Have you ever walked into a store and seen something on sale at an unbelievable price? If you're like most customers your first thought is, "Wow. This is great." But then it's immediately followed by, "And I wonder what's wrong with it?" Of course you're skeptical. You've been told ever since you were a child that if something sounds too good to be true then it probably is. You might be so skeptical that you end up passing on a great deal.
Customers are naturally skeptical. It's a defensive mechanism to keep from being taken advantage of or making a mistake. It can also keep customers from getting a great deal and doing business with a very good company.
Whether we know it or not, we lose sales to skepticism every day. One of the biggest challenges for independent retailers is overcoming customer's skepticism of the independent's prices. Most believe that an independent's prices are much higher than the big box or national chains even though that is not always the case.
Skepticism also impacts our ability to make sales. When products are marked down customers often think there must be something wrong with them, or at the very least are something nobody else wanted - so why should they? Customers are also skeptical of brands they've never heard of. That's always one of the biggest challenges when you bring on a new line in a segment where brand recognition is a key part of the decision-making process. You wouldn't think twice about buying a Canon camera but you can't say the same for a Danon camera.
The key to overcoming a skeptical customer is to proactively give them the necessary information to keep them from being skeptical. If an independent retailer prominently posts a sign telling shoppers about the price guarantee, the customer knows that this store is competitively priced, which may or may not be the case.
The same approach works with markdowns. If you're giving the customer a great deal you need to tell them why. A "50% Off Our Top Sellers" or "50% Off Spring Clearance" will always be more effective than just a "50%" sign by itself. When working one-on-one with a customer you should also explain why something is "such a good deal."
You might even be skeptical of this post, which of course proves my point. From time to time everyone is skeptical, and you'll sell more products and capture more customers if you're aware of that and take steps to proactively overcome it.
Take Five Exercise*
Brainstorm three reasons a customer could be skeptical while shopping in your store. Determine ways you can proactively overcome it.
* The Take Five Exercise is a new feature to stimulate conversation in your morning Take Five or store meetings and make it easier to put the Retail Contrarian into action.
Great points Doug. The role of sales, whether in signage or in person is to educate and persuade us from being skeptical to being buyers.
Posted by: Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor | June 17, 2009 at 08:18 AM