Focus on the Project, Not the Product as a Retailer | Retail Today With Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor - Flash Briefing

Are you looking to get higher sales? Then get out of the bad habit of asking somebody, “What can I help you find?” Because the more you are just like a product, you're just interested in that one product. The more you're basically a warehouse for other people. Look, people go online to buy an item, they go into a store to discover items. So the power is instead of finding out what the product is, they're looking for, what's their project today, what are they working on? You want the customer to tell you everything that they could about the situation they're using it or where they're using it or how they're using it. Then, you pretty much just start putting together in your mind the product list that would all go together.

So instead of asking somebody, “Can I help you find something?” and the guy says, “Oh, I'm looking for um, lumber for a lumber looking for two by fours.” You want me to say, “What's your project today?” And then you find out he's building a deck and when he's building a deck, what else does he need when he might need power equipment. There's a number of things you could add onto the sale, but if you just stay stuck in that one item, lumber, you're probably settling for crumbs when you could have the whole feast. So stop talking and get the shopper to tell you what the project is, not ask them what that one specific product is they came in for.

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