If you welcome a customer with "May I help you?," chances are they'll instantly say, "No," and that gets in the way of you servicing the customer. People coming into your store are there for a reason. When the reason is to consider making a purchase, the open-ended question opens the door to let sales staff discover how to best complete the sale.
Still, there are times when you don't want the window open too wide. This is when to use closed-ended questions. For example, some customers enjoy socializing with staff so much that they forget it's a business transaction. Staff have other customers and other responsibilities to attend to. When it's clear that the customer has found all that they need on this shopping trip, switch from "What more items may I help you find?" to "Have you found everything that you wanted to find?," and from "What did your husband think of those earrings you bought last time you were in?" to "When will you next be back to shop with us?"
Closed-ended questions also are useful when opening up an extremely quiet customer. The most common reason for extreme quiet in a customer is suspiciousness. If you ask them to volunteer too much information, they'll get startled and leave the store. It's best to begin with "Which department may I help you find?," then move to "What are you shopping for today?"
Train your staff to smoothly navigate between open-ended and closed-ended questions.
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