How to handle, I want to look around.

Skip Anderson

Ace, I agree that, at least the way I think Yankee Peddler was stating the issue, "I want to look around" is not an objection.

I'd also like to add the the number one and number two reasons retail shoppers say they want to look around ar:

1. It is a learned automatic response that customers blurt out without even thinking about it.

2. It is intended to keep salespeople at bay.

Let's say a woman comes into a furniture store and she is approached by a salesperson, but says "I'm just looking." In reality, this woman has been thinking about buying a new dining table. She's not ready to buy yet, but she's starting to think about it (she's interested enough to drive to a furniture store and look at dining tables). Now, would this prospect be better off having a salesperson at her side while she looks at dining tables. I say YES, definitely. It's just that she doesn't know that yet, so she uses the automated "I'm just looking response."

That's why it's so vitally important that retail salespeople learn how to quickly engage prospects - not through pressure, and not through intimidation, but through selling skill - so the prospect will feel comfortable to talk about why they're there in the furniture store (even if they aren't planning on buying today, even if they've just started looking, even if they don't have any money, even if their husband doesn't know they're shopping, even if their brother-in-law owns a furniture store, even if she intends to go online to buy a dining table, even if she won't qualify for the store credit account, even if she always buys from a competitor, etc.).

In my estimation, 50-60% of the customers who will buy from that furniture store today started out by telling the salesperson that they were just looking.

Salespeople need to hear the customer say "I'm just looking", but then it needs to leave their brain immediately...and they need to employ their sales skills to get the customer talking. Talking customers feel comfortable. Comfortable people talk more...it's a cycle.

Now I know what some of you are thinking..."If I'm a consumer and I just want to look, you'd better not hound me or I'll be really upset and leave your store."

Sure, I get that. But hounding isn't a sales skill I teach. In fact, it's not a sales skill at all. So let's not "hound" our shoppers. But let's do something other than "OK, please look around...here's my card...let me know if you have any questions," because that doesn't work very well.

B2B salespeople can always go find another prospect. Retail salespeople have to wait until someone else walks through the door. So every prospect coming through that front door is like gold...but only if the salesperson engages the prospect.

Skip Anderson

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Selling to Consumers
B2C Sales Training

Ace Coldiron

Skip, I agree as well as agreeing with your earlier post on this thread. Indeed, it was your post alone that prompted me to expand the discussion.

If I was assigned Yankee Peddler's task of posing these questions, I would have titled the topic "What does 'I want to look around mean and how should a salesperson respond?'"

You may or may not agree, but I can't help thinking that there is a valuable lesson in this thread that says we must never make the mistake of assuming we are better at selling than the prospect is at buying.

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natalie_rene014

I love this! Very simple and to the point! I think I'll probably use it, thanks

neto-

If "I just want to look around." is a common statement that you hear you need to be better prepared to for it.

Address it in your introduction.

Welcome to ____________, My name is ________.

Are you looking for something specific or just looking around?

You can only get one of two answers.

If they are looking for something specific you can help them.

If they are "just looking" give them a quick overview of where everything is.. and tell them that you will check with them after they had the opportunity to look around.

At this point you have to get into their space - not into their face.

Ask general questions.. get them into a dialogue.
Have you visited our store before?
How did you hear about us?

Unless you can get past their wall you will not sell them anything.

They will either start to open up to you or you should let them look around. Give them enough time to locate what they are interested in and go to them to determine if you can help.

When you approach them again ask some non threatening questions.

Did you have any questions?
Can I help you price anything?

If they are buying today they will respond.

Sometimes people are just looking. They are not buying today.

You have to be able to determine this so you are not wasting time trying to close someone who is really just killing (your) time.

LookingDaniel

There are lots of different ways of answering this question. Many of which have already been added to this discussion.

At my firm we will sometimes use a line that is pretty fun and always shocks the customer.

If the customer says; "We want to take a look around."

We answer; "Great, at the moment we have a campaign for customers who want to look around. It means you get 20% off and you don't have to look around, you get the product now!"

Amazingly enough this actually works. We have made a lot of sales off of it and it is as fun each time.

Good luck to you!