Oct 27, 2009
The Art of the Soft SellBy Jeremy QuittnerKTNV.com

Walk into one of Yoforia’s three frozen yogurt stores in Atlanta, and you’ll get a warm hello from a server, who will encourage you to try all four of the company’s frozen yogurt flavors. The server might also describe the organic milk used to make the yogurt and talk about the all-natural ingredients that go into the premium dark chocolate, mango, pomegranate, and blueberry desserts.

What you won’t get is a hard sell. If you look as if you want to be left alone, you will be. Staffers are told to put themselves in customers’ shoes, to interact and be pleasant, but never to nag. Although after tasting the yogurt and hearing about how healthy it is, you’re certainly more likely to make a purchase. And Kim’s sales are up 40% over last year.

“I take the pressure off my employees that they have to make sales,” says Jun Kim, co-founder of the 25-person, $1 million company. All of his staffers are former customers who are passionate about his yogurt. Although Kim doesn’t have formal staff meetings, he works on a daily basis with his employees, instructing them to sell service as much as frozen yogurt. He awards staffers bonuses of up to $100 when he sees them going out of their way to help customers and work well with other employees. Says Kim: “We try to focus on the customers, making sure they have a good experience when they come to the store, so they feel their money is well spent and well worth it.”

On the surface, that may not sound groundbreaking — treat your customers well, figure out what they want, give them information about your product, and sell them something you care about. But wrapping it all together and persuading your sales folks not to obsess over, well, sales, is something different: customer-centric or consultative sales. A customer-centric sales process emphasizes a low-pressure environment that lets your sales staff act as consultants, offering information and showing how your product or service can help solve a customer’s problem. When it comes to yogurt, that may be as simple as helping a customer pick the best flavor. The end goal of customer-centric sales is not only to boost sales and trumpet your brand but also to make customers happy they shopped at your store, building the foundation for future sales.

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