Retail Shoe Salesmanship

by George F. Hamilton; Frank Butterworth; H. T. Conner; A. H. Geuting

Attracting Attention

The theory of selling is based on the idea that before it is possible to proceed with any attempt to sell it is necessary first to get the prospective customer to transfer his attention from other things and to apply it to the article to be sold. While walking along the street our main attention and interest may be on those things immediately around us. If suddenly we hear the hum of a motor from above we at once think of flying and our attention is transferred to the aeroplane passing overhead. The means of attracting our attention was the hum of the motor or perhaps the action of the people around us.

In retail selling the matter of attracting attention is to some extent, but not all by any means, taken care of by newspaper advertising, window and store displays, the customer’s acquaintance with the store, and the like. It is for the salesman, however, if he is to sell rather than simply to take orders, to guide the customer’s attention and build a genuine interest in the goods; to sell so that the customer will listen and respond to his selling talk, examine the goods and agree perhaps to try them on. These things show interest.

However, interest alone does not sell. We may be interested to examine a German fighting tank brought over for exhibition, but that in itself does not create in us any desire to own one. The effort of the young man to sell the electric carpet sweeper, already mentioned, caused interest on the part of the housewives, but the action stopped there. He was at first unable to create desire and as a result there was no sale.

It is for the salesman to so plan his effort that the customer will get from it a desire to own the goods. Assume, for example, that the customer has bought one pair of shoes and that you have been able to get his interest in a pair of patent leather pumps which he is now examining. Up to this point it may be he is examining them only because they are a fine piece of workmanship, as he might examine an exhibit in the art museum. However, that in itself does not make sales or profits. It is for the salesman now to create a desire in the customer to add that pair of pumps to his wardrobe.

The final stage of the sale is that of stimulating the buying action in the customer; to assist him to the decision that he needs the goods and that his desire to have them is greater than his desire to retain the money. In the present chapter we are to consider the matter of attracting the customer’s attention and of building his interest in the goods. Later the important points of creating desire and of stimulating action will be taken up.

POINTS OF CONTACT

The electric power to illuminate the store or home is controlled by switches which serve to bring together or to separate the points of contact. When the switch is thrown on the effect is one of bringing together of the points of contact. As a result there is action; the circuit is completed and light is produced. The first stages of the sale may be likened to the action of the electric switch. If attention and interest in the goods are properly guided by the salesman they will without exception lead up to the action of buying on the part of the customer.

A great point of importance is that of listening attentively to the customer’s first remarks. Upon this may often depend the whole success of the effort. If a woman calls for something new that is at once a means of establishing a point of contact on the basis of style. Talk style and show the latest patterns and at once you have fixed her attention and interest. If, in a certain shoe offered she should compliment the heel but not quite approve of the color, you have here a suggestion for further effort. Concentrate on the heel and any other features that may have appealed to her and use this as the means of establishing the contact. Concentrate on the strong points; speak of the specially designed arch and of the beauty it gives the general appearance of the whole shoe. This certainly does not mean to overstate any facts but it does mean to make use of those intimations of preference that the customer expresses to focus interest and to advance the sale.

If a customer mentions the quality of strength in calling for a shoe, it is safe to assume that wearing quality rather than style is the special feature that will appeal to him. His appearance will usually indicate the quality of shoe desired. Work with him on the matter of quality, select the stock with that in mind principally and style only as a second consideration.