Handselling Books

Now let's deal with two common misconceptions about handselling. First, most typically in a museum store, handselling is not pushing a book but rather suggestive selling a title in a subject area the customer has indicated to be of interest. Second, handselling isn't only done verbally.

So, what is handselling? Handselling is a customer service, not just a selling tool. No museum visitor / store customer can be expected to look through all the books you have in stock, regardless of how big or small your book selection or how much time the customer has. The goal of handselling is to help the customer find a book that fills a need. The need may be for their personal education or interest or to give as a gift.

What are some handselling skills and tools? The most common handselling skill is answering a customer question or engaging a customer in conversation that ends with you recommending a title, and hopefully the sale of a book. That doesn't mean everyone in the store needs to know every book in depth, but it does mean if a customer asks about a topic the sales staff should be able to recommend a book and provide the reasons for the recommendation. Often a staff person with exceptional knowledge of the book selection or a curator or museum director may predetermine this recommendation.

It is perfectly fine to predetermine that a specific book will be recommended when the conversation centers on a certain topic. It's also fine to recommend a book for which you have great enthusiasm as long as you make it clear why it is your personal favorite.

A common pitfall of conversational handselling is doing too much talking and not enough listening to the needs and desires of the customer.

Shelf-talkers, much like recommendations in a wine shop, are a non-verbal form of handselling. Highlighting a book for its readability, organization, quality of maps or illustrations, etc., is a way of making suggestive sales. The shelf-talkers can be originated by store personnel or, for an even more effective tool, can be recommendations by a third party including other museum personnel or authorities not associated with the museum.

To heighten the effectiveness of handselling, you may want to consider scheduling your most knowledgeable book salesperson for when you're busiest or in coordination with museum events that appeal to a book-reading segment of your visitation.

Handselling can also be done through:

• Displays
• Newsletters
• Best seller lists
• Mailings
• E-mail blasts
• Reading groups
• Casual discussions
• Planned discussions
• "Staff, curator and director favorites"
• Author events
• "If you like ..." recommendations such as, "If you like tales set in the Southwest or author Tony Hillerman you may also like to read ..."

My definition of handselling is when the salesperson recommends, or other materials suggest, book titles that may meet the needs of the customer.

Andrew Andoniadis is the principal in Andoniadis Retail Services, a consulting firm that has specialized in revenue-generating strategies for museum stores for 16 years. He can be reached at (503) 629-9279, andrew@MuseumStoreConsult.com or www.MuseumStoreConsult.com.