Sales Mindset - From Selling to Serving

In the first of a series all focused on improving sale at your flower shop, Kelsey starts at the foundation of everything. Mindset. 
That and your initial customer interaction will start a "sale" off on the right foot. Kelsey shares her own greeting process and three mindset checks to run through: 

1. I am mentally ready to serve this customer my best
2. I am physically ready to serve this customer my best. 
3. I have gathered information about this customer to serve them best. 

Transcript

We’re kicking off a series all about sales today. In this episode we’ll dive into seeing Selling as Serving, and how mindsets and the initial interaction with your customer can play an important role. … in the examples today I’ll be talking a lot about in person or retail sales, but we’ll touch on phone sales in another episode. Or head back to episode #8 to listen to one quick way to boost your phone sales.  

Looking ahead, you can expect episodes outlining some sales techniques, upsells/crosssells/down sells, how to set your store up for success, training tips for staff members, and more. I’ll be sharing specific examples of situations - and scripts! - that will help you plan out your own sales strategy for your shop. Let’s get the sales party started! …  

 Hello and welcome to the Retail Florist Podcast.  I’m Kelsey Thompson and I’m a flower shop owner and marketer here to share insights and strategies to help you grow your business without burnout. You may know me from my online business, Petals and Profits. This podcast is for you - the retail florist. Each episode we’ll dive into real life tips and strategies to increase your profits and peace of mind. And today we are starting a series of episodes on a BIIIG topic -  

Sales! We all need them, but the act of selling things doesn’t come naturally to everyone. To improve our sales we have to improve our salesmanship. We have to have a focused plan and vision for our sales. But you have to start at the foundation, and that’s why today we’re going to kick off this sales series by talking about mindset. 

Now Mindset is kind of a buzzword, but in this case it’s appropriate and the foundation for becoming - or training up - a great salesperson. So what is mindset? It’s defined as “the established set of attitudes held by someone”. Another way to describe it is your mentality or frame of mind. 

Your mindset is a set of beliefs that shape how you make sense of the world and yourself. It influences how you think, feel, and behave in any given situation. And what you believe about yourself - and others - impacts your behavior. 

I want you to ask yourself. What kind of beliefs, or mindset, do you have around “selling”? 

I’ll give you a sec. 

Ok, what words popped into your head? 

Sometimes the words “salesperson” or “selling” can have a negative connotation or leave a bad taste in your mouth. Maybe you had a bad experience with a sleazy salesman, or you thought of people cold-calling your store. Maybe you remembered an uncomfortable situation on the phone when you tried to suggest something to a customer and they got rude or defensive. 

Or maybe you thought of the time you delivered a beautiful bouquet and the bride cried tears of joy. Or when a customer stopped in a month after making a purchase to gush about how their purchase made their house feel like a home. 

Did you notice the one constant in all of those examples? Emotion. 

We have emotions tied up into sales; our emotions, the customers, the recipients… emotions go hand-in-hand with mindset when it comes to sales in our industry. They are often times the driving force behind why a customer is in our store or on the phone in the first place! Love, grief, regret, joy….emotions drive flower sales. 

Let’s talk about how can we use mindset and emotions to lay the foundation for sales process that benefits us and our customer. 

We’ll start by looking at ourselves again. Remember those words that popped in your head? Are they the same words that pop in your head when a customer enters your store? 

Think about how your mindset or attitude can affect your customer, along with your body language. It’s human nature to internalize emotions around us - and blame ourselves.

If you are stressing about getting a funeral done in time, that’s going to come across as a rushed interaction. If you are mad at your spouse for something, your customer may see you as being annoyed with THEM. 

I’m going to get a little vulnerable share a personal example. …. Ugghhhh I don’t like it!! I’m literally sweating thinking about this and it’s something we’ve been battling for a while.  It’s no one persons’ fault, it’s just a logistical and behavior thing we’re continually fighting…. 

One of the biggest hurdles we face in this area in my own shop is that our workroom is in the back. Now I love having a design space that’s separate for many reasons. But we have to leave the workroom/our project to enter the retail floor and assist customers. They can feel like they are interrupting us or being an annoyance. I know this because I’ve asked - both in customer conversation and in anonymous surveys. My own customers have given me feedback that they feel bad “bugging us”. Gah!

Contributing to that? If we enter the conversation with our mind still half on our project, walk up to them too quickly or even if we’re carrying a clipper or stems. They (correctly) perceive us as being in the middle of something and there’s a split second of guilt or embarrassment that they’ve interrupted someone. We aren’t actually annoyed, but we can come across that way with those tiny little social cues. Again, those emotions come into play. 

Now, having a customer start an interaction with even a flash of a negative emotion is NOT great. I’m being honest here, this is a constant process for us with our store layout and staffing. We aren’t perfect every time. But we’re working on making a purposeful effort to start each interaction with a fresh mind. Here’s the little steps we’re focused on. When we cross the line from the workroom to the retail floor, we don’t rush. We completely set down what we’re working on. We completely focus. We offer verbal confirmation that we want to help and are glad to. And we are working on going into each and every interaction with the question: How can I serve this customer the best?        

I know these are simple little things, but little things make the difference. We all know someone that is a good listener - they don’t have their phone out, we feel like their attention is truly focused on us, they aren’t thinking about what they are going to reply halfway through our sentence. You want to be with that friend, right?  They make you feel seen and heard. So we are working on making our customers, each and every one, feel like we are the best listening friend; one that always has time for them. 

That was an example from my own retail store - can you think of times in your own shop when you or a staff member’s emotions leaked into a customer interaction? Or maybe even just the “impression” of an emotion - like when my customers naturally assume that we are annoyed to have to stop what we are doing and help them. Starting off on the right foot can completely change the customer experience. It can make or break a sale or the customer even returning to your store! I’m going to share some processes and tips the rest of the episode. We are all wired differently. These may be natural things you do subconsciously. Or you may hear these things laid out step by step for the first time and have a lightbulb go off - either for you or a team mate!   

Here’s some things to think about when initiating a conversation with a customer. 

1. What is going on for ME right now that I can set aside - am I mentally prepared to serve this customer the best? 

This goes back to our own mindset. I know it sounds cliche, but if you start by thinking negatively, your results aren’t going to be positive. That’s why I like to think of “selling” as a form of “service”. I’m not selling a customer a bouquet, I’m solving a problem for them. I’m not selling a ceramic pot with a drain tray, I’m serving them by educating them on proper plant care - and saving their wood floors in the process. How can I serve this customer in the best way? How can I make their day better or their purchase the best it can be? (P.S.) We’ll talk more about this in the episode about cross-sells, upsells and down-sells.) 

I tell new staff members - customers choose us. THEY initiate the process. The customers are picking up the phone or driving across town to park in our lot and walk into our store. They aren’t surprised that the result of their choice will be to spend money. They are already mentally prepared to spend money - even if they are “just looking”.... they chose to come in and are anticipating that they COULD spend money. 

So why are we feeling awkward or guilty for asking the customer to do the thing they are choosing to do?

Instead of looking at it as selling something to the customer, look at it as serving them the best. They’ve already mentally punched that ticket by entering your space. You’re completing the cycle THEY started when they came in or called. It’s not a sales process. It’s a BUYING process. You’re just there to facilitate it and SERVE them.

And serving them best starts with having a positive attitude and being fully focused on the customer you’re serving. Go into the interaction knowing that they are going to be buying something. Yes, that confidently. They are buying something! What will it be? How can you guide them to the best option? 

It’s like a choose your own adventure book. Did you ever read those? You start off with a general scenario and then you the reader - or in this analogy the customers’ guide - get to determine how the rest of the story goes by making choices along the way.  If they need a birthday present, turn to page 43. If that present is for a man, turn to page 27. Either way they are reading the book - or making a purchase. This is a goofy analogy but I think you see what I mean…..  I want you to be so confident that they are in your store to purchase that you’re surprised if they don’t buy something. They are on a buying journey, you are their guide. 

Sidenote: Maybe your customer doesn’t want guidance during their buying process. That’s ok! I like some peaceful shopping too. But I like knowing that someone WANTS to help me if I need it. We’ll touch on this later in the episode during our greeting run down.

 This is more about your mindset as the person serving. You have a smile on your face. You are confident. You know your store and your products. You are 100 percent focused on the customer and not the 428 other things you have to do that day. That person is the most important person to you in that moment, and your job is to make their day better, whether they purchase or not.  

2. Second thing to ask yourself: Am I physically prepared to help this customer the best 

This is pretty easy and natural - yay! Put a smile on your face, make sure your hands are free, shoulders back, and make a confident and purposeful approach. Yep, I’m putting confidence in this category too. Body language speaks loudly. If you look unsure, they aren’t going to feel good about asking for your product details or design ideas. Walk up that customer like you own the joint (even if you just started last week). 

Part of being physically prepared to help is being prepared to go above and beyond. I tell my staff - we never ever say the word no. If they ask for something we don’t have, the answer is we don’t carry that but ____ store has it, or let me see if I can find out who in town may have that in stock. The answer isn’t no, it’s “no but”. 

Sometimes customers just want reassurance that you’re trying your best. Do I have faux royal blue babies breath? No I don’t. But here’s how I’d answer. “I don’t believe we have that exact stem but I would be happy to double check and see if I can find something similar”. The action of looking is showing them that you care enough to try - even though I could look for years and won’t find that item in my store. When I come back to the customer with a plan B or plan C in hand, it cushions the disappointment. The answer isn’t no, it’s “no, but” or “not right now but I can look at ordering something in. 

3. Lastly, what can I observe about this customer that will help me help them the best. 

Ok - so I’m not talking about stereotyping their physical appearance based on dress or skin color or what brand of purse they carry. That’s a hard pass. 

So this third point about observing the customer is more about trying to determine the customer’s mindset. What state of mind is the customer in? Are they power walking to the cash register looking rushed or stressed? Are they trying to corral 3 squirrley kids and embarrassed about it? Are they sad? This isn’t an exact science, but getting a read on the customer’s mindset can help you determine how you’ll interact with them. This may change as the conversation progresses, but we want things to start on the right foot. 

We’re going to dive into psychology just a bit here. Mirroring is the behavior in which one person unconsciously imitates the gesture, speech pattern, or attitude of another. Think of a person whispering to you - your gut instinct is to whisper back, even if there’s no one else around. Babies do this when they see a smile! 

In this sales and service scenario, we are doing it both unconsciously and consciously.

Here’s some examples…. If your customer is overjoyed at the birth of their new grandbaby, YOU are now consciously overjoyed as well. You can’t wait to hear the name, if they have a lot of hair, to see pictures! 

If the customer is somberly mourning the loss of their parent, you match their energy and voice levels.

If they are in a huge rush, you hurry your movements and offer to email the receipt. You make it your mission to get them out the door and make sure to let them know you look forward to serving them again. 

If they have 3 squirrely kids along, you find a way to decrease mom’s stress level. One thing we do at our shop is to grab some short flowers - either busted carnation heads or even some silks scraps - and give it to the kids to hold while mom shops. If they have something in their hands already, they aren’t as likely to be grabbing for something else. We also have a “kids coloring corner” set up in the store so mom can shop in peace, but that’s a story for the “sales environment” podcast episode!

I shared these examples to show: You match the way you handle the interaction to the way the customer is acting - but only in a positive way. Obviously if your customer is a jerk, you still need to be professional. Remember, you are discovering how to serve them best. And that may just be you being a calm spot in whatever stormy kind of day they are having. 

I’m not saying that there won’t be days when this is hard. We don’t want to be fake or disingenuous. Let’s be honest, retail can be draining! However, if you can practice leading with a mindset and heart of service on your good days, you’ll be able to slip right into that well worn - and genuine - persona on your bad days. If you need to, you can determine a visual cue for yourself to move into customer service “mindset”. Mine is crossing the threshold of my retail floor. Yours may be when the customer is X feet into your store. At that point you’ve checked off those three things on your mindset list:     

1. I am mentally ready to serve this customer my best
2. I am physically ready to serve this customer my best. 
3. I have gathered information about this customer to serve them best.  

This may happen in a split second for you; or you may be someone that thrives off of mental checklists. Either way, if you can answer yes to those questions, it’s time to confidently approach your customer. I’ll share how I train in my own retail shop. You, of course, know your customers best. I have customers that love to shop in peace for 10 minutes before we talk, I have customers that walk straight back to my workroom and chat with us… these are long term established relationships. I’m sharing how I greet my average walk in customer, especially those that I haven’t seen before.   

I like to greet customers within the first 15 seconds or 10 feet of my store. If it takes them 45 seconds to go 2 feet, I’m still within my boundary. This is just what we’ve set as our guideline. It’s a rule of the store. 

If we are swamped, “I’ll throw out a quick Hello, thanks for coming in I’ll be right with you” just to make sure they are greeted within that guideline. I don’t want to jump down their throat but I do want to make sure they feel seen and welcome.

I start with a conversation: 
Good morning! How are you? >> 

If it feels natural or it’s a returning customer, this is where I’ll chat a bit. Ask where they got their cute purse, inquire about their granddaughter, comment on the weather, etc.  

“What can I help you with today?” 

Ask an open ended question. It’s not “can I help you”. It’s not “are you looking for anything in particular?” …. Those types of phrases give them the option to say “no” and the natural flow of conversation dies. If you ask how you can help it requires a full answer.  

If the customer responds that they are just looking, I proceed: 

Ok, my name is Kelsey, please let me know if I can answer questions or grab anything for you.

This makes it personal. They know my name and it gives the customer permission to seek me out. I mentioned this earlier when I was sharing about my shop. When you are working in a busy shop, it’s easy to get “head down” on a task or simply appear too busy to help. People never want to feel like an interruption or a bother, so if you don’t set the precedent that they are your first priority, they may not feel confident interrupting you. Sometimes (depending on the customer or the vibe I’m getting) I’ll make a joke about it. 

I’m going to be in and out of the design room, but I’m working on paperwork today so puh-lease don’t hesitate to call on me, I’d much rather be out here with you :) 

 >> I don’t walk away just yet! My next step is to share some insight, like “P.S. we’re having a special on X or be sure to check out the X we just got in, it’s amazing”

Finally I let them know the next steps.

 I’ll let you browse and check back in a bit, be sure to holler at me or ring the bell if you need anything! 

Of course the customer knows how to shop. But I set the expectation that I will be checking on them just one more time so it doesn’t feel overbearing or leave them wondering. I never want there to be a moment in my store when my customer is unsure about anything, because buyers are confident. I want my shopper to be confident in the process, in my continued attention, and in their purchase.  

If the customer answers my initial inquiry about “how I can help” by actually needing some assistance, then we proceed into that part of the buying cycle. I’ll talk all about a step-by-step sales process called the “SPIN” method in the next episode. We’ll be using our positive guide mindset to serve our customers during the entire buying process.