Were you ever picked by a teacher to come up in front of class when you weren't prepared to speak? It felt like hell, I bet.
Customers can feel that way, too, within the first 8 feet of entering your wood flooring retail store. Some call it the decompression zone, some call it the threshold area—it should be called The Hell Zone.
The Hell Zone
It's The Hell Zone because customers don't want to go there. They might remember a past experience where an aggressive employee pounced on them wanting to shake their hand. Or they might remember another employee asking them a question, when all they wanted to do was get their bearings. They had to blurt out a "No" just to get rid of the pesky employee.
It's hell because employees don't want to go there, either. They've asked a stranger in their most eager way, "Can I help you?" and those darn customers always answer "No!" or "No, I'm just looking!" After weeks of this rejection, your employee gives up trying, says nothing and retreats to the counter to text a friend.
Because customers answer these greetings over and over with a negative, employees feel dehumanized. That negativity and lack of connection also opens the door to rudeness. Customers turn their back and walk away; they talk on the phone at the register; they haggle over prices or make unrealistic demands.
Owners and managers see this happening time and time again but don't know what to do to change it—until now. Here are four steps for retail employees that, when done properly, will avoid the "No, I'm just looking," from your customer.
1. Wait 10–15 Seconds
Wait at least 10 seconds and no more than 15 to greet shoppers. This gives them time to settle. Fifteen seconds may sound like a really short amount of time, but it isn't. Use a timer and walk through your store. In most cases you can reach the back of your store within 15 seconds. You will find that the sweet spot for engaging a customer will be around 10 seconds.
Greeting your customers within 10–15 seconds achieves several goals: It trains employees to always have their eyes up to see who's coming in, it makes them wait and not pounce and it helps provide a welcoming atmosphere. (As a bonus, it also helps prevent shoplifting.)
2. Grab a Prop
During the waiting period, grab a prop. This has to be something large enough to be noticed by a customer, like a box or a floor sample. This creates the appearance that the employee is interrupting something else to notice the customer, rather than swooping down on them like a hawk on a mouse.
3. Approach at 45 Degrees
Then, with prop in hand and with at least 10 seconds gone, start walking toward the customer at a 45-degree angle. This will allow you to give your greeting and then move past them without blocking them.
4. Greet, Don't Meet
Greet them as you go by with, "Good morning. Feel free to look around, and I'll be right back," or simply say, "Good morning."
By not asking a question like "How are you?" or "Can I help you find anything?" the customer is not obliged to have to respond at all, though many will with a simple thank you. Most customers will appreciate having the time and space to look around. If they really need something, they'll feel comfortable enough to stop the employee and ask them.
In Practice
So imagine you're working at your store. As a customer walks in, you pick up a flooring sample and head toward them within 15 seconds. Approaching the customer at a 45-degree angle, you move past them with your prop, pausing to meet their eyes and say, "Good morning, feel free to look around, and I'll be right back." If you do this correctly, the customer always says, "Thank you."
Skeptical? Try it right now, and you'll be surprised. If the customer doesn't thank you, consider that you may have approached at a 90-degree angle, blocking her path, or you might have lingered too long when you said the comment, or you didn't look her in the eyes.
Now, you don't need to do this when you are slammed on a busy Saturday afternoon, but for those times when no one else is in the store, it is perfect. It lets customers off the hook and lets them relax, gain their bearings and look at all you have to offer.
Remove The Hell Zone by making your greeting more human, more timely, more engaging and, ultimately, more profitable.
