SALESPEOPLE: WHY WOULD YOU rather let a client leave empty-handed than let someone from your team come in and professionally help? That’s the biggest team problem in our industry. You can call it greed or selfishness or whatever. I like to say that half of something is better than all of nothing. When you let this client walk without buying, you let your store and your team lose.
The “clerk client” (someone who walks in knowing what they want to purchase) is already planning on buying something. They have a plan. You need to find out what that is by asking relationship- and selling-specific questions. No push, only professionalism. And if you find yourself at an impasse or the client is wavering, call someone in to help you close.
Everyone on the team wins when you close a sale. Inventory turn wins. Cash flow wins. Marketing wins. Gross profit wins. Bragging rights and referrals win.
The client is also successful. They don’t have to leave and start all over somewhere else. They don’t feel like it was a mistake coming to your store first. And if it’s the client’s first time in, they may become a 30-year client because they just started their jewelry buying cycle (which usually lasts until they’re in their 60s).
On the other hand, the percentage of clients who leave a store and buy elsewhere within the first two hours is very high. We’ve all said, “I’ll be back,” and immediately we go and buy somewhere else the same day. In most of these situations, it’s likely that the salesperson could have had someone else come in and professionally help close that sale.
Managers, you can walk in on any sale uninvited if needed. You can help close or do whatever is needed to make sure the client has a luxury experience. Or you can send someone else on your team in to help; maybe the situation calls for gemological knowledge or value-added reinforcement or just help closing.
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When the client leaves empty-handed, the store lost, the client lost, inventory lost, marketing lost, paid commission lost, and the owner lost. Add that up! And the individual salesperson lost out on building a business within a business. Remember: A client will shop where they are successful, and that’s where they left their money. If they were closed somewhere else, why would they ever come back?
Let’s say a client is starting their 30-year buying cycle and they give another store the $10,000 they were going to give you. If they give that store $10,000 every year, you just lost your store $300,000.
You want to be their jewelry store for life. Managers, stay on the floor, out of an office and run the floor like a well-oiled machine. You need to make sure every client has a luxury experience and leaves with the jewelry they want. Make sure part of the experience is closing everyone who comes through your door.
