Sales Strategy
Jimmy DeGroot Says It’s Time to ‘Get Your Act Together’ February 14, 2024 (0 comments)
Green Bay, WI--“One of these days when I get my act together…” This was repeated far too often by my mother when I was a child. And even at the age of 10, I often thought, “Well just do it once and for all Mom! Get your act together!” Fast forward to today and I still hear echoes of my mother in business owners who say things like, “If I could just find another great salesperson.” Or “I know we need to do an inventory clearance sale, but…”
I get it, retail is chaos. But I’ve never seen a store reach its full potential without a plan and bulldog-like tenacity. I realize I write about this often, but I’ve seen so many stores break through the barriers of mediocrity and day-to-day retail complacency by having a plan of action and just getting after it. When you get moving, things start to happen.
A great example is last week. I was coaching a store in Florida about the immediate need to get a new salesperson. There were many reasons and excuses why it hasn’t been done, but we decided that starting right now, we’re going to get aggressive about finding our new salesperson. Just like magic, a great candidate literally walked through the door and said, “My husband and I just moved to town and we’re semi-retired and I need a place to work where I can sell.” I’m serious, this really happened.
When you finally get your act together and make a plan and start working the plan, magic starts happening.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about having balance and not working yourself into the ground by letting your store run YOU. This isn’t about working like a dog. This about deciding what you’re going to give up that’s not reaping a great ROI and going after whatever it is in your business that’s holding you back.
I’ll finish with my golf story. I was a member of Butte des Morts Country Cub in Appleton Wisconsin. But I often had a problem with golfing and rarely enjoyed it because I just knew there was a bunch of work that needed to be done back at the store. Determined to enjoy my golf, I decided that for everything that I was doing at the store that wasn’t in my wheelhouse or had the highest ROI for my skill set, I was going to find another person, process or service to take it over. In a year, I was back to enjoying golf again because I was operating at a high efficiency and balance, doing what I loved and did best for the business.
So, get your act together! What is that one big, hairy, audacious monster that’s holding you or your store back? It doesn’t even need to be big, hairy and audacious. It could be as simple as cleaning off your desk, replacing your showroom lights, or taking off one afternoon a week to spend some “me” time. Stop living behind excuses like my mom always did. If you need help, call me or anyone that can help coach you into achieving balance and getting things done.
James (Jimmy) DeGroot is a professional jewelry sales and operations trainer from the jeweler’s side of the counter. Having been in management and the jewelry business for over 20 years, Jimmy offers weekly training to jewelers nationwide via the Train Retail website. Jimmy is an AGS titleholder and specializes in training relevant and timely methods for jewelry teams. He can do a full training on making Bridal Presentations the best they can be, among many other regular training options. Contact Jimmy at jimmy@trainretail.com or call 920-492-1191.