There is a technique when it comes to sales. A successful sales person has a fair few elements and routines up their sleeves to ensure that they have the best chance possible of making a sale.

In the world of retail, amongst all of the competition, it is vital that a sales person approaches their potential customers in the correct manor if they are going to make progress.

For example, how many times have you been approached by a sales person, who asks you if you were “looking for anything in particular”? I would imagine that all of you have, and what was your response? My guess would be “no, I’m just looking” or something along those lines.

This may have been the truth, or it may not have been. What is more likely is that you were looking for something in particular, or had at least narrowed your potential purchases to a few items and you were making your mind up.

If this is the case, why would you try to end the conversation with the sales person as quickly as you possibly could? Well this is part of being British! I’m British and I’m proud of my routes, but in truth as a nation, we don’t like to feel pressure. We don’t want to feel pressurised in any way and we associated sales people and retail staff with this.

However, most of us do enjoy a conversation and are more than willing to open up to anybody that shows an interest in us.

So if you are working in retail sales, the much better and far more effective way of approaching a customer is to ask a question that will invite a conversation to start. For example, if you are selling video games, why not ask the potential customer about the type of video games that they enjoy playing? This will usually reveal an answer relating to a particular genre or two and you can move on from there.

This sales technique does involve some product knowledge, but if you are in a sales role, then you will always need to be able to answer any questions quickly and correctly.

Once you build up a picture of what your potential customer is looking for, then you will be able to suggest products that they may be interested in. By this time you would have built up an element of trust with your potential customer and will find that they are more likely to listen to what you have to say and to make a purchase from you.

This article is written by Jonathan Walker of Sales Jobs