EXCLUSIVE: Q&A with Bob Phibbs, The Retail Doctor, on the sales floor
Retail expert Bob Phibbs says retailers are missing the opportunity to capture in-store sales by not properly training and equipping store associates.
Chain Store Age recently spoke with Bob Phibbs, The Retail Doctor, author of the newly released book "The Sales Floor Problem," about the ingredients of a successful in-store sales, how retailers should prepare store associates for successful customer interactions, and the latest trends in brick-and-mortar customer experience.
Please briefly describe the three stages of a sale.
Welcome. Wonder. Ownership.
Welcome is the opening moment. A real greeting like, ‘Good morning’; not, ‘Can I help you find something?” The goal is to lower the shopper’s guard, not size up their wallet.
Wonder is where the shopper relaxes and considers the merchandise. The associate learns who they are and what changed in their lives to bring them into the store today, then shows them something they didn’t know they wanted. The shopper sees all the possibilities.
Ownership is getting the product into their hands and helping them picture it in their life. This is where you build value, so price stops being the whole conversation. The customer sees themselves using it at home, tries it on, sits in it, or asks how to care for it.
Then you ask for the sale. Most associates skip this step because they’re afraid of hearing “no.”
Here’s the part that matters: You can’t skip a stage. Rush the welcome, and the wonder never happens. Skip the wonder and all you have left to talk about is price. In this environment, it looks more like a game of ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ than selling and customer service.
[READ MORE: Bad store experiences, high prices lead consumers to shop around]
How do top in-store sales performers distinguish themselves?
Top in-store sales performers are curious about people, not products. An average associate leads with features. A top performer asks a real question - what’s the occasion, who’s it for, what brought you in today - and listens to the answer. Then they ask for the sale. Every time. And they share from their own lives. It is a two-way street.
Here’s what most chains get wrong: Their seasoned associates used to do this too. They aren’t unskilled. They’re jaded.
Every conversation came back to price, so they decided price was the whole game and stopped asking. Years of price-matching and promotions taught them that.
A veteran who stopped asking questions doesn’t need to understand how to sell. They need a reason and leadership. They need permission to sell again, and a manager who expects it. Selling is nothing more than the transference of feeling.
What are retailers getting wrong about associate training?
Retailers confuse associates who have seen their training with associates who know it. Completion rates are a vanity metric.
Most programs gamify lessons and push people through as fast as possible. But selling is behavior training, not some new trick with cilantro. It takes a full framework, practice, and being held accountable. Just breaking the lazy, “Let me know if I can help you” or “Can I help you find something?” habit takes weeks, not seconds.
The second mistake is spending the training budget on product knowledge. Shoppers already looked up the specs. What they can’t look up is whether the associate cares who they are.
In the mystery shops we run for my SalesRX+ clients, rapport carries almost half the score, because that’s where the sale is won or lost.
Training is something we do, not something we did. When associates practiced with Sidekick Rex, our artificial intelligence roleplay coach, pass rates climbed from 45% to 79%.
What will the top in-store customer experience trends be for 2027?
The top in-store customer experience trend for 2027 should be retailers walking away from “experiential retail.” Selfie walls, digital screens and in-store events get press. They don’t close sales. Shoppers remember the associate who asked a real question and listened.
Placer.ai’s Mall Index shows visits to open-air shopping centers up 4.7% in the first half of 2026. Shoppers are out. The question is whether you’re concerned when they walk out empty-handed. That’s all that matters. Those customers gave you a chance at their money, and you let them down.
Shoppers will walk in after asking an AI to compare every option. Stores that still sell facts will lose to the phone in that shopper’s pocket.
Chains that cut floor staff and added kiosks taught shoppers they don’t need the store. The winners in 2027 will put that money back into the people on the floor and use AI to let them practice before they face a real shopper. The tech gets smarter every year. The stores that win will be the ones that got more human.
