Assume the Answer is Yes Until They Say No

When I first started working at Pearle Vision as a store manager I attended a variety of sales training sessions.  In those days (the dark ages) we didn’t have computers and when we sold a pair of glasses the details were written on a multi-part order form.  One form per pair of glasses. 

This was the 1980s and glasses were still considered a medical device rather than the fashion statement it is today. 

I remember watching a video interview of an employee in Atlanta GA who was tauted to be one of the best sales associates in the country.  When asked her secret, this is what she said:

“When a customer comes in I grab six or seven order forms and head to the door to greet them.  I ask them questions and learn about their life and then start making recommendations.  People need more than one pair of glasses and so I just keep selling until they tell me to stop!”

She assumed the answer would be yes and felt it was her duty to offer the different options.  She had an obligation to that customer to make recommendations based on the customer’s life style.  Rather than being an ORDER TAKER and just filling out a form, she partnered with that customer and discussed the different ways in which they used their eyes during the course of a day and made recommendations for multiple pairs, BASED ON NEED.

She wasn’t pushing product; she was matching solutions to uncovered needs.

She faced the make or break moment with each customer with the attitude that she had the solutions to make their life easier; more enjoyable.

How often do your associates view the customer as an interruption rather than their whole reason for being?

When faced with the initial greeting of a customer, suggest your associates do the following:

• Greet with a smile and an air of warmth and welcome
• Rather than jump right in with “what can I help you with” or “what do you want”, strike up a conversation – the customer is a person, not a profit line item on your P&L
• Use open ended questions to uncover their needs
• Listen carefully and ask additional clarifying questions
• Make sure you have all the information you need BEFORE you start selling
• DON’T SELL – make recommendations based on the needs just uncovered
• Listen carefully for understanding or additional questions or concerns on the part of the customer
• Establish a relationship that creates in the customer a desire to return

Prospects/customers come to you with a need; a problem that requires a solution.  Whether you sell products or services, you have something they need and so of course, the answer should be YES.

Yes, I’ll buy from you!

Yes, I want more than one!

Yes, sign me up for on-going service!

Yes, how much and do you take credit cards?

Assume the answer is yes.  If you’ve uncovered their needs, created an atmosphere of trust and matched solutions to need:  then the answer will be yes!

Photo courtesy of Keetsa