You Have to Be There

The first reality of selling is simple enough: You have to be there. You’ll never sell a thing when the lights are off and the doors are closed.

If this seems painfully obvious, ask yourself how many times you’ve stopped by some other small retail establishment, during its posted business hours, only to see a sign that says Back in 30 Minutes, or, We’ll Open Today at 3:00. Sorry.

Dive retailing isn’t something you can do when it’s convenient. If your store has advertised hours (and it should), stick with them. Nothing looks more unprofessional to customers than posting hours and not keeping them.

If customers find your store closed (or the phone unanswered) during what are supposed to be normal business hours, they are going to be understandably pissed. You just cost them their single most valuable possession: their time.

What do you think the odds are that customers will return, having discovered you are not always open when you said you would be? After all, you’ve already fooled them once…

There is More to “Being There” Than Just Being There

Even when the lights are on, the doors are open and you are physically present, you can still fail to “be there” for your customers. For example:

• Last year I stopped by to visit a store that, ironically, occupies the same retail space as a pizza parlor I used to take students to after class, 30 years ago. I had not been to this store in some time, and wondered how it had changed.
• When I walked in the door, there was no one in sight. There were, however, open boxes and plastic bags strewn everywhere. Clearly the store had just received a large shipment from one of its major suppliers.
• From the back room, I could hear the sound of someone opening more boxes and moving equipment. After a minute, a disembodied voice said, “Let me know if you need help with anything…” I replied that I was “just looking.” No response.
• I spent the next five minutes walking around, scrutinizing regulators, closely examining dive computers and playing with masks and fins — clear buying signals to anyone who might have been there watching me. But no one did. Worse, I could have walked out the door at any moment with an armload of expensive merchandise, with no one to stop me or provide my description to police.

Customers who walk in the door deserve as much of your undivided attention as you can provide. Sure, from time to time, you have to deal with ringing phones and other customers who may be present. So long as you do so as efficiently as possible, must customers will understand. What they won’t understand is:

• Why talking on the phone with your friends or “shooting the breeze” with vendors is more important than they are.
• Why cleaning the store or stocking shelves is a more valuable use of your time than waiting on them.
• Why finishing a regulator repair takes precedence over their needs. (Hint: Never make your repair technician do double duty as your store’s only available salesperson. Either hire a dedicated technician to do your repair work or schedule time for it before or after normal store hours.)

Customers always come first. Without them, there is no need (and no money) to do anything else.

More about listening than talking »

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