are easier to sell. In many stores, cashiers are adding additional items to an order.
Sales Trainers, Not Just Managers: By the same token, a manager is not just a person who can fill voids left by a no-show employee. A retail manager must understand the concepts of retail sales training mentioned above and create an atmosphere where they come to life. You need a trainer, not just an inventory manager.
Discussion Questions
Which of the suggestions in the article is most often overlooked? What additional tips do you have for improving associates’ conversion rates?
All the points are quite valid. Everything is about the customer experience, and that is influenced at every touchpoint. Once the consumer is across the threshold, how the staff interacts (or doesn’t) is driven by how the front-line supervisors lead and model the desired behaviors.
Retailers who really understand this focus on training and developing front-line leaders. Coaching and modeling is not automatic and must be intentionally trained and enabled. Sales staff must be empowered to exceed customer expectations in the moment, to flex their style to the customer’s preferred style and resolve any customer concern. Front-line leaders can either enable or disable this—and it must be trained and rewarded. All this is not easy and requires support from the CEO on down.
And the best are doing this already. Are you?
The smart-alec answer is to be more selective about what customers they talk to! If an associate only approaches shoppers with potential purchases in their arms, or pushing a cart, their conversion rate will go way up! 🙂
But the helpful tip hidden in that response is to make sure you understand the task that the shopper is trying to accomplish and help facilitate it. In many retail categories, purchase decisions don’t happen in a single visit or touchpoint, and so not every visitor to your store is an immediate potential sales conversion. If a customer walks in to get help from a past purchase, it’s still a successful conversion to facilitate that visitor getting their help and walking out empty handed, but more loyal.
More generally though, the biggest element missing in most retail environments (especially for considered purchases) is social proof. When shoppers are evaluating products online, the rating and reviews, ask and answers, social popularity, etc., are often the most important persuasive pieces of content, and they are completely absent from many retail stores. We get new data every month that consumers trust recommendations from friends and family more than any content created by the retailer or the brand.
So the best Associates learn the social proof points for hot products and share them with their customers. It could be memorizing important reviews, using their own mobile device or tablet with bookmarks to key proof points, or creating in-store signage.
-Jason “Retailgeek” Goldberg
A strong front-line manager who is visible, participating, and builds energy and team-orientation can move the topline sales needle by +10% – 15% above average store sales.
Each of Bob’s five points are critical for success at the store operations level. Having a leader, who actively participates in the ongoing training of associates, both energizes and guides success in effectively working with customers within store.
Good points, but I’d like to add 5 more to make it an even ten:
1. Spend more time in the hiring process to make sure you are not just hiring a “body,” but someone who is engaged and articulate enough to converse easily with customers and doesn’t just robotically do what you tell them.
2. Pay associates decent wages so you will attract a better breed.
3. Stop calling them “cashiers” and at least value them as “associates.” I cringe at “cashiers,” just as I do when I hear someone call someone a “clerk” or a “stewardess.”
4. Spend a lot of time teaching your associates how to engage on a personal basis with customers and prospects. Work with them so they don’t sound like they are reading from a script.
5. Don’t constantly hound associates about making their sales goals “or else,” but work with them on how to improve, reward them when they make small and large goals, and praise your staff effusively when they do something right.
Ask for the sale! Most retail product demonstrations end with NO ATTEMPT TO CLOSE THE SALE. I am amazed when mystery shopping how many sales people do not attempt to close the sale. If an attempt is made to close and a question arises, answer the question and close again.
I walked into a store in the little village of Homewood in Birmingham, AL; great little village and wonderful shops. The person in the store was busily doing something and when she saw me, she said, “and how is it you found us today?” (Maybe not exact but you get the point.)
She did not say ‘why’ which can put some people on the defensive. She did not say ‘what’. A lot of folks don’t know ‘what’ until they find it. She asked me a question that I could answer and an easy conversation starter if I so desired.
How did this work for me? I felt welcome, invited and I wanted to find something to buy from her!
Having personable cashiers is the number one spot overlooked for conversion, for a few reasons. 1) It’s the last chance to talk with a customer and ensure they have everything they need to complete the purchase which opens up opportunity for impulse purchases of batteries or maybe a cable for that printer; 2) It is the last (and possibly only) encounter for the customer, and whether the customer leaves satisfied or not. The cashier shouldn’t be an entry level position, but one that gets critical screening.
The sales associate who “pounces” on the prospective shopper with an urgent, “can I help you?” thinks s/he is offering support or assistance. The reality is that a good number of shoppers will respond with a variation of, “no, just looking.” The sales associate then responds with, “well, if you need anything, feel free to ask.”
Now, compare that with an offer to help the shopper buy—”what activity/event/reason do you have for shopping with us today?” Or, “who are you shopping for, today?” Begin to learn more about the shopper, objectives, intentions, etc. Then, it is easier to provide the kind of help that is meaningful.
It is not about closing, sales targets, quotas, etc., in a vacuum. It can only happen if a buyer agrees to move forward. Focus on helping the shopper and the rest will take care of itself.
Most overlooked? In general, employees need to always be customer-focused. Every employee has two jobs: Do what they were hired to do and take care of the customer. (Disney says there is a third one—to keep the park clean. Most of us can add that to our list.) Many employees get caught up in their job title (cashier, maintenance, ticket taker, etc.). Teach and reinforce that is just part of the overall responsibility,which is to take care of a customer.
So, it takes training and education. Done right, this will empower the employee to step into his or her role as a customer specialist, regardless of their job title.
As a leader, be sure to applaud and reinforce when an employee does right by the customer.
The most successful call-center customer-service operations have fine-tuned the training, guidebooks (scripts), tools and incentives they offer to their staff to “close” the sale. One would assume that with the benefits of direct personal contact and branded POS experience options in-store associates would have the means to be even more effective in their interactions. Hmmm….
So, it all boils down to people, both those who are the customer-facing associates and the managers who train and empower them. Surprise!
Most are overlooked in most situations. Many of today’s retailers have been taken in by the self-service philosophy. They honestly believe that anybody can serve their customers. These retailers tend to meet expectations less often than retailers who utilize self service to extend the ability of well trained employees to capture as many sales as possible.
Employees should be problem solvers. I know an electronics retailer who did a great job of teaching his employees to sell universal remote controls. Any time a customer entered the store the the sales person would mention the hassle of having a different remote for every item (TV, DVD, etc.). Many customers had this problem, but had not explored a solution. When the sales people offered a solution and could demo it in-store, many consumers bought the remote and later returned to buy other electronic products because they felt the retailer was interested in their situation.
Yeah, these devices have been around for years, but the average 50 year old housewife has no clue as to how to set one up and that folks is a huge market and one that may be concerned with entertaining grandchildren and having an X Box or WII connected to their TV. Amazon can’t touch this market, but a retailer has to think service to capture it.
A lot of valid points have already been made.
Every employee should be singing the same tune as Marilyn Monroe: “I wanna be loved by you, just you and nobody else but you. I wanna be loved by you; boo boo bee doo.” Conversions increase as engagement and trust increases.
Serve your prospects; they’ll return the favor by buying your products.
I wonder how applicable this is to any store other than an upscale specialty retailer. Those who are watching the PBS series Mr. Selfridge may marvel at the level of staffing shown, and while I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the rest of the presentation, I would say this part of it is fairly accurate (indeed it makes the idea of the owner personally interacting with the hundreds – if not thousands – of employees implausible); but such is a thing of the past: how would it work at a Macys or Target of today, with so few employees relative to customers…indeed, isn’t the whole point of a discounter “self-service”?
Two ideas stand out. 1) When you got them to the fitting room you are more than halfway there. Take advantage of the opportunity and make sure they get the help they need to make a decision whether to buy or not to buy. 2) All things being equal, people buy from people they like.
Some of the best employee-driven customer experiences require commitment to training, updated knowledge and empowerment. The above list hits a lot of the key points. The part that is critical is executive commitment to initial and continuous training and improvement. How much time do you think average retailer spends on training on the culture, value, and processes of the retailer?
All the items are valid. Depending on the product, I would say the fitting room sales person is most important. Victoria’s Secret IS very good at this. By contrast, Macy’s is not.
The annoying part of shopping is how long it takes. You may have 6 items with you that you need to try on and bring into a dressing room. Having a helpful fitting room assistant who can bring you the next size or give you their opinion and give you items to complement what you are trying on is a great way to create more sales.
The last thing I want is a sales person following me around. But once I’ve picked what I want and I’m trying it on, the last thing I want is to have to get redressed just to pick out a different size or color. Having helpful fitting room sales people makes the shopper more efficient and leaves me with more time to try on more things that I may want to buy.
All of these tips have to do with employees exhibiting their personalities. The corporate culture must insist on their employees going beyond the basic tasks of the job, but also connecting with the shopper. Also, managers need to connect and mentor employees. These are good, basic tips that if executed consistently, can generate compelling reasons to shop the stores, versus the competition.
I like the list. But overall I’d add, CAREER, NOT A JOB!
An additional tactic that retailers can use to increase conversion is to equip their sales staff with instant competitive price information. That way the floor staff can assure a hesitant customer that the store either has the best price available or will match the best price online, helping ease the customer’s concerns and increasing consumer trust.
Great post, Bob! We’re especially partial to your point on “Demonstrators, Not Just Pointers.” If salespeople are trained well and given the right tools to demonstrate, they can be so much more effective! Educational content should be created for the sales team, NOT just the customer. Arming them with information not only makes them smarter…but more confident!