Judging by... Her Shoes

So, here's the thing: two clients walk in at the same time, you try to juggle them both at once, then get caught up and find yourself in an awkward moment where you have to choose whom to give preferential treatment to, what do you do? 

My advice to you is simple: look at the shoes.

I have long noted that women with classy colorful shoes tend to spend more; and what I mean by 'colorful' is mainly 'anything but black' (of course, this stereotype excludes men, teenagers and any kind of trainers; it's mainly for lady leather shoes).

Before you start calling me names, it's not a question of discrimination.

...and I kind of found the rationale behind it today!

If ladies were to buy only one pair of shoes, it would be black. That done, they would consider other fanciful colors. The likelihood that someone would have many colored shoes is higher if that person is actually wearing colored shoes.

Ok, skip.

If the shoes don't give you enough clues, the next step should be the handbag color. The same applies here.

Pippa Middleton, matching shoes and handbag

Finally, you know you've got a client worth a jackpot when the handbag color matches the shoes.

...and that's it for today's sales lesson!

Retail Sales Mental Cues

After a few months in retail, you start categorizing clients judging on first impressions and generating mental cues to better approach each customer. Of course, those mental cues get refined as you find yourself mistaken and adjust your guidelines with time.

Appearance-based cues: Appearance is often treacherous. Neither trust the luxury car, nor the branded clothes when it comes to a client's potential. Look rather at his language skills, culture and environment's feel to measure his purchasing power.

Conversation-based cues: The client who comes in giving endless information, will exhaust you, and end up buying nothing. Likewise, someone who ends up asking questions about each and every product, just enjoys gaining knowledge. Finally, the person who asks useless information irrelevant of his product use, holds no better potential.

No matter what, the best cues remain the client's interest and attitude, and you might always gain from helping a client regardless, as the best marketing tool will always be word-of-mouth.