They say the devil is in the details... retail details! We all want to sell more retail product but many of us stumble on how to get there. Here are some quick hitting tips to help you sell more retail products.
- Have a retail sales team! All your stylists, estheticians, massage therapists, receptionists are all sales personnel. Everyone is selling your services and products from the moment the customer walks in the door. Define your staff as a sales team and show them the way.
- Put yourself in their shoes. Educate your staff on the benefits of all your retail products so they can fit the product to the customer. No matter what the question, your staff will know the correct product to recommend.
- Supply support material. Brochures on the product are usually free from the product manufacturer or custom print your own. (Use our free art services!) These are helpful tools to quickly communicate the benefits of certain products. Offer skin care or treatment prescriptions to your customers -- write down the products you used during their service, when to use, how to use, how much to use etc... This makes it easy for your sales team to close the sale and for the customer to keep the results at home.
- On-site, on-going training. One of your monthly team meetings should be revisiting the products and/or introducing new products. Keep educating them on the benefits of each product and what situation it will work best with. You can make it a game and offer prizes for the staff member that matches the product with the correct customer situation. Energy + Excitement = Sales!
- Ask for feedback. Poll the sales team for their thoughts on products and promotions. They are on the front lines and hold a wealth of information. You will gain buy-in with your team if you let them participate in product selection and sales efforts.
- Put the carrot where you want the behavior! Offer bonuses or commission based programs on selling retail products. You can add incentives such as gift cards, prizes, trips, continuing education classes etc.. Get creative and ask the sales team what would motivate them. Have a monthly chart and have a friendly competition. Anyway you can create excitement and make retail sales top of mind you will keep the momentum going.
If you don't put the focus on sales, they won't just happen. Build your team, build their product knowledge, build their motivation and watch out...be prepared for those retail products to start moving!
2 comments:
When and how often do you put sale prices on your retail for items that are not moving as quickly?
Chris
It depends (sorry for the wishy-washy answer) but it truly depends on your business. Here is my take.
Some owners/managers take the stance of not wanting to discount or give sales prices to avoid clients waiting until the sale price to purchase. For these businesses, I recommend offering complete system sales or value sets. This doesn't devalue the stand alone product but increases the perceived value of getting more bang for the buck with a grouped product offering. Also special promotions work well here. Tie in cause related donations with purchases here you can keep the standard price but offer a portion to a cause your business is aligned to. Another idea is to do a bag deal - choose any 4 products for a flat price (again this doesn't devalue the current product itself and causes customers to buy more). Any of these ideas create excitement to drive more volume of sales, and don't hurt margins significantly.
If you putting sale prices on retail items, I recommend do so sparingly. If you do it every other week, customers will get used to the sale price as the regular price and won't pay full price. Good times to do sale prices are on off season items such as after holiday inventory you need to move out. Another great discount item is if you are closing out a line to move in something new. Or have twice a year hold a bargain day where customers can save on certain lines or everything for a very limited time.
Another idea to help move non-moving items... talk them up. Make it your featured product/line of the week. Have a magic table (white draped table like you see in dept. stores). Beautifully display your products with try me signs, smell me, etc. You can offer at regular price but throw in a free-gift of various product samples. This cost next to nothing but free gifts always help move products
Hope I didn't throw too much at you. Thanks for the question. Let me know how it works! Happy Selling!
Jaimey
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