Sales Strategy
Five Fixes to Energize Store Events | February 12, 2020 (1 comment)
Tampa, FL--Tired of a lot of spending money and effort on a special events that don't return much? There are specific reasons why retail events fail, or fail to produce a significant enough return. Here are some key strategies to energize your in-store events:
#1. Inspect What You Expect. This is management rule #1! Just because you expect your people to contact clients, don't think it will automatically happen. If you don't measure how many invitations are being extended daily and the results of those invites, the event is guaranteed to yield disappointing results.
Do this instead: Managers, create a Leader board so that everyone can visually see each other's results. Sales entrepreneurs, find an accountability partner with whom to share your goal and progress.
#2. Drip-feed names. Handing your sales people a printout of clients is like drinking from a fire hose. It's visually overwhelming. They can't process all the names at one time. They will end up cherry-picking the list, calling the same people for every event--causing customer fatigue.
Do this instead: Utilize a CRM database (some are free) that will feed salespeople names to contact one at a time. (This has been a key secret to my Exsellerate event successes!)
#3. Communicate irresistible value. If I called you and said, "On March 1, 2020 we are giving away a million dollars, but you need an appointment to win," most likely you would say "Sign me up!" A key reason why customers don't set an appointment is because they don't see any value in attending your event.
Do this instead: Develop four compelling calls-to-action for your event. Then ask yourself, "Would I actually show up for these reasons?" If not, start over.
#4. Prune your events. Less is more. Too many events takes a toll on your best customers because they are getting called all the time, causing "customer fatigue." It takes a toll on your salespeople because they get tired of customers yelling at them to get them off their call list.
Do this instead: Plan one major event each quarter and cut out non-productive events. Focus all your energy on making the quarterly events extremely successful. Everyone will be happier.
#5. "I FORGOT." The work isn't over when the appointment is made. Customers get busy and forget their appointment time, or they double book themselves, or something else comes up that has more priority in their lives. Experience dictates that 50% of appointments will actually show up. Increase your show up rate to increase your sales.
Do this instead: Send two teaser or reminder emails or texts, one a week before the event and another two days before the event.
Terry Sisco is CEO of Exsellerate, Inc., funny-maker, uplifter, mischief maker, father. 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, and given sales consultants a sense of community, purpose, and the tools to crush their sales. Like us at www.facebook.com/exsellrev, call us at 813-787-7355, email at tlsisco@exsellerate.com, and visit us at www.exsellerate.com.