It’s as EASY as ABC

-Attention to the customer is more important than anything. Period.
-Be on the floor during peak hours.
-Check your ego at the door.
-Delegate operational areas so you can spend more time leading your team.
-Energy and passion are your most effective tools.
-Focus your team on achieving daily goals and the month will take care of itself.
-Go first when you introduce something new in the store. People learn from watching you.
-Humor is a great way to manage your team - as long as it’s in good taste. Remember, what’s funny to you may not be funny to someone else on your team
-Interview potential employees as if your future depends on it. Most of the time it does.
-Just because you think something doesn’t mean you should say it. Think before talking.
-Knowledgeable employees are vital to a store’s success. Your role is to provide knowledge in an easy to learn, easy to apply method.
-Lead by example with every customer encounter.
-Meeting one-on-one with each team member every month keeps communication open and positive.
-Never put off a difficult conversation with an employee unless the time truly isn’t right. Waiting rarely makes it easier or better.
-Optimism is a must for a team to achieve its goals.
-Practice makes permanent. Roleplay with at least one person every day. Remember, go first.
-Question your team members regularly about how you and the store can improve. Be open to their suggestions.
-Respect people’s privacy. As a manager or owner it’s inappropriate to share knowledge about one person with another unless there’s a real need to know.
-Stress out at work and your team stresses with you. Remain upbeat and positive and your team remains upbeat and positive.
-Time is one of the most valuable assets you have in a day. Spend it wisely.
-Use each team member’s strength to help others on the team to grow.
-Values and integrity determine what kind of leader you really are.
-“We” should be used more than “I” or “you” every day.
-X rated words should never be used at the store.
-Your development is as important as your team’s development. You can’t give away what you don’t have.
-Zap negativity before it spreads. Resolve issues or conflicts before they undermine the rest of the team and, eventually, the customer.

Ask For the Money
Everyone has heard the old adage that when you “assume” you make an ass out of you and me. In most cases that’s true, but there are times in selling when you must assume the sale and ask for the money.
Once you have overcome any objections and are certain your customer wants what you are selling, do not “ASSUME” that he or she will whip out the credit card and say, “I’ll take it.” Simply ask, “Will that be cash or check?” Your customers will not be shocked to hear that they need to pay for it.

Know It Well
When selling in a retail store, it’s important to tell your customers the “W’s” about your store; WHO you are; WHAT you are, WHAT you sell, and WHERE it is in the store, BEFORE you start selling product. Doing this breaks down barriers, makes the “trust sale” and gives the customer direction.
To be prepared, you must have it memorized and practiced to the point that you can deliver it as if it were the 1st time you ever did.
I was delighted to get a call recently from a sales manager asking for ”my take” on this memo he was sending to his sales staff. It went something like this.
Do You Have Your Elevator Speech Ready?
Think back to the times you may have met and talked to strangers in an elevator? You probably told them a little bit about yourself; such as where you’re from, what you do, and why you’re in town. Now think about the length of the ride. It was probably no more than a minute or two, tops. It had to be. This short conversation is called an “Elevator Speech.” Now think about a short, to the point “Elevator Speech” that you can use when you “TELL” (Step 4) your customers about your store. In Retail Selling Made Easy, Ron says, “Tell your customers who you are, what you are, what you sell and where it is in a pro-active, no-pressure manner.” Pro-Active, No Pressure Selling enables you to make the most of your time with customers while effectively following the 9 Steps to Sale City.
Needless to say, I approved of this memo.

Practice “Detective” Behavior
When customers say, “I need to think about it” or “I’ll be back” you have work to do. In Retail Selling Made Easy I say, “Take off your salesperson hat and put on your detective hat.” Until you know the true objection you cannot overcome it. If the truth is that it is too much, too big, too small or the wrong color, and the customer tells you that she needs to think about it, there’s nothing to think about. If you can get her to tell you that it’s “too much” for example, there are several things you may be able to do, like re-stablishing the value, financing, finding a different product or in some cases even reducing the price.
I was in a store today and saw a customer come in, go straight to a product, talk with the salesperson for a while, and then say, “I’ll be back” and leave. I questioned the salesperson about this and he told me that this customer has been in several times to look at the same thing, and he is sure he will come back and buy it. I said, “Not if he buys it somewhere else in the meantime.” Fortunately this salesperson is one that wants to be better and he asked, “What could I have said?” I explained to him that this is the hardest part of selling; the part where salespeople are separated from clerks and order takers. I suggested he say, “Okay, but SOMETIMES when people want to come back, it’s just the wrong one. It’s important to be sure, and since you keep coming back, something MIGHT NOT be right about it. Before you leave, tell me, what MIGHT NOT be right about this one?” Now just shut up and see what you hear. If there’s an objection you can overcome, do so; if the customer says, “No, it’s not that,” say, “So do you think it MIGHT BE the right one?” If the answer is, “Yes” say, “Let’s be sure” and then review the facts. If there’s no good reason to not get it, you can say, “It looks like this is the right one, I suggest you get it now and you won’t need to come back.”
This is admittedly uncomfortable at times, but it’s in the best interest of both you and the customer that you do it. As I said, this is where salespeople are separated from clerks and order takers. Very few people get in line at McDonald’s, ask a bunch of questions, and then say, “I need to think about it” and leave.

By Curtis Wilson Cost

This is a re-print of a memo that Curtis Cost sent to his staff:

Many years ago, I had a tennis-lesson-from-hell at the Maui Country Club. Steve, the club pro, came up to the edge of the net and asked me to hit the one stroke I was absolutely certain I could return successfully within his reach every single time. He would hit it back to me and we would count how many hits we could accumulate before missing a ball. He fed me a ball and we started rallying and reached 10 or 15 before I missed one. Steve re-approached the net and said again, “Hit the one ball you know you can hit each and every time.”
The next rally got to 30 or so before I missed another. Steve once again approached the net but this time he raised his voice. “Hit the one ball YOU KNOW you can get back safely!” His tone was a little unnerving and I started to wonder what gave him the right to speak to me like that. After all, I was his client, not his subordinate. Our next rally got to about 35 hits before I hit another a little out of his reach. All of a sudden, Steve threw down his racket and marched up to the net and yelled at me. “CURTIS, HIT THE ONE YOU KNOW YOU CAN HIT BACK SAFELY EVERY SINGLE TIME!”

I stood there completely aghast as he walked back to pick up his racket. He turned and calmly fed me another ball. I was beside myself. I could not believe the nerve of this guy. I decided that I would report his abuse to the club’s board of directors. When the ball reached me I hit it so focused on not missing another one that I hit a safe little dink, just to make sure it went back to him. I did this again and again, focusing and concentrating on my footwork, bending my knees, stepping through the ball making absolutely sure I got it back to him. We reached well over a hundred hits. At that point Steve grabbed the ball out of the air. “Exactly! That is exactly what I’m after. That focused little dink you’re hitting is the one I’m looking for. You need to be aware that you possess it. That’s the shot you need to rely on. It’s the absolute minimum and essential shot that will get you out of trouble.”

I walked away intent upon reporting him to the club officials. He had clearly crossed the line. On the other hand I DID learn what he meant for me to learn. There is a place to go to, mentally, which has a different focus. I didn’t know that I possessed a shot which I can hit every time if I focused and concentrated on removing all the unnecessary variables. I would not have found it if Steve hadn’t taken it to such extremes. In my quiver of tennis strokes, this is the one on which my game is now based.

My motive in telling this story has to do with The Boss goals in the Morning Report. When you set your Boss goals, you need to use the same strategy.

The Boss is an instrument to HELP you, not demoralize you. If it is demoralizing you, the goals are not set right. Set your goal at something you KNOW you can daily attain. It’s okay for it to be low, but it MUST BE REACHED EVERY SINGLE MONTH. Remember, it’s an average. You might make up a few bad days with one good day. But it is vital that you commit to a number and maintain it.

It’s also equally important to use the diagnostics Ron Martin provides to improve your performance to higher levels, such as the Sales City Express.

Everything yields to focused concentration and attainable goals. It’s a proven system you can rely on. The charts are illuminating if you use them, but they must be used to do any good.

Ask others for tips and advice. Make Pro-active, No-Pressure Selling the focus of your time at work. Read a chapter in the book before starting each shift. Rehearse the steps with every customer.
Set reasonable and reachable goals and commit to them.
-Curtis

Another Record Crowd
I conducted my 1st Monthly Success Rally at Whalers Village in May of 1991. We had about 25 people in attendance. Today, 19 1/2 years later, we set yet another attendance record; 195 people.

The Line-Up
People line up early at Leilanis on the Beach to get their refreshments and favorite front or back row seats.

SRO
Today we had standing room only. My topics at these rallies vary from teaching Pro-Active, No-Pressure Selling to “Life Lessons” that can be used no matter what a person’s job is today or will be tomorrow.
Today’s subjects were “Handling Customer Discount Requests, Being Positive, Goal Setting, and Discipline.”
I am grateful to the management staff at Whaler’s Village, Leilani’s and General Growth Properties for extending this long time, ongoing opportunity for me to make a difference.

Learning Becomes Permanent
You can teach a dolphin to jump in the air by offering a reward when done. Once that behavior has been learned, the dolphin is “trained” and will always make the jump EVERY TIME the reward is offered, regardless of the weather, the dolphin’s mood and what the other dolphins are doing.

Not With People
I have come to the conclusion that you cannot “train” people. Often times I am introduced as a “sales trainer” and I usually start my talk with a disclaimer to the introduction. It’s easy to assume you can “train” people since they are a part of the animal kingdom.
You can teach people WHAT to do, but they are oftentimes greatly influenced by things like the weather, their mood and what other people are doing, regardless of the rewards.

Constant Coaching
Once taught, people must be motivated, coached and inspired to keep doing it. Even professional athletes that have been taught the game well need constant motivation, coaching and inspiration to play at their best potential. In professional football there are more coaches on the sidelines than there are players on the field.

Head Coach
The head coach never misses a down, and these are pros; the best of the best. In business we often times find the head coach (manager) in the office, the back room, out of town, or down at the bank during the game.
No wonder there are so many “fumbles.”

Still Only $10 Each

The Ron Raw series of CD’s recorded live and unedited at recent Success Rallies is growing and becoming very popular.
These “lively” CD’s are ideal for listening to in your car or as “background sound” while working on your computer.

The current available titles are:
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“Systems Work”
40 Minutes

This CD outlines the differences that following a system can make, as compared to “shooting from the hip” when selling, or playing “mental combat” with customers.

This CD explains why so many customers reject a salesperson right from the start, and how you can break down that defense.
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“Stop Shoplifting”
20 Minutes

Whether you call it “Pilferage”, “Shrinkage” or “Shoplifting” it all costs you money. Some of it is unavoidable, but much of it can be controlled.

This CD shares things that you can do to CUT YOUR LOSSES.
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“First Impressions”
52 Minutes

Customers begin forming impressions from the moment they enter your store.
First Impressions are lasting impressions and you only get one chance to make the best one.

This CD outlines the keys to making the best first impression, both visually and audibly.
How you Look and What you Say make the first impression. When you make the right one you open the door for selling success.
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“Pro-Active, No-Pressure Selling 9 Steps”
66 Minutes

This CD Features Ron presenting a total overview of all 9 steps in one fast moving hour and six minutes. This is a CD that you will want to listen to over and over in your car and on your computer.

Pro-Active, No-Pressure is a system. By hearing to it repetitiously you will eventually find yourself using it automatically in the store. When you do, your sales will go up and up.
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“Restaurant Success”
62 Minutes

It’s the little things that determine the level of success in any business. When it comes to a restaurant, those “little things” add up to the customer’s total experience.

Amazingly, the same behavior that leads to a great dining experience also leads to a better bottom line for the restaurant as a business.

This CD covers those little things. It is something that you will want everyone to hear from the hostess to the dishwasher.
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“Questions Are the Answer”
51 Minutes

Someone is always in control; if it not the salesperson, it will be the customer. Salespeople that know where they are going and how to get there are the ones that have the most success.

Questions give you control. Questions allow you to determine the direction you are going with a sale. There are good questions and there are bad questions. This CD tells you which is which.

Order Yours Today - 808-947-7500