Each year I grow more curious. How are customers becoming so practiced in the fine art of dodging and avoiding salespeople? Oh, I realize that today's customers are more educated and concerned about their hard-earned money. They want to feel like they are making their own buying decisions and continue to have little tolerance for manipulative or domineering salespeople. If they feel they are being hustled or pressured, they won't buy even if they're ready.

I can understand all of this. With the horrifying number of untrained salespeople out there in the world, it makes sense that customers have, as Darwin would have put it, "evolved." They have adapted to the environment of obnoxious salespeople. This is evident by the fact that they are pleasantly surprised, almost amazed, by good customer service! It occurs so infrequently. Have you ever noticed that in some stores you can't find a salesperson to help you while other stores hire people to ignore you?

Customers are getting so good at their craft that there must be an organized effort against us! First there was "I'm just browsing," "I'm just getting ideas" and "I'm just killing time." Every time they pulled out one of these lines, the salesperson would leave or say something like, "If you have any questions, just let me (the salesperson) know. I (the salesperson) would be happy to help you." It's almost like reminding the customer to hate you.

Salespeople still haven't caught on to this game of automatic responses and are still using, "Can I help you?" as an opening line. The salespeople who finally realized that "Can I help you?" doesn't work started using the merchandise approach. They saunter over to the customer and whisper lines over their shoulder like, "Isn't that a great looking bedroom set?" or "That's the newest line." Sometimes they even try to open and close the sale at the same time by saying, "This particular group is on sale now, and the sale ends tomorrow." With the merchandise approach, we took the customer by surprise. It works sometimes, but customers aren't fooled by it anymore.

Now we know that the only way to open the sale is with creative questions to encourage conversation in a person-to-person way instead of a salesperson-to-customer way. This method has proven to be effective in breaking down initial resistance and enables you to establish a rapport and a foundation for the rest of your presentation.

So it seems we beat the game in opening the sale. We're talking to a lot more people. But if you think "I'm just looking" drives you crazy, what about "I'll be back" or "I want to shop around." This must be the advanced class on getting rid of salespeople! Let's take a look at an example.

You are demonstrating a bedroom set. The customer appears to love it. You attempt to close or add on and the customer says, "This is the first place I've looked, so I really want to shop around a little more." If it's an important purchase, you know statistically that customers usually do want to shop around. So you believe them, feel you've done a great job since your customers really "acted" as though they loved the item, and you feel confident they will be back to buy from you. After all, they "oohed" and "ahhhed," and even said how nice it would look in their bedroom. They must want it.

Bamboozled again! Most salespeople will do one of two things now. Some will give it their best shot to close the sale right then by convincing defending or even arguing. Others will sincerely believe the customer, cheerfully hand over a business card and wait for the "Be Back Bus" to stop back at the store's door. But the "Be Back Bus" doesn't come back. Why? Because the customer made up an excuse to get themselves out of the store. They've learned in their Avoidance of Retail Salespeople's class on Tuesday nights that this line will come in handy. Even if it is the fourteenth place they have shopped, they can still use it and it works just as well as it did at the first place. In fact, more than 50% of the time customer objections are false reasons for not buying.

Think about it, have you ever told a salesperson who was trying to help you when you were a customer that you were just on your lunch hour when you just didn't want to buy? Or how about telling the salesperson that you had to go home and talk to your husband or wife and you aren't even married! Even we, as salespeople, tell these little lies when we are customers. Somehow, when we put our name tag on and get back on the selling floor, we forget what it's like to be a customer.

The customer can make things very complicated by telling these little fibs. There is generally something very specific that makes them not buy whatever it is they are looking at, such as the quality of the materials, the knobs on the drawers, the manufacturer, the high price, etc. They prefer to keep this information to themselves. It doesn't make them feel like they're hurting your feelings since you seem to be so proud of the items you sell. It is so much easier to fib. Then they don't have to justify their reasons to you for not buying. They are off the hook.

Now if we have no way of being sure if a customer is lying or not, it makes sense that giving them your card and hoping they will be back holds no guarantees. Nor does trying one more shot at convincing them that this is the bedroom set for them. They are not telling you all of the facts, and you must find a way to uncover them. One of the techniques you can use is called the smoke-out process, which increases your chances of finding out more information without rubbing the customer the wrong way.

Briefly, the smoke-out sounds something like this: "I can appreciate the fact that you want to shop around. It's a big decision to make. But before you go may I ask you a question? (Let them respond.) Do you like the bedroom set?" Asking this general question first may get you the specific answers you need right off the bat. If they simply tell you that they like the set and don't offer any other reason for not buying, then the smoke-out begins with more detailed questions to pinpoint the obstacle and fix it.

For example, if they're concerned about whether it is too large for their bedroom, find out how much space they actually have and show them a smaller group. In the event they are telling the truth, and do want to just shop around a little, you can at least feel more certain of it being true after this process has been followed.

An objection to price is often uncovered during the smoke-out. It is very important at this point to determine whether the objection is due to value (they don't feel the bedroom set is worth the money) or budget (they can't afford it). Simply ask, "Is it the price of this particular bedroom set that you feel is too high, or is it just more than you wanted to spend today?" Now you know if you need to show them a less expensive group or build the value of the bedroom set by adding more features, advantages and benefits.

There are other favorite objections customers use to achieve the same result. I'm sure you've heard "I want to think it over," "I need to bring my husband in," "I don't really need it right away," etc. Are they always true? No, and until you realize this and make it your business to learn how to find out the truth, you'll probably be handing out more business cards than making sales.

We have taken gigantic steps toward solving the problems of opening the sale with crafty customers. Let's not let them pull the wool over our eyes when it comes to objections. If there is a concern they have that they are not sharing with you, you might be able to solve it or fix it. You'll never know if you don't find out what it is. It really is plain old customer service; giving the customer what they want so they will be satisfied. We owe it to them and we owe it to ourselves as sales professionals.