Strategic Shopping: Creating Relationships

Strategic shopping is accomplished more easily by creating a relationship with a salesperson!

Here are some of my favorite tips on the subject from How to Win at Shopping:

-Using a department store personal shopper is a free service that never has a minimum purchase requirement! Most department stores have personal shoppers who are available to navigate the store with you, free of charge. They know the merchandise and can easily guide you through the departments. Be sure to call in advance for an appointment.

-Always create a nice relationship with an eager salesperson by replacing “I’m just browsing” with “I do not need help right now, but will find you when I do.” is a polite way to acknowledge a sales professional while making it clear that you would like to navigate the selling floor solo. Many sales associates are on commission or on a salary with incentives and rewards for reaching their sales goals. By responding in this manner, you are signaling that you understand this and will give them a sale, should there be one.

-Other sizes may be as close as the stockroom, so always ask about the possibility! Don’t walk away from a potentially perfect item because you do not see it in your size. The selling floor is typically only restocked before and after store hours, and size options can be severely depleted on busy days. If there is no one to ask about size availability in your immediate vicinity, take the garment in an incorrect size with you on your hunt for a sales associate. Once you find one, tell him your desired size and let him scan the item to see if it is in stock and which stockroom it may be located in.

-Always expect a salesperson to check a nearby store if the requested full-priced item
is not available at the current location in your size and color. Before asking for a stock check, determine your correct size by trying on a similar item, perhaps in another color. If the piece is available, you may have the option of requesting a store transfer or having your item held for pickup at the other location. If it is not, find out if the item may be available online.

-Many sales professionals work on a commission basis, so always stay loyal to the ones you bond with! If you enter a store without spotting your prior salesperson and begin working with another one, you are unknowingly creating a potential conflict between associates. The person in front of you may not know that you have an established relationship with her colleague unless you tell her, so let the salesperson know up front. Continue with her only if the salesperson who has proved to be so helpful in the past is not in. When you’re done shopping, make sure to ask the associate to send the absentee your best wishes. This makes it clear that you will stay loyal to your original salesperson and work with him the next time you are in.

Relax this Holiday Season

The holiday season is in full swing. Though most truly love this festive time of year, it can also prove to be a period of stress: the string of parties, the hosting of house guests, shopping for just the “right” gift and traveling to visit family can sometimes make you feel as though you are wrapped in a constricting string of holiday lights.

To help take the edge off this December as you navigate malls, airports and dinner tables, I suggest that you utilize your Tranquil Color.

This relaxing hue, one of your True Colors, helps calm you as well as those around you. To discover yours, follow these easy steps from my book Color Your Style:

Take a look in a mirror, a magnifying mirror if possible and observe your eyes in natural, indirect light. If you can, remove any garments that are visible in the mirror, so that there are no other colors to distract you. Find the lightest color of your iris. That’s your tranquil color!

Hint: brown eyes are seldom really just brown. Try holding up paint chips or garments in shades of aubergine, pine, rust, merlot or goldenrod to help you see your relaxing hue more clearly.

When you want to let go of tension and reconnect to your sense of calm during this frenetic period, you can wear tranquil-colored clothes—or try one of the following suggestions:

-Buy yourself a cashmere throw in this color—it will seem cozy, warm and comforting after a day of power gift-shopping.

-Put a tranquilly colored scented candle by your bed or bathtub. Both the color and the aroma will help you relax after hosting a holiday party.

-Buy some jewelry or a scarf in your tranquil color to wear when coping with a long airport security line.

Discover the healing power of color by tuning into this shade that expresses your own personal “spa energy” and enjoy a stress-free Holiday Season!

How to Win at Holiday Gift Shopping

As you finish up your holiday gift shopping, here are some of my favorite gift-buying tips from How to Win At Shopping:

-When apparel or accessory shopping for a friend, always pay attention to the visual clues of his current wardrobe. It will inform you as to what colors, cut, pattern, print, and fabric work for him, and will give you some assurance that your gift will be appropriate to his style.

-You can always maximize your holiday shopping time by having your gifts wrapped at a charity gift-wrap booth in your local mall or shopping center. Not only can you feel good about helping out a nonprofit organization, but you can repurpose the time you would have spent wrapping with second sweeps for those remaining hard-to-find presents on your list. You might even want to get in the habit of storing holiday gifts in the trunk of your car, in the advent of stumbling upon a pop-up holiday gift-wrapping service!

-If receiving a package is inconvenient, opt for the “buy online, pick up in-store” option and always avoid long holiday checkout lines. If you order something online and cannot receive it at your home or office, have it sent to the brand’s nearby brick-and-mortar store. Not only does this option save you from waiting in a checkout line to pay for it, but it guarantees against the item being out of stock at that location.

-Never pay for online shipping during the holidays. There is so much competition for your business that you never have to pay for shipping during this time of the year. If a site doesn’t offer free shipping, get in touch with customer service and tell the representative you will purchase on another site if the company won’t waive the shipping. Nine times out of ten, the company will be happy to accommodate you.

-Shopping year-round for holiday gifts will always give you an edge on finding the perfect thing. It gives you access to four times the number of choices that you have during the official holiday selling season. Therefore, the odds of matching each person on your list with the absolutely perfect gift rise, as does the chance of finding the item on sale or even clearance.

Monthly Visits added to Philadelphia

In addition to working in New York City and cities throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, David will now make regular monthly visits to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he will be offering private Color Your Style Custom Color Palettes for men and women as well as Custom Color Palette Extensions, Shopping, Ultimate Style, Wardrobe Recharge and Color Your Home Sessions as well as the new Virtual Wardrobe Plan.

The next visits to Philadelphia will be December 5th-7th, January 29th and February 7th-9th.

 

Embrace Your Essence Color

Your Essence Color is the color that harmonizes all of the tones in your skin and reveals your most genuine, open, and essential self. Think of it as your version of white.

How to find it: Using paint chips in a selection of the colors typically  found in makeup foundation, find a comfortable place with natural light, hold up each chip to your skin and find the one that gives your skin the most smoothing effect.  What you’re looking for is the color that harmonizes and blends with your skin, pulling all of the different colors together.

How to use it: 

–Lingerie:  The most sensual color for this… the closest to being naked without being!

–A blouse: The perfect alternative to white, use it in place of a white shirt!

–Anything cashmere: Nothing is more beautiful than the soft tactile quality of cashmere paired with your perfect Essence Color!

–Foundation makeup: This color will harmonize your skin tones and make you glow!

–Your bedroom: Paint your walls in this color and enjoy a restful effect!

When to wear it: Wear it when you are having an intimate conversation, when you are meditating, or when you want to be completely open and honest.

When not to wear it: Don’t wear this color if your objective is to strongly prove a point, and never  in a situation where you do not want to show vulnerability.

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