I was at Macy’s Herald Square a while ago. It was incredible. The store was full of shoppers.
I stopped at a display of gloves. I needed a new pair as its getting below freezing in upstate. Continue reading Retail Sales Training – How To Be Profitable: Upsell During Your Sales Events »
As a regular reader of this blog, hopefully by now you are aware of the doom and gloom that can permeate your business and are ready to take action.
A little reminder of what Black Friday originally looked like … Continue reading Black Friday Sets the Tone for a Great Holiday Season »
“Hi, How are you today?”
You’ve heard it thousands of times shopping in the mall.
You’ve probably heard your employees asking it hundreds of times.
In the course of a day you may say it dozens of times to co-workers, employees, friends and family.
But those words are the quickest words to kill a retail sale. Probably any sale.
Here’s why… 
When that question is asked, it trips a switch in the listener to reply with false feelings so they answer, ”Fine, how are you?”
Rarely genuine, it masks how the person truly feels. It forces customers to be false or dismiss their desires and feelings.
This is fine as a coping mechanism in a dysfunctional family relationship, but in business, it’s the worst thing you want them to do.
Selling requires building trust. Getting people to open up to their true wants, not settle for basic needs.
So when you force them to put a band-aid on their own feelings, it forces them to also push those desires down. Continue reading Retail Sales Training Tip: Words That Kill A Sale »
Graphic Design Placeholder
A placeholder in graphic design is a stand-in for the real image. In retail sales, it is a stand-in for real conversation.
We only have maybe 60 seconds to build trust with a customer so why do your employees willingly waste that time with these phony placeholders?
Why are they placeholders?
Because they don’t move the conversation along. They put off those precious moments when you could be bonding with someone, sharing something about yourself or just enjoying meeting a new person.
Many times this leads to being a robot. We don’t get people to talk to us, in fact they often avoid us. Continue reading Retail Customer Service Tip: No Placeholders In Sales Presentation »
Well, they got it wrong again, some 75 percent of retailers beat analysts’ estimates. Pity those talking heads, the doom & gloomers anxious to be seen as smart and savvy missed it – again – retail sales increased. In my white paper which I created last fall I predicted the same stories would repeat with a herald of “whoops” in January and for the 10th out of 11 years, they got it wrong. (You can still download the proof here.)
Maybe you remember the article in Forbes from December 3, “Economists say depressed spending could persist for several years amid stubbornly high unemployment.” Or as recently as December 14 in a USA Today article, “Only 35% of consumers surveyed over the weekend said they would shop in the week after Christmas, according to survey questions posed by America’s Research Group on behalf of Reuters. Last year, 38% said they planned to shop after Dec. 25. Over the past decade, 48% to 55% typically said they planned to shop in that week, America’s Research founder Britt Beemer said.”
Source: Wall Street Journal
Yet in the light of day? Oh, gee most retailers had increases in December. For example, Bed Bath & Beyond Same-store sales rose 7.3%, margins rose to 41.1% from 38.9%.
It wasn’t just the new darling of the media the Dollar stores that increased – even Neiman and Nordstom – hardly the “value” brands of discounting. While reports of only electronics having increases and apparel the worst performers for December, the strongest growth came from apparel chains that cater to both adults and teenagers. Who knew?
Let the pundits go crazy taking shots again at these figures saying they, “Don’t matter.” They do. Get ready for a comeback, not to 2005-7 levels but to those who want them, the customers are out there. Shopping. Luxury. Premium.
Go get ‘em!
To get ready for the comeback, pre-order the new book from Wiley the Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Business
