The whole range of footwear styles is created in order that the customer may find in the selection something to meet his particular preference. The conservative, middle-aged salesman, although he may not care for the sport models, recognizes that it is the customer who is to be pleased, and therefore he will put in the background any individual preferences. He will not concentrate his efforts on any certain few styles but will make selection to meet the tastes of his customers.
Many stores have certain short-profit lines or leaders for the purpose of attracting trade to the store. There are two ways in which the sale of these goods may be considered by the salesman. The first is that the leader gives the opening for an easy sale, that it requires no great effort on the part of the salesman, and that the thing to do is to follow the path of least resistance and hand out the goods called for without further ceremony. The way in which the sale of these goods should be considered is that they serve to bring the customer into the store and give the salesman an opportunity to meet him and to show the line. This does not mean that the leader is something to be held up before the customer so that he may grab at it and miss. It does mean, however, that the shoe called for by the customer may not be as desirable for him as some other in the stock. The salesman is given a real opportunity to get goods before his customer’s eyes, and he should take advantage of it. Although the customer may have asked for and may have been shown an eight-dollar shoe it is very often the fact that a ten or twelve-dollar shoe with more style and better wearing quality, if properly shown, will please him more.
Although a shoe may be a short-profit line the salesman’s obligation to give the customer full satisfaction is just as great as it is in selling the best shoe in the house. The leader, as suggested, is designed to attract the new customer so that he may become acquainted with the salesman and the store. If he is given poor fit or poor store service it means that his further business is lost and that the advantage of the leader has been wasted.
SHOWING MORE GOODS
In a great majority of cases it is possible to close the sale after having shown the first or second pair of shoes, provided the sale is properly taken in hand by the salesman. The difficult case, however, is when the customer, after having looked over several styles, will make some such remark as “I’ll call again—I didn’t intend to buy today, anyway.” The easiest thing for the salesman to do under these circumstances is to reply, “Very well,” and to consider the matter closed. But that is not salesmanship.
Many times when the customer makes such a suggestion it means that he is dissatisfied with the service he has received—either he has lost confidence in the salesman or he has been misjudged concerning the style of shoe he should have been shown. When once he has left the store without having been satisfied it means that it will be doubly hard to get him to return. He has the feeling that the salesman, and hence the store, has not been able to serve him, and in all likelihood he will go elsewhere to look for the goods he needs.
The time for the salesman to “nail” the sale is when he has his customer face to face before him. Although when he made the statement that he would return, the customer may have had every intention of doing so, he is inclined to go elsewhere, almost unconsciously, because he has in mind his need for the shoes and the fact that he has not yet bought them. Therefore he is attracted to the next store he passes—and the sale is lost. Very often the second store is no better equipped and stocked to give him service than the first. The difference is that he is shown more goods. The salesman’s cue when the customer says “I’ll be back” is to get into action at once, and to let him realize that there are more styles to be shown and that it is a pleasure to show them.
Even though the customer should say, “Never mind about showing me any more shoes today,” the salesman should not consider that his efforts have failed. What he needs to do is to build up again the confidence of his customer. A positive suggestion, such as “It’s no trouble at all—I believe I know now just the style you have in mind,” will reassure the customer and cause him to wait while the salesman goes to get another style. Quick action and an air of assurance will do more than anything else to win the customer under such circumstances.
Someone has written a short rhyme that tells a long story about showing the goods. These verses may not represent Shakespearian excellence from the standpoint of English literature, but they do represent the height of good sense from the standpoint of successful merchandising.