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Retail Today with Bob Phibbs is a daily digest guiding brick-and-mortar retailers to gain better traction, generate more revenue, and stay strong in their market.
Monday Aug 26, 2019
Monday Aug 26, 2019
When it comes to scheduling your employees, do you reward people who are able to get higher units per transaction, who are able to sell more per hour? I hope so because if you're just putting whoever can fill the shift, the chances are you're putting somebody like a race horse in the middle of a pasture, right? If it's not that busy and you have a great salesperson, you're squandering that. Likewise, if you have someone who's untrained or really just a clerk and you've got them on at your highest traffic times, they're probably costing you money because they're not upselling. They're not cross selling, they're not selling from the top down. They're simply clerking whatever somebody asks for.
Today I want you to think about those who do what you want to do, who are selling the higher conversions, the higher dollars, they should get more hours, or if nothing else, they should get the most traffic times to be able to build your sales 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!
Sunday Aug 25, 2019
Sunday Aug 25, 2019
Are you looking to get higher sales? Then get out of the bad habit of asking somebody, “What can I help you find?” Because the more you are just like a product, you're just interested in that one product. The more you're basically a warehouse for other people. Look, people go online to buy an item, they go into a store to discover items. So the power is instead of finding out what the product is, they're looking for, what's their project today, what are they working on? You want the customer to tell you everything that they could about the situation they're using it or where they're using it or how they're using it. Then, you pretty much just start putting together in your mind the product list that would all go together.
So instead of asking somebody, “Can I help you find something?” and the guy says, “Oh, I'm looking for um, lumber for a lumber looking for two by fours.” You want me to say, “What's your project today?” And then you find out he's building a deck and when he's building a deck, what else does he need when he might need power equipment. There's a number of things you could add onto the sale, but if you just stay stuck in that one item, lumber, you're probably settling for crumbs when you could have the whole feast. So stop talking and get the shopper to tell you what the project is, not ask them what that one specific product is they came in 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!
Saturday Aug 24, 2019
Saturday Aug 24, 2019
Saturday Aug 24, 2019
Have you ever found yourself accountable for your actions? I know when we watched the Olympics, you know that's probably the ultimate accountability is when we see someone get the gold medal that they did it. They did all the things it took to be a champion, and yet when we come into our brick-and-mortar stores, a lot of times people don't want to hold employees accountable. They want to be their friend. “Let's go out and have a drink. Let's eat.” And the problem with that is, is that you're going to be the same as everybody else, but without accountability, things simply don't change.
So if you train people how to greet a customer, how to do top-down selling, how you want them to pass off a sale, how you want a sale, the finish, whatever that's going to be, you've got to hold them accountable and inspect what you expect. If you're really going to be the boss and move the needle of sales, because holding employees accountable for your training is what's going to grow your sales better than anything else you could do today.
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 Aug 23, 2019
Friday Aug 23, 2019
Friday Aug 23, 2019
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!
Thursday Aug 22, 2019
Thursday Aug 22, 2019
Thursday Aug 22, 2019
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!
Wednesday Aug 21, 2019
Wednesday Aug 21, 2019
Wednesday Aug 21, 2019
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!
Tuesday Aug 20, 2019
Tuesday Aug 20, 2019
Tuesday Aug 20, 2019
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!
Monday Aug 19, 2019
Monday Aug 19, 2019
Monday Aug 19, 2019
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!
Sunday Aug 18, 2019
Sunday Aug 18, 2019
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!
Saturday Aug 17, 2019
Saturday Aug 17, 2019
Saturday Aug 17, 2019
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!
This is the description area. You can write an introduction or add anything you want to tell your audience. This can help listeners better understand your podcast.