In my experience, the few weeks from late December into around the middle of January are some of the most frustrating in retail. Every day is a roller coaster of sales and returns. One minute you’re having a great day and the next minute you’re in the hole. One minute you’re slow, and the next minute you’re slammed.
Our biggest challenge through it all is making sure we’re doing all the little things that make us successful. Sales are so easy to make in December that it’s easy to slip into too much clerking.
That’s why your leadership is as important now as it was in the thick of December sales. It’s important that every manager be setting an example with every customer. I’ll admit that when I was a store manager, after the holidays I was pretty quick to hand off customers to the staff so that I could “catch up on my work.” And I really did have things to catch up on, but maybe not as much as I made it seem.
Several years later I was out visiting stores and a met an assistant manager who told me that he was a model. This guy was a fine fellow, but I wouldn’t say he was an especially sharp dresser and I couldn’t picture him on the cover of GQ. I figured maybe he was a hand model or something.
I asked, “What kind of modeling do you do?” He said with a smile, “The most important kind. Role modeling!” He was right, and he was especially on the mark for after the holidays.
Another way to keep everyone on track this week is to do a one-day contest. One of my favorites at this time of year is called Flip It. The goal of Flip It is to have the largest sale of the day that began with a return or exchange.
I like to make the prize a $20 bill or gift card and then have it passed around as one employee tops another. I used to do this back in my Sharper Image days, and I swear some of the salespeople enjoyed taking the prize from a colleague more than the prize itself.
Here’s an example of how it works. The first customer of the day comes in with a $20 return, but the salesperson then sells them $100 of additional items. That means the current top Flip It sale is $80. (You have to net out the return or exchange.)
The next customer has a $100 item to exchange, and the salesperson sells them additional items worth $110. The net Flip It sale is $110. He/she now gets to take the cash or gift card from the other salesperson.
Another way to play Flip It is to pay everyone a prize for flipping customers. You could, for example, say that any return or exchange that has a net increase of $75 or more wins a $5 gift card.
Have fun today, and be sure your modeling and flipping every Season of Me opportunity.
