Going Full Circle: Retail Sales

How do you apply consultative selling skills to a retail transaction that can happen in a matter of minutes? Is there time to really get to know a customer’s needs and concerns? How do you present your product’s best features without driving a customer into ‘information overload?' What if the customer believes it's only a matter of price?

The cellular industry has exploded in recent years. Competition is fierce and getting fiercer. Ameritech wanted a powerful, fast-paced retail sales training workshop to keep their folks on the floor sharp in a raucous market where customers are bombarded daily with information and promotional offers.

In partnership with FORMAN/greene we produced a video-driven sales training tool that helps the folks on the floor focus on and achieve Ameritech’s goals—both from a sales perspective and from a customer service/customer retention perspective. Using customers and real Ameritech sales people in unscripted situations, we captured live sales transactions and used them as the basis for skill training in each Ameritech retail store. We supported the vignettes with hard-hitting interviews in which district managers and company executives make the case for making the numbers, but more important, they empathize with the sometimes tough situations their folks face every day.