How to choose a salesperson for the women's clothing department. How to choose good sellers? We select staff for the store. What qualities will we look for?

There is a small pizzeria in the shopping center across the street from my office. Until recently, I loved going there, but everything has changed since the pizzeria hired a new saleswoman.

I can't fault this girl's sales skills. But as for the appearance... Imagine a pimply girl with tangled, long-unwashed hair, in wrinkled, greasy clothes and a dirty oilcloth apron. In addition, the girl’s nose is running and she blows her nose into her sleeve. Just the thought of this girl touching food takes away all my appetite.

And since I’m not the only one who is so squeamish, the future of this pizzeria seems to me to be far from cloudless.

Seller, look at you!

The skill of the seller, knowledge of specific techniques, presentation skills, ability to work with customer objections - all this is undoubtedly very important.

• Otherwise I wouldn't teach these things.

Knowledge of your product and confidence in your rightness are also important... However "Inappropriate" appearance of a seller or negotiator can negate the effectiveness of all his skills , skills and abilities - because the potential buyer decides that he does not want to deal with this person, even before the seller opens his mouth .

If you are a salesperson, stand up right now and look at yourself in the mirror. If you are a business owner or manager, take a look at your salespeople right now. Do they look like people your potential client would be comfortable doing business with?

What to look for

Look from top to bottom. What should you pay special attention to?

• Hair - cleanliness, neat hairstyle, no dandruff
• Face - facial expression, lack of stubble for men, neat makeup for women
• The collar is often the first to get dirty
• Clothing - cleanliness and neatness, matching the style to your business
• Armpits - no sweat stains
• Hands - cleanliness, neatness
• Nails - clean, cut short for men, neat manicure for women
• Shoes - matching the suit, neatness, cleanliness
• Watches, jewelry - suitable for a suit, suitable for business

The appropriateness of clothing and shoes for the type of business is a separate topic for discussion. But in general terms, it is clear that a client of a reputable bank will be very surprised if he finds a girl behind the counter in a red blouse with a neckline down to her navel decorated with an earring, and a visitor to an auto repair shop will be even more surprised if a mechanic in a three-piece suit and tie comes out to him. Typically, customers expect some form of clothing appropriate for your business - and are disappointed if their expectations are not met.

Sorry for the indelicacy

Another topic that will have to be touched upon is smell. Body odor and breath odor. Perhaps, dear reader, you will be surprised - but sometimes you come across sellers who neglect personal hygiene so much that it is uncomfortable to be around them. I have also encountered sellers who use such a suffocatingly overpowering perfume that the smell entered the room before the seller himself.

Check what your salespeople smell like. Of course, you don’t have to sniff them like a dog does :) Just come close to each of them (a little closer than you usually do, since the buyer may be more sensitive to odors than you), talk to him for about twenty seconds, and make sure that the seller does not emit any odors other than the light and unobtrusive smell of deodorant or cologne.

If the result of the inspection disappoints you, conduct educational work with the seller. Explain to him the need for water treatments. Teach him to check his breath odor on his own by covering his mouth and nose with a cupped palm and exhaling into it. Or simply fire this seller and hire another, cleaner one.

Who knows - maybe this is what will allow you to increase your sales.

A few more articles from the section "

with a developed imagination;

tenacious memory;

extremely sociable;

persistent in achieving the goal.

The important thing is internal energy, the ability to charm a client and close a deal.

You have your own store or are just planning to open one, you are probably faced with the problem of choosing a seller. The importance of this event is difficult to overestimate, since the level of sales of your goods depends on the seller; he is the face of your store. So how do you choose a good seller?

For starters, what is a good salesperson? He must have a number of qualities:

External qualities – pleasant appearance;

Personal qualities – polite, sociable, tactful, patient, punctual;

Efficient and energetic - you don’t need a salesperson who works sluggishly after lunch;

Competent in the field of the product - must have excellent knowledge of the product, its qualities and properties in order to quickly and correctly answer customer questions;

Experience in sales is desirable.

If you give an example, you will immediately understand the difference between a good and a bad seller. Let's say the situation is this: a buyer comes to a clothing store to choose a dress. A bad salesperson, even if he tries to be “good,” will constantly hover around the client annoyingly, “chase” him, and constantly offer help. The client will either run away from such a seller or be sent to him. A good seller will be invisible to the client and will appear only at the right moment and give practical advice or a review of the product. To do this, he must quietly carefully observe the buyer and guess his desires.

The salesperson must be able to effectively complete the entire sales process. And this:

Greet the client.

Find out his needs - find out what the client needs.

Offer and tell about the product - if the client is looking for a specific item, then offer it from the existing assortment, and if the buyer has not yet decided on a choice, then help him do it or offer something from the new collection.

Dealing with complaints - it happens that the client has a negative attitude and makes complaints about the product; in this case, in no case should you snap back or be rude to the client, but politely answer all his complaints. Even if the client is wrong, the client is always right!

Directly complete the transaction - sell the goods, package them, issue a receipt.

Cross-sell, don’t forget to offer a secondary product in addition to the main product. For example, for a dress - a suitable belt, for a coat - gloves, a scarf, for a tracksuit - a headband, etc. By the way, cross-selling accounts for more than 30% of revenue.

Say goodbye to the client - thank you for the purchase, perhaps remind you of upcoming promotions or discounts, wish you a good day.

In large chain stores, personnel selection is carried out by HR specialists or recruitment agencies, but if you are a small business, then most likely you will have to find and choose your good seller yourself. It should be added to everything stated above that you should not rely primarily on experience in the field of sales, the main thing is that the person is well trained. After all, it is easier to learn than to relearn.

You can start your independent search by submitting an ad in a newspaper or on the Internet. There are also options like luring a good seller from your competitors or growing one yourself. In the first case, you must at least offer better working conditions and higher earnings. In the second case, you will have to bear the costs of training him.

And finally, if you have found a good seller, then you should listen to his opinion, coordinate work issues with him, create a convenient work schedule, and not load every day with a 12-hour workday, this will reduce the work efficiency of even the best seller.

In any trading field, the seller is the “face” of the business. Pace, growth, accumulation of regular customers - all this depends not only on additional investments, quality improvement, market conditions, but also directly on who is selling. The ability to competently present a product, win people over, and provide quality service is an art mastered by the “ideal” seller.

Brian Tracy, a well-known management specialist and business analyst, offers his best seller model: Such a person spends 30% of his time presenting the product and clarifying needs, and 70% listening carefully to the client. Finding the right person for a seemingly simple job is not easy.

First of all, it is necessary to draw up the so-called “ seller portrait" Here you should take into account the following points: personal qualities, age, attitude to work, ability to adapt. Depending on the specifics of the store or outlet, the options may vary. You should start from a picture of successful sales. Each business has its own audience of buyers, which a skillful entrepreneur must know in advance.

This audience has its own specific needs and corresponding capabilities. High results are achieved when people get exactly what they need for reasonable money. Here we are talking about the fact that a lady who bought a handbag for $1000 in a fashion boutique and a grandmother who bought a liver pie at a kiosk should be equally satisfied.

Now let's get back to " seller's portrait”, who sold them these goods. These must be two completely different people. Knowing his audience, an entrepreneur, when drawing up a “portrait,” can determine specific personal qualities, age ranges and other indicators, some of which may not be significant at all. Let's give an example of a “portrait” of a seller of a children's toy store: personal qualities - responsibility, sociability, goodwill, observation, patience, age - from 21 to 45 years old, attitude to work - likes working with children, interest, ability to adapt - present, flexibility.

The “portrait” should be supplemented with the necessary skills and abilities that should be inherent to the candidate, and also determine whether work experience is needed, and if so, what kind. In other words, you need to calculate the seller’s skill level to achieve maximum results. Here you can focus on three components - abilities, skills, and experience.

To determine the required qualifications, you should take into account the type of store, size (area), level and audience of customers. The type of store indicates what kind of goods are sold here - clothing, groceries, household chemicals, auto parts, etc. The size provides for the area that the seller has to maintain and control. The level is determined by the price category and type of goods, which, in turn, attracts a certain audience of buyers. Let's return to the seller of children's toys.

Type of store - children's goods, size - average (for example, 40 square meters), level - average, audience - mothers, children, relatives (family orientation). In this case, no special skills are needed, personal qualities are enough. If you have experience working with children - great, no - you should pay attention to your abilities. If a person is easy to train, there will not be any special problems. At the same time, when selecting a luxury clothing seller, knowledge of a foreign language, at least 2 years of experience, etc. will be necessary.

Where can you find a seller who meets all the previously defined requirements? There are several options. You can advertise in a newspaper or on a job site, contact a recruiting agency, or ask your friends to recommend someone. Working with agencies, as a rule, complicates the search system. This is an unprofitable option in terms of money, which also takes a lot of time. Having paid for the services, you need to wait until the agency employees select a candidate who may subsequently completely not correspond to the stated wishes.

Advertising is the easiest way. Moreover, here you need to describe in detail the working conditions and requirements for the candidate. It is better to conduct the interview yourself. Questions should be asked in such a way that it is possible to create a “portrait” of the candidate - personal qualities, work experience, motivation, expectations. The disadvantage of this option is associated with time costs and risk, since a lot of people will come, and it is very difficult to confirm the information. On the one hand, hiring a seller by recommendation is beneficial, since a “proven” person is always better, but on the other hand, in case of non-compliance, it is inconvenient to fire. There is another good option, although not entirely honest - to lure the seller you like from another place by offering better conditions.

So, the right person has been found and is ready to get to work. Initial training is required in any case. The seller must have clearly defined goals and objectives and explained how to achieve them. A probationary period (or internship) is a very good motivation for learning. Regardless of the type or format of the store, you need to give the seller some tool to help, for example, “5 steps to meet the buyer.” If the store also has maintenance staff, it can be helpful to use mentoring. This way you can give a new person the opportunity to adapt and become a member of the team.

In this case, it is best to show up from time to time and monitor the process in order to avoid misunderstandings and discord. After all, it’s always nice for the “old” to show that they are smarter and more experienced, and this may not have a very good effect on the atmosphere in the team. If there is only one seller, it is appropriate to spend the first few working days with him. You can use personal example to show your expectations from his work and see how he copes.

Trainings for sellers very useful, but not always relevant. Taking your only salesperson to very expensive events is an unjustified waste of money.

If the store is large with a solid staff of employees, Trainings not only teach sales, but also form a team and contribute to the development of the team. There are also franchises, by purchasing which you can automatically receive free training for sellers, and in this case the entrepreneur only wins.

Like an entrepreneur, a seller also wants to increase his income. Good work should be appreciated. It’s better to come up with a payment system that directly depends on sales – salary +%, for example. With a fixed rate, any normal person selling more than the set rate will feel deprived and may try to make up for it themselves, from the cash register. Unfortunately, there are a lot of cases of theft.

You can, of course, install several surveillance cameras. But it is best to build relationships on trust and partnership. You can motivate employees with quarterly bonuses, gifts for holidays, organizing corporate events, timely payment of money, and do not forget about the percentage of sales. Although surveillance cameras will never be superfluous. You can monitor the work using reporting and customer reviews, which can be friends, acquaintances, etc.

The salesperson is part of the success of the entire business. We should not forget that the driving force is the organizer. An entrepreneur who competently builds his business will certainly achieve high results. We must remember that “Everything can be done better than it has been done so far.” So said Henry Ford, who founded America's largest automobile company practically from scratch.

Seller interview: how to select sellers!

Properly selected sellers are one of the main factors in high sales of any store. Want to learn how to interview salespeople? We will share some secrets with you in this article, and we also have And if you are a salesperson, you will learn how to prepare to pass an interview and get a job in a good store.

What needs to be determined during an interview with a sales consultant?

Teamwork

Personal qualities

How to profile the ideal sales candidate?

Before inviting people for an interview, you need to accurately describe the job profile of the salesperson you would like to hire, in other words, create a portrait of the ideal candidate to work in your store. When creating a profile for a salesperson’s position, start from his main responsibilities, the features of your store, and make a list of all the functions that your salespeople should be able to perform. And lastly, think about what kind of person a person should be so that you would be pleased to see him in the store every time.

How to determine the key characteristics of a sales candidate?

To test the seller's communication skills, ask him to tell you something about himself, about his past work, about how he spends his free time. Is the narrator in front of you interesting? Is it easy for him to answer questions? Can he immediately tell something unusual about himself?

To understand relationships with other people You should ask the seller leading questions. For example, whether the phrase “The customer is always right?” is true, or why some people are more friendly and others less so. Why is he interested in being a salesperson? Many people go into this field in order to help other people in addition to making money.

It is very important to determine candidate's attitude towards sales in principle. If a person likes to sell, then he enjoys it in any situation. Even if he is given the task of selling batteries on an electric train, or selling skis in the summer! If the seller says that for him this is a drive, a game, an opportunity for self-development, then such a seller will be able to learn how to sell very quickly. Anyone who really loves sales and is interested in honing their skills - never gets tired of customers!

This is the energy and fuel for its successful operation. Motivation can be for the purpose of achievement (the desire to earn money, develop, communicate, learn new things), and for the purpose of avoidance (tired of idleness, it will take a long time to find a job, I don’t want to be left without money).

Choose those sales candidates who have a strong achievement motivation! Find out what success the seller wants to achieve in his life in the coming year! How will his work success help him with this? Where does he see himself in the future? How much does he want to earn? Are you ready to teach others and share your successes? Does he really want to be a salesperson, or does he need to take a break for a couple of months, and then he or she will look for a “normal job?”

To test your sales skills There are quite a lot of techniques that allow you to most accurately identify a person’s sales tendencies. Firstly, these help you quickly understand who is in front of you. Secondly, these are special tasks and cases for sellers that need to be offered to them directly during the interview. And thirdly, the most effective method for determining the sales skills of candidates and selecting the best sellers is sales selection training for sellers.

Qualifying sales training for sellers is a technology for quickly meeting, training and testing sales candidates for possession of all the necessary features from the job profile of the seller you need. This training is conducted in a 3-6-8 hour format, for candidates ranging from 4 to 12 people, and during this training, job seekers quickly get to know you and each other, perform tasks and exercises, and do something with each other buy and sell, receive prizes and game medals, and the winners of this sales championship receive the main bonus - a job in your store!

We prepare and conduct qualifying trainings for sellers, and will be happy to help you conduct such training for your company!

For the most harmonious work of the team, it is important to involve other employees in determining which colleagues they want to see on their team. To do this, it is useful to ask them about what qualities and skills they would like to see in their future colleague. What difficult situations are they likely to face together? What is most important to them in working together? It is also acceptable to have one of your best salespeople present at the interview with the salesperson (especially someone who will later mentor the hired salesperson).

And last but most important - Every person is characterized by three verbs: TO KNOW, TO BE ABLE. Each of us knows a lot, can do some things better and others worse, and has a set of certain character traits, principles and norms of behavior. So, the latter just means - BE! What kind of person is he or she who is now in front of you? What qualities, upbringing norms and rules determine his or her behavior? Be sure to read our article about, and select people with the maximum presence of these qualities!

How to sell work in your store to a seller?

There are no ideal candidates, but truly smart and good people will always and everywhere be in great demand. And let's be honest, do you really have the best job offer on the market for them? Most likely not! In this case, you need to learn how to sell work in your store to the best candidates, and then you will truly have the strongest sales team.

There are many factors that are important to sellers, in addition to money, and above all these are opportunities to develop, learn something new, feel needed and in demand, as well as the desire to spend time in the company of an interesting and promising manager, and responsive and hardworking colleagues.

Prepare your most convincing arguments for those sellers that you really like! Sell ​​them yourself as a manager, work in your store and all the benefits of cooperation with you, and such a seller will be as loyal to you as possible (and you will very quickly see the level of his loyalty and desire to thank you by the daily increase in cash at the store’s cash register!) .

When appearing for an interview, a sales consultant should also remember that an interview is a chance to show your sales skills at their best and give the employer the opportunity to feel like the most valuable and desired client!

Do you still think that interviewing salespeople and selecting the best candidates is difficult? Well, there is always risk in this process! We can help you reduce it!

Book a consultation with our expert or a private lesson on conducting sales interviews, and learn how to choose the right people once and for all!

Svetlana Samsonova

“Once upon a time, in a fairy-tale country, there lived kind people. They plowed the land, grew bread, fell in love and got married. But one day a Dragon settled nearby. The dragon boorishly trampled the crops, brazenly chomped on garden apples and spat cats stuck in his teeth. He also got into the habit of dragging beautiful girls into his cave from time to time. And the good people realized that this could not continue like this, otherwise there would be no one to marry, and there would be nothing to eat. They turned to the Glorious Knight for help. The Glorious Knight was imbued with the problem, gathered all the brave knights of the country and addressed them with a speech..."

Who do you think tells this tale and to whom? No, this is not the mother at the boy's crib. Every person who needs to select active sales managers from dozens of candidates in 10 minutes should know this fairy tale! And now I’ll tell you how to do this.

So, we are given:

1. We urgently need to select 3 sales people. It was necessary yesterday.
2. 30 people signed up for the interview (15 will come)
3. Time is limited to one day and one recruiter.

Our actions.

1. We create a table with a list of candidates and the behavioral markers we need
2. We invite everyone into the hall and seat them in a semicircle
3. We stand in the center and tell a beautiful story about the project for which we are selecting. The main goal is to create a light and friendly atmosphere.
4. We suggest playing a game before the interview to relax and lift your spirits.
5. We tell a fairy tale we already know
6. And now ATTENTION! We invite everyone to go to the center and become a Glorious Knight and make a speech for 1 minute, calling on other knights to fight the Dragon. We don’t force it, only at will.
7. We listen to speeches. We count those willing to go to battle based on the results of each performance.
8. We draw conclusions and leave the best for an individual interview. All!

What happens after you propose the game and explain the rules. Some people will make blank faces and sit tighter in their chairs. The other part will be clearly annoyed and will not move either. However, there will be applicants who will clearly like this idea and want to speak. Check them off in your table. The rest are no longer interesting to you, because... the sales manager must be active and have no fear of the unknown.

The next stage is the performances of our Glorious Knights. Here your task is only to have time to make notes in the table, because candidates, without realizing it, will talk about exactly what things motivate them to do serious work, show the basic scheme of their work with clients, and demonstrate speaking, persuasion and competent speech skills.

Whoever scares the knights with the terrible Dragon will definitely begin to motivate clients using the “from” method, i.e. tell what bad things will happen if the client doesn’t buy. Someone will begin to evoke patriotic feelings and you realize that this candidate can become very loyal and dedicated to the company or team. I had one Glorious Knight who was ready to fight just for a piece of bread. The manager really liked this candidate and hired him, but, unfortunately, in the future he continued to work, being content with pennies and was soon fired.

And you will get all this in 1 minute of the candidate’s speech! Sometimes after this stage it is already clear who you will hire, but I still recommend inviting the best ones after the game and talking individually.

Second stage. And so, you have decided that these applicants are the best and now you need to make a decision and choose one. In my practice, I observed how experienced high-ranking managers conducted individual interviews, asked questions about work experience, and made decisions completely intuitively. It’s good when both candidates are strong, but what if not? Then the risk of error increases. After conducting more than a dozen interviews, I developed my own method of effective interviewing, which I called SWAMP.

Let's decipher the abbreviation:

• B – external signs (I broadcast to the world),
• Z – knowledge (I know),
• M - skills and abilities (I can),
• A – activity (I take the initiative),
• X – I want (I show desire).

We have five. Why five? Because it is precisely five + - two objects that our brain remembers best at a time. As a result, we have a clear picture, and not “it seems to me that the second candidate...”

Now let’s look at why exactly these criteria are based on the example of selecting sellers of individual cabinet furniture.

First criterion: External signs

This is the information that the candidate transmits to the world, what he wants to say about himself. I have a separate table for each position where I list the requirements.

For example, according to the “External characteristics” criterion for a seller of individual cabinet furniture, I have the following requirements:

1. Smiles.
2. Clean hair, hands, shoes, general impression of neatness.
3. Calm. There is no fussiness in gestures and eye movements.
4. Dress appropriately for the position: discreet urban style.
5. Jewelry and accessories correspond to the position: medium-sized, dim.

I would like to note that when selecting a seller of expensive women's clothing for one of the shopping centers, I noted both spectacular bright clothes and large jewelry as a plus. Subsequently, it was this seller who showed the best results. And for the designer of individual furniture, a calm urban style is suitable. And it’s better that this style is familiar.

One day a beautiful girl came for an interview for a secretary position. All in black. With long straight hair. I passed the interview, spoke competently, but my inner voice pushed me to dig deeper...And now, FINALLY! The girl looked at me soulfully and said:
- And there are four of us in the office now!
I involuntarily looked around my office and wondered who these invisible comrades were.
- These are two spirits, they are standing behind me.
This was followed by a story about contacts with Lucifer. Needless to say, I gently refused the applicant, explaining that our owner is Orthodox and regularly sprinkles holy water on all employees, which the spirits obviously will not like. The girl agreed with me.

Criterion: Knowledge

Everything is clear here. It is necessary to clearly state what the applicant must know. Perhaps the 1C program or the Federal Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights”.

Criterion: I can

Skills and abilities. Tested by case assignments. In our case, we are playing out a scene of selling a wardrobe. Task: to identify true needs. There is an interesting and fail-safe method of three questions. I will talk about it in the next article.

Criterion: Activity

We give points for initiative and asking questions. We ask projective questions about the pros and cons of taking initiative.

Criteria: I want

This is motivation. A very interesting criterion.

One day, a respectable man came for an interview for a job as an occupational safety engineer. Colossal experience, lots of knowledge! According to criteria B, Z and M, I scored the maximum number of points. But...Everything is kind of extinct. As a result of deeper study, it turned out that the person is tired, exhausted and just wants an office and a comfortable chair. He was refused.

For each criterion, you can ask five questions or give cases. There will be a total of 25 questions, divided into groups. Each question is worth 1 point. The number of points scored by the applicant for each criterion is plotted on the ray of the radar diagram and connected.

We received two diagrams. Let's try to decipher them as applied to the vacancy of a cabinet furniture seller.

• First applicant. Red diagram. Looks good, holds up great. Good knowledge, but not enough experience. Skills can be taught, especially since there is a theoretical platform. Activity and aspiration are average. You can boost your motivation. If you find that button that makes your eyes light up, then it’s possible, but with a trial period of at least 3 months.
• Second applicant. Green diagram. Her appearance includes gorgeous tattoos and earrings. I have experience and knowledge of design programs. Active, alive. But there is absolutely no motivation to work. In reality, the candidate was clearly minding his own business and subsequently got into trouble.

The ideal candidate has a smooth chart with maximum scores on all beams. In our example, both candidates are not suitable for us.

Just like that, with a slight WASH of your hand, you can make a reasoned decision on each candidate. Using this principle, you can create your own criteria, write your own questions and cases.

Happy selection!