When, and only when, you find out customers’ needs and aspirations can you sell them the right product and ensure they keep coming back for their future purchases, says Gekko managing director Daniel Todaro
Consumer electronics retailing lends itself like no other as a tool for retailers to be more dynamic in showcasing solutions and brands for consumers.
Retailers are experiencing growth across all categories, including a 1.5 per cent sales uplift in major domestic appliances expected through to 2021, of which 20 per cent of sales are made in the independent sector. Likewise, the UK small domestic appliance market was worth £976 million in 2016, and is expected to grow further this year.
Whether they are looking to upgrade an existing device, enter into a new product ecosystem, or make a ‘distress purchase’ to replace a product that has failed, consumers are looking for a solution to a lifestyle ‘problem’.
As a retailer, it’s within your power to provide this solution, offering consumers the right product for their needs and, in doing so, reinforcing why traditional retail is still the best platform to buy ‘technology’ products. The question is: what is the best approach to take for ‘solution selling’?
The problem
Ensure that sales staff know the products and services inside-out. Having an authoritative voice on the shopfloor to reassure consumers is the first step to completing that considered purchase.
Aside from this, a successful salesperson needs to employ a range of skills, including questioning, listening and demonstrating empathy with the customer.
Identifying the problem is the first step to finding a solution. Sales staff should be asking key questions of consumers to discover their needs, budget and motivations. Find out why the shopper is in the store. Are they looking to buy new, upgrade a device or has something broken down and needs replacing? What do they currently have? What specific features do they require? Where it will be used? How often? Is it a primary or secondary device? What is their preferred price range? Asking these questions will give your staff the necessary information to start the sales process in line with your store sales approach, using the customer’s needs to tailor their approach to products and brands that will suit them and their lifestyle.
It’s often too easy for sales staff to make assumptions about what is best for the customer, rather than asking questions. Equally, applying your own spend versus value opinion is not identifying with your customer, as value is in the eye of the spender, not the salesperson. To avert a hard sell, avoid these pitfalls and ensure your staff are fully qualifying shoppers before moving on to a demonstration.
Offer the solution
Once the customer’s needs have been established, sales staff can advise on the best product and brand specifically for the individual shopper. For retailers, selling the solution is all about the customer experience, and how the customer is introduced and immersed into the product and brand.
Your showroom environment should offer consumers the opportunity to experience a product or brand before they decide to make a purchase, allowing them to immerse themselves in the features and benefits of the product first-hand.
With the assistance of a knowledgeable staff member, your customer wants to be reassured that the product will meet their needs and solve their ‘problem’. To achieve this, have a working demo model to show customers how the device would function in their own home. Even if it’s something simply, like demonstrating the load capacity on a washing machine using a bag of T-shirts, this gives customers an extra bit of information that could make all the difference to their decision to purchase, helping to close the sale.
Above all, ensure your staff are trained on core ranges and brands so that they can explain the benefits to shoppers. Don’t make the mistake of ignoring what the shopper has told you, so that the features link naturally to the customer’s lifestyle or specific needs. Shoppers need to know how the product will solve their unique ‘problem’.
Personalise the sales approach. If your customers can see the product working, imagine it in their home, and be sure that it will fit their lifestyle, listen and tailor your responses accordingly and they’re much more likely to make a purchase.
Upgrade the solution
To upgrade from a standard sales approach to a ‘solution selling’ approach, the sales staff need to identify and enquire about the bigger picture, identifying opportunities and sweeping their customer up with a great shopping experience.
On top of offering a solution during the sales process, staff have the opportunity to ‘level up’ the sale by showing customers how much more they can achieve from their purchase by increasing their budget, in some cases marginally.
Having established the customer’s needs and advised on a product to suit their lifestyle, take them one step further by offering attachment sales that can enhance or protect the product. A good example is TV, where many shoppers will be looking for a perfect set-up to upgrade their home. Having decided on a TV, why not introduce a soundbar to the sale, demonstrating the superior sound quality offered and how that can enhance the user experience.
Gekko is expert in delivering this sort of training to retail staff, achieving an average 33 per cent soundbar attachment rate on TV sales. These sorts of high-value attachments benefit both your customers and your bottom line by increasing your average sale value. With this sales approach, Gekko was able to increase average sale value by 41 per cent over the entry-level smart TV.
When completing the sale, think about other questions you can ask the customer. For example, to get the most out of this smart TV, the customer will need an internet connection. Do they have good wi-fi in the living room? No, then how about some wi-fi range extenders? That could also include a cover plan or installation service. In this way, you’re demonstrating to the customer why they were right to come in-store and experience the product in a way they could never have done if they had simply shopped online.
This approach to solution selling is positive for both customer and retailer. The customer has a solution to their purchasing ‘problem’, having been advised and immersed in the best product and brand for their needs by a knowledgeable staff member.
Equally, the store benefits from up-selling and attachment sales as a result of this more considered approach to sales. The key focus though is the customer experience – if shoppers are given a ‘glimpse into the future’ – imagining themselves using the product and how it can fit into their lifestyle – they are much more likely to make that decision to purchase there and then.
They may also come back to expand a set-up, buy that matching MDA or simply choose your store for every future ‘technology’ purchase, because they know they will be listened to, offered solutions, given a service they appreciate and will enjoy the experience.
