It seems to me that most jewelry store owners, sales managers, and salespeople are working in their store or business, not necessarily on their store or business. You may be asking, what is the difference? Working in your business is simply reacting to the day-to-day happenings within the organization. Most are waiting on customers, buying merchandise, accounting for the merchandise and the receipts of the day, displaying merchandise, creating and running advertisements and doing various promotions. Others are working on their business by proactively seeking new information, reading as many business books and trade journals as possible, attending educational seminars and actually growing the business.
I have always believed that if a jewelry store owner or manager can create an environment of personal growth and development, then that organization will be successful. People cannot just react to the way things are. Aggressive, progressive people need to create business, not just wait for business. Many people have been doing things the same way for years, if not decades. Retail is changing, the jewelry business is certainly changing, the way people shop and buy merchandise has changed, and I know that it will continue to change.
Every successful professional jewelry salesperson has to have a tremendous level of confidence. In order to reach a high level of confidence, salespeople must possess and use their knowledge. Knowledge breeds confidence. A little confidence can go a long way in helping you to not only make more sales but also increase the quality of each sale.
In selling, confidence simply means this: when you make a sales presentation you know that you can make a sale. If you know your products well enough, and you know your selling (people) skills well enough, is there any reason to think you won’t make the sale?
Do you remember your first day on the sales floor? I know I was scared to death. Then, every day I gained a little bit more knowledge, a little bit more confidence, and then one day I was comfortable. Unfortunately, confidence can also breed complacency. Many business owners, sales managers, and salespeople fall into the trap of becoming complacent, and they stop gaining new knowledge.
Early in my career I was lucky enough to have a supervisor ask me; “Do you have five years of experience, or one year of experience that you have relived five times?” Needless to say, this is a very compelling question. Unfortunately for me, the answer was that I had one year of experience that I had relived five times. The question woke me up to the fact that I had let my education toward my career development falter. I had fallen into the trap of mediocrity. At that point, I made a decision to seek all of the information and knowledge that I possibly could about my business and career.
To that end, this year I am extremely excited to have teamed up with some of the greatest retail minds that I have had the pleasure of meeting. John Thedford, author of the book “Smart Moves Management, Cultivating World-Class People and Profits,” David Johns an Industrial Psychologist, who specializes in hiring and placement of people within an organization, and Jennifer Kanistras, a specialist in retail loss prevention.
Along with myself, we are introducing the Retail Strategies and Solutions Seminar Series. During the course of the seminar series we will be dissecting, analyzing and putting into practical application the information from four of the greatest business books ever written: “The Effective Executive,” “First Break all the Rules,” “Good to Great” and “Smart Moves Management.” One book will be broken down per seminar with added information from each of the specialists. The seminars are scheduled for March, May, August and October.
If you want to take your sales, profits, business, knowledge and education to a whole new level you need to attend this seminar series. Space will be limited so call us for more details. I look forward to hearing from you.
Author, trainer, consultant, and speaker Brad Huisken is President of IAS Training. Huisken has authored several books and training manuals on sales and produces a Weekly Sales Training Meeting video series along with Aptitude Tests and Proficiency Exams for new hires, current sales staff and sales managers. In addition, he publishes a free weekly newsletter called “Sales Insight” For a free subscription or more information contact IAS Training at 800-248-7703 or info@iastraining.com. Visit his website at www.iastraining.com.
