Retailing is Selling What Part Don’t WE Get?

Retailing is so easy and we try to complicate it. Do you want to make more money, then do this. Sell MORE stuff to MORE people. (I will get more sophisticated and give you the technical way.) Period, that’s it. The answer to all of the problems in retailing is a store’s ability to move/sell more merchandise. Duh! Isn’t that what retailing is all about? In almost every speech I give, I talk about the 4 ways to increase sales and how every business needs to know which path to explore. Here they are:

1. Sell more of what you already sell to your existing customer base.
2. Sell new products to your existing customer base.
3. Sell more of what you currently sell to a new customer base.
4. Sell new products to a new customer base.

There are no right or wrong answers here. But the easiest way to increase your revenues is to just get better at the skill of selling. Let’s face it -- the recession may be over but the recovery is going to be long with its ups and downs. Besides there is too much competition out there, there are fewer customers, the web is getting stronger, and then we have the morons who fight to give it all away. Things have been challenging to say the least.

OK, I AM LISTENTING and it’s time to do something about it!

We just need to focus on the 3 key measurements that most retailers rarely pay much enough attention to. Then we need the tools to improve those components.

1. Conversion rate = This number is the amount of people who enter a store to the amount of transactions that occur. An example of this would be the following. 100 people enter a store and 40 transactions take place.  This would represent a 40% close rate which is very good. This is the most difficult to collect and is generally only tracked during certain test periods.
2. Units per Transaction = This is the average amount of units sold for every sale that occurs. An example of this would be a salesperson makes 3 sales. One customer buys 2 items, the next buys 3 items and the third buys 4. The average units per transaction are 3.
3. Average Transaction Size = This simply means the average dollars sold per transaction. An example would be 3 sales which would include one for $40, one for $50, and the last one for $60. That means your average transaction size is $50.

Now that we know how to measure the information, next is how do we improve sales? Just use my G.R.E.A.T. System for Retail Selling which is from my latest book The Retail Sales Bible. This book has been in our pipeline for a while and has gotten bumped by various projects. Shame on me for allowing this to happen.  I am really aggravated with myself for letting that happen because there is nothing more important than this book in times like this. So now that we have cleared all of the projects from our plate, and we have made this our top priority, it should be off to the publisher in the next 10 days and released by the end of September.

I also want to call your attention to our upcoming webinar on September 22nd called Effective Suggestive Selling which will give you the tools you will need to increase your sales exponentially. Click here for more information.

Let me give you an abbreviated excerpt from the book that explains the G.R.E.A.T. System for Retail Selling. G.R.E.A.T. is an acronym that stands for the different sections of the retail selling process.

G stands for THE GREETING – The greeting either makes or breaks the sale. The key element of the greeting is to determine the path for the rest of the sale. You always want to ask if the customer has been in the store before or if this is their first visit. You are building a bridge to the next stage of the selling process.

R stands for Researching the customer - That means we start to ask the customers as many questions as possible in order for us to make the proper recommendations.

E stands for Experimenting & closing the sale - Experimenting simply means the suggestion process. This is where we use lines, such as “from what you have told me, let me suggest __________”. It is important to note that closing the sale is included in this step because it should be a natural progression and NOT a separate step. (This area in the book covers 12 different ways to close a sale and they are there to match your style.)

A stands for Adding On or the Ad-On - My philosophy is one item and one clerk. We need, NO WE MUST make multiple sales to survive in this difficult market. Many times a simple, “Did you see this?” goes a long way.

T stands for Tethering the customer to the store - That means collecting as much information as possible. The sale is NOT complete until we can capture the customer’s information so that we can bring them into our community.

That is an abbreviated version of something that is approximately 60 pages long. I believe you get the essence of the system. We wanted to make the system an acronym so that it would be easier to remember.

G.R.E.A.T worked perfectly. That’s why we call the Sales Bible the GREAT book of Selling.

We hope it will become your G.R.E.A.T. book real soon.

Rebranding... Is It A Good Idea?

I received an email with two terrific questions that I thought would generate some interesting feedback from all of you. So please share your ideas with this store owner by putting a comment on the blog!

I have two burning questions. I have been in business nine years. I bought an existing store whose owner had run it into the ground and claimed bankruptcy five days later. At the time, I wanted to change the name because I hated it (and still do). However, people around me were saying to keep it as it was established.  DUH it was going out of business... I shoulda, woulda, coulda.

Fast forward nine years. The store is rocking.  It's well branded, is a destination store, etc, etc. I STILL HATE THE NAME! Each time I give it at a trade show or whatever, I am embarrassed of because it does not encompass what we are at all. I have tried adding a jazzy tagline but it still irks the heck out of me. I am wondering about changing the name to coincide with our 10yr anniversary. I have other changes on the way and the building needs a bit of a facelift so we'd do it all at once and do an "unveiling" of sorts.... Have window lettering saying formerly ________.

I can't even imagine the marketing campaign I would have to embark on! However, lame as it may be, most of my customers call the shop Vickie's. I got it at Vickie's ... you need to see Vickie, etc.  Now I KNOW you shouldn't call a shop your name but it would certainly be an easy transition…customers wouldn't be that rattled by it... What do you think?  Is it EVER a good idea to change your name?  How much marketing are we talking here?

Now, if I can be so bold as to ask two questions, my shop started as a consignment shop. Over the nine years, we have become approximately 1/2 new product. There isn't much competition in my town... I'm IT if you want fashionable goods at a reasonable price. My NEW sales have now reached 70% of my total sales. At some point, I would love to switch over to just new as the consignment is labor intensive, etc. That 30% that the consigned is making me is still a good chunk of change though... I have divided into quarters how much more new product I would need to buy to sell that other 30% (working backwards) who knows?  Maybe I'd sell more if it was all new? The consigned goods are taking up ALL of my second floor (1200sq feet) and 1/3 of my main floor which is 1600sq feet so dollar for dollar, it's a no brainer... HELP!

I look forward to your reply.

Let’s break this down into separate discussion/learning points.  The first lesson to be learned, and I wish I had learned it earlier in my career, is that we must do our due diligence when purchasing a business. That means we have to do credit checks, check with key vendors, do focus groups with customers, and have all of the financials professionally examined with copies of the tax returns. The returns should be for the business, if it is a corporation, and the tax returns of the owners, therefore, avoiding some of the problems. 

Changing the name when buying the business certainly seems like it would have been the optimum time. However, do not beat yourself up over that because even the worst of business reputations can still have some value. Let me share a first- hand example of one of my biggest blunders. I bought a 98-year old men’s store that was run down, but to me had so much potential.  Many of my customers shopped both my women’s store and this men’s store. Perhaps I was a bit arrogant because of my retail successes and because my store did seven times the volume than this men’s store did (my store did $2.1 million in sales, the men’s store did $300,000). I changed the name of the men’s store because I didn’t see any real value in it. The bottom line was it did not work and as bad as I thought the reputation was, it still had some brand awareness. 

As for businesses with terrible names, you are not alone. Can you tell me that Abercrombie & Fitch is a great name? Or how about Aeropostale (I cannot pronounce that name and had to go to a mall directory to find how to spell it), Swarovski, Crabtree & Evelyn, and L’Occltane? And then “but with a name like Smuckers it has to be good!”  I never realized that Shakespeare was a retail consultant when he gave the advice “what’s in a name?” 

Again, I had to live with a name that I hated for 25 years.  The name of my store was Ruth’s. Now when you put an apostrophe and an s after Ruth, you almost need to have a hair lisp to pronounce it properly. Plus it is an old biblical name which hadn’t really been used and has fallen out of favor for a couple of generations. Basically, we only knew old people who would use that name. And coupled with the fact that the store was located in a city that had a blue collar and a rough reputation, it made for a difficult image. People would think that we only sold clothes to tough little old ladies. Then when the miniseries Roots was first broadcast, everybody would spell my name wrong. If all of that wasn’t bad enough, I worked with my mother, Ruth, which made me Baby Ruth.  For twenty-five years of my life, I was referred to as a candy bar! 

But with all that, I took a store that did $279,000 worth of business with 900 square feet to a store that produced $2.6 million with 10,000 square feet. Yes, I thought of every which way possible to change the name but am glad I never did.

Next point – whoever said that a store should not be named after an individual?  Sorry, that is bad advice. There are more stores named after people who are highly successful. I will list a few – Kay Jewelers, Jessica McClintock, Johnston & Murphy, Ann Taylor, Auntie Anne’s, Max Studio, Joseph A. Banks, Victoria’s Secret, and Chico’s. One of the points that I have made for years is that regardless of the name of the business, they will still refer to the store as Vicki’s.     

My suggestion to any store owner is to put your name in front of the business’ name. An example would be a store named Timeless Gifts, but you put “Sue Smith’s Timeless Gifts” or just “Sue’s Timeless Gifts”. I believe in your case that would probably be the best way to go. Then slowing eliminate The Timeless Gifts.

The store is going to be called by your name regardless. Go with the flow! 

As for your question in relationship to marketing costs, it could be gigantic and you run the risk of losing customers. What will happen is there will be a rumor that will get started that you went out of business. You can spend a lot of money and only hurt your business rather than help it. PLEASE DON’T DO IT... LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE SO FAR. 

Let’s discuss the issue of consignment. Consignment can be the best part or the worst part of retailing. Let me explain – if you do a consignment agreement whereby you’re splitting 50/50 with the consignee, the return on your efforts can be limited. The way I have seen consignment stores do the best is when the store owner treats the buying process the exact same way as buying regular merchandise. What I mean by that is you have to look at a piece of merchandise as if you were buying it and say “what could I buy this for so that I could sell it at the highest possible mark-up and the fastest rate of sale?” That means you tell the consignee that you will pay $5 for an item while you might put it out for $14.99. There are some people who just want to get rid of stuff and will take anything.  By doing the 50/50 split, you are leaving money on the table and besides it is none of their business what you price it at. 

I realize that this is a major departure for many consignment businesses. To my defense, I will tell you that the 50+ businesses who have taken this recommendation have thanked me all the way to the bank. This past year, one of the award winning businesses in Massachusetts at the RAMAE Awards Program was a store that coined the term “reborn” and created a small birth certificate that she placed on the merchandise. Look at this blog article from December 2009 that talks about the store which is named Izzy’s. 

Last point is the issue of eliminating consignment. This is a personal one, but trust me, if you are working on margins of 4, 5, or 6 times you have to pay the consignee, your feelings toward consignment change dramatically. A few years ago the thought was “let’s separate them”. But because of the popularity and the acceptance of this type of store brought on by the recession and our lingering economic woes, I would be reluctant to totally eliminate it.  Let’s see what the readers have to say. 

Please write in and I invite everyone’s comments. Share with us your opinions. I look forward to reading them.

P.S.  Why is there a bank named the Fifth Third Bank?  It sounds like two losers came together – fifth place and third place but went on to become a major force in banking today. Whatever happened to “we are number one”?      

Finally Launching My New Website…

The Trials and Tribulations of Building a Website

I would love to say that my new website is finally finished, but websites are never finished.  They are a living and breathing part of your business that is constantly evolving and changing. What I can say is that the major redesign of my new website is finally complete. What I am saying is the structure of the site has changed dramatically. What I want to share is my journey that is filled with errors, poor judgment, but is guided by a clear vision and the result that I wanted. Let me explain the clear vision first.

I wanted to have the RickSegel.com website to be easy to understand, use and serve as an example of what good web design should be. The other thing that all of us want in a website is that it must be an investment and not just an expense. There are too many websites that are built which are beautiful but worthless. A website should generate business but it cannot be any type of hard sell. It is important to understand I have reviewed over 500 different websites in seminars, workshops, webinars, magazine and newspaper articles along with my book, The Essential Online Solution. That makes me a picky customer.  Generally, I am an easy sell, but as they say, knowledge can be a dangerous thing. The other factor to consider is that not only have I reviewed that many websites, but I have also reviewed the work of hundreds of web designers.

The one constant complaint that I got about my previous website was that it was difficult to navigate. The sad part about it was even I couldn’t find things that were there, so how could I expect my visitors to find what they were looking for? The internet, ecommerce, and web designs are changing at hyper speeds, which means your website has to be and look fresh all of the time. The other goal that many of us forget is that the web is about convenience in finding things fast. That is why things such as pictures flying in and out, music blasting, and the use of FLASH is truly not necessary. One of the other things I learned from reviewing so many sites is that the prettiest sites don’t always receive the highest ratings. It is the ones I refer to as utilitarian that often receive this distinction. Another way of saying it is that function beats out form. So don’t expect to go to my website to find whiz-bang graphics.

Now let me share some of the mistakes I made along the way. I believe the biggest mistake has been in my selection of vendors or consulting firms who supposedly have all of the answers. My new site represents the efforts of four different web development companies. One quit, two were fired, and one firm I love. The web designer who quit was a one-man shop who simply burnt himself out by promising too much and carried guilt when he couldn’t deliver it. That was my first lesson for the size of the website that I have: a one-person shop is way too small if you want multiple projects taking place at the same time, which is really what the web is all about. The first company I had to fire just talked in technical terms and I had no idea what she was talking about. When I would ask for an explanation, I was made to feel stupid. I am the customer. She forgot that and I forgot her. The good thing about the relationship was that I realized it early and made a move.  

The next firm I hired had such great promise. I loved the people she employed and loved her website plus the websites she had created in the past. I should have known there was a problem when shortly after I joined the firm, she changed her website and the new sites she was designing were terrible. Remember I had a clear vision of what my website was to look like and do for me.  The principal of the firm would argue with me on every change I wanted to make. We would meet on a weekly basis and argue about the stupidest things, and I ended up wasting months and money until one of my colleagues observed that we were literally just spinning our wheels and going nowhere. The lessons to learn from this relationship were firstly, make sure your philosophies are in sync with each other. Second, never trust a company that is telling you how to do business when the health of their business is suspect. Lastly, don’t ask them to use a process or a piece of software with which they have no experience.  

I am a huge believer in the HubSpot Software Solution to “Inbound Marketing”. The company that I had hired did not know or understand the true benefits of this approach to marketing.  In short, I was paying someone to learn and that was dumb! To my credit, I was smart enough to finally go to HubSpot and ask them for referrals of consulting firms which utilized their product and processes. That was smart! I then reviewed 15 different vendors and interviewed 8. That was also smart because each one gave me more knowledge and a better understanding of what was needed.  

Let me share the reasons why I like my website as much as I do and maybe there are some lessons for you to learn as well. I do invite your comments and criticisms, and I will explain and defend any of my actions and why we did what we did. I am not saying defend in a negative way but rather an explanation of why it was done that way.

1. It is easy to navigate. Anyone can figure out where they are and how to get there.
2. It is focused on the benefit of the viewer.  
3. It is built for growth. As many pages as it has, it is relatively easy to add to it.  
4. There are reasons to return to the site.  
5. The calls to action and opportunities for perspective clients to contact me are many.  
6. My use of testimonials helps to build my credibility. It reinforces Rick Segel as an authority and a thought leader.
7. It positions me as the expert in my field. This is important for all of us, not just for a writer and a speaker. Every retailer has to be positioned as the expert in their area.
8. It is an integral part of all of my marketing efforts and it has a lead nurturing system built in for prospective clients.  
9. It allows me the flexibility to include many of my other business ventures under one umbrella, such as texting4retailers, mystery shopping4retailers, and even websites4retailers.
10. There is a sense of organization that is not only appreciated by the viewer, but also appreciated by the people who work on the site. Simple is good.

I wanted to make the process I went through an example and something we all call learn from so that maybe your process will be a little bit easier than mine. I will share the name of the company that I am using: Lynton Web Solutions out of Houston, TX. Rick Segel and Associates are pleased to announce a partnership with Lynton Web Solutions which will create websites for retailers and help them with new and innovative marketing strategies.

I hope this makes a difference in your online struggles.

Have a great week and check out my website at www.ricksegel.com. I would love your feedback.

Customer Service – Isn’t It the Little Things That Matter?

In Charles Dickens’ book A Tale of Two Cities, he starts by saying “These are the best of times, these are the worst of times.”  Within the last week, I experienced the best customer service and the worst customer service I have ever experienced.  They were both pertaining to doctor appointments and scheduling.  The worst customer service experience was about an appointment for a minor surgical procedure.  This doctor was very busy and it was difficult to make an appointment, but I was able to make an appointment 5 weeks later.  Fifteen minutes before I was ready to leave for the scheduled procedure, I received a phone call cancelling this appointment because of an emergency the doctor had.  

I asked when it would be re-scheduled, and I was informed that the doctor was busy for the next 3 weeks.  Then the person informed me that he would have to get back to me.  I did not receive a phone call the next day, but I did call the office and left a message which was never returned.  Then, I called back and I was told that the other doctor in the office could do the procedure two days later, and I did take the appointment.  Why wasn’t I told this before and why did I have to make the call?  The bottom line: I did not receive a feeling of professionalism and consequently cancelled the appointment.

I am sure the doctor would probably have done a great job, but because of an arrogant “I am doing you a favor” attitude, he lost a patient and probably doesn’t even care.  However, if this happens enough times, he will care.  

Now contrast that with another doctor’s office that confirmed an appointment in advance.  When I was there for the procedure, I was taken right on time.  Everything that was going to be done was clearly explained (I had received the same information in advance).  Then I received follow-up calls, not just the day after but also 3 and 5 days after just to be sure everything was OK.  

How does this all apply to us rests in the area that I believe is the root cause of 90% of all customer service issues we face.  That is: controlling expectations.  What did I expect from both of these experiences?  I think basically the same thing: a reminder call, a short wait, a clean office, the procedure done in a professional manner, and a follow-up call.  But that’s not true.  If you read carefully what I wrote and what I was complaining about, you will realize that the part that really annoyed me the most was not so much the change in appointment, but rather the “attitude of the service provider”.  He didn’t make me feel important.

So, is it the services that you offer or is it the way that service is delivered that is more important?  There are two parts to every business transaction.  There is the business part, such as all of the items that are mentioned like reminder calls, clean offices and follow-up calls.  However, it is the human part that creates delighted customers, raving fans, and the coveted word of mouth advertising we all seek.  

I have probably described this wonderful service experience to 15 people of how impressed I am with this talented doctor. He truly cares about his patients because he has created an atmosphere and a way of doing business that makes the customer feel important and special.  How are you making your customers feel important and special?  

I have always been of the belief that service is selling and selling is service.  When you are servicing a customer well, you are truly selling yourself, which is the first step of selling anything.  It is difficult for any of us to buy from someone we don’t like or respect.  The bottom line is as Walt Disney said, “everything speaks”.  The attitude of one person reduced the business revenues and created a negative word of mouth effect. On the other hand, the management of another business increased revenues and created positive word of mouth advertising.

The sad part about this scenario is that they don’t even realize what they are doing and the effects they are having on their business.  The reason for that is it is a slow growing cancer that eventually will kill a business.  What is the solution?  Have a friend shop your store, hire a mystery shopping company, and if nothing else, walk through your store and your procedures the way a customer would.  It might just change the way you do things.  It’s the little things that matter.

Readers’ Response on How to Motivate High Potential Employees

First, let’s thank Eunice for sending in a very interesting scenario that has brought out some really terrific responses.  The thing that is the most amazing is the wide variety of the ways people would handle this situation.  It’s hard to say what’s right and what’s wrong although many people certainly have their opinions.

I think the main issue here is the separation between employer and friend.  Can an employer be a friend?  Some people say no, however, my personal opinion is yes, an employer can be a friend of an employee with one condition.  That condition is that the employee NEVER puts the employer in a compromising situation, the way Tracy put Eunice in.  It works the other way as well.  An employer should never put an employee in a compromising or embarrassing situation.  Basic management says you never reprimand an employee in public.  What is critically important to understand is that the health of the business comes first.  

By Tracy not coming in when she is expected, it hurts the business.  It is not healthy for the business.  The reason why is ownership cannot depend on her, and her co-workers can feel slighted because you have one employee who is on a pedestal and can do anything they want.  Can’t you hear it now ”that’s not fair” and it hurts the morale of the business.  The owner also loses credibility with the other employees because of poor management practices.  Lastly, the customers become the biggest losers because she is never there when they expect her.  

Having said all of that, I still personally would take the loss of such a talented employee as a personal defeat.  I would look at having to fire her as a sign that I did not manage the situation as best as I could.  The following are excerpts from the responses received from this article.  You can read the complete responses on my blog at ricksegel.com/blog. 

• Wow! That has DEPRESSION written all over it! Sounds to me like Tracy needs real help! It makes perfect sense considering all that has happened to her.  Still he fact that she's such a wonderful employee and quite capable day.  I don't think this is a discipline problem. She seriously needs mental help!” -Donna Erwin
• “You need to sit down with her and confront her.  She will probably  refuse at first, but it must be done.  She needs professional help.
  
  Plan on making arrangements to meet with her at least twice a week. You will need to make her feel grounded and loved again before she can move on with her life and enjoy working at your store.  
  
  It’s not usually the responsibility of an employer to make things right but this could be a worthwhile investment.” -Mehdi
• “Encourage Tracy to attend classes and you may even offer to pay something for them.  Working toward a degree will boost her morale.” -Melissa Bailey
• “Have her champion a cause through the store, one that might be close to her situation, such as a cause for single mothers.  Find a charity that is in alignment with her needs. This will give her more of a sense of purpose and may motivate her to have better attendance.” -Phil Wrzesinski  
• “You may not want to fire her, but allowing her to come as she pleases is only enabling Tracy to continue this behavior. You can't be both her friend and her employer, so you will have to choose which one you would rather be. If you choose to be her employer, than perhaps a 30 day review should be set up, with your expectations clearly stated - including letting her go if those expectations are not met. After 30 days you would need to decide - does she stay or does she go. Sounds like tough love, but Tracy is an adult. The choice is hers.” -K. Wooden
• “Regardless of the reasons, this behavior is not appropriate and establishing boundaries and limitations is up to the employer. This is true whether the employee is a top producer or not, and the employer must not use being a good producer as justification for not confronting the problems.  My recommendation is for the employer to work on her ability to be a more effective manager, specifically in understanding what the correct roles are between she and her employees.” -Philip M. Barcellona
• Yes, she may have lost you one $5,000 sale. But weigh it against the unbelievable sales numbers she garners you. If you didn't have her, how many sales would you lose?  
   
  Can you work around her limitations? For example, don't schedule her to open, only schedule appointments with her in the late afternoon, notify customers if she won't be in that day and reschedule them to another day or another salesperson (whatever works).   
   
  I've had my share of unreliable employees -- and fired them. However, in this situation, firing her may cost you more in the long run than working around her shortcomings.” -Karen
• “I have had employees like this in the past... one minute they are your biggest headache and the next they are blowing you away with brilliance! I have 2 suggestions that I have used in the past.
• Give her more responsibility. She understands that what she is doing affects the business and when shown the errors she makes them right; she genuinely feels bad for her actions. By forcing her to be more responsible she might rise to the challenge.  
• Take away all responsibility. If you don't need to rely on her for anything then you will rarely be disappointed.
  
  Separate your personal feeling for her from the needs of the business so you can make rational decisions.” -Jared Habre
• “Sounds like a drinking or drug problem to me.  I don't care how good of a sales person she is, she is being abusive to Eunice and the other employees.  Eunice needs to learn to sell more herself and learn from Tracy as do the other 14 employees.” -Sharla Bush

It was also suggested that Eunice pay for counseling and 30 days off with pay.  I personally think that may be going overboard because that is a sizable investment, but if it worked it would be worth it.  This was a wonderful thought provoking exercise that I would love to repeat.  So, send in your scenarios and let’s see how we can help you.  Eunice, thanks again, and I hope this helped.

Have a great week!

How to Motivate High Potential Employees

I recently received an email from a jewelry store outside of Los Angeles.

The owner posed an interesting question that she suggested would be a wonderful discussion question for my readers. I agreed that it would be a great question and I would get as many opinions as possible. So here goes:

Dear Rick,

I have an employee who has worked for me for 3 years. I own a smaller jewelry store outside of Los Angeles and employ 14 people who all work part-time. The business was originally started by my husband who passed away 9 years ago. I have been running it alone by myself since then. My children have graduated from college and have no interest in entering the business (one is an accountant, the other is an electrical engineer). Tracy, who is in her early 30’s is one of the most talented employees I have ever had. She outsells everyone in the store, including me, all of the other employees love working with her, and customers call to find out when she will be in.

Tracy is also one of the most honest and trustworthy people I know. So, what could be wrong? She really doesn’t want to work, and I don’t know what I have to do to motivate her. Most people are probably thinking by now that she doesn’t need the money. WRONG! She is a single mom with more debt than you can imagine. In her defense, her husband ran up a bunch of credit cards and took off. She has made payment arrangements with most of the credit card companies but she needs to honor her commitments. She has one 12 year old son.

Having said all of that, maybe you can start to share my frustration when I tell you she calls in sick or has an excuse why she cannot come in more than any other employee I have ever had. I can’t depend on her. We tell customers that she is scheduled to work on a specific day. They come in with pieces to have redesigned and/or buy something new, and Tracy is not there. I am particularly frustrated today because one poor couple have now come in three different times and left because she wasn’t there to take care of them. They will not return. I am guessing now, but it was probably a $5,000 lost sale.

Now to make matters worse. When I confronted Tracy, she felt terrible about her actions, and promised that she will make it up to me. And she did. They day I confronted her with this she felt so bad she made four $3,000 sales; one $12,000 sale, and helped two other people to have sales over $2,500 each.

The irony is the fact that the store wasn’t even busy that day. It’s as if she has the ability to just manufacture sales. She also refused to take her normal commission on $5,000 of those sales because of the sale that was lost.

The next day after she had $24,000 in sales, she felt so bad and apologized that it would never happen again. But she didn’t show up for work until 1:00 when she was scheduled to open at 10:00. At least she did call me to open and said she was running a little late. I have offered her more money, bigger bonuses, a flexible schedule, health insurance, and have even looked into help with her child. Rick, I just don’t know what to do. I really would love to sell her the business, and although I have mentioned it a few times, she has never responded to my suggestions. She is a combination of a daughter, sister, friend, colleague and business partner. I could never dream of firing her because I couldn’t do it.

I know she has a very active social life, but we don’t talk about it while sometimes I think I should. It is not as if she has even setting a bad example to the other employees because she openly admits she is wrong. Rick, what should I do? I am at my wit’s end. PLEASE HELP!

Sincerely,
Eunice K.

Eunice, I feel your frustration. I had a similar situation happen to me many years ago. Unfortunately, this employee left the store, but I always wondered what might have been.

Now here’s the challenge.

Write in at rick@ricksegel.com or coment below and share your opinion with any possible suggestions to make Eunice’s life less stressful and to help Tracy reach her full potential. I will leave you with just one idea, and I will be working on ideas all week long. And that would be to sit down with Tracy and draw up an agreement of do’s and don’ts or some type of contract between the two of them. I look forward to your responses and let’s see if we can help Eunice out.

Have a great week.

Seven Ways to Get Your Retail Website to Pop

Websites today can become exciting with simple techniques.  Having said that, we are focusing on the look of the site, the graphics as opposed to  the backend technical navigation and “mumbo jumbo” which is still the backbone to every website. It still amazes us that relatively basic looking sites can do exceptionally well because technically they work. The bottom line is we need the fun and exciting stuff along with the basics. 

1. Think USA Today: The reason for the success of USA Today is because it has lots of headlines, short stories with short paragraphs and graphics that support the story. This sounds simple enough to do and yet as you surf he web, you will see site after site with long paragraphs that no one will ever read.  
2. Think Headlines: Although we just mentioned the use of headlines when we refer to USA Today, spend some time writing a captivating headline that people want to learn more about.  
3. It’s About the Reader Not You: So many times when people write their websites, it is I, I, I or it is just focused on your company or yourself. Think in terms of benefits to the reader. Think in terms of the website that says “we have been in business a hundred years”. The owner of the business is very proud of that and uses the argument that because we have been in business, we must be good. The reader reads that and says “what does all that mean to me”.
4. Make it Personal: Always have an about us section and share pictures and your personal philosophy. On an award winning website, the owner of the company is pictured sitting on a stool, holding a beagle and beside that is a short message to the reader that has a script signature to make it appear as if it is a personalized signature. Within the body of the owner’s message, there is a click through to send her an email.  
5. The Use of Fonts: Generally speaking, homemade websites or less professional looking websites have a tendency of using overused fonts such as Arial or Times Roman. Select the font that you like which has the same feel and look of your company and stick with it. One of the biggest errors people make is they go font crazy and they begin to put three of four different fonts on the same page. You can use the same font but use the italicized version of it and/or all capitals.  
6. Color Contrast: So many times we will see sites that use colors that are beautiful but unfortunately not readable. I recently reviewed a site that was in gray with a darker gray lettering. I couldn’t read the site.  Mauve and gray are great for a living room, but not for a home page. Businesses that use all black backgrounds must be careful with the use of the color red. Red is a great accent color on a black and white site, but don’t use a red font consistently.  
7. The Convenience Factor: Websites are about convenience.  They allow us to save time and money by truly letting our fingers do the shopping. We block the convenience factor when we have Flash openings with words or images flying in from every direction and music blaring in the background. All of these sites have a button that says “skip intro”. 93% of the people who go to these sites, hit “skip intro”. That stuff is not necessary or as I like to put it, it is the graphic designer having an orgasm.  
8. The Bonus: I said the 7 steps, but I am giving more than expected. Make sure on your website you give more than the viewer expects. In New Orleans, they just call it “lagniappe”. What it means is a small gift to the customer by a merchant, such as the thirteenth donut. My extra point is this - use small graphic calls to action to interest your reader to stay on this site longer. After all, isn’t that what I did to have you read this?

What’s The Story Behind That Product?

Increase the Perceived Value by Sharing the Why of The Buy

Have you ever gone to a store, looked at a piece of merchandise, and not bought it because you thought it might be an inferior product?  That just happened to me.  I was shopping at a store in the Boston area that is known for everyday bargains.  It is the type of store that people rarely go to for a specific item.  It’s the type of store that you end up buying a bunch of stuff that you never knew you needed.  Their prices are extremely low and their advertising slogan is “don’t you just love a bargain?”

I affectionately refer to this store as an old fashioned five and dime store on steroids.  They sell lots of party products, kitchen items, gift items, books, packaged foods, cosmetics and probably another thousand categories.  It is a chain of 20 plus stores that is not necessarily the neatest and most organized, but no one really expects it to be either.  You get the feeling you are getting a great deal on everything you buy.

One of the reasons for some of the great values that they offer is that many of the time dated products will have closer expiration dates, which is perfectly OK as long as you aware of that.  The majority of the items are not this way.  What I am saying is you are looking for reasons why something might be such a great deal.  That was the case with me.  Let me explain.

Again, remember I went into the store not looking for anything in particular and just killing some time.  I did, however, have a shopping cart which I was filling up with a bunch of useless items I had to buy.  Then I came to the men’s personal item area and picked up a can of shaving cream and noticed a razor from Gillette.  I had never heard of this type of razor; it was a Fusion ProGlide Power Razor that was only $8.99 which seemed cheap enough to make me buy it.  BUT where I had never heard of this razor, I was afraid that it might be a discontinued item that Gillette had experimented with, didn’t work out, and were dumping the balance of the products into this discount store.  That was OK because I go through a lot of razors since I travel so much and I have a tendency of leaving them somewhere.  So, I figured since I probably wouldn’t be able to get the blades for this in the future, I would purchase the 8-pack of blades.  I was a bit surprised that the 8-pack of blades sold for $26.99, but I happened to need a razor so I bought it.  I want you to know I did have buyer’s remorse because I felt I had bought a discontinued product.  The reason why I felt that way is because these razors and blades were thrown into a bin.  Then two things happened to me.

First, I used the razor.  It was the most unbelievable shave I have ever received and with a bald head this is an area I am expert at.  I am still believing and questioning why they would be discontinuing such a great razor.

Then, I went to CVS to pick up a prescription where right there in front of me was this beautiful display on an end cap announcing the newest and greatest razor by Gillette, the Fusion ProGlide Power Razor.  It was selling for $12.99 and the blades were $29.99.  It is not a huge discount, but it is still a substantial discount, especially on a brand new product.  Here is the interesting part.  I happened to ask the cashier, who I believed was some type of manager or assistant, how those new Power Glide Razors were selling?  Her comment was “we keep them in stock”.

I will go as far as saying that CVS is doing a far superior job on selling these products than the store that is known for lower prices.  There is an old expression that says “its worth is what it looks like it’s worth”.  CVS increased the perceived value of the product by featuring it, signing it and supporting it with professionally prepared displays by the vendor.  The discount store didn’t even have a hand written 3 x 5 card saying “new product” or “great buy”.  It got so bad that even though I purchased the item, I actually considered returning it.

Are you doing the same thing in your store?  Are you making it easier for the customer to understand the products you are selling?  I was at an airport shop the other day that sold art by the artist, BRITTO.  The products were posters, framed art, t-shirts and ceramic pieces.  It was OK, however, the value of those products skyrocketed when I saw the artist pictured with various world leaders, including President Clinton and an announcement that he was selected to create a new stamp for the United Nations.  That’s credibility!  That’s the story behind the product.  Share the story and you will increase the value of your products.  Try it, it works!

The Three Types of Sales Associates

Which One Do You Employ?

I am sure there are more than three types of sales associates, but for the sake of discussion I have always looked at three main categories - the Weak Sales Associate, the Average Sales Associate and the Superstar. Let’s first define each of these categories.

The Weak Sales Associate: This employee can have many different attributes from being not trained and not knowledgeable to having a destructive attitude. Either way you look at it, both of these qualities can kill your business. The interesting aspect of this is that it’s not always that employee’s fault, but rather fault of management.

The weak sales associate: This category of sales associates is one who is not trained and knowledgeable is the easiest to improve. Duh! They require training and knowledge. The question is how are you going to train and make them more knowledgeable. There are many stores that have long detailed training programs for new employees, some of them are as simple as a two to five day training session. The topics which should be covered would be the history of the business, the philosophy of the business, a discussion of the mission or vision statement a business might have and all of this would come under a category that might be referred to as a new employee’s indoctrination. What you are attempting to do here is to start to have the employee understand why you do what you do.

The other two areas that you want to cover in the initial training would be product knowledge and why you buy what you buy and sell what you sell. The last section of any training program should be what the employee is expected to do and how to do it. In other words, we are going to teach them about our products, tell them what your expectations are and how to sell them.

The danger that many of us have in training employees is that we will assign an employee to follow another employee. That’s a great way of doing it, however, don’t just have the new employee follow just one person, rotate them. You don’t want an employee to pick up all of the bad habits from one. One last word on training, it is a constant and ongoing commitment. Understand that the new employee with a wonderful attitude who doesn’t understand the business, the products or how to perform is just as bad as the employee with the destructive behavior. Let’s talk about the employee with the destructive behavior. Generally speaking when we talk about bad behavior, it always comes down to they have a BAD ATTITUDE.

Attitude is comprised of three elements:

1. Facial expressions -- looks
2. Body language
3. Tone of their voice

All of these elements are easy to recognize and we seem to get a quick image when we mention any one of these factors with a bad attitude. Can’t you just picture the person who rolls their eyes or looks disgusted and you just know what their body language is going to be like. And don’t we all know the tone of their voice? One of the exercises that I will do in a live seminar is to ask people to say the phrase “good morning” but say it as if they are disgusted, aggravated, annoyed and then have them contrast it to happy, excited and positive. The facial expressions and the body language go with it naturally.

The bottom line, make your employees aware of what a bad attitude is, ways to improve it and if they do not, they must be terminated. It just flat hurts you and your business.

The Average Sales Associate: This is a category where the majority of our employees fall. What they do is whatever is asked of them, they generally have good attitudes, they are pleasant with customers and they will make a sale when the customer wants to buy. In short, the average salesperson rarely hears the expression “I had no intentions of buying, I just stopped in to say hello”.

The average sales associate are many times referred to as just an order taker. They rarely suggest multiple items and their Units Per Transaction will always be close to 1; as opposed to the superstar who will have Units Per Transaction of 3, 4, 5 or more. This average employee will have some customers request them, but not often. This associate can feel secure about their job, but should always worry about being compared to stronger employees. This is the employee who we should work with to improve their skills and encourage multiple sale transactions.

The Superstar: I believe there are two parts to the superstar. First, they are engaging with the customer, they have a belief that they are there to service the customer and help them to buy what they want and need. They don’t necessarily look at themselves as salespeople. Many times people get confused and think that the strongest salespeople are the most outgoing with a bubbly personality. That’s just not so. Many of these superstars do have outgoing personalities, but the one thing they all have in common is that they ask the customer questions and listen to their answers.

That is the reason why customers relate so well to them because the superstar is focused on that customer. I recently had a friend who went to Chico’s and raved about her experience because the salesperson befriended her by listening to her needs and wants and made suggestions that fulfilled those needs and wants and made maintained the attitude that “this is what we should do” as if to say “I am on your team”. That is why my friend bought more than she expected, spent more than she planned, left happy but realized when she got home she didn’t need a couple of the minor accessory pieces. Then felt so bad about returning it and didn’t want to return it when her superstar was there because she didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

BINGO! Guilt is a wonderful thing. Logically, she does not need those accessory pieces. Emotionally, she will probably keep them. The best part is she will go back to the store and ask for this superstar by name and even call in advance to make sure she is there.

Now the bad or dark side of the superstar -- many times they know it. The true superstar is NOT a prima Donna. They are team players, they help out weaker sales associates and they don’t ask for special favors. You can be as friendly to this employee as possible, but never at the risk or health of the business. True superstars don’t put management in comprising positions. They don’t ask for special favors and their focus is always in the best interest of the store first. Sales ability is great but sales ability with a strong team attitude makes the true superstars. That’s why every NBA team wants LeBron James because not only can he perform, he is a consummate team player and natural leader. Let’s learn something from basketball, when you find people like that go after them, recruit them and watch your business grow.

What Would You Do If Someone Said Negative Things About Your Business... to the WORLD

"Rick, PLEASE HELP!!!" One of my customers was so unhappy that I wouldn’t give her a refund on something she bought 6 months ago. She is destroying me on the internet. I don’t know what to do. Please help me.

"I believe in treating people fairly and honestly but this woman tried to return a $350 serving set that we sell mostly at Christmas time.  I did take it back but I gave her a gift card for $350, plus the tax she paid. She complained that she gets cash back everywhere she goes and she would never come back."

"Then this happened. As she was leaving the store, she noticed we had the exact same serving set in our clearance section. It happened to be marked down to $99. Yes, this woman bought and NOW she demanded the difference back in cash."

"We politely said no and that she would have to spend the balance. Again she opened a mouth and told us she would tell the world what horrible people we are and what a horrible business this was."

"Well, she did."

"She wrote posts on my blog, she sent out tweets, entries on Facebook and any social media networks you can imagine. Rick, what can I do and where do I go?"

Signed by Mary X, a Gift Shop Owner in the Midwest (The store owner wanted to remain anonymous but granted me permission to use this scenario.)

This is becoming a rapidly growing problem. The customer today has power over us like never before. We are almost at their mercy and it kills me to say that. Throw "FAIR" out the window. We are living in a world of FREE, have it your way, totally customized for you, type of world.

In a minute I will share what the experts on negative feedback say.  But I want you to consider two issues.

1. The cost of this negative publicity can be far more expensive than the return. Yes, I know it’s the principle BUT we can win a battle and lose a war. I once was almost involved in a lawsuit that I had a 100% chance of winning. But I chose NOT to sue because the cost of suing was more than the victory would have been.
2. We can be as nice as possible and still have a customer upset with us. So don’t beat yourself up and accept the new reality. Social media such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs and more are great tools to use to connect with customers. The great thing about social media is that you really put yourself out there. But with this openness, problems can occur.

But how do you deal with negative feedback?

• Create A Policy - Before you start having comments available whether it's through a blog or a Twitter conversation, make sure you clearly outline the organization's policy on commenting. I know it sounds excessive, but having some guidelines in place will ensure that you won't be caught off guard.
• Make sure it’s not libel - In the United States and in many countries around the world, truthful statements about another person are safe to publish. However, publishing outright lies with the intent to defame or injure the reputation of others is illegal.
• Don't Lash Out - It's easy to respond quickly when someone makes you mad. The best thing to do however is keep your cool, no matter what the situation. You will come off as the better person for it.
• Respond Publicly - If someone makes a negative comment, respond publicly to let others know how you've handled the situation. Maybe others were wondering the same thing, but didn't want to ask. Being able to handle the situation shows that you (and the organization) are in control.
• Respond Privately - This may seem the opposite to the point above, but let me explain. While some situations require a public response, others do not. If you are being harassed, you may not want the situation to play out over the blog. Also, if a negative situation is going back and forth many times, you should move that to a private conversation as to not interfere with your other posts/comments.
• Respond in a Timely Manner - If you take too long to reply, people may think that silence is your answer. Try to respond as quickly as you can, even if just to say that you will be able to provide an answer/opinion shortly. That way people know that you are involved.
• Be Clear and Concise - Nobody's going to read a response that's many paragraphs long. Keep your answers clear and concise and you will get your point across.

Mary, I hope this helps.

(A special thank you to the pros at Synthesis Communication and The Reputation Hawk for their contributions.)