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Episodes
Sunday Feb 23, 2020
Sunday Feb 23, 2020
Are you stuck in a rut and can only sell things that are on sale or have a coupon or maybe you have some time, an endless promotion? We used to call them loss leaders, and while there are some aspects that can get traffic to your store, those days are pretty much gone because there's always somebody cheaper, especially on the web. What you want to do is to limit promotions and coupons because they damage your margins and the more margins are punished, less money you have to reward employees or to buy new stock or to fix up your store.
So, today I just want you to look at how many sales you've done, promotions, coupons, etcetera, and stop digging yourself deeper in debt. Instead, learn how to sell your full-priced merchandise. Buy my SalesRX online virtual retail sales training program because ultimately the one thing all your employees can do is to increase addons and increase your conversion rate much more than any sale we'll ever do.
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!
Saturday Feb 22, 2020
Saturday Feb 22, 2020
Do you ever hear about the power of positive thinking? It all sounds good and a lot of people ‘poo poo’ it and say, “Oh, it doesn't really matter,” but you know what? There really is something to getting what you put out there and one of the things I always say is it doesn't matter what time of the year, if this is the fall or the winter or whenever when you reach for the door, whether you're going to unlock the store for the first time or you're just going to go in, what's your attitude when you go in?
Do you consciously think “It's going to be a fun day? I'm looking forward to working with this person. I'm looking forward to making big sales,” or are you dreading it? Or like when it gets down to the holidays, are you talking about how much you hate Christmas and holiday shoppers?
Think about the energy you were bringing in there because when you approach a customer with that, that energy is going to come right back into you. Whether they pick up their smartphone and don't talk to you, or they don't buy as much and you end up settling for crumbs when you could have had the whole feast. So ultimately, I want you to think about what you focus on becomes reality, and choose the thoughts that are gonna make you more sales and ultimately have more fun at work.
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!
Friday Feb 21, 2020
Friday Feb 21, 2020
If you're a manager and owner of a retail brick-and-mortar store, the most important thing you can do is to make your employee's day and then they'll make your customer's day. So many times we don't give that attitude. We don't have that feeling. We don't have that focus. And so, we pretty much just have your employees go and do tasks, move this from here, pick this order from the web, go over here and clean this, straighten that, etc.
And you know what? That's pretty boring, especially if you're pretty young, because let's face it, Millennials and i-Gen they're looking at possibilities. They are multitasking. They are looking for something fun and engaging and something to engage their mind. So that's gonna take some work on your side. Maybe you have to read some motivational books. Maybe you have to take some time away from the office to get recharged, whatever it is. Again, your job is to make your crew’s day, so they're going to make your shoppers day.
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!
Thursday Feb 20, 2020
Thursday Feb 20, 2020
Do you set a goal for your crew when you go in today? If so, you're on the track to making more sales. If not, well, you're probably squandering something because goals give us something to look forward to.
For example, if I was to say, “Hey, we're going to go on a cruise to Greece. We’re leaving at 10:55 on the U.S.S. (I don't know, some name of a ship) and we're going to go around from here to London. We're going to debark. We're going to spend a night by Big Ben. We're going to…” and I go through all these details. You'd be like, “Oh, I'm looking forward to it.” Now, what if I just said, “Hey, we're going to go on a cruise. We're gonna have a lot of fun. It's going to leave some time in a couple of weeks. We'll be gone, I don't know, a few days and we're going to have a lot of fun.”
Which would you rather go on where you want to go on? The one that has the detail and the detail is what comes from setting a goal. This is what's going to happen when we get there. So, your goal today is to set a sales goal. It could be a sales goal for your individual employees, could be for a certain time, or it could be for the whole day. When you set that goal and they achieve it, you've excited their minds into thinking, “What if we could do this?” And when that happens, you can grow your sales, set a goal, and make more sales.
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!
Wednesday Feb 19, 2020
Wednesday Feb 19, 2020
If you're looking to attract more customers to your store, make sure that you don't forget about your parking lot or maybe some windows towards the back that are kind of covered.
You can put up great signs that are inspirational, so “you could be a cook, you can be a cook, you could be the hero,” and with one picture of what it is, but your goal is to not just say it's 20% off this weekend. Customers are immune to that.
What you tap into is when you say you can cook and you show somebody, maybe have lessons or something, you've started to activate that wonder in the customer and they start wondering, “Well, I wonder how I would do that?” and that's going to propel them to come into your store.
It starts with having compelling signage that gets a response of what would it be like to do this? Instead of, Oh, well you've got this on sale or something that everybody else is doing. You're looking to compete. You've got to attract customers with window signs that convert, that not only inspire and motivate to make additional sales.
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!
Tuesday Feb 18, 2020
Tuesday Feb 18, 2020
Today, I want you to watch how your employees sell your merchandise. Are they starting off at the bottom with whatever's cheapest or on sale? If so, my guess is they're probably also saying, “This is good enough,” or “It's a really good value.” And the problem with that is your more expensive merchandise just sits there until it's marked down.
Your goal, when you're selling merchandise that has several good, better, and best options, is to always present the first option as the best option. That's the one that has the most widgets. It has the most features, and then if you can't get that sale, you say, “Well, we'll lose these features as you go down to a price point.”
We call this selling from the top down, and there's a reason why it's so popular is because it works, but if you have untrained clerks, they're going to sell from their own wallets and what they're going to end up doing is selling the cheapest, which isn't the best.
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!
Monday Feb 17, 2020
Monday Feb 17, 2020
Do you hate working with somebody that just on the schedule today? If so, it's probably time for them to be gone. I know that seems harsh, but you know, that's the first indicator I have that something is wrong in the relationship. And while I certainly counsel people, you want to take this person aside, maybe take them out for a cup of coffee, see what's going on, chicken with them at some point, probably their mind has left and the body doesn't know it.
And the important thing for you to take away is, look, you're known more from your compromises then for your successes. So if you're letting somebody who's like a Bitter Betty or a Bitter Bob beyond your floor and you aren't doing something about it, or you hate going to work with them today, that means it's time for you to take action and make a change.
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!
Sunday Feb 16, 2020
Sunday Feb 16, 2020
Are you one of those retailers that's given your associates tablets or something else as a training tool or as the ability to check stock or something? If so, be careful because your employees’ eyes are going right to the tablet and that makes shoppers feel uneasy because that doesn't feel like you really have focused in on them.
I was at a conference not that long ago when this one retailer was talking about how they had tablets so that they could see customers’ past purchases and their payment plans. And this woman stood up from the audience and said, “You know, I was in one of your stores and I thought your employee was playing a game or on Whatsapp because he didn't take any time to look at me.”
What I want you to think about today is if you rolled out technology, make sure you train your associates to look up in a way, not just down at their crotch, because quite simply shoppers connect with eyes, not with screens.
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!
Saturday Feb 15, 2020
Saturday Feb 15, 2020
Have you ever really thought you trained somebody and then only discovered that they really didn't listen or they weren't doing well? That's probably because what you did was confused. Exposure to training exposure would be like, “I'm going to show you a D major scale on the piano,” and then you would expect the person to be able to play Billy Joel's Piano Man. That was just exposure. They just had a chance to see how it looked. They didn't have a chance to practice or roleplay. When you're training somebody today, probably something on retail sales training, I hope, make sure that you drill down enough that they role play and get some quick wins. Otherwise you just expose them to training that really you can't hold them accountable for.
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!
Friday Feb 14, 2020
Friday Feb 14, 2020
Have you ever had one of those experiences when you go into a store and it feels kind of slimy because the person is trying to find out if you're really going to buy something? “What brought you in today? Do you have a budget? What are you looking for? Did you see our ad?” Yes, that's exactly how they sound.
If you're looking to grow your retail sales, you want to avoid being slimy and trying to pin somebody down and instead, be curious. For example, if you just wonder, “Why is that woman in our apparel store today?” Well maybe she lost 50 pounds. Maybe she just had a kid. Maybe she wants to feel better. Maybe she wants to go out running with her family. There's a million reasons and if you're curious and you find those out, then you find that the party is in the aisles, not behind the counter.
I think so many people are telling you, "Just wait until people ask and then tie them down and move onto the next person." That's the recipe for having a transaction. What I'm saying instead is you want a relationship and that starts by being curious. So today, I want you to go out and be curious about the next person walking in the door. Because if you are, customers will tell you everything if you just invite them in with an open heart.
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!