Stephanie Chandler asked:


In a time with so much economic uncertainly, consumers are on the hunt for bargains. And consumers aren’t the only ones tightening up their belts; businesses large and small are scrutinizing purchases more than ever.

Whether your company sells to consumers or business, creative promotion strategies can give sales a much-needed boost to revenues in a difficult economy. To generate ideas, take a look at the big retailers. While the economy is slow, the big box stores are pulling out all the stops to bring customers in the door (and to their websites).

Following is a list of promotion strategies from the real world. Use these to inspire ideas for generating creative promotions for your business. Though many of these are used in retail sales, they can easily be replicated for all kinds of businesses.

Gift with Purchase

One local furniture store frequently gives away substantial gifts with purchase. For example, buy a bedroom set and get a flat screen T.V. or a gas barbecue. The cost of the bonus item can be subsidized by partnering with the maker of the give-away (they offer it at cost in exchange for publicity).

Falling Prices

Many retailers are trimming prices across the board and using the opportunity to advertise: “Check out our new lower prices!” You can bet that they will raise prices again later when the economy begins its recovery, but in the meantime, it gives them an edge over their competition.

A New Spin on the BOGO Offer

The Buy One, Get One offer is a perennial favorite and one retailer found a way to inspire higher-dollar purchases. At the time of this writing, Costco is selling five $20 Starbucks gift cards (a $100 value) for $80. Since coffee is a luxury item that can be sacrificed when consumers tighten up their budgets, offering a discount provides a boost to both Costco and Starbucks.

Deep Discounts on Clearance Items

Instead of the typical 20% to 40% discount on end-of-season merchandise, sales racks at stores are boasting discounts as high as 75%. Some even offer an extra 10% off if you use, or apply for, a store credit card. What retailers lose in deeper discounts they make up for in sales volume.

Group Discounts

Many businesses offer special discounts to groups such as seniors, teachers, students, corporations, members of trade associations and non-profits. Whether offering a percentage off on a certain day of the week or year-round, this strategy can provide a great incentive for buyers. As an added bonus, organizations that receive these discounts will often promote the offer to their members.

The Loss-Leader

A loss-leader is a deep discount on a product sold below cost (at a loss) in order to get people in the door (so they will spend money on other purchases). Grocery stores are famous for offering popular items like soda at ridiculously low prices. Recently, the California Lottery held a promotion that caused a traffic jam in one Northern California city. When customers purchased $10 in lottery tickets, they received $50 in gasoline. Not only did this promotion prompt a huge spike in lotto sales, it was so popular that it ended up getting air time on the evening news.

Discounted Gift Certificates

Retailers love gift certificates because they generate cash flow and a high percentage of them never get redeemed. One local hair salon sold gift cards valued at $50 for just $25 and marketed them to the business community. They sold dozens of cards to business owners and sales people who gave them away as gifts for their clients. As a result, the majority of the cards were distributed to potential new clients.

Gift Certificates with a Bonus

A popular holiday promotion that many restaurants and retailers employ is to offer a bonus with gift certificate purchase. For example, for every $50 in gift certificates purchased, get a special $10 gift card. Typically the bonus is valid only in the following month, giving the buyer incentive to return and make yet another purchase.

Free Stuff

To get new customers in the door, one local computer shop offers complimentary health check-ups on computers. While customers wait, they have the opportunity to shop for add-on products and services. In a similar promotion, a local pool company offers six months of pool cleaning services with any new pool installation. After servicing the pools for several months, the company will likely land contracts for continued pool maintenance services from satisfied clients, thus trumping the competition.

Web-Only Discounts

Smart retailers collect e-mail addresses and send out regular promotions to subscribers. For example, save 25% when you shop online before Friday!

Events: Register with a Friend

A great way to fill seats at events is to offer a discount when you purchase two tickets. For example, if registration costs $100 each, sell two for $150.

Remember, the point here is to find creative new ways to promote your products and services. In a difficult economy, price becomes an important factor when making purchasing decisions. In order to thrive in a marketplace that is becoming increasingly competitive, we must all learn to think outside the box to keep the sales wheels turning.



Charles

Jay asked:


Please show work. I have a final tomorrow and i don’t understand how to work this problem.

-thanks

Ann

Michael Porteous asked:


Getting good retail sales is not about just being there and in peoples faces enough for them to buy from you. In today’s market competition is fierce from all sides and with the economy in strife it becomes harder and harder to convert those shoppers into buyers. So what can you do as a sales person in retail to make those customers buy and buy again? These 3 retail sales tips can give you an edge and make lifelong customers to sustain your business!

1. Be confident

As much as this seems a no-brainer and everyone tells you this tip it is important to restate and refine. Confidence is not being loud, or talking fast, or having a huge ego or “dressing for success”. Confidence in selling is a state of mind you must achieve that will flow into your natural style of selling. Forced confidence can be picked up by savvy retail shoppers and turns them off. Instead of trusting you because you are confident and at ease with your style, product and approach, the shopper feels like you are trying to force something on them just as you are forcing confidence.

2. Be Natural

Too many sales people put on a completely different persona when retail selling much to their detriment. Some do this because they feel their ‘natural style’ is not good for selling and other feel that they get more sales with this made up sales person they inhabit while they work. The truth is your natural style infused with a confidence can sell anything and is more genuine and trustworthy than something that is made up. If you feel your retail sales persona is still better then here is a tip … maybe you should be an actor not a sales person!

3. Be Genuine

Not to be confused with being natural. Being natural is just using your own personality when developing your sales style. Being genuine is about gaining the customers trust! Trust is one of the most important things in sales and business and one of the few things that guarantees returning customers. There is no point in hard selling something that a customer does not really want, the sale is not a lasting thing and does damage to your reputation and ongoing customer satisfaction. Remember there are competitors everywhere and you have to be better than them or your customers will flock to someone else!

While there are many ways to read customers and close in for a sales the truth of most sales in retail is that you need to respond to the needs of your customers. These retail sales tips will help you overcome obstacles that can distance yourself from their needs and push them away from the sale.



Maria

Tug Search asked:


Get the Keywords right - Start with an exhaustive list of keywords. Be ready to prune quickly- Concentrate on precise, relevant keywords. - If you sell Retro/Novelty t-shirts you should bid on ‘paris hilton t-shirt’ and avoid ‘paris hilton clothes’- Organise your campaign into highly relevant ad groups that include only the keywords that convert into sales within your CPA target. Eg. ‘paris hilton keywords’, ‘star wars keywords’, ‘dirty dancing keywords’ etc.

Get the Ads right - Test 3-4 ads for each of your ad groups.- Write relevant, benefit focused ad copy. Look for the ones that get the highest click through rates and conversion rates.- For Retail, our experience shows that the following is the best ad format:* Title: Paris Hilton T-shirts - consumer benefit: ‘They have exactly the item I am looking for’* Description 1: All your favourite Retro & Novelty Tees - consumer benefit: ‘They also have other items I might like’* Description 2: Order today, Get it tomorrow! - consumer benefit: ‘I can get my items quickly and easily’* Display URL: www.BrandURL.com/BuyNow - branding and call to action

Get the Landing Page right - Land consumers onto the most relevant page on your site. - Ideally you would have a page that only includes your breadth of Paris Hilton t-shirts.- Links to the rest of the range should be obvious and easy to navigate.- Other consumer benefits such as free postage & packaging, and sales should be obvious. Cross-sell similar items.- Ensure that the sales process is quick and easy

Analyse and Optimise for Profit - Track and record the value of each sale at the keyword level- When optimising, include your margins and the cost of media in your reports, to determine which are your profitable keywords- Depending if you are looking for volume or only profitable individual sales, prune your keyword list accordingly.

Let PPC influence the Product Range - Some items are not easy to describe and are not searched for. Concentrate on the keywords for items in your range that are searched for regularly, and then cross-sell your other items on the landing page.- If you see a high number of ad impressions and clicks for an ad group, with a low number of sales it could be that a product range is popular but you don’t have the breadth of choice being searched for. Let the PPC data influence your range.- Ranges that are popular should be broadened and stocked regularly to support the PPC campaign.

PPC working with your other Marketing Communications - If you have a recognized brand, include this prominently in your PPC ad copy. ‘Official Site’ is a strong consumer benefit.- Support good PR with ‘As seen IN’ and ‘As seen ON’ ad copy. This traditionally drives higher sales for several days after the release.- Brand awareness banner campaigns can greatly increase your PPC brand sales, which are traditionally the cheapest. - Support your PPC campaign with a robust SEO strategy for your broader keywords that drive traffic but have a higher conversion cost through PPC- Ultimately PPC should be driving your regular sales, filling in the troughs, made by the peaks from your other bursts of online and offline communications.



Brent

sara asked:


I would be making more money than any job in the field in which I got my degree in. And it’s a lot easier work. But a lot of people I know look down on people who work in retail sales. What do you think?

Charlotte

Mark Woeppel asked:


Retail sales training will not only you you survive in the retail market, but retail sales training will give you effective results to beat the competition. Many people think that price is what controls the retail market, however with retail sales training you will learn that price may attract customers, but it may not necessarily keep them. The retail market is slit up of several different divisions. Retail sales training can assist with you running each of these divisions at peak performance, thus creating a immaculate retail center.

The biggest part of the retail market is customer service. Customer service not only includes assisting and handling difficult customers, but it also consists of preventing product loss as well as building customer loyalty. Retail sales training will also help your employees with product knowledge. Having product knowledge is very crucial as it will help you assist the customer in finding solution for their need in a quick and professional manner.

Retail sales training will also help your management team develop better employees and establish critical procedures. Retail sales training is not just about how to sell, but also on how to handle certain situations and set forth acceptable policies. Retail sales training can assist you in generating ideas to establish proper training methods that will hold your employees accountable for their actions without having disputes from employees being unable to handle certain situations. Retail training programs help you eliminate future problems, by helping you develop strong policies and guidelines that can be followed to not only bring great customer service, but generate positive experiences from your customers. By establishing set guidelines you will eliminate random decisions and spur-of -the-moment policies which could have a negative effect on your retail center. By establishing a list of set policies, there will be no dispute as to how to handle each situation resulting in less chances for negative outcomes.

Retail sales training can also assist in better plans of action and in creating model stores. Model stores are stores that have strong leaders with leadership skills who use their man power wisely. Retail sales training can assist you in creating better time management skills to create your store into a more productive retail center.

Overall retail sales training can help your daily operations and help you build a stronger management and sales team. Retail sales training can assist you in all the needs of running a retail market.



Jamie

Eric Ewanco asked:


Why do manufacturers print this warning on certain products, typically individual items in a multi-pack? I never saw this until recently (last fifteen, twenty years or so). I mean, obviously, they want to prevent businesses from snapping up the multi-packs and reselling the items, but why? Is it because they are too lazy to label them for individual retail sale? Does it mess with their business model in some way? If so, how? Is it an attempt to force resellers to go through different channels? Again, if so, why is this important?

Lillian

Money Morning asked:


Dragged down by plunging gasoline prices and an auto industry struggling for survival, retail sales fell by 1.8% in November for a record fifth straight month, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

But a historic drop in retail gasoline prices and auto sales may have exaggerated the decline.  Filling-station sales mirrored the recent drop in prices from $4 a gallon in July to less than $2 a gallon recently. Auto sales fell 2.8%, confirming automakers’ assertions that business had sunk to the lowest levels in decades.

Excluding gasoline, which fell by almost 15%, retail sales fell just 0.2%.

In fact, without sales of autos, gasoline and building materials, sales actually rose 0.5%, the most since May.

“The financial markets were braced for a horrific retail sales report for November, but the numbers were actually not so bad,” Mark Vitner, a senior economist for Wachovia Corp. (WB), told MarketWatch.com.

Retail fell a projected 2%, according to the median estimate of 73 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Economists consider retail sales to be a bellwether for the overall economy since it accounts for about 50% of all consumer spending.

There were some promising stats, however. Aside from the automotive sectors, sales surged in almost every other important category.  General merchandise store sales rose 1.3%, the biggest gain in three years. Electronic stores had a 2.8% jump in receipts.

Purchases at department stores rose by the most in three years as Americans took advantage of discounts by retailers from Macy’s Inc. (M) to Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) to start shopping for the holidays.

But while it appears retailers have been successful in getting consumers to loosen the spending reins with aggressive discounts, the devil may be in the details.  Retailers have been consistently warning that their profits will suffer from the heavy discounting they’re using to entice shoppers.

Neiman Marcus, the luxury retailer owned by ) and TPG Inc., which recently used heavy discounts to reduce inventories, said this week that profits dropped in the quarter ended Nov. 1.  Purchases of expensive goods are also falling because of tight credit restrictions imposed by banks.

Retail analysts have been increasingly concerned about “cherry-picking,” where consumers storm the aisles for heavily advertised items, but leave the store without making other purchases.

That has led some to question the validity of the numbers themselves.

“We are somewhat suspicious of the November results and believe that a seasonal adjustment quirk may have influenced the results,” wrote David Greenlaw, an economist for Morgan Stanley (MS), MarketWatch reported.

Same-store sales in the U.S. fell 2.7% in November from a year earlier, the biggest drop since records began in 1969, the International Council of Shopping Centers said last week.

And aworsening labor market is unlikely to sustain any rebound.  The employment outlook is likely to drag down holiday shopping, a time when many stores expect to reap up to half of their annual revenue.

The unemployment rate climbed to 6.7% percent in November, the highest level since 1993. Employers have cut 1.9 million workers from payrolls so far this year.  Surging unemployment usually leads to a plunge in consumer confidence and spending cutbacks.

A dismal holiday shopping season also bodes ill for retail sales throughout 2009.  That could likely lead to a consolidation in the sector with many retailers closing their doors for good.

In fact, bankruptcies of stores such as Sharper Image Corp. (OTC: SHRPQ) and Circuit City Stores Inc. (OTC: CCTYQ) are already having a negative effect on the sale of gift cards, with consumers afraid to bet on long-term survival of some retail franchises.

Counting on the survivors being the heavy discounters such Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) and the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT).

“This is Wal-Mart time,” Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott Jr. told Wall Street analysts during an Oct. 27 presentation at company headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., BusinessWeek reported. “This is the kind of environment that Sam Walton built this company for.”

News and Related Story Links:



MarketWatch:

Retail sales fall 1.8% in fifth straight decline





Bloomberg:

Retail Sales in U.S. Probably Fell for Fifth Month in November





BusinessWeek:

For Exiting Wal-Mart CEO, a Victory Lap



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Renee

Steven Lipschitz asked:


Starting a retail business means you’re excited. Did you know - by adopting Best Practice Retail Sales Performance Standards you can immediately increase your sales and profit expectations by as much as 30%!

Why - because achieving sales objectives is more than just about what’s on your shelves and what your store looks like - it’s about having a customer focused mentality driven by key performance indicators (KPI) to inform staff at every level about the condition of the playing field.

Complicated? Not at all. Retail Sales Performance is just like Sports Coaching. How would sports coaches know how to focus their athletes without statistics? How would racing car managers know how to fine tune their engines and performance - it’s all about statistics. When last did you watch a game on TV without them? They tell us about trends, behaviors, opportunities to increase performance, and they forecast the short to medium term future - enabling us to understand why and where we are heading.

Statistical measurement of fundamental sales performance drivers for any retailer is a prime need. With all manner of spreadsheets, POS systems reports, Dashboards and Scorecards, we use Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to communicate the strategy of the shareholders to the individuals in the company and we employ feedback systems to report the results. It is common practice to compare what we have forecast with what has actually taken place - statistically - so we can make judgments, changes and plans.

It is important to recognise that the standard (senior level) business indicators such as profit margin and wage costs do not drive bottom line sales on the shop floor. You cannot walk up to a Salesperson and say “We did 80% of budgeted sales - please increase your performance.” That’s like the manager of a football team saying to a player “We lost the past few games - you have to do better.” To the salesperson or player the information is useless - they cannot see a clear reason for their ‘under performance’.

What sports coaches do is take the Team Manager’s expectations (of winning) and filter them down to each individual player on the team - so each player can win for them (and the team). The coach measures performance of a few highly enlightening KPI’s that tells the players exactly in which areas to improve. In soccer it may be recording the “number of times a player touched the ball”, or “number of attempts at goal.” In baseball the coach could track “number of players on 3rd base” or “number of strike outs” etc.

It is common practice in retail to employ only five (5) KPI’s to track individual performance and deliver the on-target information for coaching purposes - more than five and the reporting system is too complex, confusing, and ambiguous. The five KPI’s for retailers are:

Sales per hour - a statistic tells us about the speed at which each individual salesperson is selling or attending to customers compared to everyone else on the shift.

Average Sale - the average selling price of each individual salesperson compared to everyone else on the shift - higher averages show a greater knowledge of product as the salesperson is able to sell higher ticket items. Low statistics reveal the salesperson lacks skill in either product knowledge or effective probing.

Items Per Sale - tells us about the ability of the salesperson to add-on to a sale.

Conversion Rate - tracks how many visitors to the store are turned into customers.

Wage to Sales Ratio - compares a salesperson’s hourly wages to hourly sales. This KPI identifies your clear performers and underperformers - and their value to you.

The most common reason retailers do not track the five vital KPI’s at a staff (team player) level, is their inability to easily and quickly, record and calculate data, to create meaningful reports. After all, one needs to track hours worked, set goals, track planned versus actual performance, and somehow level the playing field for all Salespeople. It can be a lot of work.

In a sports match the playing field is level at all times because everyone is simultaneously on the field. In a retail environment some salespeople will work during fast periods and others during slow periods of the day. A salesperson working during the lunch hours should be expected to sell more than a salesperson working early morning or late afternoon. So any realistic reporting system is going to have to weight individual sales targets - otherwise the data becomes ambiguous.

Critical to any Retail Sales Management Solution is the ability to “determine the most deficient statistic of the five KPI’s because it is logically understood that improving the worst KPI first will have the greatest increase in sales and staff motivation.

Imagine if you had a really simple to use Staff Roster (time and attendance software) that automatically assigned individual, weighted, sales targets to each salesperson, based on when they were working - then integrated with your POS (point of sale) terminal to instantly calculate the five (5) key performance indicators, and figure out the most deficient KPI - on demand! What if that software went further by having integrated sales behavior coaching tips built right into the system?

Playing the retail sales game to win means knowing why you are losing and how to go about fixing problem behavior areas. It’s easier to improve retail sales skills than it is to re-stock a new product or brand.

To win in retail, measure the five principal KPI’s using an affordable solution - and put Best Practice in place for your fast track to success.

Good luck with your brand new store!



Adrian

Mark Doherty asked:


Medical supply and pharmaceutical companies share a lot of the same criteria in hiring young professionals and graduates for their open positions. These companies require an inquiring mind because there is a lot of information that needs to be assimilated into a simple sales pitch. Medical sales people need to be good at speaking with a diverse group of people and feel comfortable answering questions or speaking on behalf of a company. Finally, the companies in question often look for younger sales professionals who are eager to build a career in one industry and with one company.

However, many of these skills and attributes can only be built through experience. The academic setting is great for students interested in learning the theories and ideas behind sales and business. However, medical supply companies and pharmaceutical firms are looking for sales people with at least some experience in sales or within their field. While graduates may be frustrated by this idea, there are a few simple ways to gain experience without working for decades in the same field.

One of the best ways to break into the medical sales field is to utilize graduate trainee programs. Medical supply companies and other health supply providers often take in a good deal of graduate trainees on an annual basis. These trainees are taught about product lines and corporate policies while they take some time out of their day to shadow experienced sales people. For medical sales aspirants who want to get right to the source of their ideal career, these opportunities are ideal.

However, there are only so many graduate trainee slots to go around. For graduates who are interested in medical sales but cannot break into a trainee system, there are plenty of temporary jobs available. Graduates should look for any field sales position possible, even if it is only remotely related to medical sales. Companies that hire retail sales people, like automotive and telecommunication firms, are plentiful. These experiences can give medical sales aspirants the confidence and the experience to land their ideal position in the near future.

Finally, graduates can turn to recruiting agencies and placement services to find the right position for their level of experience. Young professionals and new graduates who have done at least some project work can find solid entry level positions through recruiting firms. Recruiting agencies also look for inexperienced graduates for temporary or project positions, which are becoming more popular in medical sales to meet the ups and downs of the marketplace.



Marlene