Friday, December 20, 2013

Getting it Right: How to Handle Haggling Customers

Holiday shoppers always want to find a good deal. With the economic issues in the country today, shoppers are giving more and more value to their money and are finding ways to save as much as possible. Some money savvy customers even come up with different creative ways to save like shopping at online stores or haggling for a lower price.


wholesale-shoes


Coming face to face with a haggling customer requires good negotiating skills. If you are into wholesale shoes store business or retail store industry, haggling the right way is necessary to protect your sales and engage customers at the same time. While this can be a little daunting for business owners and startup entrepreneurs, it can also be used to turn one time customers to loyal patrons. 

Here are some tricks to help you get the best out of haggling customers.

1. Negotiate your way

If you are setting up a booth at a trade fair or charity events, be prepared to face haggling customers. Find a way to put yourself on equal footing with your customers by resisting low-ball offer but by coming up with favorable price, instead. Don’t just turn away from customers who offer low price but courteously decline by highlighting the value of your products. 


2. Know when to give in

When you’re faced with hagglers, it’s best to know when to negotiate and when to just simply give in. If you see an opportunity to gain loyal customer, then you can freely cut off small amount off your price or offer better deals instead. Work hard to negotiate a better price but learn when to just let your customer walk away happily with their savings.

3. Think quality

One of haggler’s favorite strategies is finding flaws in the product they want to buy. Don’t instantly give customers the chance to offer low price by highlighting the value of your items. Mention the quality of the materials used in the shoes you are selling and the competitiveness of your pricing compared to other retail store.

4. It’s not about the money

Most of the time, they are not really after the small amount that they are going to save. Sometimes they haggle to enjoy the feeling of having something to say about the price of the products they want to buy. Instead of just negotiating with your customers over a small price off, you can also throw in extras that will cost you less than dropping your price. When they finally realize that they are getting the best deals from your store, they can happily walk outside your door and come back for more.

How about you? How do you handle hagglers in your wholesale shoes store or retail store? 

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