Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from The Retail Doctor’s Blog.
Do you remember what it was like when you started your first retail sales job? The joy of finding out how you could do better and especially sell better was intoxicating.
But after a while you began to make assumptions, especially when it came to selling the merchandise. You began to believe you had superpowers and could read people just by observing them.
You instantly thought you knew: She's not going to buy anything, she never does. He's too cheap. She's comparing Amazon. He's just kicking tires.
As salespeople, we become so certain of how shoppers will act that we become jaded.
How do you motivate an underperforming retail sales team?
First, give everyone the chance to learn and start over. If one can't or won't, then have a sit-down with them and get their buy-in. If they won't change, fire one of them or all of them.
Retailers continue to think their greatest enemy to making a sale is price. A lost sale is never just about price and it isn't just about the product itself. It's about how the employee interfaces with the shopper to reduce the fear of purchase.
What do shoppers fear?
Shoppers fear they can't afford the best; can't find the best option; the item won't do what they want; or their wife, husband, or significant other — you name them — will think they got taken for a fool.
For those reasons, each salesperson has to be open to their ability to solve what shoppers fear. As salespeople, we have to be open to the discovery of the person in front of us, without trying to get rid of them because we think they are cheap or not worth our time.
The shopper hasn't changed. They still want to feel better when they meet someone in a store; they still want someone to help them; they still want to feel their money allowed them to experience a place where people took care of them and respected their time and money ...
Not an experience where someone tried to get rid of them with minimum service levels.
- How To Improve An Underperforming Retail Sales Team – The Retail Doctor