Friedman - No thanks, Im just looking: sales techniques for turning shoppers into buyers

Copyright 2012 by National Retail Workshops, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com . Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions .

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-ondemand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com . For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com .

ISBN: 978-1-118-15340-6 (cloth)

ISBN: 978-1-118-20960-8 (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-118-20964-6 (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-118-21653-8 (ebk)

For all the retailerswhat a journey getting here.

Foreword

Few professionals today have to respond as quickly to changes in consumer demand as does the retail sales professional. What sold like hotcakes yesterday may be dead stock tomorrow. Similarly, salesperson-to-customer retail sales techniques in our fast-paced society now may lead to disastrous results, especially with sophisticated, streetwise consumers who have heard it all and seen it all.

If you're using outmoded techniques, or if you fail to understand the psychology of why people buy, your earning power, your career, and your well-being are in jeopardy. If you lack the proper tools and techniques, the marketplace can quickly become a jungle that will chew you up and spit you out. In fact, personnel turnover in retail selling is among the highest of all industries or professions.

Enter Harry J. Friedman. Harry is president of the Los Angelesbased retail sales and management-training firm The Friedman Group. By his mid-30s, Harry had already built his firm into one of the most successful training firms in the industry.

In his video programs and live presentations, which are in demand throughout the world, and now in this book, Harry strips away conventional wisdom about what it takes to be successful in retail selling. In its place, he lays down a foundation rooted in proven and effective methods that he has personally devised over decades of research, study, and firsthand experience.

This book will save you time and endless hours of frustration. Harry is a master of retail selling and retail sales training, but more important, he is one of those gifted individuals who possess a unique ability to convey his knowledge in an entertaining, yet highly supportive manner. He enjoys helping sales professionals, and they enjoy listening to him. Now, they will enjoy reading what he has to say.

Starting with what to do even before customers walk into the store, progressing through all the critical elements that lead up to the sale and offering coaching through post sales issues, Harry decisively spells out what you need to know to increase your sales results every day, regardless of what you're selling.

Harry wants you to succeed. In this book, he pulls out all the stops, offering both insightful instruction and compelling reading. He opens up his treasure chest of profitable procedures for interacting with prospects. Harry introduces key phrases, appropriate gestures, and effective behaviors for getting the prospect on your side in a hurry. Furthermore, he reveals what the customer is thinking, wants to see, and needs to have confirmed.

His understanding and explanation of customer psychology is, in a word, outstanding. Through dialogues culled from actual sales encounters, from the minuscule to the magnificent, Harry provides the essence of effective retail selling in today's world.

If you read this book, your sales career will take a turn for the better. I predict that you'll pore over the pages time and time again, to squeeze out every golden nugget of Harry's knowledge. If you're in retail selling, or any other profession where favorably influencing others is important, you'll find that this book is more than an instructive guideit's a chance to change your standard of living forever.

Richard Erhart
Former Executive Vice President
InterTAN (Radio Shack International)

Acknowledgments

For six years, I have wanted to put a book together on retail selling, but it always took a backseat to being out in the field, teaching it. Traveling a quarter of a million miles a year doesn't afford much time to write. Finally, I met Jeff Davidson. He took countless hours of my audio and videotapes and put together a wonderful draft. Marlene Cordry, my right and left hands for many years, along with my very talented staff, helped put the finishing touches on it. To my partner, Jon Dickens, thanks for all your help.

I have always believed I am the result of all my yesterdays. Those days were filled, as I hope my tomorrow will be, with meeting people who have added so much to my knowledge. This book is a result of that learning.

It is sometimes very difficult to acknowledge or remember every source that goes into a book. If I have used a technique or an expression from someone else, it is because that is now what I believe. Sorry, and thanks!

Harry J. Friedman

Introduction

You can't always buy right. But you can always sell right.

No matter how unusual you think your merchandise is or how different you think it is from someone else's wares, the truth is that customers don't appreciate the same distinctions that you do and may regard what you have as just about the same as the next salesperson's. So, if your merchandise is not perceived to be substantially different from that found in other places, why will shoppers buy a product from you, instead of buying it from the store down the street?