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A Brand Promise Undelivered

Posted by Sue Easby on Mon, Dec 07, 2009
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It really does fascinate me to no end how much money retailers spend telling their customers what their brand promise is. They promise to have the best selection of product. They promise to have the best price. Or they promise to have the best service. Yet somehow, someway, when we arrive at one of those stores we are inevitably disappointed by the fact that they really are not living up to their brand promise.

Why is that? Tons of dollars are spent each year in advertising, in logistics, even in customer satisfaction and analysis surveys. With all that data and understanding of their stores, I ask you, how much is spent on the staff that has to deliver on that brand promise? How much time, resources and even money is actually spent on retail training. In other words, how many frontline sales associates truly understand their retailer's brand promise and know how to live it on every shift?

It is scary to see how many retailers stop training after the first few weeks of orientation. Many have a great orientation program because they are "used to the turnover" or seasonal hiring cycles. The unfortunate thing I have found is how training tends to only be focused on orientation and/or for management. There isn't a lot of training or communication or coaching provided for associates (full or part-time) who have been with the company for 2 to 5 years but who have not aspired to or perhaps haven't chosen to go into management.

Retailers need to remember that the brand promise can be designed at head office or by the owner of a store, but it is the frontline associates who have to deliver that experience. In order to have associates truly walking the talk of the brand promise, training, coaching and communication have to be at the heart of everything retailers do.

Training does not need to be expensive. It does, however, need to be considered an ongoing process and not a single event. . How many of us actually learned to ride a bike by being shown once on a video and then told to go out and do it? Think of training more like this: message, practice, message, practice, message, observation, message, feedback, practice and start again. Training messages have to be communicated often and regularly and practice and coaching need to be an ongoing part of an associate's work life.

A brand promise is a beautiful thing when it is actually delivered on. What are you doing to ensure your associates are delivering on yours?

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5 Tips for Maximizing Retail Sales

Posted by Kasandra Clarke on Wed, Aug 19, 2009 @ 05:41 PM
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The key to increasing store sales... STORE EMPLOYEES!

Many of us struggle with knowing what to do to increase store sales AND decrease expenses. We are being challenged at both ends.  The challenge is how to maximize sales effectiveness, just having a "warm body" on the sales floor is not good enough.

1. Keep employees on the floor selling!

To maximize sales, employees need to be trained but no manager wants employees to be off the floor for extended periods to take lengthy training courses.

2. Provide short, ongoing training 

Courses should be very short - not longer than 10-45 minutes.  The goal is to learn and apply. Employees learn better and are able to execute more effectively when learning in small snippets. Putting employees through 2-4 hour training marathons just wears them out.

3. Include Customer service, selling skills and product knowledge training.

Why all three:

Have you even been in a store where a sales person walks up to you and asks if they can help you. You say sure, then ask them a question they can't answer anything. Need - Product Knowledge 

Now think about a time when you went to a store and the guy knew his stuff but was more concerned about showing you how smart he was by rhyming off all kinds of facts  and didn't bother asking you about your needs. Need - selling skills training.  

Imagine if you bought a printer and got home to find out that the printer would not work without a special extra cable and you realized you forgot paper. The salesperson was doing you a disservice by not up selling the other essential items you needed. Need - selling skills training. 

4. Keep employees engaged and motivated

Many of our employees are teens and early twenties, they need to be entertained and engaged, otherwise they tune out. Ensure your courses are interactive and include attendee participation.

5. Recognize and reward employees for meeting goals

Many employees say they work harder to receive recognition vs more money. Simple things, like entering all those employees who reached a target into a draw for an ipod, can have a major impact on motivation.

All of this can be done for under $30 per employee and the payback will be immediate and significant.

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