Aim, Shoot, Win - Paintball and Retail Selling

A few years ago some friends and I went on a paintball outing.  We had a blast even though I was surprised by how much those little paintballs sure can sting.  I was also amazed at how quickly friends become foes when put into that kind of situation.  But I digress.

In our first outing I got pretty aggressive from the start and made a successful dash to one of the bunkers halfway to the other team.  It was here that I learned about good paintball strategy.  First and foremost, have one.  After I made my first move I realized I didn't have a plan.  My team went in a different direction and I was a sitting duck.  Or perhaps I should say a painted duck. I made a mad dash for safety but ended up getting hit more than Bonnie and Clyde did at the end of the movie. (For you younger readers, it's a great movie from 1967 starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.) 

On my second outing I realized I would be more successful if I had a plan.  Like a good chess game, I tried to figure out what my next two or three moves would be.  Of course what my opponents and team members did would impact my plan, but at least I had a plan.  This time I played for a lot longer although a single sniper did take me out.  It was at this point that I realized this might not be the best sport for a guy like me who isn't the fastest runner and is a bit wider target than his friends.

The reason I'm telling you about my paintball experience is because I was shopping some stores at an outlet center earlier this week and I realized that a lot of those same lessons apply to working with customers.  We need to have a good strategy so we can know where we're going with the customer and have the ability to adapt based on how each particular situation unfolds.

Let me share an example. The first store I visited was a client's store.  The staffer nearest the door greeted me as defined in their training, and then even asked me one of the questions that they recommend employees use to engage a customer with their products.  I answered that yes indeed I did own some of their products.

Unfortunately the woman either didn't have an understanding of why she asked me the question or she didn't know what to do with the answer itself.  As a result, she was like me in that first paintball game, a sitting duck that was quickly taken out.  Or in her case, it was a missed opportunity to engage the customer and possibly make a sale.

When interviewing a customer we want to ask questions that we know will lead to either another qualifying question, or a follow-up question based on their answer. The strategy is to uncover something about the customer and their needs or opportunities so you can engage them with your products. The process should be pretty much the same for each customer although the particular path and where you end up will be different each time.

As I learned in paintball, knowing where you want to go before you make the first move will have a huge impact on whether you win or lose a sale.  There's one more thing that retail selling and paintball have in common - there's definitely a sting when you don't follow the plan.