Sales Strategy

Jimmy DeGroot: Grow Some Summer Fruit May 23, 2024 (0 comments)

Green Bay, WI--Summer doesn’t have to be a time of just managing to get by as staff goes on vacation and business tends to slow. You can be very fruitful and not just in your garden.

My biggest suggestion is creating a plan for your team to be doing daily outreach to your customers. I can’t think of a better use of management time than this. It’s the best way to stay relevant, create sales and replicate the entrepreneurial activities of the business owner. If you’re looking for a mission to grow your store, I would put this at the top of the list.

I know from an exhaustive amount of experience that owners and managers begin planning for November through February in… drum roll please, OCTOBER! Take some time right now to get this all ironed out. Plan your promotions, your social media posts, your outreach campaigns and of course holiday events right now. This way you can go into shows with your plan, and you can discuss your dates with vendors at the shows. Don’t wind up in the “snooze you lose” category in October when you want to put out a flyer or invite a vendor for a trunk show. 

And finally, get your entire team involved in an ongoing recruitment effort. Employees come and go and you don’t want to find yourself in November in a recruitment campaign. Having your team’s radar always up means you can get people in and trained before fourth quarter. October and November is time for brush up sales classes, not onboarding. 

Set a few goals for yourself right now so that the summer doesn’t get away from you. What are your top three priorities you need fixed or handled before the leaves turn. Write them down, make a plan and then go out and weed the garden. Weeding makes for great therapy. I’ll take some cucumbers if you have extra.

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.