Not surprisingly, the company is one of the few retailers to consistently make
Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For list. And with $551 million in sales in 2008, these employees clearly know a thing or two about selling. With all this in mind, I was interested to read an article that appeared in last Wednesday's (February 17)
Dallas Morning News, which landed on my desk via a
SmartBrief enewsletter. Titled "
Container Store co-founder shares secret shopping encounters," the article detailed a "mystery shopper" expedition made by Garrett Boone, who is now the Container Store's chairman emeritus. Boone visited 30 stores in Dallas to prove that "rote, mindless greetings draw rote, mindless and dismissive responses from customers--even when they need guidance." On a day, when he "set the sky as the limit" for spending, encounters with 60 salespeople saw him purchase only "two pairs of jeans, a shirt and a half-dozen pairs of socks." No-one, he reported, treated him like a "Man in the Desert."
At the end of the article (which was originally a post on his Container Store blog), Boone explains "Man in the Desert" selling, which is taught at the Container Store.
"A man lost in the desert for weeks stumbles across an oasis and is offered a glass of water. But if you stop to think, you probably realize he also needs food, a place to sleep, a phone to call his family, a pair of shoes and a hat and umbrella to screen the sun's rays.
"When a customer comes looking for shoe storage, most retailers help her find a shoe rack--that glass of water. We know she needs a complete solution for her entire closet.
"Man in the Desert selling teaches our salespeople to become so immersed in the customer's needs that we complete their solution indistinctively."
Someone once told me that selling starts when the customers says "No." In retail, I think it's accurate to say that selling starts when the customer says "Just looking." Want to increase sales? Maybe your staff should try a little Man in the Desert selling.
