DMSRetail

Today’s ‘Words to the  RetailWise’ are:  If you don’t have traffic  counters you are missing out on one of the most telling KPI’s  there is. 

  Conversion. The rate at which shoppers are converted into buyers.  This usually has a lot to do with sales associate  effectiveness.

  Without traffic counters, you can’t measure conversion. Unless,  of course, you have someone standing at the door counting  every person who comes into the store and then do manual  calculations to figure it out. That’s not the most efficient way  to do things! You can’t know what opportunities were  missed.

  Conversion is one of the best measures of your sales associate  effectiveness. Remember the old saying…”If  you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” If you are not  measuring conversion, you’re missing out on a clear opportunity  to coach and train your associates to get more  business.

  And, further, without traffic counters, how do you know what the  opportunities were? You’re looking at a sales or transaction  report with lots of information…but you have no idea how good  business could have been because you don’t know how many  customers came in but didn’t buy anything. Of course, it  works the other way, too. Perhaps traffic coming into the store  was very low…but your sales associates did a fantastic job and  sold to almost everyone. The thing is you just don’t know.

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Workshop seats still  available:
Retail District  Management – San Diego, CA – September  27-28, 2012
Retail Brand &  Category Management – San Diego, CA –  September 24-25-26, 2012
The  Retail Operations Management Workshop – Dubai,  UAE – October 2-3-4, 2012
Retail District  Management – Dubai, UAE – October 10-11,  2012
Retail Brand  & Category Management – Dubai, UAE –  October 7-8-9, 2012
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  In a convenience store, or a grocery store, you can pretty well  expect close to 100% conversion. People coming into  those stores are usually there for a specific  reason and really aren’t just looking around. You might lose them  if you don’t have the item they need, but that isn’t going  to happen very often.

  But in many other retail stores, it is the sales associates who  will engage the  customer to find out what their needs are  and present merchandise for them to consider.

  It’s the sales associate’s skill at building rapport, their depth  of product  knowledge, their ability to state and  explain features  and benefits and to  overcome any  objections…combined with the customers  desire to buy…that will turn the shopper into a  buyer.

  Many Store Managers and Sales Associates are not in  favor of traffic counters….and we’ll discuss the reasons  for that, and how to make them comfortable with traffic  counters, in another issue of  ‘Words to the  RetailWise’.

You need traffic  counters and you need to pay close attention to conversion  rates. Getting the selling  skills and customer service fundamentals down pat is the  first step.

  All the Success!
  DMSRetail Inc.

PS: For a limited  time only, our top selling course is $50 off! Help your teams  develop their skills and learn how to convert more shoppers into buying  customers. Check out our Retail Selling Skills & Customer Service Fundamentals  YourTime Study Course .

PPS: Early Bird rates still apply to some of the  workshops mentioned above. Send an email to: training@dmsretail to  inquire.
    
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