THE TEN-SECOND RULE IN RETAIL SALES

The customer decides about you before you say hello. Make those ten seconds count.

Before you take one step toward a customer, they are already deciding. Are you going to help them or work them? Are you safe to talk to? Will you be straight with them?

They answer those questions in about ten seconds. Everything you say after that either rides that impression or fights uphill against it.

The Ten-Second Rule in Retail Sales is a practical guide to winning the first ten seconds and the few minutes that follow. It works on any retail floor, from furniture and appliances to electronics, jewelry, and apparel, on commission or by the hour.

Bruce Huddleston spent thirty-five years in automotive sales, from the floor to the general manager’s office, and a lifetime on the other side of the counter as a customer. This book draws on both, with real stories of sales won and lost before a word was spoken.

Inside, you will learn:

• What customers read in you before you speak
• The three decisions every customer makes in the first ten seconds
• How to approach and greet without pressure
• The opening lines that shut the door, and the greeting that opens it
• Why the person you ignore usually makes the decision
• How prejudging costs you sales
• How to give customers room without disappearing
• How to reset a first impression that went wrong
• Checklists for every shift, plus a chapter for store managers

Every chapter ends with The Rule, one line to remember when nothing else sticks.

The bar is on the floor. Most customers expect to be ignored, followed, or sized up. A calm, professional greeting sets you apart.

Ten seconds to make them stay. Five minutes to make them yours.

Book 3 of the Retail Sales Survival Series.