The holiday shopping season is winding down and most of the shopping is done. The “professional shoppers” are long gone and they have everything wrapped by now. As a salesperson, you are starting to gear down and get ready for some much needed relaxation. However, you are not done. In fact, some of your toughest customers may be still to come.

These are the customers who wait until December 23rd to start shopping and expect to be done on December 23rd. They either hate shopping, are too busy, or both. These customers also require a different set of customer service standards and the professional salesperson will be able to adapt to those. Here are some tips to help you best serve those last-minute shoppers.

• Let them lead: Chances are that their goal is to get in and out as quickly as possible. They either know what they want or they have an idea of what they want. Let them tell you what they want, and do your best to give it to them.
• All business: Don’t worry too much about non-business conversations, these customers usually want it to be all business. Get to the point.
• No repeat: As mentioned, these customers probably aren’t coming back in May to shop. They probably aren’t coming back until December 23rd next year. Provide high quality customer service, while you think they probably won’t come back, trying to establish them as a repeat customer is worth your time or effort. You never know.
• Answer all questions: Because these shoppers generally know what they want, the salesperson’s main role is to just answer questions that they may have. Of course, that’s always a role for a salesperson but even more so in cases like these.
• Make their life easier: We all know they don’t want to be shopping. The best thing a salesperson can do is to make their experience as easy and as painless as possible. If you can offer things such as delivery, set up, or gift wrapping, then chances are you will be a hit.

The main thing is understanding who you are working with, the last-minute shopper would rather be doing anything else. Do your best to give them what they want/need and get them on their way as quickly as possible. In this case, that’s the highest level of customer service a salesperson can provide.

FINAO - Brad Huisken