CLOSING THE SALE IN THE STORE
Satisfaction on the part of the customer is the basis of successful merchandising. Every wide-awake salesman and dealer realizes this fact, and makes it a part of his selling policy to insure the customer’s entire satisfaction, as far as it is humanly possible to do so. The mistake sometimes is made, in trying to please a customer, to leave an unnecessary opening for dissatisfaction. For instance, the salesman might make the remark to an undecided customer, “Take them home and if they are not just what you want, bring them back.” The suggestion is made with the best intention to serve well. But there is in it the germ of indecision which may later develop into dissatisfaction and cause the customer to return the goods when there may be no occasion for it.
The time for the salesman to complete the sale is when he has the customer before him, face to face. There are exceptions to the rule, but in general if the customer cannot decide favorably when he has the benefit of the salesman’s advice and suggestion, it is not likely that he will be able to do so later. To suggest a decision later is the salesman’s admission that he has not completed the sale. What the buyer requires is more selling effort, rather than more time so that he may think it out for himself.
Closing the sale in the store means to learn just what the objections are that are holding up the decision, and then to present selling facts so that the objections will be overcome and the sale will follow naturally. If the customer is told to work out his own salvation by deciding later, it is likely that his objections will take on greater proportions, while the advantages must fade into the background. The result then is that the goods will be returned, and either the business is lost altogether or else the effort to sell must be commenced all over again. A sale that is completed when the customer first calls is good business for the salesman. To the customer it is even more satisfying, for the reason that he is put to no inconvenience in returning the pair first bought and in selecting some other. He is also more favorably impressed with the salesman’s ability to sell and his understanding of the goods being offered.