Search

5 Powerful Ways to Improve Your Sales Technique

Business16-Mar-2022

With the long-awaited return of Bridal Week London nearly here, Get Savvy are back with top 5 tips you can implement to improve your sales technique and boost your profits.

Had I been writing this article 15 years ago it would have been all about the "Sales Process" and the "ABC" of selling (Always Be Closing). It would have majored on manipulation techniques worthy of a double-glazing salesman: from contrived compliments and creating a sense of urgency to backing your bride into a corner and beating her into submission with a “yes” set of questions to make it almost impossible for her to say “no” and escape.

Those tactics would now be seen as sleazy, predatory and aggressive and if used today would more likely result in a one star review than a “Say Yes to the Dress” moment. In his book To Sell Is Human, author Daniel Pink looks at sales and how it’s changed in the era of the digital revolution.

Pink says that the old-style way of pressurised selling used to work because of a little thing called “information asymmetry”. The salesperson always knew more about the product than you did, so you were always at an information (power) disadvantage. It was much easier for him/her to get away with his/her overly pushy sales style and leave you with buyer’s remorse along with a bad taste in your mouth.

Now, we live in an era Pink refers to as “information parity”. An era where the internet, Google, social media, and access to reviews of everything is at the tap of a button. The information playing field has been levelled to where the buyer can talk back to the seller and negotiate more for what they want or walk away to another provider that’s willing to “play fair”.

So, with this change in eras, we need a change in sales style. Pink believes that the old ABC sales style will no longer work today. I suggest that the new ABC for bridal should be “Always be Collaborating”. So, if any of your current sales techniques have a hint of the hard sell about them here are Get Savvy’s suggestions for selling in a more collaborative way.

Get Inside the Bride’s World

If you go into the appointment thinking about making money then you’re in direct conflict with your bride’s key outcome, which is more about making memories than making a decision on a dress and you making your sales target.

Find a way to switch from a selling to a celebratory mindset. Even if you’d love to fire at her “budget, been to other boutiques, buying today, brought the credit card?” find a softer way to disguise your killer salesperson speak! Make it more relational than transactional so that she feels that you’re building a relationship rather than building a fact file where you’re calculating your chances of selling today.

TOP TIP Use one of my favourite questions in Get Savvy’s Selling Secrets online course which is: “where are you in your search for the dress?”. This is much more relational than “where have you been before and where are you going?”.

Get Connected

Building a relationship starts way before opening the door to your bride and putting her into her first dress. The Pre-Sell is a way of getting connected. Think of it as a dating site where you would have messaged many times way before the first meet up!

Automated appointment confirmations by text, messenger or e-mail, akin to a dental or hair appointment, are functional but I fear that we run the risk of losing the personal touch. We once had a customer complaint because the bride received a generic e-mail informing her that her gown had arrived. In our efforts to be efficient we had forgotten that this is a hugely emotional purchase so now we call and send a personalised e-mail.

TOP TIP Before her appointment, find a way to connect with her by phone, or an e-mail written by you and not by a computer. The “devils in the detail” so does she use Liz, Lizzie or Elizabeth and do check if it’s with a z or an s.

Get Mimicking

To close the sale you need to get into rapport from the minute you open the door. You can do this by Mimicry, which is the act of mirroring and matching someone else’s body language or speech.

Daniel Pink says that the salesperson can unintentionally alienate the customer by using technical terms or correcting the words/phrases used by them. How often have you wanted to say, “it’s a train not a trail”? If she says it’s a fit and flare and it’s an A-line remember she’s new to this. It’s a different story if she seeks clarification, as now it’s an invitation to educate, but resist the temptation to confuse and lose her with phrases like “godets”, “bias cut” and “internal bustles”.

When you use other people’s phrases it makes them feel heard. A study in Holland, where half of the servers were instructed to repeat the customer’s order back to them word-for-word and the other half was instructed not to, resulted in both the orders being right on both sides. However, the “repeaters” received 70% more tips.

TOP TIP Find and use her “Magic Words”. Ask her “what do you want in your dress?” or “what’s important to you in your dress?” and use those words back to her as you move through the sale. This is a great strategy if she is unable to decide between two different dresses.

Get Flexible

NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) has a presupposition (bit of jargon but this is true) which goes like this: “The person with the most flexibility of behaviour will have the most influence on the system”. You need to be able to adapt to every bride and every situation.

This is particularly true about the techniques you use to close the sale. Many consultants think that by creating urgency and stating slightly exaggerated lead times or a “buy today with a one-time offer discount” will persuade every bride to say “yes”. Instead of pushing her to the credit card machine this may panic her and push her away. A seasoned sales pro will know which close to use and when.

TOP TIP Be aware of your own “default closes” (mine are the assumptive sale and, confession time, the “buy today” offer). Instead, choose the close that will be a better fit for your bride. Even if it is encouraging her to go away and “sleep on it”.

Get Real

One size really doesn’t fit all and there needs to be a fit between you and how you help your bride to say that cliched “Yes to the Dress”.

TOP TIP If you have a script and you’re being prescriptive about how you sell then tear it up. Go with your gut. In Selling Secrets, and when I train in house, I say “take the best and leave the rest”.

Get in Touch

We all know that change is a part of life and we have to adapt to these changes in order to find success. So why do so many stylists insist on using old school sales tactics that no longer work? If it’s because they simply don’t know any better then Get Savvy can help with coaching, courses online and in house and/or by being part of the community by joining their membership group.

Want to connect with Christine and Maria? You can book to meet them at London Bridal Week on stand E35 or at the Bridal Retail Success Academy where they will talk you through their special show offers. If you’re not coming to London (or just can’t wait) visit getsavvycoaching.com to find out more.

You can also book a general appointment with Get Savvy here.