It wasn’t her moment but she shoved her way onto the stage, interrupting and speaking over director Roger Williams while accepting his award for directing  “Music by Prudence.”  Rambling and incoherent she was determined to make herself known. She did, in a bad way.

Do you have an Elinor on your sales team?  You know, the one who screams, “That was my sale!” The one who makes everyone miserable.  The one who has to say to the salesperson while the customer is at the register, “I greeted them,” or “Oh you came back after you talked to your husband.”  They have to put the other person in their place like Ms. Burkett attempted to do to Mr. Williams.

The problem is for Ms. Burkett, the whole world was watching.  The problem for you is your whole store is watching. It is a big turnoff to any customer in earshot but especially the customer enduring the battle.  Nothing screams, “WE WORK ON COMMISSION!!” more than that behavior.

If you don’t have a commission system, bonus program or other incentive you never have to deal with this – too bad for you because no one is trying to be a superstar, make more money or move product.  You probably are kidding yourself they are great at “customer service.”

If you have an “ups” systems, which I recommend where each person gets one “up” to greet a customer and then moves to the bottom of the order whether they sell that customer or not, create some rules:

• Once the customer walks out, you do not get credit for the sale.
• Close ‘em or lose ‘em – no business cards given to customers to “ask for me.”
• Never cut in on a sale unless the other person allows it privately first.
• Never mention whose sale it is or commissions in front of a customer or both of you lose credit.

Final thought: sometimes customers don’t want the original salesperson, they are giving your business a second chance so it is usually better to allow them to decide whether to speak to someone new or the original.

Set the ground rules ahead of time and you’ll reduce the chances of having an Elinor Burkett barrel their way into a sale, ruining your customers’ experience, and giving customers something bad to remember you by. Or worse, telling their friends on Facebook or posting a video on YouTube.

For more tips how to manage a sales team in my new book, The Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Sales: How to Diagnose, Treat and Cure.

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Have you ever found yourself walking through the mall or down a Main Street, see something in the store that looks interesting, look through the window, see the employees behind the counter with no one else in there and walk on?  I have.

When a store is empty, it is much harder for that first person to walk in because they feel all eyes are on them. They are afraid of being:

1. Attacked by an overly aggressive greeter
2. Ignored and unable to find what they need
3. Being judged

If you’ve hired to fill your schedule, instead of hired employees to sell your merch, your timid employees will stick behind the counter.

They might, might notice a customer walking in the door but more than likely not.  Take a look at this shot from a paper goods store in Glendale, California with one girl standing to the left and the other with her arm out on the counter looking out while customers are in the store. Wow!

Oftentimes we hire people more comfortable behind the wall of the counter, that’s why I refer to it as the castle.  It is a safe place, fortified to withstand attack.  It allows the weak to demand attention.  You want service? Come to the castle and we may lower the bridge to give you the answers, otherwise you’ll stand in the moat until we are ready for you.

Get your employees out from behind the counter and keep them active, especially if you have windows. Customers outside need to see people inside trying on clothes, matching prints, perusing books, comparing products so they will want to be part of the group.  If you don’t have any customers at that time, have employees act as they were customers.  This holds true for almost any business.

If you’ve just opened a restaurant with an outdoor patio and no one is there at lunch – put excess employees on the patio with food until it is busy.

If your auto repair bay is empty, have an employee put their car up on a lift so they will be available when someone comes in or people see you as busy when they drive by.

Still can’t get them from behind the counter? Here are a few tips to make it less comfortable:

• Remove any seats or stools
• Remove comfort pads or rugs off the concrete floor
• Remove one side so both sides are open and accessible
• Cut the counter in half so it is more of a desk
• Move the phone

That doesn’t work? Well, you can always hire better.

If you’ve trained them well, salespeople are never behind the counter waiting; telegraphing the world how bored they are. They are active, moving around all the time creating excitement, not barricaded behind the castle.

To learn more about growing your business, pre-order the Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Business (Wiley & Sons) May 2010

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One of the occupational hazards of being the Retail Doctor is documenting what is good and bad to share with my audiences.  Today I’ll show what the world of many independents has become.

What is it about signs?  They should be short, informational, welcoming and clear.

Instead we find:

If you look around you’ll see there is some creativity in retail, but it usually isn’t in the signage department.  You want to stand out?  Don’t give the wrong person access to your printer or a marker.

How to do proper signage? See my post later in the week.

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Taking the challenge, I made the video about this post which you can watch here.  If you’ve seen the video, read on, if not, please watch it.

You have a problem with the city, or a customer takes advantage of you or a couple of your employees quit with no warning. It happens.  For most of us, we brush ourselves off and move on. But what if you can’t? What if you let those situations stack up inside of you?  That’s what I’m talking about today; making yourself miserable.  I call it, peeing in your own hat. What does it sound like?

• “They’re all on the Internet. They get all the information from me and then go buy from someone else.”
• “Local government doesn’t do enough for small business to attract customers to my shop.”
• “Why should I spend a lot of time training employees, they’ll just leave in a couple of months anyway?”
• “If it weren’t for bad luck I wouldn’t have any luck at all.”
• “Customers are all idiots.”

When I use the verb “peeing” it metaphorically references a bodily function of getting rid of the waste, the negative, the worthless. Yes we all do it to some degree, what I’m talking about is what happens when you hold on and dwell on it, like some type of grudge collector.

A buddy of mine said he couldn’t get past the idea or the visual and asked, “Why would you want to pee in your own hat to begin with?” That common sense question is obvious to outsiders but may not be so clear to the person doing it.

That waste product, that negative energy starts to define who you are. It becomes a buffer against the real world that includes ups and downs, struggles and triumphs; it becomes a loser’s limp to allow yourself not to change.

At some level it has to make them feel better but it makes for a downward cycle of low self-esteem (often masked with cynicism,) high turnover of employees, low profits for the business, and a miserable shopping experience for customers.

It provides comfort that its not your fault something is wrong. But it also leads you to be in denial about how others look at you.

We smell it on you. And we avoid you.

In a broader sense I could be talking about your partner, your child, your parents, any number of things where it is, “us against the world,” we are a victim.  Even your employees.

A blog post I wrote about mindset was picked up by retail-sucks.com and I received over fifty responses about how I was wrong and retail is terrible, they can’t change and they won’t change. Check out their site to see all the angry stories about how awful their life is. It gives a false illusion of safety.

No employer would want anyone that was so focused on what was bad about their job. When you’re 18 to 25 and have all the natural hope and promise of youth reduced to anger, suspicion and feeling of being “done in by the man,” it can make you very callous; I know, I’ve fallen into it at times myself.

And whether you are a business owner, manager or employee, because misery loves company, you tend to seek out other people who feel the same way. The danger is that you accept this hive mentality of being a victim, instead of breaking through to be proactive and change those circumstances.

Want to get over peeing in your own hat? Tell others about this occurrence, watch the video and ask them to call you on it.

In that way, you can let any negative energy dissipate instead of ferment and move on to find solutions rather than reveling in waste.

What are some examples you have seen of someone, metaphorically speaking, peeing in their own hat?

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1) The first thing you notice is the space to move.  You can quickly see the organization of the space and won’t feel squeezed by people or tables.

Open floorplan

2) Realizing not everyone wants to stand and knowing boomers are aging, they’ve added seating at various places. Smart retailers would do the same, not just at the woman’s dressing room for the husbands but for everyone.

Ample seating

3) The information tables are at optimum height, small, circular so as not to poke unsuspecting passersby. Smart retailers will realize that the optimum height of a table isn’t 24″-30″ but 32″-36″; displays lower than this are not nearly as effective and those below the knees virtually worthless for anything other than cheap commodities people will stoop to pickup.

Small circular 36" tables

4) When waiting for other customers or a bank agent, they have a lobby with HGTV.  So many retailers add plasma TVs with mindless news programs belching out bad things.  Smart retailers will realize we want to be insulated from the real world, not made fearful when spending our hard-earned cash at their establishment.

Lobby area

These are by no means all the ways store design trends are changing the way we navigate a shop, hotel lobby, restaurant, but Bank of America clearly understands how to differentiate themselves at this location.  Tomorow: dealing with the castle. Stay tuned.

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Well yes, I guess that is true to some extent.  But I think the world needs what you have to sell.

I was selling when I was 3

Take coffee for example; everyone knows it.  If they were to blind taste-test it, I’m sure 90 out of 90 people could tell you, “that’s coffee.”  But is it good coffee? Is it bad? Is it old? Is it to their liking?  All of that comes about by educating customers as you sell them.

For example, as a coffee drinker, do you know why the coffee you make at home doesn’t taste as good as the coffee you like at the big chains like Starbucks or Peets?  Here are a few facts:

Since coffee is 98% water, they use a reverse osmosis system which removes microorganisms, organic chemicals, and inorganic chemicals, producing very pure water.  Most people use tap water full of impurities and chemicals.

Since coffee loses 25% of its’ flavor within two weeks of roasting, they only use coffee roasted within days and keep it whole bean until just ready to brew.  They store it in airtight containers.  Many home users store their coffee either whole bean or ground in the refrigerator freezer where it can absorb flavors and the delicate oils can degrade.

Since the true flavor of coffee is produced by the oils which rise to the surface of the bean during roasting, the beans are ground which allows more surface for the oils to mix with the water.  Most home grinders slice and dice the beans which also builds up heat degrading the oils.

Coffee oils are what make it delicious

Since you only have one shot at getting the oils from the beans, they use water just off boil to flood the grounds and drain quickly which releases the oils but leaves the “graininess” of the beans behind.  Home brewers often recirculate the coffee back over the grounds which brings out the grainy flavor.

Since the beans are to be brewed for drip coffee, they grind the beans specifically for that brew method. Many consumers use a generic grind which can be too large letting the water go through too quickly for the oils to release or too small letting the coffee’s more bitter flavor come through.

Since the oils are what makes the coffee, they use a lot of coffee, about two tablespoons per 6 oz of coffee, that’s about a ¼ cup for a 12 oz mug.  Most people use half as much which results in a weak brew.

Most people use a cheap coffee maker which never gets the water hot enough and then keeps applying squirts of coffee over and over to the beans which gives a weak brew, more like dunking a tea bag than brewing the coffee.

Since coffee begins to break down after brewing,  chains throw out unused coffee on a regular schedule (usually within two hours) and they never put on a burner or reheat.  [Except in Canada where consultant Doron Levy posted about Tim Horton’s] Some people actually reheat coffee in the microwave.

Do you need all that information? Do you want all that information?

An Analytical personality probably will want all the nuanced details which make the coffee better.  A Driver personality could probably have a taste test with a cheap Krups $39 machine and a Capresso $219 machine with the salesperson demonstrating how the coffee tastes and let the customer decide.

The problem is 63% of the world, the Expressive personalities and the Amiable personalities, will be overwhelmed by much of that information and even the price tag.  They often settle because no one ever took the time to show and sell them the differences of what it takes to get as close to their favorite coffee house taste as possible.  So they settle for the $39 machine because Macy’s has a coupon, robbing themselves of the experience of a great cup of coffee in their home; especially if they are trying to save money by making it at home in the first place.

I used coffee in this example but it could just as easily be window coverings, flooring, cashmere sweaters, you name it.  Price doesn’t make something a good value – people do – sales people do.  Until you and your crew can understand and model that, you’ll be stuck with a race to the bottom cutting profits and crying the blues.

You want to succeed in 2010? Remember, the world needs what you have to sell!

To learn more about the various personalities and how they play out in your crew and customers, pre-order my new book, The Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Business (Wiley & Sons) shipping mid-April.

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Here are a few tips for retailers affected by major snowstorms:

1) Call all employees and confirm they are OK, if they have transportation to and if they can schedule work.

2) Get to your store with a snow shovel, assess any damage. Yes, you might have to shovel your way there from your car.

3) Do whatever is necessary to clean off your awnings, windows, sidewalk and street in front of your shop.  Enlist other shop owners to do the same.

4) If necessary, hire private services to clear your street, parking lot as well as egress, ingress into your shopping area.

5) Update all your customers via email blast, Facebook Fan page, Twitter what your hours will be, who to call if there is something the customer needs – for example a pickup of a dress for an event if you are a woman’s apparel store.

6) Consider making a quick YouTube video showing your store, that you are open, how to get in and out, etc.  Post then link to your contacts in #5.

7) If you have seasonal items, put them on sale sooner than later.

8) Get to the local media and show your area is open, don’t assume they’ll just find you.  Don’t just talk about “how much business we lost.”

9) Listen to authorities of course but open as soon as you can to get back to business, don’t let your store, your street, your neighborhood be a victim.

Realize that customers have postponed shopping, not given it up. Don’t dwell on the past event but remain focused on those customers who do come in and give an exceptional experience.

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The gist is that Bill Rancic, winner of The Apprentice and a “tech guru” and “designer” have 48 hours to transform the attitude and the operations of a small independent business.  And they are all about the attitude – their own.

A & E's Newest

From the moment they sweep into the shop everything is terrible and they have come from the mount to save the poor wayward fools at, in this case Berry Elegance.  The designer has to be the most annoying person ever seen on a business program.

Don’t take my word for it, look at their promos; which were worse!

I’ve done business makeovers for nearly twenty years, including for the Los Angeles Times.  They are never fun or easy but one thing I learned early on was that you don’t belittle people – especially in front of their employees.  Not here, that must be part of the “fun” of having a reality show purporting to show people how to manage their business.

What interests me about this show as well as Bravo’s, Tabatha’s Salon Takeover is that the “experts” come in, denigrate the shop, fill it with new fixtures and (since We Mean Business is sponsored by Dell – lots of new computers) they go on their way because they said that was what was truly needed.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am a big believer in sprucing up a shop. For Berry Elegance, it looks like they copied Godiva’s and it sure did look great!  Many of the ideas had merit including the use of color – if you could get past the condescension.

I think what will further distance viewers is to realize they don’t have the kind of money to pour into their business for new fixtures, signage, plasma screens, registers and computers.  And really, who needs to scan a barcode for a one-off shop that has very limited skus?  We’re talking a shop for chocolate dipped strawberries here.

They could have counseled her that a 5% online discount is worthless on a premium product. Instead of showing who’s eating them – how about trying to sell them with descriptive text?

And if you are going to have a blog Berry Elegance - especially if you are going to be on national television – update it for gosh sakes!  A & E visited them in June, the last post was March 13 – didn’t the “technology guru” think to look at their website at least once?

These reality show makeovers would lead small business owners to conclude the magic bullet is in the physical attributes of the store.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.

If you watch the follow-up clip on A & E’s site, you see how Amy, the co-owner of Berry Elegance is in just as much trouble as before but in a much nicer space.  In fact the employees and her co-owner Todd Jones have left Ms. Stipa to run the shop on her own.

Those great embroidered white chef’s aprons given as a parting gift from Bill and the gang? (Spot on Bill by the way!) Nowhere in sight.  She did hire a PR person to get in front of celebrities which got a large order – but at what expense?

The clip shows her ringing up a $6.50 sale.  Selling is a big problem for this owner which was ridiculed but largely unaddressed. My Five Parts To a Successful Sale retail sales training DVDs could help http://retaildoc.com/products/rxwhatyouget.htm .

Change takes time; meaningful follow-ups are what are needed whenever a business makeover is completed.

There are pitfalls to any business whether it is new, old, successful or struggling.  What you have to remember about reality shows is they are designed to make it look easy and to hype the tears.

To help you get real results right now, you can find a few of my ideas how to market your business at http://retaildoc.com/articles/market-yourself-article.htm.

And if you are looking for a host of a reality show based on results and not hype, give me a call; the Retail Doctor makes house calls.

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I went to an El Pollo Loco in Long Beach, California. I’ve always liked the flame-broiled chicken of this regional franchise. The first time I ate there nearly fifteen years ago, I was struck that the owner was going table-to-table with a tray offering samples of their fresh salsas. With a smile, he patiently explained what each garnish was, thanked each table for their business and ended by asking them to return soon.

This time, as I was standing in line, I noticed their catering display. It was a big cardboard box with two pictures of what the contents would look like when you took it home. (So much more effective than a flier that says, “We Cater.”)

After eating, I decided to take a picture of the display with my iPhone for future reference. I casually went in front of the display, trying to make it look like I was on a call, just in case someone got nervous about it, then clicked.

As I left the restaurant door, a guy yelled after me, “Senor, senor!” I stopped. “I noticed you taking a picture of the display.” Uh-oh, I thought, busted. He continued, “Here is a brochure with all the details, so you can call in your order and not have to rely on your picture.” He handed the flier to me with a smile and I thanked him. I looked down at his name badge and he was the manager. You can build a business on a guy like this.

In hindsight, it wasn’t such a departure from what I had experienced with the owner over a decade ago. He had developed a customer-focused selling culture in his store. That’s what this e-zine is all about – selling.

How Selling Impacts Your Business

Let’s back up a bit. I was talking to a group of retailers the other week. They had all sorts of reasons why they weren’t doing better; bad economy, traffic is down, interest rates – the excuses seemed rehearsed. Sort of institutionalized “losers limps” after sharing war stories of how hard business was for them this year. When I asked what they had done new and different, they pretty much told me in both their words and delivery that they had given up.

I’m sharing this with you because you can’t just keep doing the same things you’ve always done; the same tired “20% off this weekend only” in the local paper, the “Below manufacturer’s cost everyday” door hangers, the “We’re cheaper than the other guys,” postcards sent to a purchased list. Especially when it isn’t working.

Too few businesses are working on developing salespeople. They think they can do the same with less by cutting staff. At a time in our US economy when customers are already questioning whether to buy something now or wait, you need sales people. Yet people still hire the same “as long as you are breathing and can work my hours, you’re hired” slackers. Settling for anyone, rather than training only the best.

This is killing American business. It isn’t the economy, the war, or the high cost of gas – it’s our own fault our businesses are in the mess we are. Those of you reading this in other countries are being effected as well.

If you are the CEO reading this, a district manger or a salesperson I ask you, “When are you going to change and rally to make a difference?” When is it acceptable to talk about moving the needle of sales to customers, not just loading stores up with more products? Why isn’t every meeting starting with brainstorming ways to move product, instead of pouring over last weeks’, months’, years numbers? That’s backwards thinking, not forward.

When will it hurt enough to fire the person you know can’t sell, rather than look the other way? To hire only those who are engaged, eager and ready to learn? They are out there – waiting.

When will you come up with a training program to teach people how to talk to customers and then sell your product – not just try to close anyone who happens to ask a question?

When will managers actually watch how their employees size up a customer and often second-guess them as a looker or loser? It would be like a waitress looking at a customer sitting in her booth and handing them the hot dog menu instead of the Prime Rib because of the way they are dressed. Is that acceptable to you? Yet it’s happening every hour!

Worse yet, the employees aren’t even talking to your customers when they do come into your store! I was at a store last week and the manager was telling me how business was off 5%. I noticed five people come in and said to him, “Feel free to go help the customer, I’m not important. I can wait.”
“No, that’s ok, they’re probably just looking.”
UGH!

You wonder why sales are down? Look in the mirror – it probably isn’t a fun place to work with uninspiring management. And the bean counters are only making it worse.

Managing means making the tough calls, absolutely. But it doesn’t mean you get points for not fixing the most fundamental of problems in your organization – how to sell.

You guys reading this in marketing, I appreciate what you do but it really isn’t about what color blue and the fancy font choice for the ad. What happens AFTER they come to the store, or pickup the phone, or send an email – that’s what is missing. What’s the sales process doing with the lead?

Many retailers and service professionals think they can just muddle along and customers will magically reappear. But the fundamental reasons of low sales are not addressed; employees are order takers, not salespeople.

You want to grow sales? Then do it the old fashioned way – sell it!

There’s a great book out there about web site design, “Don’t Make Me Think.” The basic message is the same for you, for your employees, and in turn your customers – don’t make them think.

Your crew should be so well trained to sell that they know exactly what to do, with a basic goal and a standard sales process.

The way your phone is answered tells people, “I want your business” or “Go away.” If you don’t have a script to follow, off-handed, rushed and surly employees can put off potential customers. Your only goal for whoever covers your phones is to encourage (sell) the person to come to the store rather than just answer, “Yes we have it” or “No, we don’t.” The goal is to be invitational. You’ll know your employees did it correctly when customers come in and ask to see the person by name.

What to do if someone walks into your showroom? Use a standard sales process like my Five Parts To A Sale to walk the customer through your store. (You can download a copy off the members section of my website at www.retaildoc.com.)

Get out of the idea they have to buy today and today only. The goal is to encourage the customer to linger, not leave. To remember you, not the merch.

What to do if someone asks for a price before leaving? Get their contact information so you can email them something – anything – an article, product information, testimonial, pictures, it doesn’t matter. That way they can be on your list and you will be able to continue to develop a relationship (sell them.)

Your customer should be so well taken down the garden path with great merchandising, great salespeople and great follow-up that they can’t wait to tell their friends. That’s selling – not order taking.

If your employees don’t know how to sell on your sales floor, a proper display can passively help entice (sell) your customer to stop and look, telling them what makes those items special, and suggesting additional products.

The people you choose to be part of your team are either more comfortable avoiding customers or helping them. If you go predominately by your “gut” feeling during an interview, you may be hiring who you like, not necessarily who can sell your merchandise.

Look for people who can give you concrete examples of great customer service they have seen as well as how they have given it during previous jobs. Don’t be afraid to ask about their ability and comfort level at selling. Ask for specific times they sold something. Bonus points if they met quotas and were rewarded with commissions, perks or trips.

As to marketing, the way you follow-up with your customers costs far less than trying to find new ones. Keeping in touch every few months to remind (sell) your customers about your business keeps you “top of mind” when they have a need for your products.

It isn’t about getting more bodies into the store; it’s how you sell those who already know you.

You want to gain market share? Gain customers? Gain profits? Feel good about yourself again? Become a student of selling. Develop a selling culture like that restaurant owner in Long Beach and look at all the ways selling can be improved in your business. If you need help, remember the Retail Doctor makes house calls.

Best-selling author and speaker Bob Phibbs has helped thousands of independent businesses compete by using his sales approach and not discounting. His Book, You Can Compete: Double Sales Without Discounting is the backbone of several companies training programs and teaches his methods for making over a business. Download more free tips at http://www.retaildoc.com/media/free-articles.htm

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If you are planning a trip to Toy Fair, PMA, your local merchandise mart or other trade show I have some advice for you:

1) Prepare – know your numbers.  Not your macro numbers like how we did for the month but the micro numbers.  What are your top five categories in gross sales and if you can access it, in terms of profitability.  Some businesses use lots of loss-leaders which may sell a lot but actually cost them money. That’s not what you want.  Look at all of your categories and find your top five to seven.  Then find your bottom five to ten.

2) Analyze. Many independent business owners are chronic over-buyers.  It’s so much fun to go to New York or Chicago and buy things! But if you bring something new in, that means something has to go.  You can’t just keep putting more merch in your store.  If sales were down 5% last year then your inventory level should be down 5% as well.

3) Make a shopping list.  Go to the show looking only to add to your most profitable, best-selling categories.

4) Be liberal.  With your best categories, go ahead, try new things, unproven things, things you have a hunch on.  The marketplace looks to you for such items because those categories are paying off for you.  You’re safe because, you’re “fishing where the fish are” trying new bait.  Even if gosh forbid you buy a stinker, you will be able to move it out quicker because there is more demand in the category. With me?

5) Be conservative. With your bottom categories, STOP. Don’t buy more because those categories aren’t contributing enough to your bottom line. I learned this in the coffee business.  Everyone said, “tea is the next big thing, you need to expand your tea offerings.”  We looked at tea sales which were less than 1%.  Even if we doubled the menu, it still wouldn’t produce the jump needed to support more POP, product and training.  Simply put, customers didn’t look to us for their tea needs. Instead we looked at the blended cold coffee drinks and tried various flavors because they represented 40% of sales – we were safe because people looked to us for those kinds of drinks and would be open to it. In your case, if you must replenish something, make sure it is a proven #1 best-seller or pass. Remember it was the pioneers who got the arrows; be a settler once an item has survived in the marketplace in your lower categories, then bring it in.

6) Use an open-to-buy.  In its most basic form it means you can’t buy unless something else has sold.  This helps keep you from overbuying for your store.

These are by no means all the tips to successful merchandise selection but they should help put money in your jeans, instead of in your vendors.  That’s because merchandise is like milk; it goes bad quickly so you only want to carry what you need, not what you want.

I cover more on this in my new book.

(If you are attending a conference, visit http://www.retaildoc.com/attend-a-conference-article.html to read how to get the most from it.)

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