I used coffee in this example but it could just as easily be window coverings, flooring, cashmere sweaters, you name it. Price doesn’t make something a good value – people do – sales people do. Until you and your crew can understand and model that, you’ll be stuck with a race to the bottom cutting profits and crying the blues.
I think what will distance viewers is to realize they don’t have the kind of money to pour into their business for new fixtures, signage, plasma screens, registers and computers. And really, who needs to scan a barcode for a one-off shop that has very limited skus? We’re talking a shop for chocolate dipped strawberries here.
When a customer can’t decide on whether to take their big old pile of cash in the bank or credit on their card and make the premium or luxury choice, you need to know what it took for them to purchase. That comes from owning the product yourself. Then you can empathisize with your customer that it seemed like a lot of money to pay but you found x, y, and z once you owned it. Without that first hand experience, you’re like a priest telling a newlywed couple what the wedding night would be like.
If you make the customer insecure during the moment they are deciding or paying for your merch or service, you will then be trying to placate a nervous customer. By then though, the trust and relationship are gone and you’re left coming up with excuses to your boss
The holidays are almost here so I’ve come up with my blunt reminders for both staff and owners of specialty retailers. They’re by no means all the “Don’ts” but especially at the holidays, these 50 can make the difference between hearing, “I’ll take it,” and “I’m outta here.
The trouble with so many retailers is they don’t price according to what the market will bear but what they fear they can’t go over. They don’t figure in their time or talent.
The only way your store will standout from your competitors, that your crew will be different than any other, that you’ll make a profit as we come out of this stubborn recession is to learn to sell better. That comes from having a process, being coached and tracking results.
We have gotten so bad at selling anything that we can’t sell anything without a “deal.” That cripples an economy. People mark things down to make the sale, not make a living.
Slow sales have allowed complacency in most retailers. More employees behind the counter. More dismissive expressions, “They’re just looking.” Don’t let your employees get away with being more comfortable with only one person, train now how to juggle many customers.
Think of a time when everyone just “bought” from you. Weren’t those days really great? Think it was all coincidence? I don’t think so. You brought it on yourself. Think and say to yourself (and others) “No ones’ buying” and guess what happens? Self-fulfilling prophecy, no one’s buying from you.But it’s hard isn’t it? Sometimes we really do feel that way. How to handle it?
