Image by Anastasia Gepp from Pixabay
By Reggie Moore
To complete sales and improve your earnings, you need to become a master of your trade. This requires internalizing all the tips and techniques that make someone a better salesperson. If people have exchanged goods and services, they have had an interest in the art of selling. Thanks to all that history, a large body of information exists relating to how best to sell a product. You can draw on this collected know-how to boost your own skills. While there is no single method that works best in every situation, there are certain tricks in retail sales training that prove effective across industries. Keep these techniques in mind if you want to increase your sales rate and make more money in retail.
Always smile at your customers
This might be the most obvious trick of them all, but it is still overlooked, especially by novices. As a salesperson, your main objective is to gain the customer’s trust. Just by smiling, you can establish a positive connection within the first second of an interaction. People will base their opinion of you on their first impression. When you greet customers with a hearty smile, you are communicating an openness and warmth that will stick with them through the rest of the conversation.
Maintain an upbeat attitude
When you are working in sales, you need to give off a positive, sunny vibe. The best way to achieve this is by holding an optimistic attitude. Start every workday by telling yourself you’ll have a great shift and make plenty of sales. This confidence will show itself in your interaction with customers, making it more likely that you live up to your optimistic claims.
See the best in the people you are selling to
An aversion to your customers will make it almost impossible to adopt the friendly demeanor necessary for making sales. Not everyone you encounter will share your values or act in the proper fashion, but you should still make an effort to find something you like about them. By focusing on their positive side, you will be able to overlook their faults and treat them with the type of kindness that brings about a sale.
Keep track of your daily success rate
While there are certain rules that all salespeople should live by, you will have to do some experimenting on your own to determine what techniques work best for you. The only way to learn what works and what does not is by keeping track of how much success you are having each day.
Count your total number of customer interactions as well as your final sales total. Use these figures to calculate your rate of success. If you try a new technique one day and see your success rate drop, then you will know it is time to retire that method. If your rate increases, on the other hand, you can add the technique to your permanent sales arsenal. Being able to adapt your strategy to the customer in front of you will pay dividends.
Adopt a strong, confident posture
Customers are more likely to make a purchase if they trust the salesperson as an expert in their field. The best way to convey confidence and self-assurance is by adopting a strong posture. You do not want to come across as scary or intimidating, but you do want to appear as someone who is firmly in control. You can achieve this by standing up straight, puffing out your chest, and keeping your head held high.
Becoming a great salesperson is all about mixing innate affability with learned sales techniques. No matter how much of a natural you are, you can always learn more to perfect your craft. Practicing these techniques will help you turn near misses into completed sales.
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Reggie Moore is a freelance writer and proto-entrepreneur. When not trying to tinker with a new process or idea, Reggie can usually be found saying the words “Well, actually…” to an unsuspecting bystander.
