Counter Shop
Smart Sales Part I Understanding Clients’ Shopping Schemas and Scripts
As human beings, our self-concept (knowledge about ourselves) is made of schemas. And schemas are the mental structures and understandings that we have virtually on everything. Every experience and behavior has its own schema. And every schema has its own scripts (sub-routines / activities) packaged with its own emotions and feelings. You might consider yourself to be a successful business person (self-concept). Your self-concept as a business person is composed of mental structures and understanding of the purpose, nature, process and outcomes of business (schemas). And these understandings of the business field give you an emotion and feelings of confidence. And your schemas have its own sub-routines and activities (scripts) to enable you to implement or to carry out each schema. In the same manner, the client has his / her shopping schema and scripts. Understanding of the shopping schemas and scripts of clients will enable you to practice smart sales.
What are shopping schemas and scripts?
A shopping schema is basically a client’s mental structure (organization and understanding), that he has about the subject of shopping for a product / service. This understanding will influence him to take notice, think about, and remember anything that has to do with shopping (Bartlett, 1932; Markus, 1977). The scripts are the sub-routines (sub- activities of each schema), that enables the client to carry the process of shopping. And from where does he get these shopping schemas and scripts? Clients get their shopping schemas and scripts from their past experiences and social environments. These experiences can be real or learned, comprising of shopping knowledge, beliefs, experiences and emotions (positive / negative). The next thing that you must know is the functions of shopping schemas and scripts (Aronson, Wilson & Arkert, 2007).
The shopping schemas and scripts function automatically.
In scenario one, a client goes to a cinema. Psychologically, his cinema schema and scripts activate automatically. The mind automatically loads the cinema folder from his memory, activates the sub-routines in it. The sub-routines guide his behaviors: 1) Check to see what movies are available. 2) Select your movie. 3) Choose the seating and purchase the ticket at the ticket counter. 4) Use the rest room before the show. 5) Buy the snacks. 6) Enter the viewing auditorium when the doors are open. There is very little and sometimes no conscious pondering of the behavior needed for this event.
The shopping schemas and scripts reduce purchasing ambiguity and doubt.
In scenario two, the same client goes to one of the fully automated self-service cinemas that have minimum staff assistance. Again his cinema schemas and scripts are activated. But when there is a doubt as in sub-routine 3, in which a ticket kiosk has replaced the ticket counter, the client’s original sub-routine that guided him to look for the ticket counter, will still remind him that he must look for the place where he can choose his seating and purchase his ticket. This will cause him to ask the right question rather than being ambiguous.
The shopping schema and scripts act a purchasing memory guide.
In scenario three, the client’s friends ask him about how to see a show in the same venue as in scenario two. They consult him because they feel that since he has the experience, he will know better. As an experienced user, his schema and script that was used in scenario two activates and he rattles off the sub-routines. But there is an addition to his routines, which is, he will direct his friends specifically to go to the kiosk for seat selection and ticket purchasing. There is no necessity ask around to find the kiosk as he had to do in scenario two. His shopping schema and script act as a purchasing memory guide. Next, the business person should know how to use the understanding of shopping schemas and scripts
How does the business person use this understanding of the purchasing schemas and scripts?
What not to do?
It is a natural tendency for most business persons to immediately want to sell their products and services by all means possible. In the process, they might end up creating a negative schema of their establishment in the minds of the potential client. Take a common shopping experience of double pricing practices in certain countries. The locals will be charged the normal price while the foreigner is charged a higher price. What would be the schema and script created in the minds of the foreign clients? The outstanding schema would be “beware: overpricing” and the scripts would be like “avoid shopping there, bargain heavily, and never trust the seller.” And this schema and script would be recommended to other foreigners who travel to these countries. The emotions of suspicion and fear will go along with the foregoing schemas and script. And even when sales are closed by businesses in such situations, there would be an underlying suspicion and mixed feelings.
The development of negative shopping schemas covers not only overpricing but other matters like: non-reliable cheap quality products and services, unpleasant shopping environments, rude and ignorant sales personnel, poor sales support services etc. Once a negative schema is formed about your business establishment, the results will be worse than not having a sale. Many businesses fail not because they don’t have enough advertisements or sales, but rather they have instilled the wrong schemas in the minds of their potential clients. And these schemas prevent new clients from coming to the business establishments, and old clients from returning. So there might be no new and repeat sales. It might even eventually lead to non-enquiries which usually has the potential for sales.
What to do?
Instilling a wrong schema in the mind of a potential client is worse than not closing sales. When you don’t close a sale now, there is still a chance that you might close a sale with the same client in the future if he returns to your establishment. So what are the positive schema development behaviors of the business person in a sales approach at any time?
- Remember the client already has a shopping schema. What you need to do is to align yourself and what you have to offer with that schema. If a client is looking for a mini-compo stereo player, your role is to assist to find that product that he wants to his satisfaction. In the event he does not find one, you would still be instilled in his schema as a pleasant, obliging, helpful and sincere business person. The emotion that will go with this schema would be friendly and a pleasant feeling. Such emotional feelings sometimes might cause the client to buy something else or return to your establishment for other purchases at a later date. In short, his schema and script of you business establishment is positive and his emotions have a good feeling.
- Every time the client comes to your establishment, you prime his existing schema of your business establishment by creating another new positive experience and feelings. I use the word prime to mean the process of increasing the mental accessibility of the client’s schema of your business establishment by a continuous creation of positive experience and pleasant feelings (Higgins, Rhodes, & Jones, 1977). In other words, every time he thinks of your business establishment, his schemas are automatically positive and his emotions feel good. And you reinforce this experience and feelings continuously.
- In continuously establishing positive priming, you would be creating a perseverance effect in the client (Anderson, 1995; Sherman & Kim, 2002). What is a perseverance effect? Let us say one day, he walks into your shop and one of your sales people makes a very grave mistake. He might be angry and feel upset, but when you apologize, he still thinks positively of your business establishment. Regardless of the current feelings he has experienced, his past positive schema about your establishment remains. The secret is never repeating the same mistake twice on the same client. The last matter is about self-fulfilling prophesy.
- Self-fulfilling prophecy can be described as follows. Since your client’s schema of you is positive, he will expect your behavior to be positive. When you fulfill his expectation by behaving positively, his expectation of you is confirmed. This cycle is repeated again and again. However it must be noted that this cycle of self-fulfilling prophesy can also work in the negative form. How does the perseverance effect and self-fulfilling prophecy link and relate to your business establishment?
- Your clients’ expectation (positive / negative) of your business establishment might last even after it has been discredited by evidence. And the persevering expectations recur in a vicious cycle. So the schema that you want the client to have of you business establishment in the long term is dependent partly on you.
Smart sale begins with the understanding and nurturing of positive schemas in your clients. The fruits of this process will be a long term positive relationships that will be translated in sales and profit for the business and shopping satisfaction for the clients.
About the Author
Th. Dip; Th. B; MSCP (Candidate)
1. Personal Particulars
Name: Thesigan a/l Nadarajan
Birth date: 05/03/1957
Birth Place: Malacca
Nationality: Malaysian
Race: Indian (Chindian)
Religion: Skeptical Humanist
2. Personal Interest
The author is interested in the psychological and sociological development of all persons regardless of nationality, religious, cultural, or sexual orientations. He believes in humanistic growth and development as the most important priority.
3. Contact Email: nthesigan@hotmail.com
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