It is an indisputable fact that traditional bricks and mortar merchants are taking a beating from the emerging group of online retailers. We can speculate all we want about how effectively they’ll combat the assault by making shopping more of an adventure, how they’ll create events to keep the hype and excitement going ‘walking the mall,’ and ultimately how and when they’ll take the ‘can’t beat them, so let’s join the clicks and bricks option approach. While not everyone seems to realize it, mall owners and their anchor tenants from big brands are perfectly positioned to do this, but I can’t help but feel sorry for their smaller cousins, particularly the strip mall operators who are starting to feel the pinch against an emerging trend of ‘try it live then buy online’.

It’s starting to look like your only point of difference will be turning to the oldest technology on the planet and completely mastering it: the human interface. If they want to survive the onslaught online, store owners must rethink the importance of face-to-face sales, particularly the art of upselling. In my KNACK of Selling workshops, aimed primarily at these small business retailers, it is finally starting to take its rightful place as the most important and challenging skill required of a floor salesperson, certainly for all but the products. basics. As custodians of the last three feet of the sale, they are the ones who must not take prisoners; They must not only turn every one of those hard-earned heads through the door, but also maximize their bottom line profit performance by becoming living experts at cross-selling, up-selling, and referral-selling…and it all begins. with product knowledge. !

In selling, our products and services are our lifeblood. We need to know our stock lines and availability like the back of our hands, understand how our proposition relates to our immediate competitor’s offerings, and appreciate product synergies so we can seamlessly and credibly sell, aggregate, and bundle. and personalize each sale. We need to know where and why our products fit within the stock layout, how they are positioned within the range, and how and why they are priced relative to similar products in the category.

One of my recent trainees, a computer store salesperson, provided me with a classic example. He had a counter ready in his pocket, a methodically prepared summary of all product and price combinations to indicate the various sales options and add-ons applicable to each of the computers he was selling. Although his first option was always to qualify the customer’s intended application and then sell ‘above and far’ from the price leader, his alternative plan was never to let the customer walk away, to spread the word that his company it was not competitive. Although his was not the attitude of getting the sale at any price. He was well aware that this could create the expectation of the customer not wanting to pay full price. Instead, he would take the high ground with some mandatory package. After all, his laptops even came with ‘plug and play’ USB sockets through which an ever-increasing variety of interactive devices could be connected, literally plugging in additional sales.

In his opinion, it would be irresponsible to sell something like a laptop without at least the basics: proper application software, Internet access, a protective carrying bag, the essential antivirus protections, and a means of offsite backup of valuable data. the client’s. On average, he was bundling five or six items in his laptop and tablet sales, regularly turning a barely profitable $699 sale into a $1000+ transaction, generating a gross profit return well above the average for the store. He even went so far as to develop high quality graphics to support his proposition and add credibility to it by displaying the options on the screens of the very computers he was selling. This is the epitome of not only knowing and understanding your product, but also directly applying that knowledge to expand your sale amount and maximize profits. Using this bundling technique allowed you to combat even the toughest ‘price match’ threats emanating from nearby discount competitors or Internet searches.

This is also a very responsible customer retention initiative, with potential buyers taking comfort in knowing that the store really has their interests in mind and is not prepared to leave their customers’ valuable purchases unprotected – a very easy and very responsible upsell. initiative. Importantly, it also avoids having to give the impression that the store is not competitive. Neither the sale nor the customer is lost, and the integrity shown could very well lead to some serious referrals. This scenario will not always be available to us, but we will certainly give ourselves better odds by being prepared for it. I can’t imagine too many products that lend themselves as ideally to this as computers, or perhaps motorized vehicles, but even so, you may be able to develop an approach relevant to your market. For example, just as cups go with saucers, earrings go with bracelets, and golf balls go with golf clubs, there will be a plethora of upgrade options and similar product bundle alternatives for particular products. what to sell

You really have to ask yourself the question, ‘Do you have your additional put options pre-planned, listed and ready?’ If in doubt, think about supermarkets. It is certainly no accident that unplanned purchases, tempting impulse buys at the checkout, make a major contribution to their average sales numbers per customer, or that the sale of accessories and gadgets is designated as a separate activity/profit center. in the new car market. dealers

During my training sessions, I also emphasize the need to develop the habit of introducing these add-ons early in the sales process. Intangibles like extended warranties and support packages are often introduced as early as the product qualification stage by casually saying, ‘This product qualifies for our extended warranty offer.’ This is a variation on the well-proven direct marketing tactic where words like ‘qualifies for’ and ‘eligible for’ apply to the customer, rather than the product. In this case, the word ‘qualifies’ serves as a powerful but subliminal perk (reliability/peace of mind) in support of the particular product, subtly hinting that not all products would qualify. It can then be brought back at the end of the sale as a question (minor point, alternative option) to effectively close both the product itself and the additional service.

This same discipline of ‘introduce it early and introduce it every time’ applies even more to financing options. By breaking down the mental affordability barrier from the start, the seed is subliminally sown to sell comfortably and add add-ons throughout the sales process. This approach is particularly effective in allowing us to progressively break down each added value to its lowest denominator, usually expressed in terms of a ‘pennies a day’ investment. It’s certainly a better option than having to panic-mode him into the conversation at the end of the sale, after you’ve hit a budget hurdle.

We must recognize that from a return on investment point of view, these intangibles are the ‘crème de la crème’. Not only do they generate a higher gross profit than the physical products they support, they don’t involve an investment in inventory and don’t take up shelves, floors, walls, or storage space. Therefore, it makes sense to present them every time and present them as soon as possible. So just because this is called ‘upselling’ and ‘upselling’, it doesn’t mean we should consider it just an end-of-sale activity. Sure, the best time to sell something is when the customer has just purchased, and this applies particularly well to accessories, but the seed needs to be sown early and allowed to grow throughout the sales presentation.

So there is obviously much more to product knowledge than just having read the brochure. This understanding of the broader applications of products, services and support is the underlying secret of true product knowledge. This is really what it’s all about. So it’s no wonder that knowing everything about every product, including all the extra tagged put options, remains the best way to create our point of difference, particularly about the less interactive and largely inanimate website checkout options. .

It may well be, then, that for all those small business owners who form the backbone of retailing in every sector of every market in every corner of this world of ours, resurrecting the ancient skill of face-to-face selling is become your savior. Remember, it’s people who will always buy our products, it’s people who will always use our products… so it makes sense that it’s people who will always sell our products.