By Harry J. Freidman Founder/CEO, The Friedman Group

"That's my customer;" "She was in last week and said she'd be back;" "I spent over an hour helping him about six months ago;" "Bob stole my customer;" "She's mine;" "He's mine;" "They're mine!"

Disputes over who receives credit for a sale are all too common in retail stores. Most salespeople voice their disagreements instantly, while others choose to brood in silence with feelings of resentment. Low morale creeps in as the staff feels increasing animosity toward the salespeople who appear to be stealing both customers and sales.

What's the solution? Do you give full credit for the sale to the salesperson who first made contact with the customer? Do you give full credit to the salesperson who ultimately made the sale? Or do you compromise, and just split the sale between the two?

It's never an easy decision-there's always someone who will feel cheated out of a sale. That is unless your store has some rules established for settling such disagreements consistently and fairly. The most important of these rules is the one that enables you to avoid such disputes in the first place.

Rule #1: Every salesperson should attempt to determine whether the customer has previously shopped in the store, and whether that customer was already assisted by another salesperson.

This rule has a double benefit. Not only does it enable a salesperson to turn over the customer to the original salesperson without spending fruitless time with them, but it also helps alleviate the problem of salespeople who feel they deserve at least partial credit for a sale someone else began.

How is this implemented on the floor? This can easily be done by asking two questions early during the probing process: First, "Have you shopped in the store before?" If the answer is no, the salesperson obviously proceeds. If the answer is yes, the next question is, "Do you recall who helped you?" If the customer comes up with either a name or a description (e.g., the woman with brown hair and glasses), the salesperson is then obligated to turn the sale over immediately.

Rule #2: When the customer has no recollection or simply doesn't seem to care who the original salesperson was, then the current salesperson continues and receives full credit for any resulting sale. This may sound unfair, but a rule that is followed consistently by everyone will eventually provide each salesperson with some wins and some losses.

Rule #3: The original salesperson has to earn the privilege of handling a personal trade or be-back customer by establishing enough of a relationship during the first encounter that the customer will wish to seek them out.

The most important issue here is doing what is best for the customer. If the customer can't remember anything about the previous salesperson, then that salesperson obviously made no impression. Perhaps, in such situations, the customer would even prefer to be assisted by someone else!

There are also occasions when a customer returns to the store to buy, but the original salesperson isn't working at that time or on that day. Here are some recommendations for handling these cases:

1. Salespeople should extend each other the courtesy of writing up the sales that have, for the most part, already been made; the original salesperson gets full credit.

2. If the customer ends up purchasing a different item than was originally shown, the salesperson who assists the customer with the item purchased gets full credit.

3. If the customer still needs other products demonstrated prior to the final decision to purchase the product shown by the original salesperson, the sale is split equally.

Rules implemented to determine who gets credit for sales are not easily established, monitored or enforced. The perceptions of salespeople often differ greatly regarding particular situations, and whenever you have more than one opinion, you're bound to have disputes-regardless of the rules.

If every salesperson follows the established rules consistently, the issue of credit for a sale will be both fairly and ethically resolved. When salespeople don't have to worry about so-called stealing of sales, a sales team emerges that puts the interests of the store, its employees, and above all, the customers first!