Customers don’t want to be bothered, and unless you have the right sales people doing it the right way, you are better off not bothering them until the right time.
Have “get help” button at many places in your store. The shopper should not walk more than a couple of steps to get to such a button. At the same time have no sales people visible at all. When the client presses such a button, a sales person should know where it was pressed and be there in a couple of minutes.
It’s hard, awkward and many times doesn’t result in a positive outcome, when you approach a visitor to your store and ask if they need help.
When a visitor comes in, position yourself within his eyesight but too further away to have any comfortable verbal exchange. After a short while, while observing him try and catch their eyes and just – in a “by the way,” familiar and welcoming style – smile and wave at them as if welcoming back an acquaintance, then continue immediately doing what you were and not looking at them. It is very different than anything they usually experience in a store. It breaks the script they have in their mind of how things happen in a store, and if done correctly, will result in many more visitors coming to you and asking for help.
For the merchant, it’s a way to help the buyer design the space he is buying for, while choosing from their offered products. The buyer gets multiple smart designs for his space.
An app or website where you can input the measurements of the space you are trying to design, and get design suggestions complete with shopping list.