JUST LOOK’IN

How many sales that you have made started with the simple words, “JUST LOOK’IN”?

I just got back home from meeting a friend of mine at a Starbucks (I know I have said how I don’t like Starbucks, and I really don’t, but he was buying!) and I saw a very funny thing happen that gave me the idea for today’s blog.

My friend and I were standing on line waiting to order our ridiculously expensive cups of coffee and there was a couple in front of us. The husband was getting the coffee and his wife was over at the pastry counter ooooo’ing and ahhhh’ing over all the delicious sweets. Being a good husband he asked her, “Do you want anything”? His wife glanced over at him and replied, “No, JUST LOOK’IN”. This made me laugh out loud and when the both turned to me I said, “That’s the first step to most sales”! With that being said, the husband laughed and the wife nodded and ordered a coffee cake. Needless to say, I stood there laughing like I was at the Punch Line!

Just look’in is a common statement made by prospects and customers. We hear it a lot and yet some sales reps take it as a negative statement. Whenever I see a rep get negative about it I ask them, what was the last thing you bought that you didn’t look at?

When I ask this question, some reps start to give me all kinds of examples of “stuff” they bought without looking. I hear them tell me about items on the internet, items from ads like Craigslist, they tell me about catalog sales, mailers, television shows and ads, the list is endless. I always reply that all these things they are telling me about only stop you from physically holding the product, but isn’t reading a description or seeing the product work look’in at the product? The woman at Starbucks didn’t taste the coffee cake before buying it, it might as well been a picture, all she did was look and decide.

Look’in is the first step to buy’in! Every day millions of dollars are spent by companies to make their products look better than the competitions. Billions of dollars are spent every year by commercial property owners to make their properties look better so they can attract more businesses and charge higher rent. Think about all the catalogs and flyers you get in the mail that have you look’in at products in hopes of making you buy them.

Don’t think LOOK’IN is a bad thing, other than the customer saying yes, LOOK’IN is the next best thing they can do. As long as they are LOOK’IN they ain’t SAY’IN NO! (Wow is that southern or what?)

So what is the lesson to be learned here (other than Starbucks coffee is too expensive) always bring something in to the customer with you to give them something to look at. Never walk in empty handed. A sell sheet, catalog, flyer, a sample, whatever you have.

Keep the customer LOOK’IN and you will be LOOK’IN at success!

Lorin