By this time, you most likely have examined the statistics from the holiday season. In looking over those products for which customers demonstrated a greater appreciation, take a fair amount of time to reflect upon precisely where shoppers parted with their cash and where merchandise took up a greater amount of your store’s real estate without rapid churning through your inventory. In your looking, physically relocate items that are HOT! to more prominent locations on your sales floor. (Hopefully, while you and your staff are doing this physical relocation, you are also cleaning, polishing, and updating your displays!) In both groups, the bread and butter group and the real estate hog group, what specifically do you notice as differences between the two groups? Is it style? Is it purpose? Is it manufacturer? Is it personalization options? What observations, backed by statistics, do you note between the two groups?
Stop a bit and admire your handiwork in updating your merchandising…do the old “Walk the Store Lease Line trick.” What impresses your eye and makes you take a second or third look? Utilize your staff in assessing “curb appeal.” (I’m guessing that more eyeballs will elicit more refining of product selections and eye-catching merchandising of all your most sparkling wares!) From your walk-through observations, note what works, note any “missing elements” that would take your store from good to STUNNING!
One example of a missing element in your marketing or product strategy may include improved technology resources which streamline the entire purchasing experience. Buyers who have grown up in our technology-driven society expect and rely upon computers to facilitate the entire purchasing experience.
Customers may gather information consistent with their tastes and budgets from many sources: social media, websites, magazines, in-store visits, friends, etc. Having a design suite available to the customer draws their attention to what their fantasy jewelry is all about, including what is possible for gemstones and settings, as well as keeping pricing within their budgets! The upside to this for you is that you need not invest in huge amounts of inventory and then need to relegate some of those items to the “bargain” area of your store. Updating your store to utilize technology is an excellent strategy to engage the customer in the selection of specific items to be incorporated into their purchase, while controlling the cost and quality of the piece.
Point of Sale software/hardware applications make completing transactions convenient, fast, and secure. When combined with your financial software, cash management is more efficient and detailed. Completing financial transactions becomes so completely integrated into the selection process, the act of parting with money becomes virtually painless! (Pun intended.)
Creating RELEVANCE for your customers can benefit from the integration of many technologies; the single most IMPORTANT component of any sale remains rooted in tradition! Um, that would be YOU AND YOUR STAFF!
Impeccability and Integrity
As a buyer, if I want to make a quick, minimal-thought one-and-done purchase, I probably will complete the transaction online or by dashing into a big box, self-service bulk-buy emporium.
If I am making an investment purchase, that is meant to last many years, have lasting esthetic appeal, tailored specifically to the tastes of the end-user, (whether that’s me or my beloved, or someone else of extreme significance), I need the services of someone I can TRUST completely to assist me through the process of completing this important purchase.
That trust comes from dealing with an individual, a staff, and a store that is absolutely FOCUSED on managing infinite details, COMMITTED to honesty, fairness, satisfaction and quality.
Skilled and Trained
As I present my buyer-self at a purchasing experience emporium, I am hopeful, yet skeptical that the people with whom I will be interacting will be adept at handling my human needs and my financial needs. I don’t want to be MANIPULATED into a purchase that may prove disappointing in the long run. I need to interact with someone who is CAREFUL to listen to my expressed desires and is CAPABLE of asking questions to help me refine my wishes and can lead me to the best choices for this purchase.
BEING the individual who is focused, committed, careful and capable creates the EXACT circumstance for customers to thrive, for staff to shine and for merchandise to move successfully to its ultimate destination! Aptitude, affability, and precise step-by-step training sets in motion the customer-staff interactions that nurture long-term relationships that drive business success.
Consistent training for staff to keep motivations and skills honed to their fantastic best are essential to maintaining proficiency over time. IAS Training offers a multitude of products to enhance your staff’s training! Newly, we offer sequential computerized training modules as a valuable training asset to your staff. These are offered in short bursts of training online, combined with the accessibility from a variety of platforms. Go to www.jewelry.ddkmarketing.com for more info and an informational video. This is an exciting development for everyone that really accelerates staff development in a user-friendly environment. We would treasure the opportunity to discuss any and all of these programs with 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.
