Just Looking

Retail System Failure

Seth Godin had an interesting post on the failure of systems.   

The problems with systems?
1. if you rely on them too much, your people stop trying, and your hiring people realize they don't have to get such great people.
2. sooner or later, it's going to get copied by the competition. It's a lot easier to copy a system than it is to get great people.

3. Systems are meant to control something.   In sales, while you want a little control as possible to provide your sales people the ability to be able to close the sale.   The more control or structure you add to the sales process, the less likely your sales people will be able to close the sales that fall outside that structure.

So what does this have to do with retail?

Go shop at a big box retailer and I guarantee that you will experience the following:

• You will be offered an extended warranty plan
• You will be offered a credit card plan
• You will be offered at least 3 accessories that match with your product.

Retailers have created a system that they train each and every new employee to follow with every customer.    A series of steps that is supposed to take the customer from initial greeting to the end of the transaction.

As Seth stated, the biggest problem with a system like this is that it creates a lack of creativity in the sales process.   Instead of trying to hire people that can be dynamic in the sale process and manage the sales process, they hire people who can follow the sales process.     I call these people Glorified Clerks not sales people.   They don't understand what they are doing, they are simply following the steps.  With the right management, some of these may turn into good salespeople but more often than not Glorified Clerks burn out and move on.

Here the typical sales system in retail doesn't work

• Customers are not dumb.  They will figure out your sales process after they shop a few times with you an start avoiding the steps.    This will result in your sale people losing sales because the customer isn't following the rules anymore.
• Customers don't know your sales process and will often move out of the path.  A poor salesperson cannot react quick enough and you end up losing the sale.
• And to Seth's Point, it is easy to copy so your competition can create a sales process that counters yours, at take the sale away from you.

My recommendations:

• Create a process as a path, but allow your sale people to make dynamic decisions based on each transaction.   Give them guidelines not rules.
• Don't manage to the process, manage to the sales persons behavior.  Your salesperson is the best judge of when something should be offered to the customer.   Manage to the results at the end of the month.   Use the steps in the process as guideposts not as a track that the there is deviation from.
• Don't micromanage a process but do perform on the spot or curbside coaching.
• Reward creativity in the sales process.  If it is ethical, moral and legal and accomplishes the ultimate goal of making a sale, is it really a bad thing?

Does this mean that all sales systems are bad?  No, it just means that you shouldn't create a sales strategy that is based on your team following the steps of a system. 

Do you teach your team to sell or to lie?

Rob over at Businesspundit had this to say:

Employee: They were looking for the cheapest DVD player we carried.

Manager: But if you sell customers the higher priced model, when they get home they will use all the extra features and they will be so happy!

I wish sales managers would stop doing this. Giving customers what they want is a far more successful strategy than assuming they are idiots, and giving them what you think they should want. Purchasing decisions contain many intangible factors that can only be discovered by asking questions.

Man, Rob is right on with this one.

Why do sales manager feel that they have to come up with a lie in order to help their team sell the product?

The fact is sometimes the product the customer is looking at is the one they need to buy.   Yes, the item that is a few dollars more may have a few more features and maybe a slightly better deal for the customer, but the one the want to buy is the correct one for them.

Sell the product the customer needs and they will come back and buy something else, ore they might recommend their friends to shop with you.    People want a simple solution.    I was in Costco the other day and a customer wanted to cancel their Executive Membership.    No matter how hard the customer service person tried to explain to them that they would lose money by cancelling, the customer just got more and more frustrated.    Sometimes the customer isn't ready to see that they are getting a better deal and you just have to do what the customer wants.     Arguing with a customer to convince them they are making a mistake doesn't get you anything other than an angry customer.

Sell them the product you need to sell them and you stand a good chance of selling a product that frustrates them because it has more features than they need, or one of their friends tells them they wasted their money.

Hiring Passionate Employees

Church of the customer has a great quick post talking about hiring Hiring for Attitude, Not Just for Skill.

A sign in a store window is what Ben saw during a walk down the street. It is a help wanted sign from a Tea company store in Chicago which asks "Are you passionate about tea"

The sign effectively communicates that if you don't have a passion for what we are selling, then you probably won't be a good fit for the job.    And I bet those trying to fake passion during the interview are quickly exposed.   Passion can't be faked.

What sort of message do you send to your potential applicants?  Are you just looking for someone to take over an empty position or are you trying to find a Brand Champion to help drive your business to the next level?   

In my years of hiring in Retail I always hired passion first and knowledge second.    Even now I tend to hire people who have tons of enthusiasm, a general excitement about working with the public and that are passionate about the products I am representing.     I can train anyone to be successful in retail sales, but I can't teach passion, enthusiasm or a love for your fellow man.   

Walk into any retail outlet (even Starbucks on occasion) and you will find people who are just "doing time" until they find a better job.    The managers who hired them were hiring to fill a spot.    Unfortunately for the manager, they will eventually have to hire for that spot again, or ultimately not have to worry about hiring for that spot due to their business closing.

I challenge you to rethink the way you are interviewing and hiring for your retail staff.   The people you hire are directly responsible for how the public views your business.     Passionate people are contagious and will rub off on your customer, creating passionate customers.    Passionate people are fun to listen to and are amazing to watch in action.    Retail is all about the experience these days and your people are a big part of the experience.

Or you could just keep hiring the people you are hiring now and retire early as your competition grows bigger and the door bell on your shop door stops ringing.

Oh and if you don't look at Church of the Customer daily, start today.   Great Blog!

Trends Affecting Small Independent Retailers

I was checking out a new weblog today the Small Business Trends blog and found a great post that could be of interest to you.

Trends Affecting Small Business Retailers

From the post:

"This white paper originated from an observation and a supposition by Jim Baum, a highly active and successful Morris, Illinois small, independent retailer. His observation was that macro and micro trends affect the small independent entrepreneur differently than their large competitors. His supposition is if small independents could just step back, take a deep breath and think about what's really happening, what's changing and what's just over the horizon, they might act differently. They might change how they do things. They might experiment more to take advantage of new emerging opportunities. They might see solutions more clearly. They might find new ways to connect more closely to their marketplace."

One of the topics from the White Paper:

Changing Consumer Attitudes and Behavior - "The traditional customer definitions and delineations have been blurred by the sheer volume of marketing activity across the entire socioeconomic spectrum. * * * Consumers want a transparent buying process devoid of hassles. A retail experience that fulfills these dual emotional needs will be highly valued."

How hassle free is your shopping experience?  Compared to the Big Box retailer across the street, is your customer less threatened by your sales people?  Is your store organized and arranged so they can find what they need fast?

The Small Business Trends blog has a link that allows you to download the entire PDF.

Effective Team Conference Calls

In the age of technology and locations that are spread across the country, the telephone confence call has become a key tool in the arsenal of the sales manager.    I recently had the opportunity to help my team improve their confernce call managment skills.   Following is the text from a quick email I sent out to my team.

These are tips I have used (or try to use) when leading my calls. 

Stand Up When You are Giving Your Call

By standing up or even walking around during the call, you will come across with more energy and enthusiasm.    The content of these calls is not the most exciting information in the world, so it is up to you to bring the enthusiasm and excitement to the call.    

Your team will emulate about ½ the energy you demonstrate on the phone call.  So if you are quite and monotone I can guarantee most of your team has hit the snooze alarm and rolled back over asleep.    

Praise Publicly and Coach Privately

Always talk positively and use these calls to motivate your team to do better.   Don’t use these calls to manage the team’s performance as a group.     If you have performance issues, focus on them with each individual sales specialist.  When you bring up performance issues to the team, it tends to demoralize those people who are performing well.    Always talk about the good things that are happening in your district and leave the negative to individual calls.    Trust in the fact that they already are well aware of what they are doing wrong and don't need to be publicly reminded of it.

A better way to manage group performance, if you absolutely need to cover a topic, is to recognize the outstanding performance of a member of your team and have them comment on how they do it.  You send a message to the rest of your team that the topic is important and you also get the benefit of enhancing someone’s self esteem by giving them public recognition.   

Do Not Feed the Animals

Take issues which are volatile and likely to spark into a group “bitch fest” offline and handle them one on one.  If you are cornered into discussing a touchy subject, then talk about it briefly and offer to answer questions after the call with anyone who has concerns. End the discussion quickly and move on to the next topic.   The longer you let the discussion go on, the more likely you will lose control of the call.    If you lose control of a call, you have lost control of our team.   

Don’t bring up issues on the call that you know will cause problems.  It is better and more effective to handle group communication of potential volatile topics in email if they have to be communicated to the whole group.   Pay and hour reductions are examples of topics that should be avoided on your call and are better handled individually.    

Make the Call More about THEM and Less about YOU.

You are the boss and are an expert in the topic you are covering.  Assume they already know it and don’t spend time on the call trying to prove it to the group.

Our calls were created as a way for your team to interact and learn from each other.    They are a tool that helps the sales specialist learn from those who are doing it best.   Make sure the content and tone of your call is one that encourages group interaction.    My recommendation is that if you need to cover a piece of information to the team, get one of your best associates to cover it for you.   They can review information as well as you can, but the benefit is that they get the personal recognition as a leader in your team.     At the least, encourage interaction and get people talking instead of just listening.

In the beginning of any project, you may need to talk more because you are passing along the information to them for the first time.   Overtime, you should be doing less talking and more facilitation of the discussion. 

And always leave about 15 minutes of each call with room for a roundtable discussion.    You can provide a topic to get them started (What is the best way to greet a customer, what are the reason why our product is better than the compeitor's) or you can open up the floor to topics they would like to discuss.  Either way, give them the opportunity to interact.

Interaction; It’s a Good Thing.

Your sales specialist's phone works both ways.  Let’s make sure they are doing more than just sitting there and listening to you talk.    If you go more than 7 to 10 minutes without any interaction from your team, then you probably have a lot of people not paying attention.  Be sure to break up your stream of information download by asking for some responses from your team.   Simple questions like “Does this make sense?” or “Does anyone have anything to add to that topic?’ can go a long way to making your calls more enjoyable.   

I would also recommend calling out to those sales specialists who do not talk much on the call.   We all have people who can and will dominate the conversation of our calls but it is important that we get the interaction of everyone on the call.   One of the benefits of more participation is more people will pay attention if they know you might call on them during the call.    The other benefit is that you might get a gem of an idea out of someone who doesn’t normally speak up.   

Content of Calls Should Enhance Other Information Mediums, Not Replace Them.

If the information you are providing could be easily communicated in an email or a post on New and Information page, then why are we holding a conference call?   Our weekly Conference calls are there for you to reinforce messages and add to the topics we discuss in documents we send out.    They are not there for you to download information the sales specialist has read in other places.     If it has to be read, have one of the participants do it, but try your best to bring new information to the topic or discuss something that is entirely new.

And never forget this important point:

The goal of our calls is for our sales specialist to walk away with a new idea that will help them be more successful.

If your team doesn’t walk away with something new from each call that helps them be more successful, then there is a good chance that they might walk away from more than just your phone call.    Conference calls can get long and boring so do your best to make them interesting and educational.   We hold the calls every other week so you get a chance to spark the enthusiasm of those people who you don’t get to see each week

Have fun, interact, play some music, do what ever you can to make people look forward to the next call.    Make your call something they make sure they don’t miss rather than a source of noise in the background as they finish their laundry.

As Malls Think Small...

A great article for retailers over at www.startupjournal.com

As Malls Think Small, Boutiques Get A Chance

The article talks about the trend of malls targeting the smaller guy with shorter leases.

"allowing merchants to test the retail waters by starting off with a three- to six-month lease on a booth or small store of around 2,000 square feet."

Could this be the opportunity your retail store needs to test out a spot in your local mall?   A short lease might give you a chance to open up a temporary store to test the traffic, or even open another outlet in addition to your main store.

Creating a Sales Compensation program

My biggest frustration with retail these says is the move away from a commission oriented sales structure.    Big box retail (Circuity City, CompUSA, Best Buy)  have moved to an hourly based commission and in very few cases providing small spiffs as incentive to sell specific products.    Best Buy was never commission and made it a point to stress that to each and every customer that shopped there.

What is wrong with a commission based sales person?   In my experience, commission based sales staff contribute more than the average hourly based sales person.    They have more incentive to increase the average order and to make sure the customer purchases today. 

I managed many sales people in my career and always found that sales people on a commission structure always performed at a higher level than those on an hourly basis.   While I did find some great hourly employees, most of them eventually left for higher paying positions.  A commission based compensation structure provided a built in motivation system for my teams.   Do better at your job and see immediately rewards.    

Here is commission based is better than hourly based:

• Less turnover.  Fewer employees leaving for better pay due to the fact their pay is limitless
• Easier performance management.    It is easier to manage someone to higher performance when you can immediately point to an increase or decrease in their paycheck.   
• Better results in Average Sales Value, Items per ticket and Close rate.  A commission sales person realizes that the quality of the sale results in a higher income for less effort.

For those of you looking to create a commission based compensation plan, I found a great link here.    Leon Frank discusses how to create a compensation program that really motivates your sales force.   He brings up some great points including:

• Making it clear and easy to understand so that it truly motivates, not confuses your staff.
• Making income unlimited.   
• Consistency in the compensation plan so that no one is treated more favorably and you create moral issue which will lower sales performance

If you are not currently offering a commission or bonus structure to your sales staff, I would suggest researching how you might be able to implement with your employees.  Mr. Franks article provides a great first step but don't be afraid to search for help in creating your program.  No compensation/bonus program is better than a poorly managed one.     I am currently experiencing that problem in my current job and I can tell you it is a painful situation.    The worst thing you can do to an employee is screw up their paycheck.   And there is no better way of screwing up someones paycheck than rolling out a poorly planned compensation plans.

Anybody have any other input on how to create a great compensation program?

Success Secrets

During my browsing today I came across a great blurb on the Entrepreneur website.  The following comes from the listing of the Top 100 Fastest Growing companies.   It is the success secret for Promoworks LLC a marketing company in Schaumburg, IL.

"Follow your passion, and then take the lead. Stay focused, stay humble, and have fun. Realize companies don't succeed, people do. Make sure everyone shares in the victories."

I just thought it was something worth posting here to my readers.  I particularly liked the "realized companies don't succeed, people do:"   Its something that we sometimes forget in our passion to be successful.

Walmart, the biggest retailer in the US, is touted for its awesome distribution system,locations and price negotiating strategy.    What analysts forget is that all of these were the result of the hard work of some amazing people.     Its the people stupid.

Today, I think you should take a few moments to recognize and thank the people who work on your sales team.   Thank them for making your job easier.   Thank them for making your company successful.  I do it frequently with my teams and I can tell you that a simple email or phone call will result in better moral, increased loyalty to you and a boost in productivity.

Some other success secrets worth reading:

TechTarget Inc.   -   Needham, MA
Hire great people, and give them the resources and training to be successful, Then get out of the way, and let them do their jobs.

Southampton Group LLC   -   Charlotte, NC
Integrity and ethics matter in everything we do. How we treat the people we work with is as important as how we treat our customers.

Martin Capital   -   Clayton, GA
Personal relationships are the most valuable asset in our business. Whether it's a customer or a strategic partner, we look beyond the single transaction to a long-term, win-win partnership.

Vision Technologies Inc.   -   Glen Burnie, MD
There is no magic formula. Create the right vision for your target market, hire the best people and execute at 100 percent, 100 percent of the time, and luck will find you.

Read the list here

Asking for the Business

I found a great new blog with a great post about Staying Focused and asking for the business.  The blog is Ideas Leadership and Vision by Matt Sunshine

While the sales Matt discusses were not retail, I think there is a very strong point to be made here.   The sales person in question was doing everything right and following all the steps but forgetting to check with the customer to make sure they were following along.

During your conversations with the customer, do you check to make sure you are both on the same page?   I have a habit of always asking "Does that make sense?" or "How do you feel about that?" as a way to gauge how the sales process if flowing.   It helps me keep in touch with where the customer is during the sale.

And always ask these magic words. "Would you like to get that today?"

I can guarantee you that you will improve your sales by 20% if you just make sure you ask for the sale after every presentation.    Most retail sales associates don't and I bet you don't ask as much as you think you do.    I challenge  you to focus on asking for the sale in your next 10 customer engagements.   I bet you will be suprised at the results.

I recommend Matt's weblog as one to add to your weekly reading.    Great blog!

Recruiting Retail Sales People

Frustrated with the quality of candidates that are coming through the doors for sales positions?   If you are, then it is time to recruit.

Recruiting is how you will find the best people for your team.    Great retail salespeople are not out looking for work.   The best ones are already working at another retailer.   And if you don't get out into the field and find them, they will end up working at your competition.

The trick is to locate them. How do you find them?

It's The People Stupid

Rumor has is it that Clinton's Election Campaign had a big sign that hung up in their offices to remind them what was important in his Presidential Campaign against George Bush.   The sign said "It's the Economy Stupid".  That sign helped them keep focused on what the American Public was really concerned about.   If you are a sales manager in retail, you need to go out and find a big piece of paper and make a sign that says "It's the People Stupid" and hang it on your wall.

Why?  Because you need to keep focused on what you are really managing instead of falling into the numbers trap.

It's the People Stupid.

Retail management often forgets that the role of a manager is to manage people.   Because District Managers have a tendency to focus on the numbers during their visits, sales manager think this is the right thing to do.  District Managers do this, because they don't have a relationship with your people.  They don't know them, so they can only look at the results of their hard work.    They focus on the numbers and hire you to focus on the people.    Your job isn't to manage the numbers. 

It's the People Stupid.

Never forget that you manage people and the numbers are only the results of how well you are managing those people.     Your job is to find a way to manage your teams behavior and to find a way to motivate them to achieve the numbers you need to present to your boss.    Your job is to teach, train and develop the people to reach their potential or help those that can't do that to find another career path.  Your job is to lead them to success not just spout off the results and what you expect.  If you have poor numbers then you probably have poor people.   And if you have poor people, you are probably focusing on just the numbers.

It's the People Stupid

If you pull out your latest report card or monthly report and start wondering how you are going to increase your volume by 10% and don't think about the people, you will fail.  You need to look at what result you want to achieve, then look at each one of your people and find a way to help them improve their sales behavior.    

• You need to be thinking how your going to get John increase his average sales per ticket by $300 because he tends to sell lower priced items.   
• You need to work with Jennifer and help her learn how to recognize buying signals so she will close more sales and create more revenue.
• You need to work with Steve to help him learn how to better greet customers so he has more opportunities to sell.
• You need to work with Dustin to improve his qualifying skills so he has less returns each month that create negative revenue.
• You need to help the entire team find a way to increase their average items per ticket so you have more add-on sales to every order.

What you don't have to do is tell your team that they have to sell more so you can hit your 10% increase in revenue this month and then walk away feeling like you've done your managing.    Or even worse, sit down during a coaching session and tell someone they need to increase their sales by 10% and not show them how to do that. That's managing numbers, and that's not what you manage.

It's the People Stupid.

And don't think there is an ever ending supply of people who are standing in line waiting for an opportunity to work with you.  Oh sure, if you place an ad, you will get 100's of applicants, but you will end up paying for those new hires.  The people you have working for you today are far more qualified than any new hire you can find to replace them.  Unless they were a bad hire in the first place, someone thought they had potential.  It is your job to find help the people find their potential. 

The cost in time and money to hire a new person can never be recouped if you don't take the time to train, develop, coach and mentor the employees you have.    A real sales manager knows his people are resource to be nurtured and grown.   They are not a bunch of numbers that add up to the end results at the end of the month.   Great sales manager don't manage numbers. 

It's the People Stupid.

So the next time you are given a goal by your manager or a directive by the District Manager during his next visit,  take some time and look at the your people.  Decide how you are going to manage them to help you accomplish that goal.   Find ways to train and develop and lead them to success.    The more you manage your people, the easier it will be to achieve the numbers.

And go out and make that sign and hang it up on the wall.  And when you start mentoring your replacement on your way to District Management, point to it and say:

It's the People Stupid.

The "Youth"inasia of Retail

Fortune has an interesting article titled How to Battle the Coming Brain Drain.  The article discusses the current trends of business to remove workers as they get older instead of keeping them on for their knowledge and wisdom.

From the article:

"By forcing out the employees with the most experience, companies may be inadvertently pushing critical knowledge out the door before it is shared with the next generation."

A similar trend is happening in retail today.     Retail is promoting from within to such a degree that they are getting inexperienced and young people as their sales and store managers.   These new managers lack the years of experience an older individual may bring to the table and also lack the maturity level to truly lead their team to achieving company goals.   

From the article

"younger managers are going to find themselves thrown into positions that they're unprepared for. Some will no doubt find creative ways to succeed. But many are likely to experience burnout and failure, resulting in even more turnover that the company can't afford."

As I work in different retailers in my current position, I see this happening more and more each year.  Sales managers are getting younger and younger and it is not unlikely to see a group of sales people being managed by a 21 year old.   I am sure that most of those manager deserve the promotion but can't help but wonder if companies are doing them a bigger diservice by putting them into a position of leadership that they may not be able to handle.

Technology oriented retail also has another bad practice. The older employee is not viewed as the perfect candidate.    Big Box retailers look towards the younger candidate because they feel their customers will respond better to them.   They don't think someone who is 50 years old could understand and present technology as well as a young employee.    Big Box retail doesn't realize that Grandma and Grandpa are listening to their ipod, burning DVDs of their vacation and even playing of Halo2 with the grandchildren.   Companies like Best Buy are attempting to target the older customer but they are still using the younger sales person to accomplish this.

This is a mistake.    The consumer is getting older and it is far better to pair them with salespeople who have something in common with them.   A shared history or understanding of what that consumer may be thinking or feeling about the product they are purchasing will make it easier for the customer to buy. 

I have hired many people who were 50+ and had great success with them on my sales teams.    The 50+ employee's work ethic is much better than most 18 to 25 year olds and unlike younger people they have a bigger desire to succeed.   Income is critically important to them and not a disposable commodity.     And the 50+ employee had the desire to spend the time to learn something.  The GenX generation who think they could just jump in and do something without learning how to do it first, which resulted in more work for me  Yes, the 50+ employee may take a bit longer to ramp up to a good sales level, but they will be around longer and you won't have to spend the money trying to recruit their replacement so often.

If retailers continue the trend of hiring younger employees and ignoring the older candidate, they will eventually reduce their ability to provide a satisfying experience to the customer.   Without the older employee to provide a base of knowledge and experience, a young staff is only as good as it was yesterday.   

Preventing Disgruntled Retail Employees

It seems as if a member of an Apple Retail store recently decided to voice his concerns and opinions about his life as an Apple Genius to the Internet universe.   It was up on livejournal but it looks like someone got it removed. It was a short weblog with at about 4 posts written by someone who didn't have many positive things to say about his job and exposed the magic behind the curtain at a Apple retail store.

The person obviously is venting.  What I want to know is who dropped the ball and let it get this far?  It went from a disastified employee, to a potential PR nightmare for Apple.    In a world of weblogs, a disgruntled employee can do devastating harm to your business overnight.      Don't believe me?  Go to google and type the name of your favorite retailer and SUCKS and see what comes up.   

Here is how you can keep this from happening in your store:

Be approachable and listen to your team.

Employees need to vent and you are the best person for them to vent to, not the general public.  But they will not come to you if they feel like you are not approachable.  Get out from behind the desk and hang out with the team on the sales floor.    Become part of their social environment and they will be more likely to approach you.   Keep it professional, but make it personal.     This will also create an atmosphere where other employees just might clue you in when Jake or Susan are ready to blow a gasket.

Provide time to discuss the problems

Most managers wait far too long to bring their employees in to talk about issues.  The annual performance review allows too many problems to go unresolved before review time comes around each year.   You need to provide opportunities for your staff to talk to you about issues as often as you can.  This can be as simple as scheduling a day of the month where you set aside time exclusively for employee interaction.    Even better would be to have and open door policy and mean it.    Provide and environment where employees can approach you and you give them your full undivided attention and you will build stronger teams.

Karen has a great post on how to be "mindful" during these conversations and make them even more powerful.   Read it here   Its on how the multitasking but has a powerful message about giving someone your full attention.

Coach often and Coach positively

The more often you touch base with someone regarding their performance, the more likely you will uncover situations like this before they happen.    Don't be afraid of conducting a quick coaching on someones behavior or performance right after you observe them in action.  We called these Curbside Coachings at one retailer and they work.   

And don't make all of your coaching sessions negative ones.   Make sure you recognize when someone is doing something right.

Don't be afraid to ask for feedback or input

In Growing A Business by Paul Hawken, Paul talks about a method of feedback called Go For Brokes.   Management in his company provided the staff with this method to bring to the attention any issues they might have, without any repercussions for bringing them up.   The staff would identify what they thought was broken, whether it be a system, a process or even an individual.

In my years of Sales management I used to ask my staff what I could do better each year.    Since I built a strong relationships, I got many candid and surprising answers, which only made me a better manager.   Don't be afraid to ask, and definitely don't be afraid to listen to what they have to say.

Always know why an employee is working for you.

Don't assume it is just for a paycheck.  You need to understand why that employee is working in your store or you will never be able to manage their performance.   Is he working there because he loves the products? or just because he needs some extra money?   Is he there because he likes working with the general public, or because he just got laid off from his 25 year career and it was the only thing available to him.  Is he working to prove to you he can move to the next step or just there to earn some extra money to buy that new car.    If you don't understand your employees motives for working for you, you will never be able to identify potential problems that employee might cause.     You will also never be able to motivate that employee, but that is another post.

Selling the Box

Susan Abbot over at Customer Experience Crossroads talks about her recent visit at Blockbuster and how the customer experience has changed.

"On a recent visit there, I kept seeing a fellow with a clipboard... asking people if he could help them find anything.  Not only did he know where things were, he was prepared to make comment on the rentals!   He helped me find The Princess Bride, and also told me what a great flick it is, that it's fun, but kind of witty too, and he definitely would recommend it to anyone."

She feels that during the process there wasn't any attempt by this person to sell her something else.  She appreciated the low pressure.  I think they just did a good job of selling Susan on coming back into the store again instead of choosing the alternatives she mentioned.     And because she was impressed and wrote a post on her weblog, I am sure a few hundred other people will run down to their local Blockbusters to rent their next movie. 

Retail salespeople need to remember that the biggest thing they sell the customer, is the company they work are working for.  I call this Selling the Box.    I good retail sales person sells the benefits of working with his company as well as the benefits of the products.   Sometimes this is done more obviously, like when you talk about the return policy or your money back guarantee. But sometimes it is the subtle things like creating an environment of helpfulness without being pushy that bring the customer back for more.   Or actually knowing enough about the products to help the customer feel more satisfied that they are making the right decision.

A good article and a great website for any retailer to read. 

Losing the sale to the Internet

I was reading a comment over at Retailwire regarding the recent troubles that Circuit City is currently experiencing that caught my eye.

Here is the comment from Art Williams, one of the Braintrust Panelists:

"<Circuit City> used to be the place to go for electronics, TV's and etc., but now Best Buy is doing all the business. I was recently shopped for a new digital camera and, in the past, I would have considered Circuit City and CompUSA, but this time I checked Best Buy, Costco and Wolf Camera. After getting a fair sales pitch at Best Buy, a better one at Costco and a great one at Wolf Camera, I bought my camera online. I got the exact model I was looking for and saved $300.00 plus, but I had to wait a couple days to get it. That was O.K. because it took me a couple days to decide which one I wanted."

While it is interesting (and personally troubling since I am an old Circuit City guy) about his decision not to shop there, I found something far more important in his comments:

"After getting a fair sales pitch at Best Buy, a better one at Costco and a great one at Wolf Camera, I bought my camera online."

There are so many troubling points to be found in this one sentence:

• Costco is giving better sales pitches than Best Buy, and they don't have salespeople!    Costco is a warehouse club (it's like Sam's Club, but nicer for those of you on the East Coast) where finding someone to help is not an easy thing to do.     Wow.   
• After shopping at 3 different brick and mortar retailers, he ended up shopping on-line.   He found it for $300 cheaper but I guarantee you he gave up something for that price savings.   3 Strikes for local retailers and you are out!
• Not one sales person could help the customer make a decision to buy or created enough personal rapport to get Art back in the store.   In fact the store did a good job educating Art for free.
• In the 3 days that Art was thinking about purchasing, it doesn't look like anybody called him to check to see if they could have been of further assistance.   I am assuming that Art purchased one of the cameras he was looking for and just found a better price on-line.   A quick call or email 48 hours later could have made the sale.

Not one of the sales people added any value to Art’s shopping process and they all allowed Art to make a purchasing decision based on one thing only, the price.    

I am sure the Best Buy and Wolf's Cameras "clerks" recommended something for the Art to buy.  Why didn't anyone create a sense of urgency in purchasing from them?  Why didn't Wolf's make Art feel like buying from them was important so he could always get local service and support?  Or that he was buying from “camera experts” who could make sure he made the right choice?

So what is the solution?

Teaching Your Sales Staff to Care about the Customer

Kathy Sierra over at Creating Passionate Users has another great post today.  (Make her blog a daily read) In Can You Teach Someone to Care?  Kathy discusses the process of creating a "Culture of Caring" in a business as the best way to insure everyone cares about the customer.

I think we have forgotten how to care about the customer in retail today. Retail sales people care more about hitting their sales goals or not making their manager mad then caring about the customers needs.    How can you truly care about the customer if that isn't your primary motivation?   And no I am not saying that you shouldn't care about add-on sales and selling the most profitable product. I just think it is in the best interest of the company (an their bottom line) if the sales people on the front-line care about the customer first and try to achieve their goals as a result

Here are the benefits of caring for the customer:

Are We Becoming Too Casual on the Sales Floor?

I was in a major electronics retailer the other day and noticed something that really disturbed me.  The employees, while wearing a polo shirt, were wearing jeans and tennis shoes.

At what point did management think jeans are the proper attire to help convey confidence in purchasing from their company?   

I understand that in some retail stores, jeans would be appropriate attire.    People selling garden supplies, camping or sporting equipment and some clothing retailers are perfect place for jeans.  The product they are selling communicates a relaxed and casual atmosphere.   

I think that for a customer who is thinking about spending $1000 or more, a jean's wearing associate doesn't inspire confidence in the product or company.   It screams "I am not paid enough to afford better clothes" or "We don't really care how we look, just buy our stuff".   Customers begin to wonder if you dress that casually, how serious will you be when they have a problem that needs solved.

Customers will not spend $3000 or more for a big screen TV from someone wearing jeans and tennis shoes.   Ok, some customers will, but how many customers do you help walk out the door because they just couldn't take your associate seriously because of what they were wearing?     Don't let something as simple as what you wear be a reason for the customer to walk out the door.

What I don't get is why retail has decided a suit and tie is a bad thing to wear?   When I managed at Circuit City, they got rid of the suit and tie and went to a long sleeve uniform for everyone.  Ugly maroon that lasted about 6 months before they tested something else.  A 6 months later, something else again.  Part of their concern was that customers couldn't identify the salespeople because they all dressed differently.  The other semi-valid reason was that suits and ties provided an advantage to sales people who could afford to purchase nice suits.   The theory was that the new sales person out of High School wearing a knit tie and dockers would lose sales to the Armani wearing sales person.    I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it now.     While clothes may make the man, they don't make the better salesman.

Retail needs to reexamine their ideas about dress code and attire and stop trying to get comfy with the customer.   If I am in the store spending my hard earned dollar, I want to see a level of professionalism that isn't conveyed by a jean wearing associate.   

I challenge any retailer to put their workforce in suits and ties and to see what happens after 30 days.   I bet their sales increase and the level of customers satisfaction increases at the same time.    

And don't even get me started with multiple piercings, funky hair cuts and colors and strange makeup.  I am all for personal flair and style, but think these things create more barriers than bridges in the sales process. 

Learning to Unlearn

Kathy Sierra over at Creating passionate Users, has a post entitled The future is not in learning....  I found it via What's your Brand Mantra.

While this isn't a post talking about retail sales, it is an important thing to understand both for retail sales people and sales managers.

Here is why this post is important to you.

If you are a retail sales person, I can guarantee there are a number of things you need to learn to unlearn before you will be successful. 

You need to unlearn things like:

• The bad sales habits you learned on that last retail job.  You know the one you just left because you were not making any money?
• They incorrect perceptions you have about closing the sale.  It isn't as hard as you think
• the idea that you cannot be a great sales person
• the limits you set on your sales success

So many salespeople think that they can just keep doing what they are doing and at some point something new will happen.   During my years of sales management I was always amazed at sales people who refused to try anything new.   After reading this post I realized they were not refusing to learn, they were refusing to unlearn.  They wouldn't let go of their past training.    There resistance came from fear of giving up something that was out of their comfort zone.

The best salesperson is someone who is willing to throw away what they thought was the best way in order to learn something new.     Great sales people are constantly developing themselves and understand that there is always someone out there who can do it better.    Great sales people look everywhere for ideas, and not just the same old books on selling.   The look outside the box for solutions to things that are happening inside the box.

And if you are a sales manager, you need to help your team understand how to unlearn those bad habits and old sales tactics.  Only when you help them unlearn, will you be able to help the learn to be more successful on your team.    Don't get frustrate and give up when they don't get it.   Spend a bit more time and find out what they already know that is blocking their ability to understand what you are saying.

So what are you ready to Unlearn so you can begin learning?

Learning a 1000 Year old Retail Sales Process

Over at Marketing Magic there is a great story about a trip to Morocco and how a carpet salesman demonstrated the 1000 year old selling technique of AIDA.   What is AIDA?    It is an acronym for a simple sales process

A - Grab the prospects attention
I - Create interest by providing some useful information
D - Create "desire" By offering something they want or helping them avoid pain
A - Demand immediate action

After reading that story, think about your own sales process.  Are you doing all the steps of AIDA?

Grab Attention.

During your sales do you grab the prospect's attention?     Do you enthusiastically walk up and say hello, or do you slink in an wait for them to notice you?   And during your greeting to you find something exciting to say that will make them want to talk with you?  Maybe talk about the new sale, or that a new product has come in. 

Create Interest.

Do you create interest during the sale?  Do you just repeat product specs or do you take some time to match up the features of the product to the customers needs.  do you find out what is important to the customer so you can speak to them, rather than presenting the same old tired canned speech?   Do you take time to discover the one thing that will make the customer really excited about you sell?

Create Desire

This is where many retail sales people fail.    They never develop any desire in the customer for the product they are selling.  This is because most retail sales people think that all you need to do is spout out features, mention a few benefits and then the customer will figure out they need to buy it.   

How do you create desire?  You Inject emotion into your sales presentation.    People buy on an emotional basis and will justify their purchase logically.     Use emotion during your presentation and then provide the logical arguments after the customer has made the decision to say yes.

Demand Immediate Action

Do you demand action out of your customers?   I a bet you don't.  In fact most studies show that retails sales people ask for the sale less than 20% of the time!    I had the joy of shopping for a digital camera recently and not one of the 3 sales people I talked with asked me if I wanted to buy it.     I ended up waisting their time and the company's money and ended up eventually finding my purchase at Costco.

Don't let a prospect who shows interest and desire walk away with your product tucked under their arm.    As a GM at one major retailer we knew that the average customer completed a purchase within 72 hours of shopping with us.  So if they didn't walk out of the door today, they would end up buying from someone else tomorrow.

So remember the 1000 Year old sales process during your next sale.

The Door to Future Retail Sales?

MSN: "Now that the national do-not-call list makes it impossible to reach millions of potential customers, some marketing companies are returning to an old-fashioned alternative: door-to-door salespeople."

Via Business Opportunities Blog who got it via Linda Riley  (ain't blogs great?)

If you are a retailer, do you think that door-to-door sales might be another tool in your marketing plan?

Home Depot, Lowes or any other retailers selling home improvement products could drive through neighboorhoods until they located a house in need of some repair. You could easily identify customer who could needed a new roof, new fencing, windows or landscaping. A polite knock on the door and an offer for a free quote on the repair could lead to a potential sale. With a Lowes or Home Depot logo on their shirt, the homeowner would probably be less likely to slam the door.     And if the homeowner wasn't home, a quote with your business card attached might be a great way to generate a few leads.

Will this work for every retailer?  Probably not, but I am sure that there are enough retail stores out there who could benefit by this sales approach.     Don't think it will work in retail?   How do you think stores like Sears or Circuit City got their start?   Yep that's right, door to door sales.      The founder of Circuit City went throughout Richmond VA and dropped off a new TV (something most did not own) for homeowners to try free for 30 days.   After 30 days he would go back to take it back and found that most of those customers wanted to purchase it.