Sales Strategy
Assess Your Business For The New Year | January 03, 2018 (0 comments)
Omaha, NE—The hectic holidays are over and trade show season soon will begin. Now is the perfect time to reassess the past year: i.e., what was successful and what wasn’t. We encourage you to share some of these questions with your team at your next meeting.
Examples of things to review:
- Your Team: Staff levels and rosters; attitudes and enthusiasm; incentive scheme results; daily meetings; selling skills and product knowledge … who gets to stay and who doesn’t? Remember the 3 T’s … Terminate, Tolerate or Train
- Your Inventory: Which inventory worked and which didn’t; which categories performed best and why; which categories didn’t work and why not; your strategy for reducing aged inventory; your inventory level and mix; your open-to-buy fund; your re-orders and inventory processing; your vendors … who was reliable and who wasn’t; your average sale; your displays
- Your Customer Culture: Your ‘point of difference’ based on the lifetime value of each customer; your risk-free purchase guarantee, free battery replacement, extended warranties, etc; hours of operation, the experience each and every customer receives when they are in your store
- Your Marketing: What worked and what didn’t; how much did you spend and on what; which medium worked best; how was your catalogue/direct mail distribution; what will you repeat next year and what will you drop, what did your customer respond best to?
- Your Finances: Did you have a sales budget (Sales Plan) each day and how did you perform; how was your cash-flow this past year … and how is it now? Do you need a full financial analysis with advice on where to save money and create more cash flow?
- Your Information & Technology (IT): How did your systems cope, what will you add/change next year, how does your staff effectively use technology to create more sales?
- Your Self-Management: Did you keep a daily log book of what worked and what didn’t (you’ll never remember it next December!); did you work smart or hard; did you delegate effectively; were you well-planned and relaxed or did you “wing it” and feel stressed; did you delegate effectively; did you get prepared ahead of time, so you could enjoy all the interactions with clients?
- Your Organization & Management Systems: Were you happy with your Layaway balance coming into December; your repair system; your office systems, etc…?
- Your Retail Strategies & KPI’s: Did you have a specific average sales target and how did you compare; your conversion ratio; the number of sales per customer; how did discounting affect your total sales and profits?
- Your Opposition: What did they do that seemed to work and how can you do it better? When did they advertise? Is there a pattern to it? All these and more questions can help you build your sales this coming year.
The Edge Retail Academy provides customized strategies for retailers and vendors to increase profits, optimize growth, reduce debt, create profitable inventory solutions, build effective teams and enhance brand loyalty and profitability. The Academy is committed to helping jewelry businesses improve their bottom line while reducing uncertainty and stress. Edge Retail Academy software and their business advisors provide real world knowledge and advice on a “no-contract” basis. (877) 569-8657, ext. 1, or www.edgeretailacademy.com
Top image: The Sales Coaching Institute