What Type of Customer Are You?
Working in sales means meeting different customers with different personalities. Some are nice, some are just cool and there are some terrible customers too.
Shop assistants should have the skill of dealing with different kinds of customers. Genuine interaction, a smile, and a proper approach are crucial in customer service.
Here are some of the customers that I deal with at my work. See which one are you.
The Buyers
One thing I learned working at the carpet shop is if a customer needs it, you don't need to do sales talk. You just have to assist if he/she asks for your opinion or your help.
Usually, they know what they want. They are on a mission to get something. But unlike at our shop, there are too many choices and your job is to help them decide.
It's always a pleasure for me to help and I don't care about rolling 5 rugs if I know that customer is going to buy them.
The Browsers/Lookers
We call this back home as window shoppers. They will not buy anything, they just want to look around. And there's nothing wrong with it as we love window shopping especially me.
Some lookers when they see something out of the blue turn out to buy it especially when I add some sales talk.
Some Lookers are like this. There are instances when you just greet them, "Hiya!" or "Good morning." and their initial response is,
"I'm just looking!"
Wrong Answer! ❌❌❌
I just greet you. With all honesty sometimes I just want to say, "I'm just greeting you." Like it's part of my job to greet my customer and try to interact.
Is it hard to just say, "Hello, there!" Or just smile at me? But it's part of my job to deal with every customer so smile and move on.
When this happens I just let them browse and keep looking.
The Researchers
These are the customers that are looking for inspiration and ideas. They are the ones who are getting new furniture or planning on redecorating so they're getting ideas of what colour to get that can easily match with. They are not going to buy now but they will likely be your future customer.
I love to be of help and most of the time even though I know that they are not buying yet. It's always my pleasure to show different colours and patterns that they might be interested in. I give them helpful suggestions as well.
The Loyal Customers
I've got so many loyal customers. Most of them wave at me every time they pass me at the shop. They are the ones who get rugs more than enough. I have a customer that changes rugs every month. A customer that will get any new big carpets when it's green.
They are the customers that keep coming back and refer you to his/her friends.
The Bargain Hunters
Oh, that's me. We love "Sale". And who wouldn't want to save money? At the shop, we always got a Sale section. Most are half the price.
I don't think people are Cheap Charlie when they look for bargains. I think they are the smart ones!
I love customers when they are straight to the point and asked me for cheaper rugs. I know it's getting tough now and rugs are not a necessity so when I saw customers looking for the ones in front which are on sale I always point out that there are more on the other side for the same price.
For example, our 6× 4 carpets are ranging from £40 - £65 and the ones on Sale are only £25 and most of them are really a good bargain!
The Moaners
These are the customer that goes into the shop and will start whinging about the price of the rugs and their quality of them.
They are also the ones who will proudly share their latest buy from another shop that is according to her, better than this shop.
And I met a few. And I just say Thank You before they live.
The Indecisive
These are the customers that will challenge your patience. These are the ones who say they going to buy something, who needs something and you assist them, roll everything to them, if the heavy ones off the rail and at the end, they will say,
" I can't make up my mind. I'll be back again".
(It's your 2nd time around or maybe 3rd this week, love until now you can't make up your mind.)
"Is it okay if I just take a picture and show it to my husband, see what he thinks?"
(Honey, believe me, your husband will only say, "It's up to you, whatever you think.")
"I'm not sure of the size. I should measure it first."
(After I roll all these 8× 5 rugs that you are sure off, you telling me that you should measure it first? Why you didn't measure it first before coming here?)
Hahaha and no I don't say those. I keep it to myself. Because no matter what I got paid to do my job and this is part of it. Customer is not always right but I always value them. And I understand people. ❤
These are just some of the customers I met at work. Sometimes I have to know when to greet or when to approach. And the best question that I couldn't go wrong is when I give them a big smile and ask them,
"Are you looking for inspiration?"
And from their response, I should know what to do.
So which customer are you?
Thank you for reading.
I'm closer to the caregiver group. If I like it, I will be a loyal customer. god help you