10 Common Mistakes Retail Sales Representatives Can be Trained to Avoid

While visiting a our local mall this weekend, my experience led me to contemplate on the things that sales representatives do to either help or hinder the customer’s experience while shopping.  My wife and I visited no fewer than 5 stores and in all but one case felt that we did not get the help we wanted or deserved.  Can you guess which store we spent our money in?

Here are 10 common mistakes retail salespeople make that can be corrected by setting good expectations, training to ensure sales representatives have the skills needed to execute them, and then inspecting what you expect.

1.Failing to build a rapport with the customer. From a simple greeting to a little chat about the weather – small talk goes a long way in developing an easier and more open mood in the customers.

2.Failing to find out customer's requirements.

3.Focusing on their own agenda instead of customer's.

4.Not giving customers the majority of the air time.

5.Confusing “telling” with “selling”. Not listening or not hearing what customer is saying.

6.Not knowing the prevailing promotions, specials and regular pricing.

7.Not differentiating the product/service/store/company enough to create additional value in the mind of the customer.

8.Selling too fast, trying to close before the customer is ready to buy.

9.Fail to address objections properly not realizing that satisfactory resolution of the objections is the shortest distance to purchase.

10.Not taking advantage of add-on sales, as soon as the main purchase is done, which is when customer is most ready to entertain them

Are you and your team doing everything you can to provide the type of retail training your sales representatives need to grow positive relationships with your customers?