PRIORITY AREAS TO BAG ACCOUNTS.

There are many key spots in store where accounts can easily be gained. These areas may be account friendly due to the price of items being sold in that area, the close contact you have with the customer, or even the time you're able to spend on customer service in that area.

Here is a (very) rough sketch I have done of the shop floor at our Kingston branch. Labelled are the priority areas for getting customers to sign up for Topshop accounts. 1=Highest priority and 6=Lowest priority. These are the reasons why I have chosen these priority areas...

(1) SHOES
Shoes are usually some of the most expensive items we sell. Excluding hanging shoes they usually range from £40 - £100, and seeing that the customer can get 10% off their shopping if they spend over £40, and 15% if they spend over £80, the account card will usually seem attractive to potential shoe buyers and may sway them to buy the shoes seeing that they could get money off.
(2) FITTING ROOM
Customers usually try on many more clothes in the fitting room that they are willing to buy. Because you are in very close contact with them and they may ask you for advice etc, you can casually drop information about the account card into the conversation. For example...
Customer - "Ohh I don't know what to buy, I like all of these items"
You - "You could get 15% off with a Topshop Account card if you wanted to get them, then it wouldn't be so much to pay". And you get a free £5 gift voucher, so you'd be saving a lot!"
Complimenting the the customer also helps them to want to buy the items they are trying on.
(3) JEANS [denim]
Because we sell so many styles of jeans and different fits, customers browsing jeans will more than often need help with what they're looking for. Customer service is needed all over the store, but will be much appreciated in denim. Start by asking the customer open questions, such as "Is there anything in particular you were looking for?"and so on. Open questions allow the customer to elaborate on their answer, instead of giving a simple yes or no answer.
(4) TILL POINT
The till should not be seen as a main area to offer the account card as The Brand encourage teams to be creative in their service approach to ensure the customer is informed of the service experience the card offers throughout the store. A good time to ask about the account card is when telling the customer how much their shopping comes to, as you can tell them how much money they could get off with the card etc. If they're not spending over £40 you can always tell them about the other offers they're entitled to, such as the free £5 gift card, the 10% off the first week of sale and the 10% off birthday voucher, as they may be interested.
(5) SERVICE
No matter what area you are put on in store, you can should provide good customer service. This could be just approaching customers and asking if they need anything, or picking up on someone looking at a certain item, and being able to comment on it and the trend it's in, or what would go with it etc. The account card can always be dropped into conversation somehow.
(6) FRONT OF STORE
The front of the store is mostly where you will find people just coming into the store, or leaving, so I put it was the lowest priority for accounts. Just be welcoming and friendly when people come in, this will make them more at ease to approach you while they are shopping. There is obviously also a trend at the front, so use your service skills to sell the account card.


Hopefully this has given you a better idea of how to get people to sign up for the Topshop Account Card, and you will feel confident trying to sell it no matter where you are in store.