With a shorter holiday season it is essential that every employee maximize every customer opportunity. That’s not overly difficult when an associate works one-on-one with a customer, but it gets challenging when customers outnumber the staff.
Unfortunately, many associates pull back when the store gets busy. They’re fearful of getting “stuck” with a customer, so they slip into something of a clerking mode.
It is better to give five customers a very good experience than give one customer a great experience and disappoint four others. It is an art, but it’s an art that can be mastered. All it takes is effort and practice.
With only three weekends left before Christmas, it is vital that your team know how to sell – truly sell, not just clerk – to multiple customers. It might the difference between exceeding your December sales goal – or missing it entirely.
I’d like to contribute to your team’s success with a free training for you to roll out and practice with your team the rest of this week.
Let me give you a little background. Back in October I told you that I was testing a new customer experience sales approach. In controlled testing we were able improve a store’s conversion by between 14% and 25%, while at the same time increasing the average sale.
Now that I’ve proved the concept I am creating the program and materials to help other retailers achieve higher results. One of the skills I didn’t have was the ability to create the tools for the frontline team. I am now partnering on this project with a talented Learning and Development Consultant. At our meeting the other day we came up with the idea of providing free materials to help specialty retailers this holiday. And here they are!
Here’s my recommendation.
First, download and print out the material. There is a manager’s guide and an associates training sheet. Make a copy of the associates training material for each employee.
Next, roll the material with each employee out as soon as possible. The goal is for the rollout itself to only take five minutes. Perfect for your Take Five meetings! You’ll see that the concepts are pretty straightforward. Have the employees practice each element for the next few days.
The key to success is for you to debrief each employee at the end of each shift. The practice and the incremental improvement over the next week is where the payoff will happen.
Best of luck, and a Very Happy Hanukkah for those who celebrate!
