This interview features Paul Schottmiller from Cisco Systems and I discussing purchase influencers, staffing levels, technology and luxury boutiques. Here is the video to watch and an edited transcription below. Continue reading Top Retail Trends 2012 – Who Do Your Customers Trust? The Surprising Answer »
Archive for the ‘Retail Sales’ Category
Top Retail Trends 2012 – Who Do Your Customers Trust? The Surprising Answer
While attending the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in New York last week, I sat down with a number of experts to have a point/counterpoint discussion of some of the hot topics in retailing. Sponsored by Alert Technologies, these dialogues allowed us to interact and help you as a C-level executive look at some of the more complex issues concerning bricks and mortar stores, their employees and interactions with technology.
Why and How To Do A Physical Inventory On A Shoestring Budget
Merchandise on the floor can look pretty but it is your money sitting there. While you can do an inventory of your store any time, traditionally it is the last weekend of January when your SKUs are potentially lowest.
Three reasons to perform a physical inventory:
- Counting your inventory isn’t just for insurance reasons, but a major determiner of your store’s health.
- You can get buy-in from your employees that, once completed, will mean less out-of stocks and having more of the best sellers.
- You are also bound to find items you didn’t know you even had. Continue reading Why and How To Do A Physical Inventory On A Shoestring Budget »
If Target Can Target, Why Not You?
Target last week made news with a joint letter from their Merchandising Chief and Chief Executive to their vendors.
According to the WSJ, “Target is reaching out to vendors to help craft a more competitive pricing strategy as it seeks to battle rivals and the lower-priced online market.” Continue reading If Target Can Target, Why Not You? »
Retail Consultant Results: How to Attract Customers to Your Retail Store [Case Study]
As a retail consultant, I get a wide variety of challenges to help retailers make more sales, attract more customers and become more profitable. I’m sharing ten case studies from some of the largest brands to some of the smallest mom and pops with lessons on your physical location, merchandising, branding, marketing to your target customers and of course, intense retail sales training – all of which you can use in your stores. First up, leveraging your location; one of several examples of how to make your business unique featured in The Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Business (Wiley.)
The situation
Aron Lieberman of Rockland Window Fashions purchased a historic home in a prime neighborhood to showcase his products.
After the purchase closed, he learned that conventional signs would not be allowed on the front lawn. Continue reading Retail Consultant Results: How to Attract Customers to Your Retail Store [Case Study] »
Should You Offer Incentives to Bricks and Mortar Employees to Embrace the iPad?
Third in a series of posts on technology and humanity in retail sales training
Nancy, one of your best customers, comes into your store to view your new spring shoes.
Your number one salesperson, Bill, works with her to find just the right shoe, just the right style, just the right color.
Just one thing…
When they find the perfect shoe, you are out of Nancy’s size. Now it used to be OK for Bill to just say, “Sorry,we’re out, but you might try online” leaving Nancy frustrated and headed home to her computer to try to find it at another store.
But nowadays, as soon as those words, “We don’t have it” exit Bill’s mouth, Nancy, or any other smart shopper, is on their cellphone to Zappo’s or Amazon to check their stock for that perfect shoe.
It’s not because they didn’t want to buy it from you in the first place, it’s because the Internet has made it so easy that unless you step in and offer to get it for them instantly, they can do it on their phones in a flash.
Wouldn’t you rather have Bill quickly add within a nanosecond, “But I can have it shipped to your home free of charge?”
Of course you would. It saves the customer the frustration, and also gets you the sale.
How do you incent Bill to always add that?
That’s exactly what a visitor to my website asked me yesterday…
She was looking for how to incent her brick and mortar employees to embrace web sales via the iPad.
The more I thought about how to answer her query, the more I realized that retailers in general are trying to figure out how to provide a seamlessly integrated world, a world where customers can buy whenever and wherever they are, but also where store employees feel motivated enough to make the extra effort before their customer whips out their phone and does it themselves.
In order to be successful your employees must pre-empt a Red Laser or Amazon Price Check.
But incenting is not enough of a way to get employees to offer that online service in that nanosecond they have before their customer taps and finds the item for themselves.
No, you shouldn’t incent them to use the web because it doesn’t go far enough.
Employees typically get an incentive for doing one thing. If they sell a shoe tree with a pair of shoes, they’ll get an incentive of $5.00 for every tree. That will sell a lot of shoe trees, but it doesn’t encourage your employee to sell anything else. All the other add-ons are no longer as important.
You with me?
If Bill had an incentive to sell the red Jimmy Choo shoes, he would try to sell that shoe to every customer. Every other shoe would just sit there.
Look, retailers need to be clear about what an employee working on their salesfloor should really be there to do – sell all the merch, not just one type – however they can.
How do you get an employee to do that?
First and foremost they should be people who should want to have the satisfaction of helping people by getting the merchandise out the door. They should be proud of their brand and be able to move seamlessly from web to salesfloor and be paid equally for wherever they make the sale. That will allow them to embrace the web as just another place to find the item and make the sale. Just like a customer.
What to do
Upgrade your sales force to become commission-based or salary plus commission for every sale regardless of how it is entered in the system.
That means you’ll probably have to upgrade your POS abilities so those commissioned salespeople can seamlessly get credit whether they help your customer in the fitting room, at the cash-wrap desk, or via an iPad instore.
We often think of upgrades for computers, but upgrading your service means upgrading the people who deliver the service – your employees. Commission raises the bar and attracts people who truly understand the game of selling. They understand they don’t eat if they don’t sell.
True, commission salespeople have a bad reputation (put there more by movies than actual experiences), but without the reward of doing a very good job for every item they sell, your salesfloor is filled with so much beige.
So many apathetic bodies that result in…
So few sales.
Giving your entire organization a multi-channel commission system is the way to get the true rewards you sought with incentives – better customer service and higher sales.
Look here for more on commissioning you retail sales team.
If you missed the first two installments of this series, start here.
