Second, until the customer actually decides to buy some-

thing, he is just looking. Until he makes the buying decision,
reaches into his wallet, and pulls out his credit card or cash, he
is just looking!

So how do you deal with this conditioned response? Use a

different greeting! I’m constantly underwhelmed by the lack of
thought most salespeople put into their greetings. In most cases
they say, “Hi, how are you today?” or grunt, “How ya doing?” A
greeting that I really dislike is “How are you guys today?” particu-
larly when I am with my wife. Even worse is “youse” guys.
Greetings such as these will not help you set yourself and your
store apart from your competitors. In fact, as I see it, no salesper-
son should ever use this type of greeting. It is tired, old, and
stimulates no useful response from your customer.

“How are you?” or “Can I help you?” is a conditioned greet-

ing, just as “Just looking” is a conditioned response. If you want
to change your customers’ response to you, change your greet-
ing to them. Instead of saying some variation on, “Hi, how are
you today?” try something different. Comment on her clothing
or, if you happen to be in a high-traffic mall, ask about the park-
ing. Be enthusiastic. Mention your store name. “Hi, welcome to
Widget World” or “Thank you for coming in to Widget World.”
Research has shown that most people shopping in a mall do not
remember the name of the last store they shopped in. I noticed
this many years ago in myself when I was buying a pair of shoes
from a store that was in the mall across from where I lived. I
went into this mall several times a week, frequently saw the
name of the shoe store on the storefront, and yet I had to ask to
whom to make the cheque payable. So try to incorporate your
store name into your greeting whenever possible.

You also need a variety of greetings during your workday.

Avoid the pitfall of using the same greeting repeatedly. In the
early 1980s my wife and I went to a new restaurant with one of
our friends. After we were seated our server came over and said,
“Hi, my name is Bob. I’ll be your waiter tonight. Here’s a com-
plimentary snack to get you started. Would you care for a

c h a p t e r t h r e e

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Greeting Your Customer

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