Longs Beware!

Pacific Business News announced today that the Walgreen Co. plans to open their first store on Maui late next year.

The store will be 15,000 square feet, and will be built in Lahaina across from the Lahaina Cannery Mall. It will include a drive-through pharmacy, and they are expected to employ more than 40 people. With unemployment being as low as it is, this should be very interesting.

They announced earlier this year that they intend to open 30 stores in Hawaii and will position them as close to Longs as they can. This one will be right across the street.

The nation’s largest drugstore chain is set to make its Hawaii debut on November 1, when it opens its first Hawaii store on November 1 in the former Tower Records store on Ke’eamoku Street in Honolulu.

Promotions and Deals

CNNMoney quotes the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) as saying that this year’s holiday sales will be “the softest levels seen since 2004″. Their prediction is that “retailers will be relying on promotions and other deals” will be the way most retailers will deal with the softening trend.

While these marketing efforts might bring more customers into the store, my suggestion would be a stronger focus on selling to those in the store.

It’s amazing to see the lack of attention that shoppers get these days, and the biggest violators seem to be the biggest stores. My father told me that “volume can make up for a multitude of sins”.

While that is probably true, why not capitalize on what is in front of you with better service?

September in Hawaii

Yes, we do see fewer visitors in September than we do in the busy months of July and August. That does not have to equate to less sales.

September travelers are generally speaking more affluent travelers. They are not dependent upon school schedules or summer vacations. They select September as the time to visit Hawaii specifically because it is not as crowded.

Fewer travelers mean easier upgrades on airplanes and hotel rooms. Restaurants are not so crowded, making for better seating choices. These are people who may be “pampered” back home, possibly even “spoiled” by great service because of who they are.

If you keep that in mind, and give every customer the service that he or she expects, your September sales can surpass those done in the “busier” months.

Click on the photo to enlarge, and then click on your back button to return to the blog.

They all count!

Numbers tell a story. It is important to know how effective your salespeople are at converting “traffic” into “sales”.

A door counter is a good way to measure many things. I used to discourage the use of door counters for fear that salespeople would use the low numbers on certain days as an excuse for low sales. We all know that how many customers you have is not as important as what you do with them. A question that I ask salespeople all the time is, “How many good customers do you need in a day to have a good day?” The answer is always a resounding, “One”.

My attitude about door counters changed once we found a way to present this information powerfully as a part of the Morning Report. I am now surprised at the number of retailers that don’t measure their store’s traffic. Without this number, measuring the true effectiveness of your salespeople is very limited.

We have always tracked things like, total sales, sales per hour, average daily sales, and units per transaction on the Morning Report. But now we can track and display two more very important measurables; Sales per Capita and Capture Percentage.

“Sales per capita” tells you how much every person walking through the door is worth to you, (on an average) regardless if he or she buys anything or not. The “capture percentage” will tell you what percentage of them bought something. These two stats, when displayed dramatically are very powerful motivational tools. This becomes a good way to compare stores as well as salespeople.

Predictably, some salespeople will point to the inaccuracy of the traffic counters. They will talk about employees coming and going, groups coming in together, and various other scenarios that might impact the accuracy of the door count. Of course you only hear these complaints from stores or salespeople that are not doing well. “Accountability” is tough on some people, but it is essential to your success.

There are numerous door counters on the market, ranging from under $100 to over $1,000. My experience has been that you don’t need all of the bells and whistles provided with the high priced door counters, while some of the real cheap ones are not reliable at all and break down too often.

Give us a call for our recommendations.

Look Ahead to the Future

When selling, think about more than just this sale. With a little added thought and effort you can manage the lifetime buying cycle of your customers.

Rest assured there is someone out there that wants your customer, and it is a sad scenario when a customers goes to a different store next time when you have what they are buying.

Build Lasting Relationships:

You have access to tools today that didn’t exist just a decade ago. How effectively are you using e-mail, your computer, your web site, and the good old the telephone? When you use all of these tools (and more) you will have satisfied customers that wouldn’t dream of buying from your competition. Could you imagine getting great service in a restaurant and then dropping your tip on a different table?

Behavior Styles:

The four primary styles of behavior are; aggressive, expressive, passive or analytical. You as well as your customers fall into one of these four styles. Be sure to communicate in the style that is comfortable for your customer. Aggressive customers want service NOW, not later. Expressive people need to see samples and pictures. Passive people can’t deal with pressure, and the analytical mind needs to understand the value.

Questions put you control.

In every conversation, someone is in control. When selling that should be the salesperson.

When control is relinquished to the customer you get questions like these:

Questions can be used to open a conversation, discover customer needs and even close the sale.
The rule when asking questions is; “NEVER ask a question that MIGHT get you an answer you DON’T want to hear”. Ask SAFE questions.
PDR – Practice, drill and rehearse. Get your questions down pat. Practice out loud to yourself, drill them into your head and rehearse them with co-workers.

Good Questions from Retail Selling Made Easy:
When customers come into a store they have a purpose, and that is to “discover” more about your store and what you have to offer. Ask questions that lead to giving that information. Ask, “Is this your first time in the store?” or “When were you in last?” Those questions set you up to tell the customer about your store and merchandise.
Questions like, “May I help you?” or “What can I show you?” are quite likely to get you answers you DON’T want to hear.
Asking, “How are you today?” is lame and insincere. Customers do not come into your store to tell you how they are doing today. This insincere question is likely to get an insincere reply like, “Fine”; it doesn’t take you anywhere.
Do YOU have any questions?

Salespeople hate hearing, “No”.

Jerry Kohl, the founder of Brighton Collectibles, once told me that he used to require reps to come to a weekly meeting armed with two “No’s”. My initial response was, “Wow that must make for some negative meetings. Jerry said, “No, you would be surprised how many “Yes’s” they found looking for those two “No’s”.

Interesting; by making the dreaded “No” okay he got people calling on stores that they might otherwise drive on by thinking, “No, they wouldn’t be interested”. They went in thinking, “I’ll get one of my required “No’s”, and damn, it became a “Yes” and they had to keep on looking for the “No’s”.

In Retail Selling Made Easy I say, “If NO to the wrong item is not alright with the salesperson, then YES to the right item will not be okay with the customer.
The minute you try to sell me something that I don’t like, there is something else I don’t like.
Guess what that is.

Shortages are Costly; but Controllable!
There are two basic sources of missing merchandise;
1.) Customer theft
2.) Employee theft.
Statistics show that employee theft is the largest.

Employee Theft:

Employees have the best opportunity to seal if so inclined. They know what your security systems are, who is watching and when. It is almost impossible to keep an employee that wants to steal from doing so. They can steal money as well as merchandise.

What can you do?
You can be more careful when hiring. Do background checks and call references. When in doubt, do without. A person who will lie to you on a resume may also be inclined to steal from you on the job.
When scheduling, keep in mind that it is easier to steal when alone than when working with another employee. There are many good reasons to have people working with someone. An even bigger reason than theft retardation is added sales. Once one person gets busy with a customer, that’s when more customers come into the store, and they are not as likely to be serviced.

Happy employees are not as likely to steal, so keeping people happy is another deterrant. Watch for trouble signals. When someone starts complaining (about anything) it may be time to move on.

Customer Theft:
The pros are going to get you; accept it. That being said, you can lessen their chances of being successful in your store by keeping a few simple things in mind.

The biggest deterrent to customer theft is an alert salesperson. The simple act of making eye contact and greeting a customer will cause some would be thieves to turn around and leave.

Your constant attention drives shoplifter’s nuts. A person intending to steal from you gives up as a result of your willingness to help with information and buying decisions. It is interesting that the things you can do to lesson theft are the same things that increase sales.

Thieves know how to remove security tags, so check the change room when someone leaves and limit the amount of merchandise taken in there. When someone comes out of the change room looking like he or she gained a few pounds in there, be suspicious.

If you see someone put something in his or her pocket or purse, say something like, “I think you accidentally dropped that Rolex you were looking at into your purse. Will you please take it out?”

There is no crime committed until the culprit leaves the store. Should that be the case, make a good note of the person’s description and license plate number, and then call the police. Don’t be a hero! People about to get busted can become violent, and your health is more important than the merchandise.

Sell to 80% of your customers - Learn How!
Can you sell something to everyone?
Unless you work at McDonald’s, chances are the answer is, “No”.
The 20% 20% 60% Rule of Retail say’s, “20% of the people who come into your store WILL buy something regardless of what you say or do. 20% will NOT buy anything regardless of what you say or do. 80% WILL buy or NOT buy depending TOTALLY upon what you say and do.”
Obviously the percentages will vary slightly depending upon your product. The WILL BUY percentage will be a little higher in a convenience store than in a high end jewelry store, art gallery or furniture store, but the principle is the same.
The person that is face-to-face with the customer plays a bigger role in the buying decision than anyone else in the chain of events leading up to the customer entering the store.
It’s sad to see a great location with great fixtures; fabulous marketing and great merchandise at fair prices fail due to poor service. It happens every day!
Anyone can sell to the first 20%, and no one can sell to the second 20%. To capture more of that 60% be sure that customers are greeted in a sincere manner, given the information that they need to make intelligent buying decisions, and aided in making those decisions.

Fact; People like getting e-mail.

Of course there are exceptions, and some e-mail is better received than others, but generally speaking “You have mail” are welcome words when opening your e-mail program.
The same was true in times past when all mail came to your mail box.

When was the last time that you went shopping, came home and opened up your e-mail to find a simple “thank you” e-mail from one of the stores where you shopped? Such e-mail would likely be well received, especially if it came from someone you did NOT buy from, and does NOT have a “sales pitch” as a part of it. A link to your web site is enough.

I talk with many companies that have systems in place to gather e-mail addresses and other customer information, but in too many cases it stops there. Or, it goes into a data base somewhere with good intent to send e-mail about upcoming sales, promotions or new merchandise. In some cases even that doesn’t happen.

Seldom do I hear about a company sending “thank you for visiting us today” e-mail regardless if a purchase was made or not. This amounts to a big missed opportunity to impress people with your appreciation of their time and business. Everyone likes being appreciated.

A good way to get e-mail addresses is to have a weekly or monthly drawing of some sort with winners posted on your web site. Be sure that you do not ask for too much information on the drawing ticket; name and e-mail address is all you need.

I dropped my business card in a fishbowl at a cafe recently and got a return e-mail telling me who the winner was (not me), but offering me a consolation prize of a free bowl of soup with my next purchase.

Get creative; e-mail is free, and properly used can be the most effective and inexpensive marketing tool of all.