working in sales/retail

Yeah, I'm going to agree with the DON'T comment, I've spent over 8 years of my life in a retail environment and...well it's annoying. It isn't until you work in retail that you realize how stupid people really are. Although working in clothing can't possibly be as bad as electronics.

Anyway I'll agree with what was said before

#1 know your merchandise. When most people shop they are basically like sheep, and it's your job to heard them into what they want. If you're too pushy they WILL push back however.

#2 The best type of greeting is a hello welcome to _____, are you looking for pants or shirts? (Or something to this extent). If you notice I did NOT say "can I help you?" In order to make sales you'll want to ask as few yes or no questions as possible because people will pick the one that gets you out of their face. I also didn't say "what are you looking for?" or "Can I help you?" these are cliche'd and 80+ percent of the time result in the "just looking" response. A good sales quesiton is one that is not yes/no, and if answered limits their options.

Right here you'll get alot of people that say "I'm just looking" no matter what. These are the folks that don't want to be bothered. As you become more experienced you'll find out how to reintroduce yourself to them. If you're good you can keep an eye on what section they're in and what they seem to be most interested in. If they're constantly poking around the sales rack with short sleeve shirts then you can possibly show them another part of the store with similar sales and similar shirts. Furthermore if you see them carrying around an article of clothing, you can BRING THEM something that matches it and is in a similar price range. Again, people do not like to feel that they're being sold something. If you take it to them they'll be more likely to see you as trying to help them, and you'll get the chances to hand it to them. If you can get them to hold it, there's a higher chance that they'll buy it.

#3 Now a little before this and earlier in the sale you'll want to do some sort of name exchange. For some reason people respond to being called by their name. You don't want to overuse it, but doing so here and there creates familliarity between you and the customer.

Another tactic is when they have a decent amount of clothes in their arms to offer to take them from them and hold them behind the register. If you're working in a commisioned environment, or one where you're responsible for selling x amount of volume, this will 'tag' the customer. The other sales associates will have to respect them as yours. This also allows you to help multiple peple. Take the clothes one person is walking around with and let them look for whatever they want. You are now free to help someone else. When the first person is ready they have to come to you to get their clothes in order to try them on or buy them.

That should be more than enough to get you started.

edit: Are you skinny? If so you'll probably want to be very careful about helping fat people. Alot of them are super conscious about their weight. If you just take them to the fat section right off they'll be offended (why I don't know, they ate themselves into that, THEY KNOW WHAT THEY HAVE IN THEIR CLOSET). If the plus size clothes are the same as the other clothes you can show them styles in normal sizes. At some point they'll tell you that isn't the size they wear and that'll allow you to take them to the right section.

Which is another tactic. If someone is kinda sorta looking, and they haven't given you the body language to go away or to help them, you can show them stuff in the wrong size. They'll let you know that they're a bit bigger than whatever you're showing them and that'll alow you to take them where they're supposed to be. Again, this is a way of getting your hooks into them and making a sale.

Jam it back in, in the dark.