What's in My CRM? The Clienteling Habits of 3 Top Retail Salespeople

Introduction

Being an incredible retail salesperson takes more than a friendly personality and an eye for fashion. It requires consistency, the ability to listen well, and remembering those small, personal details that bring clients back.

That last part is where loyalty gets built. The associates who reach out to clients with messages like "How was that trip to Europe?" and "I hope your interview went well!" are the ones whose relationships last. Behind those messages is usually a simple system they stick to every single day.

You've probably seen the "what's in my bag" videos where someone dumps out their purse and explains every lip balm (or Babybel cheese, if you're Olivia Rodrigo). We wanted the clienteling version. So we sat down with three of the best relationship-builders on Endear and asked them to unpack their CRM for us.

Which clients do they reach out to first?

What do they write in their notes?

Which messages actually get replies?

Meet Jonathan from PAIGE, Kayla from HANRO, and Mazi from M.M.LaFleur. Here's how they do it, in their own words.

Meet Jonathan, Store Manager at PAIGE Bleecker Street, NYC

About thirty seconds into our call, it was obvious why Jonathan's clients send him photos from their vacations. He's warm, quick to laugh, and treats everyone he meets like an instant friend. He also wears PAIGE on his days off, which tells you a lot about how much he believes in what he sells.

Jonathan joined PAIGE's Bleecker Street store almost three years ago as a keyholder, moved up to assistant manager, and now runs the store. His title may have changed, but his focus on client relationships hasn't. Clienteling is still the first thing he teaches new associates.

The quick-fire round

• Retail superpower: Adapting to what the day throws at me
• Coffee order: Hazelnut iced latte with oat milk
• Most-used emoji: The skull emoji 💀
• One word his coworkers use: Empathetic

What do you love most about working at PAIGE?

"My favorite thing is the people I work with. We're a team of three. We're very small, but we are a very close-knit family. We always have each other's backs."

He's just as fond of who walks through the door.

"The clients who shop on Bleecker Street are really great people. You'll meet someone who's just visiting to go to Magnolia Bakery down the street. You'll meet people who actually live in the neighborhood. You never know who will walk through the doors any given day."

Which messages get the best replies?

Jonathan's favorite outreach to send has nothing to do with a product.

"A client shopped with me for a trip to Italy with his girlfriend. I sent him a quick 'hope you're having a great time,' and he sends back photos of him proposing, in the outfit. I almost melted. You think you're just selling clothes, but you're part of the biggest moments in someone's life."

His go-to messages are always personal. Post-trip check-ins, birthdays, and following up after a wedding or big event.

Do you use templates?

"I still use templates, but I change them up to make them sound more like me. That's why my reply rate is so high. When someone reads it, I want them to know this isn't a robot, this is a real person."

How do you use client lists in Endear?

PAIGE carries a lot of denim styles, so Jonathan builds lists around what people have already bought.

"I'm constantly going through my style audiences. These are people who bought a specific style in the past. If we get a new barrel leg or new colors of the Federal, I go through that list and send everyone the new colors."

What's the one product you recommend to everyone?

"The Federal, PAIGE's slim-straight jeans. It's a great introduction to the brand, and when someone buys one, that's where clienteling starts. 'You got the light blue. By the way, here's the dark blue, the black, everything else of the Federal.'"

Tell us about a follow-up that turned into a big sale.

"In March, I messaged one of my top clients: 'Spring just launched. Let me know if you need anything.' He replies, 'I'm looking for a pair of jeans.' That pair of jeans turned into ten pairs, four tops, and a leather jacket. A $6,000 sale. Now I'm waiting for September, when fall rolls in, to reach out again."

What's the first number you look at?

"I always check opt-out rate first. If we're sending 200 messages and I see 50 opt-outs, whoa, what are we sending? We must sound spammy. There should never be more than five."

Open rate is the flip side. "I sent almost 200 messages one week and my open rate was 85 to 90%. People are reading my messages."

Meet Kayla, Store Manager at HANRO Madison Avenue, NYC

If you've ever had someone make a promise, follow through, and then go above and beyond, you've met someone like Kayla.

She's organized, consistent, and incredibly reliable. She helps her team set tasks for future outreach, write detailed notes after every interaction, and keep up with their client lists. It says a lot about her level of service that store regulars ask for her by name.

She described herself in one word without hesitating: goal-oriented.

The quick-fire round

• Retail superpower: Remembering everything (with a little help from my notes)
• Coffee order: Hot vanilla latte
• Most-used emoji: The smiley with hearts 🥰
• One word to describe me: Goal-oriented

What do you love most about working at HANRO?

"Definitely the people I work with. We have a really strong community on our team. It all flows really nicely."

The product helps too. "It's very high quality. It's all sustainable. It's easy to sell something you believe in, and our whole team feels the same."

What makes you so good at remembering clients?

"We get a lot of regular neighborhood customers, and I'll see them and be like, 'Oh yeah, how's your daughter? She just started school, right?' And they'll be like, 'How do you even remember that?' They'll be like, 'I bought this cotton tank top the other day.' And I'm like, 'Oh yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. You want another color? We have black, white, beige.'"

How do you use Endear beyond sending messages?

Kayla's memory gets a lot of backup from the data. Outside of outreach, she uses Endear to understand what's selling and who's buying it.

"I spend a lot of time looking at our sell-through and our sales and customers, and then I spend a lot of time on Endear analyzing what people are buying."

That homework shows up on the sales floor. When a regular mentions something they bought last month, Kayla already knows the piece and which colors are in stock. It also means her outreach starts from what clients have actually purchased.

How many of your clients have notes in Endear?

"The goal is a note on every single client. We get a solid 75 to 80%. We do a lot of bra fittings, and it's intimate, so you learn a lot about people. Whether they're post-op, if they have kids, if they're married, anything that comes up. The more we know, the more relevant our outreach is."

What does your morning in Endear look like?

Kayla runs the same routine every day, in the same order.

1. Check her tasks for the day
2. Open the recent store customers list
3. Fill in any missing notes while the visit is still fresh
4. Assign each customer to whoever helped them

"After I check my tasks in the morning, I always go into our recent store customers list, make sure we've got all the relevant notes, fill any gaps, and assign customers to whoever helped them."

When a customer is assigned to a specific associate, the next message comes from someone they've actually met.

What kind of tasks do you set for yourself in Endear?

"We do a lot of special orders, so we set tasks months in advance, like 'notify when her special order arrives' or 'let her know when the new colors come in.'"

If Kayla tells a client she'll be in touch, a task already exists to make sure she is.

Tell us about a check-in with nothing to sell.

"I hadn't seen a top client in a while, so I sent, 'Hey, I haven't seen you in a while, hope everything's going well. Our new fall stuff is coming soon, so I'll be in touch.' She came in the store ten minutes later."

What do you send clients over and over?

"I have one lookbook with all our cotton collections and what each one's better for. I sent it to a customer in Florida, and she picked her favorite and bought it in every color we had. When the package delivered, I checked in. She called back within 30 seconds, told me her whole life story, and bought a second one in every color."

Meet Mazi, Assistant Showroom Manager at M.M.LaFleur, Washington D.C.

Mazi's clients get a lot more than a quick "welcome in." She pays close attention to the details, from fit to past purchases to what's coming up on their calendar, and uses all of it to help busy women find pieces they can depend on. Her coworkers call her dependable, and after hearing how she preps for every appointment, we can see why.

She's been at M.M.LaFleur for about a year and a half, and her favorite part of the job is easy to name: the people she works with and the clients she gets to know.

The quick-fire round

• Retail superpower: Listening to customers
• Coffee order: Black tea
• Most-used emoji: 100 emoji 💯
• One word to describe me: Dependable

What does listening look like on the sales floor?

For Mazi, every conversation with a client is intentional. She's listens for key details and builds a style profile in her head. By the time she makes a recommendation, it's based on everything they've told her.

What's the first thing you check in Endear?

"The first thing I check is the day's appointments. I review the profile of clients coming in by checking what they're looking for, their past purchases, and their fit details to curate a collection of options. Checking the customer profile is so important. They're busy women, so they expect you to be ready."

Which messages do you send most?

"The most frequent message I send is the thank-you after an appointment or purchase. It's simple, but that's where the relationship starts."

Her favorite messages are the relational ones, like checking in to ask how a client's interview went after they came in to shop for it.

Which client list do you check most?

"My top list is the 60-day check-in for customers I haven't seen in a while. I check in on how they're doing and share new items they might like."

How do you provide elevated service to clients?

"Endear helps me keep detailed client profiles. These profiles allow me to reach out to clients when a new color of a style they own or like releases or when there is a discount on a style they’ve had their eye on but haven’t purchased. Providing this virtual service to clients that we’ve identified during in-store appointments elevates overall client service."

Who's your favorite client?

"Recently, a client was so impressed by the brand’s collections and the personalized styling provided in her one-on-one appointment that she had us host a Sip & Shop event in the showroom for fifteen of her closest friends. They were able to come in and all get that 1:1 personalized styling experience that M.M.LaFleur is known for!"

One great appointment, sixteen clients.

What advice would you give an associate who's just starting out?

"Know your product. That means the fit, the sizing, how pieces work on different body types, and what to recommend."

Her clients come in expecting an expert, and Mazi doesn't think you will succeed on the floor until you are one.

What the Best Clientelers Have in Common

Three brands, two cities, and three very different personalities. Still, the same habits kept coming up.

• They start the day in their CRM. Jonathan checks opt-outs, Kayla checks tasks and recent customers, and Mazi preps every appointment before the client walks in.
• They write things down. A note about a daughter starting school or an upcoming interview is what makes the next message feel personal. Kayla strives for notes on every single customer who shops in store.
• They reach out with nothing to sell. A "hope you're having a great time" text and a "haven't seen you in a while" check-in led to a proposal photo and a same-day visit.
• They make templates their own. Each of them sends the same kinds of messages often, but in their own voice.
• They plan the next touchpoint. Whether it's a task set months out or a note to reach out when fall arrives, the next conversation is already on the calendar.

None of this requires a huge client book or a magic script. It takes a system you trust and the discipline to use it every day.