The Point of Need and the Three Sales Clerks
I was in Quebec City this weekend where the IIHF World (Hockey) Championship is currently underway. My son was there playing in the IIHF 2008 World Youth Hockey Tournament. While we were there the kids wanted to visit a local sporting goods store.
The experience we had in the store reminded me of the importance of listening and meeting people at their point of need which I wrote about in an earlier post. It re-enforced a bunch of ideas about listening/watching, building rapport and then engaging at the right time and for the right reason. In this experience, three different sales clerks approached us, but only one made a sale.
We walked into the store to look around around. We were just browsing. The first sales clerk approaches us and asks, “May I help you with anything?” The response was expected, “No, we are just looking around.” He leaves us alone.
A few minutes later, we walk into a shoe section and another clerk interrupts us with the same question. I wondered if a better question would have been, “Hi, how are you today? Are you in town for the tournament?” A less transactional question might have at least worked to build rapport and would still have drew out a need if we had one. Our reply was unchanged, “No, we are just looking around.”
Then one of the boys reminds his father that he will need a new pair of soccer cleats this year. They were on sale. Dad seems to be open to the idea so his son starts grabbing a few models off the shelf. Suddenly, we start exhibiting some potential buying behavior as shoes are being taken off the shelves, passed around, examined, replaced, etc.
That is when a third clerk keenly observes the signals that declared a point of need. The boy’s father stands up with the shoe his hand and looks around. Immediately, the sales clerk who had been hovering in the area jumps in to respond and simply says, “Hi there!” He knows there is a need. He reaches out his hand and grabs the shoe as the boy’s father says, “Can we get this in a larger size?”
The clerk returns. The sale is complete. The clerk writes his number on the box to claim the commission then hands his customer the shoes and says, “Thank You”. Smart guy. The first two clerks were interrupting. The third was being helpful. What was the difference?
The third clerk was listening & watching for the point of need and got the timing exactly right.
Do you think the same thing is possible online?
May 4th, 2008 - Posted in The Point Of Need, Online Listening, Social Media | |
on May 5th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Absolutely, I think it’s all about the “stickyness” factor, as seen in Dan & Chip Heath’s book “Made to Stick.”
on May 23rd, 2008 at 12:09 am
[…] of need”. Geez..I need to get it down to 3 words like that. Any who..here, here and here..you’ll find the the posts I’m talking about. Super interesting read […]
on January 21st, 2009 at 2:46 am
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on February 14th, 2009 at 1:55 am
It’s about time someone started to sing the praises of rapport. Greg