Doug Fleener
17 question quiz to improve your leadership and coaching in 2017
Here’s a fun questionnaire to use with your leadership team to identify opportunities to grow as an OutFront Leader and Coach in 2017. 1. Do you begin your day with a positive attitude? One where you plan to succeed? Most days - 2 points Some…
Post-holiday superstars
Pretty much everyone who works retail is a sales superstar right before and after the holidays. It's the nature of the last minute shopping that happens every Christmas, and how the couple of days after Christmas have become big shopping days. Beginning this week, customers will...
Five tips for crushing your sales between now and Christmas
A survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) found that between now and Christmas Day, consumers will visit a shopping center an average 6.5 times a week for goods and services, and will be spending, on average, $147.00 a week. Some stores will...
Three tips on how to be a great floor leader this holiday
I learned so much from the first manager I worked for. Maybe that's because he was always teaching. Funny how that works, isn't it? One thing he emphasized was the importance of floor leadership during the holidays. He used to say that no team makes it...
Two pre-holiday training and development games for your staff
Training and development game #1: It all adds up! The difference between a good, a great, and an extraordinary holiday lies in how well your staff Sells ON to maximize her/his customer opportunities. This means creating sales that are both high dollar and high units.…
Motivating your staff to exceptional results
These are five ways an exceptional managers motivates his/her staff: 1. They take responsibility for the store's success and failure. Exceptional managers always have a "the buck starts and stops here" mentality. They never blame weather, competitors, unaligned stars, or anything else if they fall...
Bridging employee potential
Maria, a full-timer in her early twenties, was a self-starter who made my life as a store manager much easier. What I loved most about Maria was her desire to grow and develop. She wanted to get ahead in the company. We would talk often...
Creating a positive attitude chain reaction
Former Red Sox third baseman Wade Boggs once said, "A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results." As a leader, your role is to cause that chain reaction of positive attitude...
The future of specialty store leadership
As retail continues to evolve, the leaders who are responsible for performance and results must also grow and change. Here are four key points about the future of retail leadership. 1. Strong frontline leadership will separate successful stores/departments from those that aren’t. This has, of...
Be a better retail sales coach
Here are four tips on how to become a better retail sales coach. 1. Focus more on sales. That might sound obvious, but the fact is that almost 95% of all retail management coaching is focused on operations. Most managers are surprised to learn this...
For the staff: Substantially increase your average sale with this simple tip
I’m super excited to launch a brand new online training program called Beyond the Add-on. Details to come later this week. For now, you’ll want to be sure and share this post with your staff. It doesn't matter if you sell jewelry, swimsuits, toys, furniture,...
Discover ideas to grow your sales and elevate your customer experience
Your employees are a tremendous source of information and insight. They can share how to deliver a better customer experience, or how to sell more. They might also be able to tell you about products you don't carry but that your customers might be interested...
Create more sales with a GWP
This week’s post may or may not apply directly to your store/business. If not, I’ll be back next week with one that I’m sure will. A Gift With Purchase (GWP) is a great tool for driving customers back into your store, engaging those customers, and...
2 for 1 Post: Purchase Intent and a St. Patrick’s Day Game
I have a two-for-one post for you this week. The first one is about the incredible opportunities within your store. The second is one of my most popular in-store games for going green to make more green. Only two spots remain in my new program,...
Aggressively growing your sales
I’m really excited about my new Four Weeks to Becoming a Sales Growth Coach and Leader program, starting on March 17th. In today’s article I’d like to share why I created this program, and some tips on becoming a sales growth leader. (Details on...
A Sales Tip: Love Trumps Price
Here is a Keep It Successfully Simple sales tip you’ll want to share with your entire team. While it certainly applies to selling Valentine’s Day gifts, it is also on point for anyone that actively engages his/her customers. Last summer I worked with a store...
A Sales Tip: From no to know to yes
Here is a Keep It Successfully Simple sales tip you’ll want to share with your entire team. When I was in high school I worked in a store similar to Target. I had a big crush on one of my co-workers, Shelly. For months I...
Fueling the fire: Motivating your staff over the next week
One of my favorite analogies at this time of year is comparing the task of motivating and inspiring our teams to a fireman's job on the old steam engine locomotives. In the early days of railroading, a person called the fireman was responsible for maintaining...
Easing the customer’s inconvenience
Almost all customer service training includes instructions for dealing with unhappy customers. These steps usually include the importance of listening without interruption and the need to empathize, validate, apologize, take responsibility, and agree on a solution. The best companies add an additional step that helps...
Punch words to punch up your sales results
Years ago I worked with the most amazing salesperson. He had passion and energy that could win any customer over in just minutes. But what made him so productive was his ability to romance a product with words. When he described a product you...