An innovation to get all those salespeople to leave you the hell alone while you’re shopping has finally arrived.
On Thursday, a Reddit user shared a photo of a shopping basket rack inside an Innisfree, a Korean beauty store located throughout Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan.
The basket with the green sign indicates the shopper doesn’t need assistance, while the orange sign indicates the shopper may.
Do you like salespeople? If you answered yes, you might be a salesperson. In The Sales Bible, Jeffrey Gitomer discusses the reputation problem faced by salespeople—and how to solve it.
Why is this? Sadly, ever since the days of snake oil, the craft has been heavily associated with lying. Years of advertising have hardened consumers and trained them to be skeptical above all else, and no one is more suspect than a salesperson. A salesperson is, first and foremost, interested in getting you to buy what they’re selling, and usually only secondarily interested in your enjoyment of or satisfaction with the product.
Recently, however, some brands have seized upon an interesting strategy for dealing with this issue: get someone else to sell the product. Though professional salespeople struggle with trust, there is one employee who still retains it: the person who engineered, developed, or created it in the first place! Let’s call these people “Product experts.”
When I encounter abominable customer service I can’t help thinking, How did this person ever get hired for this job, let alone pass their sales/service training course?
And that gets me thinking about something our clients often ask us: “If we want our people to have great sales and service skills, should we just search for “naturals” – people born with the disposition and ability to sell and serve skillfully?” It’s the old “Nature or Nurture?” question.
Yes, you should keep a sharp eye out for naturals. But I would add, “Good luck with that!” Experience says you’re going to stumble across that miracle type only once or twice in your whole career. Because think what it means to be a “natural.” Courageous, or perhaps fearless. Personable. Persistent. Attentive. Thoughtful. Conversational. Positive. Logical. And on and on. Really, what are the odds?
Dispatches From The Front 