Sales! We all need them, but the act of selling things doesn’t come naturally to everyone. To improve our sales we have to improve our salesmanship. We have to have a focused plan and vision for our sales. But you have to start at the foundation, and that’s why today we’re going to kick off this sales series by talking about mindset.

Now Mindset is kind of a buzzword, but in this case it’s appropriate and the foundation for becoming - or training up - a great salesperson. So what is mindset? It’s defined as “the established set of attitudes held by someone”. Another way to describe it is your mentality or frame of mind.

I want you to ask yourself: "What kind of beliefs, or mindset, do I have around 'selling'?" What words popped into your head?

Sometimes the words “salesperson” or “selling” can have a negative connotation or leave a bad taste in your mouth. But what about the time you delivered a beautiful bouquet and the bride cried tears of joy?

Did you notice the one constant in all of those examples? Emotion.

We have emotions tied up into sales; our emotions, the customers, the recipients… emotions go hand-in-hand with mindset when it comes to sales in our industry. They are often times the driving force behind why a customer is in our store or on the phone in the first place! Love, grief, regret, joy….emotions drive flower sales.

Let’s talk about how can we use mindset and emotions to lay the foundation for sales process that benefits us and our customer.

We’ll start by looking at ourselves again. Remember those words that popped in your head? Are they the same words that pop in your head when a customer enters your store?

Think about how your mindset or attitude can affect your customer, along with your body language. It’s human nature to internalize emotions around us.

If you are stressing about getting a funeral done in time, that’s going to come across as a rushed interaction. If you are mad at your spouse for something, your customer may see you as being annoyed with THEM.

Can you think of times in your own shop when you or a staff member’s emotions leaked into a customer interaction? Or maybe even just the “impression” of an emotion…. Now, having a customer start an interaction with even a flash of a negative emotion is NOT great. Starting off on the right foot can completely change the customer experience. It can make or break a sale or the customer even returning to your store!

Here’s three things to think about when initiating a conversation with a customer.

1) What is going on for ME right now that I can set aside - am I mentally prepared to serve this customer the best?

This goes back to our own mindset. I know it sounds cliche, but if you start by thinking negatively, your results aren’t going to be positive. That’s why I like to think of “selling” as a form of “service”. I’m not selling a customer a bouquet, I’m solving a problem for them. I’m not selling a ceramic pot with a drain tray, I’m serving them by educating them on proper plant care - and saving their wood floors in the process. How can I serve this customer in the best way? How can I make their day better or their purchase the best it can be?

I tell new staff members - customers choose us. THEY initiate the process. The customers are picking up the phone or driving across town to park in our lot and walk into our store. They aren’t surprised that the result of their choice will be to spend money. They are already mentally prepared to spend money - even if they are “just looking”.... they chose to come in and are anticipating that they COULD spend money.

So why are we feeling awkward or guilty for asking the customer to do the thing they are choosing to do?

Instead of looking at it as selling something to the customer, look at it as serving them the best. They’ve already mentally punched that ticket by entering your space. You’re completing the cycle THEY started when they came in or called. It’s not a sales process. It’s a BUYING process. You’re just there to facilitate it and SERVE them.

And serving them best starts with having a positive attitude and being fully focused on the customer you’re serving. Go into the interaction knowing that they are going to be buying something. Yes, that confidently. They are buying something! What will it be? How can you guide them to the best option?

I want you to be so confident that they are in YOUR store to make a purchase, that you’d be surprised if they didn’t buy something. They are on a buying journey, you are their guide.

Sidenote: Maybe your customer doesn’t want guidance during their buying process. That’s ok! I like some peaceful shopping too. But I like knowing that someone WANTS to help me if I need it.

2) Second thing to ask yourself:Am I physically prepared to help this customer the best?

This is pretty easy and natural - yay! Put a smile on your face, make sure your hands are free, shoulders back, and make a confident and purposeful approach. Yep, I’m putting confidence in this category too. Body language speaks loudly. If you look unsure, they aren’t going to feel good about asking for your product details or design ideas. Walk up to that customer like you own the joint (even if you just started last week).

Part of being physically prepared to help is being prepared to go above and beyond. I tell my staff - we never ever say the word "no". If they ask for something we don’t have, the answer is "we don’t carry that, but ____ store has it," or "let me see if I can find out who in town may have that in stock". The answer isn’t no, it’s “no, but...”.

3) Lastly, what can I observe about this customer that will help me help them the best.

Ok - so I’m not talking about stereotyping their physical appearance based on dress or skin color or what brand of purse they carry. That’s a hard pass.

This third point is more about trying to determine the customer’s mindset. What state of mind is the customer in? Are they power walking to the cash register looking rushed or stressed? Are they trying to corral 3 squirrly kids and embarrassed about it? Are they sad? This isn’t an exact science, but getting a read on the customer’s mindset can help you determine how you’ll interact with them. This may change as the conversation progresses, but we want things to start on the right foot.

We’re going to dive into psychology just a bit here. Mirroring is the behavior in which one person unconsciously imitates the gesture, speech pattern, or attitude of another. Think of a person whispering to you - your gut instinct is to whisper back, even if there’s no one else around. Babies do this when they see a smile!

In this sales and service scenario, we are doing it both unconsciously and consciously.

Here’s some examples…. If your customer is overjoyed at the birth of their new grandbaby, YOU are now consciously overjoyed as well. You can’t wait to hear the name, if they have a lot of hair, you want to see pictures!

If the customer is somberly mourning the loss of their parent, you match their energy and voice levels.

If they are in a huge rush, you hurry your movements and offer to email the receipt. You make it your mission to get them out the door and make sure to let them know you look forward to serving them again.

I’m not saying that there won’t be days when this is hard. We don’t want to be fake or disingenuous. Let’s be honest, retail can be draining!

However, if you can practice leading with a mindset and heart of service on your good days, you’ll be able to slip right into that well worn - and genuine - persona on your bad days. If you need to, you can determine a visual cue for yourself to move into customer service “mindset”. Mine is crossing the threshold of my retail floor. Yours may be when the customer is X feet into your store. At that point you’ve checked off those three things on your mindset list:

1) I am mentally ready to serve this customer my best.

2) I am physically ready to serve this customer my best.

3) I have gathered information about this customer to serve them best.

This may happen in a split second for you; or you may be someone that thrives off of mental checklists. Either way, if you can answer "yes" to those questions, it’s time to confidently approach your customer and serve them best.

For an in-depth discussion on this topic with real world examples and a full ‘Customer Greeting’ script, check out Episode 14 of The Retail Florist podcast!