WE’VE ALL HEARD it a million times: “I’m just looking.” But what does it really mean? It means, “When I see it, I’m buying it” … or “I’ll know it when I see it” … or “I need some help finding it.” Remember, everyone who walks through your doors wants to leave with something, whether it’s a battery, repair or purchase. It’s your job to help them and deliver an awesome experience.
Some good responses I’ve heard are:
- “Great, I’ll help you let’s get started.”
- “I’m so glad you came in. Do you actually know what you’re looking for?”
- “That’s great! I’m just selling.”
- What are your ideas for responses that will keep the client engaged?
- Remember that 60-70% of all clients cannot make up their mind. They’re paying us as professionals to help them make a decision. Of those who say, “I’ll be back,” more than 90% don’t come back. As a matter of fact, 70-80% of all shoppers buy within the first two hours after leaving your location. People don’t have time to shop tomorrow if they’re shopping today.
- When customers leave, that means something was left out of your presentation. If they don’t buy from you, ask yourself these questions:
- Did you do a show-and-tell (instead of a show-and-sell) presentation?
- Did you ask enough relationship questions? Always make it about them, not the item or the price.
- Did you ask enough selling-specific questions to find out what they really wanted?
- Did you ask the right questions to help you figure out what their budget was? (Never ask straight out — they’ll think you think the money is more important than they are.)
- Did you handle all their objections?
- Did you romance the product enough to prove that the price on the tag is real? (This also helps prevent negotiating later.)
- Did you let the client talk, or did you talk too much?
- Before they left, did you do a team-sell to save the sale? Nobody owns a client.
- If you didn’t match personalities, did you bring somebody else in at the beginning?
- After they left, did you do proper follow-up to bring them back in?
- Did you close professionally all the way through using the ALPC method (ask-listen-paraphrase-close)?
- Did you say, “Go ahead and look around, and if you find something, let me know”? That’s the most unprofessional thing you can do. That means “I don’t want to wait on you unless you’re giving me money.”
If you don’t take care of the just-looking client, they’ll just look somewhere else and give them their money. Bridal season, which starts April 16 and runs through the end of September, is the biggest “just-looking” season in our industry. Give all just-lookers an experience they’ll never forget and make them lifetime clients. After all, it all starts with just looking.