. People make judgments of others within the first two seconds of meeting. Have you ever not trusted someone simply because of their looks? Like it or not, you only have one time to make a first impression, so it better be the right one.
             What you think about your appearance or style of communication does not matter. What does matter is what the customer thinks about your appearance or style of communication. Think of your buying customers and what they would expect of their sales person. When your help is on the clock, it is their job to be what the customer expects. That means look good, talk polite, be courteous, have a smile on your face and an infectious attitude. You're not paying sales help to just ring up a receipt, you should be paying them to sell. I put a lot of emphasis on the sales people. Today, where people can buy anywhere in the nation, you need to have professionals in place. I can't stress enough, if your help isn't selling and that is their job description, then train them or fire them and find someone who can sell. You're wasting your money keeping a cool dude on the payroll who can out-surf anyone any day and talk tech till the sun comes up if he can't sell. People will walk into your store, take the information and go to the cheapest source to buy. Does that sound familiar?
             OK, so we talked about first impressions, now what? You are now on an information gathering mission. That means you must get the customer to talk and more importantly, you must listen. You are trying to find a deep secret that most people will only share with their best buddies or someone they trust. After your first impression you want to develop this trust so you can uncover their secret. This is done through simple conversation.
             Think of people you trust and why you trust them, especially a stranger. It takes real talent to get someone to trust you in 5 minutes. You gain trust with a sincere warm smile and an honest caring for th...