Are You Telling or Selling?

Take our TISS (Telling Instead of Selling Syndrome) quiz to find out.
Aug 27, 2007

By Doug Fleener

Don't you just love it when a customer comes in and asks for a particular product? No need to identify why she's in the store or what she's looking for. You just take her over to the product, tell her everything she needs to know, and out the door she goes, product in hand. Ah, life is good.

But let's get back to real life: How often does that happen? Instead of an easy sale, the customer listens to what you have to say, maybe asks you a few questions and then thanks you for your time. No sale. We chock it up to "she's just looking" or "she's gathering information." In fact, the sale wasn't made because of a retail affliction known as TISS — Telling Instead of Selling Syndrome.

It's the same for the customer who walks in and after a bit of browsing asks if you could tell him about a particular product. After you present him with all the features and benefits of that product, he tells you he'd like to browse some more. Another sale lost due to TISS.

Visit just about any retail store, and you'll experience some form of TISS for yourself. Informal studies by the DEG Institute for Retail Disease Control show that most malls and shopping centers around the country are experiencing TISS in epidemic proportions.

One of the challenges to diagnosing TISS is that it doesn't always result in missed sales. Often the customer does make a purchase, but because he was assisted by a TISS-afflicted salesperson, he may not have purchased the correct product. As a result, salespeople with a high return rate usually suffer from some degree of TISS. It's also possible that the customer would have purchased additional items if his salesperson was syndrome free.

Telling Instead of Selling Syndrome (TISS) Quiz

Are you afflicted with TISS? To find out, answer each question yes or no.

1. When a customer walks in and asks for a specific product, do you immediately go get it and ring it up?

2. Do you focus almost exclusively on the features of a product?

3. Do you show products without asking your customer any questions about his needs or desires?

4. Do you tell the customer generic benefits rather than personalizing those benefits for that customer?

5. Do you find it challenging to sell additional products to the customer beyond what they've agreed to purchase?


Telling Instead of Selling Syndrome (TISS) Scoring

Give yourself one point for each "yes" answer.

0: Congratulations, you are TISS free!

1-2: You are a carrier of TISS and should immediately take the actions necessary to stop telling and start selling.

3-4: You definitely have TISS and need to work closely with a manager or colleague who is TISS free.

5: Emergency!!! You have an extreme case of TISS and should immediately seek help from either a member of management or a career counselor.

Remember, my friends, telling isn't selling.

Do you have a sales approach that works — or have you experienced one that didn't? Why not share your experience with others in the retail decorator discussion group on the Impressions Forum or email your story to rlebovitz@impressionsmag.com?

Doug Fleener is president and managing partner of Dynamic Experiences Group, a Lexington, Mass., retail consulting firm dedicated to helping retailers boost their sales and profits. A veteran retailer with more than 25 years of hands-on retail experience with world-class retailers including Bose Corp. and The Sharper Image, he also has owned and operated his own specialty stores. Fleener is the author of the book "The Profitable Retailer: 56 Surprisingly Simple and Effective Lessons to Boost Your Sales and Profits." Contact him at (781) 861-7803 or visit dynamicexperiencesgroup.com.

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