Sales Strategy
An Overlooked Marketing Secret: You! | July 07, 2016 (3 comments)
Tampa, FL—If you were asked to spend one hour every day communicating with your personal customers to get them into the store, would you know what to do, what to say or how to do it?
Sadly, most consultants don’t spend any time self-marketing because they have no plan of action, don’t know what to do or it scares them to death. Most likely it’s all three.
Let’s put some perspective around fine jewelry marketing in this new economy. First, it is primarily store management’s responsibility to get new customers into the store. Secondly, it is the sales professionals’ responsibility to get their existing customers back in to the store.
Here is a bit of insight into all top fine jewelry sales performers across the country. They never view themselves simply as someone who works in a jewelry store. Their see themselves as one-person small business owners acting and performing like an independent contractor whose services the store owner has hired to sell their jewelry. They are the CEO of “Me, Inc.” At Exsellerate, we refer to them as “gempreneurs.”
It is interesting to note here that one of the top motivators uncovered in my research of top performers’ driving forces was that they valued control of their own destiny, tying right into the whole mini-entrepreneur concept.
These mini-entrepreneurs are personally accountable. They are their own director of sales responsible for results, director of merchandising responsible for getting just the right item for their clients, IT director responsible for knowing how to use technology, CFO responsible for their finances, et cetera. Oh, they’re loyal to the retail company that has hired them and will play within the rules, but they hold themselves personally accountable as the owner of “Me, Inc.”
Most importantly, the gempreneur is their own director of advertising, responsible for getting people into the store. Not that they’re making TV spots, but building a customer community is something that every professional consultant has to do to grow their income. Hearing the excuse, “I don’t have time” when there have been only a few transactions in an eight hour shift is not really busy-ness – it’s fear.
The 5-4-3-2-1 Self-Marketing Plan. At Exsellerate, we have devised what we refer to as the 5-4-3-2-1 plan to lead the sales team to a pattern of self-marketing. It is so simple that it comes across as silly at first.
Download the 5-4-3-2-1 Plan Here
There are two gifts that management can give to consultants to improve sales and income. First, is the requirement of one hour spent self-marketing. My first boss taught the importance of paying myself first before I paid anyone else from my paycheck. I take this concept further by encouraging gempreneurs to invest one golden hour every day building their customer community. Don’t take the left-over time because there will never be any. Instead invest the very best time of the day building success.
The second gift is self-marketing training. Requiring the sales team to spend one hour daily in an office self-marketing is great, but again they most likely do not know what to do. Store owners would be doing themselves and their sales team a huge favor by investing some of the marketing budget in training them to self-market. It will definitely have a greater ROI than any other marketing expense.
Here's what one gempreneur posted to our Facebook page!
Successful self-marketing doesn’t just turn on. It is a ramp-up process, so do not expect overnight miracles. It starts with one email/text/hand-written note to one customer and builds daily from there. Store management often sets unrealistic expectations before teaching the sales team the “how to” of self-marketing.
Do you want more foot traffic and greater sales? Learn to convert payroll dollars into marketing dollars by hiring and training gempreneurs. It is what growing retailers do.
Terry Sisco is CEO of Exsellerate, Inc., funny-maker, uplifter, mischief maker, father. Based out of Tampa, Exsellerate has revolutionized retail sales training and made it "entertrainment," given it a millennial voice, made it ridiculously easy to learn on-demand style through social media platforms, captured the heart and soul of sales consultants and given them a sense of community, purpose, and the tools to crush their sales.
No more snooze-fest training seminars. Join the club, hop on your smart phone, grow in ways you never imagined, learn from top retail consultants across the country, and kill it on the sales floor. Like us at www.facebook.com/exsellrev, call us at 813-787-7355, email at tlsisco@exselleate.com, and visit us at www.exsellerate.com