Grab the opportunity when your prospect is giving off buying signals

Recently I went to Tauranga to buy some casual trousers.  I was specifically looking for cargo type trousers because I had worn them before and found them useful for most purposes.  The first two shops I went to had nothing resembling what I needed.  But hats off to them, they both pointed me in the direction of two shops who would probably have what I was looking for.

The first referral shop had something similar, and the sales lady told me where to look.  I was almost drawn to purchasing.  In fact I was suggesting to the her that I may take two pairs of differing brands.  But did she jump to the bait and offer me a concession?   No!   So even though I was mildly interested in the product, I told her I would think about it and went over the road to the second shop.

Here I was openly welcomed and also pointed in the direction of the trousers I was looking for.  The difference was that the sales guy took me to the stock, found a couple of options in my size and invited me to try them on.  Not only that, but there was an offer of purchase two for a 30% discount.  So here was the dilemma.  The previous store had a good offering of what I wanted but refused to discount for two pair.  But this second shop had a more appropriate product in terms of what I was looking for – and offered a better deal.  What would you do?

So I purchased at the second shop - Kathmandu, and I have been extremely satisfied.   Where would I go next time?  It’s a no-brainer, isn’t it?

I am not in favour of discounting for discounting sake.  But once you have one sale, the discount you can offer is watered down in terms of the total sale.  In fact it is far better to entice your customer to buy something extra than let him go over the road for a second purchase (which I was considering).

So hats off to Kathmandu.  They gave great service, gave me some options and came out trumps.