In last month’s article we discussed the benefits of morning meetings and gave you 4 areas to cover in these meetings. Here are another 7 important areas you can discuss as part of your morning meeting agenda:
5. Product. Advise staff of any new items that have been put into the shop since the previous day’s meeting, together with any price rises on fast sellers.
6. Review the Future Sales sheet from the previous day (these are the enquiries you were asked for that you weren’t able to close). Choose a few items from the list for discussion. Ask questions such as: I see we had a lady looking at a $2,000 ring yesterday who wanted to look around. What do you feel was the main reason she didn’t buy from us yesterday? Does anyone think there was anything we could have done, said, or offered her, which would have helped her make a decision yesterday? What are we going to do differently today as a result of what we learned yesterday?
The main reasons for customers walking out without buying are: not having the right products, they want to look around, they want to talk to their partner, or they don’t believe they are getting value for money. What can we do to overcome these objections?
7. The average sale for the month is up/down. Why do you feel this is happening? We need to work on some higher priced product. I’d like everyone to really concentrate on this today. Show the customer the best items we have first. Don’t forget our added value services are there to help you. Is there anything else we can do to increase the average sale?
8. Having chosen an item of old product in each category i.e. diamond rings, silver bracelets, stone rings, watches, gold chain, etc., get the items out on the Monday meeting and ask why do you think these items haven’t sold? Is there something we can do with it that will make it more sellable i.e. make it a lower setting, add a shoulder diamond, etc? For the next week, every customer that comes in looking for a gold chain must be shown this piece. Remember, we can’t get any new product until we clear some of the old pieces. If we must give a discount or meet a customer’s price point, then old product can be used as a last resort. Don’t be tempted to discount this too easily just because you know it’s old.
9. Attention to detail. Remember, our store is like a five star hotel. People expect the best. When you stay in a five star hotel you expect the staff to be more friendly, the rooms to be more comfortable, the view to be better, the bed to be softer, the ashtrays to be emptied more frequently, pictures to be straight, high standards of cleanliness, etc. As a manager, you need to encourage and expect extremely high standards. Pay attention to uniforms, store cleanliness, carpets, signs, lighting and first impressions. Enter your store as a customer would. Be critical. Does it measure up? Does all inventory have a clean, easy to read ticket? Is the inventory itself clean and well lit? Is it straight? Can you tell what it is by looking at it? Do staff have name badges? Is the glass clean? Are there any dead flies in the window, etc.?
10. General business. Deal with other general matters such as repairs, rosters etc. at the conclusion of the meeting.
11. Be sure to keep control of the meeting and stay focused on one issue at a time. Your goal is to inform and motivate. Be well prepared and don’t go over the allotted time.
So why not have a morning meeting? One of the biggest reasons is that many stores have staff starting at different times and days. You can overcome this by talking to the majority during the meeting and keeping minutes of it for those who come in later to review and discuss with you. Even if only 50% of staff are present you will still benefit from this. Bigger issues can be dealt with in a monthly meeting for all staff to attend.
The important thing is don’t let barriers be an excuse to having regular staff morning meetings. Those who have done it can testify to the benefits – and most never stop doing it once they get started.
David Brown is President of the Edge Retail Academy, an organization devoted to the ongoing measurement and growth of jewelry store performance and profitability. For further information about the Academy’s management mentoring and industry benchmarking reports contact inquiries@edgeretailacademy.com or call 877-569-8657.
