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What I learnt about selling from Liberty's top retail sales staff

Liberty of London Sales Staff

The top 20 members of Liberty of London's shop floor retail sales team generate upwards of £10 million per annum between them. That's almost a million dollars per sales assistant per year at London's iconic department store. Here's what I learnt about selling whilst watching them in the Channel Four documentary on Liberty of London:

Love to Sell

The top sales people are all hungry for sales. For example, Will in menswear stays late, takes short lunch breaks and doesn’t bother with tea breaks because he loves being the top salesman in his department. Shukla, who has been with Liberty for forty years still says “Oh, I love to be the first one to sell.” Ruth in fragrances is always beating Stuart to the customers.

Know thy product

The product knowledge of the Liberty of London sales team was excellent. The team regularly meet and practiced selling new items to one another. They also focussed on the story behind the products which helps sell the items alongside their list of benefits.

Tactile

Studies have shown that waitresses that touch the arm of their customers increased tips. Watching the top sellers at Liberty of London they aren’t afraid to shake hands with their customers. Even Ed Burstell, the MD, found when he first visited Liberty that he wasn’t in the Shukla’s department for very long before she was gently leading him by the arm and helping him choose things to buy.

Warm and friendly

All of the top sellers are friendly and have a welcoming smile. Nobody likes to buy from a grump or a moaner.

Read people

When asked if he can tell if someone is going to spend money Will says, ““Of course. You can always look at what they are dressed in and I always say the one way to tell if someone’s got good shoes. Sometimes they can have awful clothing, but you look down and they’ve got a £550 pair of Marcels on.”

Guide attentively

When Shukla sells three cushions to a customer worth £400, she reads the customer by observing how her eyes light up when she sees the pink cushions. She then guides her to choose three cushions rather than two which was the right choice for how those cushions would work on her client’s sofa.

Reassure

When the cushion buyer hesitates at the till as she is paying and starts to feel guilty about her purchase, Shukla reassures her by saying,  “Don’t hesitate, if they don’t go properly, bring them and change them for something else.” As she hands her the bag and the receipt she smiles and says, “Enjoy the cushions.” Reassurance is key, especially after the sale.

Meet client’s needs

All of Liberty of London’s top sellers are looking to meet their customers instead of just selling them stuff. As Will in menswear says, “I treat every customer like my friend. We’re not trying to blag people into buying things, we’re trying to make people look decent. I’d rather people walk out of here with nothing than walk out of here with something and they look hideous in it.”

Customers love being sold to

Customers really appreciate having their needs met. As one of Will’s clients says of him, “I like to shop with Will because he knows me and knows what I like. He tells me what’s in as and when. It’s shopping made easy for me. He pushes me outside of my comfort zone.”

Know your top customers

Top sellers at Liberty of London know their top customers. They recognise their faces, they remember what they sold to them and often know their names. They call top customers to come to shop when new stock comes in. Bruce in carpets will even take rugs to his key accounts houses to try them out on site.

Sell Naturally

None of the top sellers at Liberty of London felt like they were forcing the sale or being pushy. It all felt very natural and easy and customer focussed. All of them had a natural approach to selling.

Goal focussed

Will’s goal is to be the first Liberty sales team member to bring in £1 million sales for the year. Shukla has a baseline target of £500,000 a year. All of the top sales people were focussed on their targets and watched the numbers.

It's worth mentioning that all of the shop floor staff at Liberty are incentivised and the numbers are tracked daily and fed back to the staff. Training on product knowledge is regular and the top customers are sent hampers each year. All of this supports the sales teams efforts.

Not all retailers will have a team of staff that can generate millions in sales for them each year. With an eye on these key attributes when hiring staff as well as a daily focus on selling, you too could build a retail team that are excellent at meeting your customers needs and boosting your stores profits.

You might also like to read

16 Retail Lessons I learned from Liberty of London

18 Retailing Insights from the Secrets of Sales documentary