IN A HURRY
Certain customers there are who are required at times to make purchases in a hurry. When a man has ten minutes to use in buying a pair of shoes, and is on his way to catch the limited train from New York to Chicago that leaves twenty minutes later, he is in a hurry. It is safe to say, too, that he needs the shoes pretty badly. There is nothing the salesman can do under these conditions that will please the customer so much as to cut through all the red tape, get right down to business and get the customer started on his way again before the ten minutes are up. Excitement would not do it. This would result in the salesman being unable to think clearly and it would mean also that the customer in excitement would probably take whatever was offered—and repent later. Someone has said that what the salesman needs under these conditions is to be “cool-headed and hot-footed.”
However, when a customer, especially a man, it not actually in a hurry it is promptness and dispatch that he wants rather than “pushing.” The distinction between these was clearly brought out in a recent article:
All men like promptness and dispatch, but few of them want to be hurried. It is important to keep in mind the difference between hurrying the customer and waiting on him with speed.
Quick, nervous movements or speech on the salesman’s part do not indicate quick service; they only confuse or annoy the customer. The salesman who puts the least extra motions in his work, the fewest words and the keenest attention, is the one who will serve quickly and best.
Help the man to make his choice without seeming to be patronizing; try to anticipate his course of thought without interrupting him. When he steps up in front of you act able to hurry, but do not suggest hurrying. This is the safe way because, while men do not like to waste time, few of them, except on special occasions like catching a train or keeping an appointment, are in such a hurry that they want to be shot through the selling process as though they were getting into a lifeboat.
Reflect confidence in your ability to save the customer’s time rather than the ability to speed him out of the department.