I’m going to give you a challenge – to beat the largest sale your store has recorded!
Sound interesting? Before you say you don’t think you can do it, remember you’ve had a biggest sale before, all you need to do is beat it by $1. That shouldn’t be too difficult.
So what’s your biggest sale? It should stick in your memory, but if not go back to your reports and work out what it was (a clue, it should be in your diamond department!)
How did this sale happen? What were the circumstances around it? Who was the customer and why did they buy? Did they shop around before coming to you? Are they a regular customer or a one off? Who made the sale? Was the item in store or a make?
These variables will show you the background of how you can recreate the circumstances. For example if your best salesperson made the sale, it was a 3 stone ring and was purchased by a regular customer then is it possible that your best salesperson could sell a 3 stone ring (worth a little more) to another regular customer?
Now, as motivation ask yourself, how much gross profit did I make on this sale? And remember gross profit is often net profit too at this level. What would you be able to buy if you made that sort of sale again? This will provide you with the juice to make it happen. If the gross profit on the sale will pay for you and a loved one to have 3 weeks in the south of France, there’s a pretty compelling reason to make it happen again!
Let’s take our 3 stone diamond example from above. Firstly, if the previous sale was $20000, the question to ask if you want to repeat the process is do we have a 3 stone in store that is worth more than $20000? If you don’t then no problem; buy the same piece back and this time since you know it sells, price it slightly higher! (I know this sounds simple – the best ideas are always the simplest!) If you don’t want to commit to the item, see if you can get it on memo for a couple of weeks.
Now get your customer list out. Who amongst your repeat customers is similar to the previous customer who bought? Who may also be interested in a 3 stone ring at that price?
Once you have a list of prospects, have your staff member who made the sale phone them! What happens if you don’t get a sale? Nothing! You’ve spent a couple of hours on the phone. What happens if you do get a customer to come in and buy? Great! Rinse and repeat.
This is only one variable. The other option is go back to the previous client (who can clearly afford $20000 items) and suggest a $25000 item they might like to go with it.
What happens if they aren’t interested? Nothing! Your head doesn’t fall off, and they don’t stop shopping with you.
I can already hear the voices in your head:
“We can’t do that, she won’t want another item.”
“They wouldn’t want a 3 stone ring.”
“We can’t sell the same item to someone else for a higher price.”
Stop right now. As humans we are guilty of over-thinking things and we are also afraid to fail. Success only comes after failure. If you don’t constantly look for ways to fail (and you need to fail quickly and cheaply) then you don’t test your boundaries and move forward, and your business doesn’t grow.
There is someone out there ready to pay the highest amount that anyone has paid for an item in your store. You just haven’t asked them yet.
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.
