DMSRetail

You may remember the phrase in the subject line – even though we took some liberty with it to suit our purposes. 

Luke Skywalker and the Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi of Star Wars fame used the positive phrase “May the Force be With You” to wish someone good luck and hope for victory, before a battle. 

Your sales force must be with you if you are to reach any level of success in retail. Retailer’s battle to hit their targets every day, while struggling with tons of detail – big and small – everything from the effects of the changing economy to the show rooming phenomenon; from hiring and training to current technology. As a retail business owner, or high level management in a chain, you know it’s a battle! 

Truth be known, it is your sales force that actually does the battling for you on the front lines, day in and day out. Unfortunately, they are the ones who are often – not always, of course – the least informed, least empowered and, subsequently and not surprisingly, least engaged people in the organization.

 

More and more we hear about brick and mortar retailers losing sales – due to losing traffic – because of online competition. Yes, indeed, online retail is alive, well and growing and there is no expectation that it’s going to go away!

 

But, if you listen to a lot of so-called experts,  they will tell you that you can compete so much better and win back that lost ‘traffic’ just by investing in marketing. While we agree it’s always a good thing to improve marketing, we think the deterioration of the in store experience is being overlooked.

 

Just driving customers into the store does not equal a significant increase in sales. You must have a capable, engaged sales force.

To find out whether your sales force is capable of converting shoppers, or not, start by watching what’s going on. The baseball great Yogi Berra, who was known to put things in interesting ways, said “You can observe a lot just by watching.” So simple and so true. 

Watch them, talk to them, ask and answer questions, and work with them. You’ll come away with a wealth of information to help you do what you need to do to engage your sales force.

 

It is a waste of money to drive people into your stores if you cannot convert them to buyers. 

One thing we know, with absolute certainty… if your sales force is not with you, everything will be harder than it needs to be. 

All the Success! 
DMSRetail 

PS: We have excellent resources for you. Check out: 

Ultimate Retail Success ToolKit  – a huge addition to your training library. 

Retail Selling Skills & Customer Service Fundamentals Self Study Course  – for your new and/or less experienced sales and service associates. 

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