By
Bob Phibbs
Retail sales training for associates has to be more than hammering employees over the head about facts, facts, facts.
When in reality, we buy based on emotion, emotion, emotion.
It doesn’t matter if you sell a yacht, a pair of eyeglasses, an engagement ring, a pair of shoes, or a beautiful vase. Luxury shoppers are shopping for how they will look better, more prestigious, young, attractive, sexy, etc.
More employees know much technical knowledge about their more expensive luxury merchandise. They are spilling more and more of that factual information onto a population that – let’s be honest – just doesn’t care.
How to get emotion into your selling presentation? Use a story.
As a professional speaker for over twenty years, I’ve found that a story, followed by the point, is the key to an audience enjoying a speech. The same for you as a salesperson being clear on the point - the Why - you told this particular story to the customer (not as part of a canned presentation).
Stories convey emotion.
Story selling is often found to be utilized without the point. This can lead to confused customers, irritated customers, and lost sales. I’ll go over some of the worst, but first...
Here’s what you need to know to use appropriate stories in your selling.
1. Be Authentic
Story selling is using a real story to reinforce or teach a key point of what you are trying to sell to a customer. The story can be from your experience, that of a customer, or something else entirely that has a logical connection to the current conversation.
We see in pictures, so create compelling ones for your customers.
2. Really
You need a “Wow” that makes your point.
3. Keep it brief
You have to get them in seconds, not minutes.
4. Make it relevant
It's not about you. It's about helping the shopper feel confident.
5. State the point
Sum the point up at the end to how it relates to this shopper. Begin by coming up with some of your more expensive products' key features or benefits.
Let’s say you carry a luxury fabric embedded with a chemical that doesn't sun fade. You could just say that. Boring.
But what if you actually had a previous customer with a west-facing living room with floor-to-ceiling windows? She’d tried everything, but her furniture got so sun-washed she feared her friends thought she shopped at a garage sale.
She used this fabric in red, and now, four years later – it still looks like it did the day Architectural Digest shot it. And then you pulled out the issue – or showed a picture on your iPad. Wow.
The key is to state your point. The fabric example could be, “If it held up under those conditions, rest assured it won’t fade like cheaper fabrics you’ve had.”
What not to do…
So many employees and salespeople begin story selling to either create risk, “I had this one customer use it and (calamity ensued.)”
Or create doubt, “You have to be careful how you use it because this one time, in band camp…” Well, you get the idea.
Or kill the sale; “I had a customer tell me they used (X), which did (Y) and turned out about as good for half the money.”
You have to know your audience, though, just like a speaker.
I once told what I thought was a funny story about renovating my home and lost the audience because it all became about me, me, me - never good when selling. Someone else should be the hero of your story.
If you want to provide better retail sales for staff, the key is to capture the emotion of the product in a new way instead of beating them over the head with facts, facts, facts.
So keep your stories:
- True
- Short
- Relevant
- Focused on a point
- Hero is someone else
See also: Measuring & Improving Your Retail Sales Training
Stories are how we communicate with the world.
Harness the power of story selling for your luxury goods, and you’ll see sales increase.
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