The Man In The Glass

THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS TO real and permanent success in retailing. It  is simply not possible until you adopt, work hard at and finally make a habit of the  principle of unconditional love for all people with whom you and your business comes into contact. The enlightened retailer also recognises that before this step, what must come is self-acceptance and self-love. Below is a wonderful poem written by Dale Wimbrow in 1934, which beautifully illustrates this concept.  I am delighted to be able to share it with you and I hope it enriches your life.

When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.

For it isn’t your father or mother or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass.
The fellow whose verdict counts most in you life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum
And think you’re a wonderful guy.
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

He’s the fellow to please-never mind all the rest,
For he’s with you clear to the end.
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass.
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass

To your abundant success,

Leon Skaliotis – Founder, Retail Fundamentals.

Successfully coaching retail owners in Melbourne Australia, how to create highly profitable businesses by attracting shoppers and converting them into loyal fans.

Take the next step… If you want to know how to get more customers to buy from you, get on board my individually tailored retail programs. If you want to get  more retail customers, now is the time to build momentum and make this year your best ever. You will be ecstatic at how easy it can be to attract more customers to spend more money in your store.

The fast working principles from my exclusive programmes, My Retail Success and The Outside In Method come with a 100%  Satisfaction Guarantee. Discover quickly and easily how to :

• Attract and Keep more Customers
• Substantially increase their Profit
• Increase the Value of each business
• Free up more of their Time

To receive your complimentary copy of “Retail Secrets Every Owner Should Know” click: www.retailfundamentals.com.au

You can contact me direct on (+61) 0425 83 3344  or email: leon@retailfundamentals.com.au

The Retail Manager Is The Key To Attracting More Customers To Your Store

Have you ever wondered why your retail store isn’t attracting and keeping as many customers as you would like?  The answer has much to do with your retail manager.

In my years in the retail industry I have come across some outstanding men and women in retail management. Sadly, they have been too few and as such, the retail businesses they represented suffered from far lower profit than was otherwise possible.

So, what were some of the characteristics and qualities of these outstanding retail managers who were able to attract significantly more customers to spend money in their stores?

• Firstly, they cared deeply about their staff. They cared about them as people. They took an interest in their lives away from work. They asked questions about hobbies, pets, football teams, partners, children, what they did last night, what they planned to do on the weekend.
• They accepted mistakes as a part of learning.
• They respected their staff’s opinion and often sought their input.
• They extended their people by sharing management work
• They were very well organised.
• They had a great sense of humour.
• They were calm in a crisis.
• They were creative thinkers
• They took pride in their store’s appearance.
• They were very detail focussed.
• They had excellent selling skills.
• They achieved budgets and set records.
• They were very good teachers.
• They formed excellent relationships with their customers.
• They were interested in the art of retailing and read extensively on the subject.
• They dressed professionally.

These retail managers had acquired the skills on how to get more customers and build highly profitable retail stores over a long period of time by themselves. The business they worked for had very little to do with their professional development. I have made it my business to collect the very best retail ideas so that you can apply them in your business. You can start now.

The sad thing is that many retail businesses regularly appoint retail managers to million dollar, even multi million dollar stores and expect excellent results BUT, they offer very little in the way of training in areas such as customer acquisition, selling skills, people skills, and marketing skills.

Management and business owners  should not expect excellence when they don’t teach excellence. That is as silly as giving someone a fishing rod and expecting them to be  excellent in fly fishing.

Excellence must be consistent throughout the retail business; not just in the occasional store.

How about this for a retail competitive advantage that will guarantee you get more store traffic and more profitable sales? “We pride ourselves on having the best retail managers in the industry”.

Just imagine how inspiring it would be to be known as “the company with the best retail managers?”

Imagine what difference it would make to have happy, motivated, inspired staff all of the time.

Just think of the energy, the sense of pride, the respect and attention to detail your customers would experience as soon as they walked in to any one of your stores.

All of this is possible, but you have to decide to make it so.

There is no genie in a bottle or magic wand to make getting more customers and increasing your profit happen miraculously overnight. It takes commitment of time and money and a clear focus on the end result.

Putting in the effort to have the very best retail managers is a competitive advantage that will make your cash registers sing!

 

To your abundant success,

Leon Skaliotis – Founder, Retail Fundamentals.

Leon Skaliotis is a recognised retail consulting specialist in Melbourne, Australia, who  successfully coaches Melbourne retail owners on how to create highly profitable businesses by attracting shoppers and converting them into loyal fans.

Take the next step… If you want to know how to get more customers to buy from you, get on board my individually tailored retail programs. If you want to get  more retail customers, now is the time to build momentum and make the next financial year your best ever. You will be ecstatic at how easy it can be to attract more customers to spend money in your store.

The fast working principles from my exclusive programmes, My Retail Success and The Outside In Method come with a 100%  Satisfaction Guarantee and instruct Melbourne retailers in how to :

• Attract and Keep more Customers
• Substantially increase their Profit
• Increase the Value of each business
• Free up more of their Time

To receive your complimentary copy of “Retail Secrets Every Owner Should Know” click: www.retailfundamentals.com.au

You can contact Leon Skaliotis direct on (+61) 0425 83 3344  or email: leon@retailfundamentals.com.au

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Seven Plus One Practical Tips Guaranteed To Keep Your Customers Coming Back To Buy From You

“Please come back again!”
In some shape or form, that phrase is one every business should be saying to each and every customer. Every businessperson understands the importance of letting your customers know how much you value them and how you can’t wait to see them again. Consider some other things you can say to solidify your relationship with customers.

Be a resource
“I’ll keep an eye out for other things that may interest you.”
A customer buying a product or service is a one-off transaction. Taking note of what they bought and letting them know that you’re on the lookout for like items is a natural enticement for them to return.

“Do you know this item is on sale?”
Recently, a mate of mine returned to an electronics store after he found out that the software he bought on Saturday was 40 percent off no more than 10 hours later. Yes, he came back — but for the wrong reason. Treat your customers like you’d want to be treated. If you know something is particularly good value, share your insight. If something’s going to be cheaper in a day or so, urge them to hold off until the sale takes hold.

Put customers’ needs first
“We don’t have it, but the crowd down the street do.”
It’s a natural inclination to try to make a sale whenever possible, but don’t overlook the value of pointing someone elsewhere, even to a competitor. You’ll gain your customers’ trust — and they’ll likely return to your business again.

Exceed expectations
“Let me give you a hand with that.”
This phrase personifies a business that consistently goes above and beyond. Whether it’s helping someone carry out packages or simply getting the door for a client carrying a pile of papers, a clear message that you’re willing to help out however possible stays in others’ minds. And that can often lead them right back to your door.

“Go ahead and try this out.”
Giving a client or customer a small sample of what your business has to offer is a terrific way to bring them back for more. If, for instance, your business sells expensive software programs, give a prospective customer a free trial or a sample disk so he or she can get a sense of how it functions. The same holds true for service-focused concerns. All the law offices that offer free initial consultations, for example, aren’t setting up those appointments just to fill downtime.

“This [sale or deal] is good for this week only.”
Like them or not, deadlines work. Even a customer uncertain about a particular sale can be moved to come back if she knows that, come a certain date, the deal is gone. So, if it’s a question of a sale or some other time-sensitive arrangement, don’t be shy about making it clear

Try to put a name with a face

“How are you going, Jeff?”
This last bit of advice, commonly known though it may be, makes the list based on personal experience. To be blunt: I don’t really like my bank. It’s not particularly convenient, the charges are occasionally mysterious, and I’d change in a minute were I not so lazy. But there is another reason I stay put. Every teller in the place knows me by name and consistently greets me in that fashion. It means something to us all when someone takes the time and effort to remember who we are.

To your abundant success,

Leon Skaliotis – Founder, Retail Fundamentals.

Leon is an accomplished retail specialist in Melbourne, Australia, who  successfully coaches Melbourne retail owners on how to create highly profitable businesses by attracting shoppers and converting them into loyal fans.

To receive your complimentary copy of “Retail Secrets Every Owner Should Know” click: www.retailfundamentals.com.au

You can contact Leon Skaliotis direct on (+61) 0425 83 3344  or email: leon@retailfundamentals.com.au

Want Greater Success? Be Consistent.

Today’s ‘Retail Fundamental’ is: Be consistent.

All of us are looking for success in our retail businesses. Beyond everything else, sustainable success requires consistency. What do I  mean by that?

I mean being consistently great in all aspects of our retail business.

Short term successes are possible due to some lucky combination of factors. But, we can’t rely on lucky combinations. They are too few, and far between.

What we need to do is to set the foundations of our business right so that we can repeat our successes consistently.

This also has a profound impact on customer satisfaction. Your customers expect a certain level of performance from you on the basis of the perception you created. By being consistent at your skill set and service levels, you satisfy the minimum expectations.

And if you put a degree of constant improvement process in place, you’ll create a winning combination for your retail operation.

At minimum, some of the areas you must deliver on a consistent basis are:

1. Sales Skills (Trained staff on professional retail sales skills)

2. Quick response to all sorts of customer issues (Rapid response procedures in place)

3. Clean, tidy and efficient store environment (Great visual merchandising and maintenance)

4. Streamlined and customer friendly checkout process.

Pretty fundamental, right? Yet, just wander around the shopping strips and shopping centres and see for yourself how many retailers are failing in consistent delivery of the basics.

Companies who understood this simple philosophy went on to create empires.

To your abundant success,

Leon Skaliotis – Founder, Retail Fundamentals.

Leon is an accomplished retail specialist in Melbourne, Australia, who  successfully coaches Melbourne retail owners on how to create highly profitable businesses by attracting shoppers and converting them into loyal fans.

To receive your complimentary copy of “Retail Secrets Every Owner Should Know” click: www.retailfundamentals.com.au

You can contact Leon Skaliotis direct on (+61) 0425 83 3344  or email: leon@retailfundamentals.com.au

Let’s Go Do It

I simply had to share with you this powerful message by the renowned American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker, Jim Rohn.

It’s a brilliant way to really “fire up” your team. Go on, try it.

To really help people in extraordinary ways, learn to deal in challenges. That is what sports is all about: challenges. That is what music is all about. The challenge to play so well, someone is inspired. The challenge to say it so well, someone gets it. The challenge to be so gifted in language that someone sees it. Insight is unbelievable; only human beings can do this.

The man closes his eyes and puts his hands over his eyes and says, “I see it.” You say, “No, you don’t; you’ve got your eyes closed.” No. There is more than one way to see. And all someone has to do is to see an answer that they can start on immediately, and within six months, their life could start to multiply and change. Within one year, the difference will be extraordinary, and a person who was lost now becomes a person of influence—just because someone helped them to see for the moment what was wrong and the possibility to change it. And then the challenge to go do it and do it well.

Now, here is the best challenge of all: “Let’s go do it.” Don’t always say, “You go do it. You change.” But rather, “Let’s get healthy. Let’s go change the world. Let’s build an enterprise. Let’s work on this together.” See, I always respond better to “let’s.” Sometimes it is hard to lift yourself out. It’s hard to be self-inspired at first. And if someone says, “Come on, let’s start a new program.” “Come on, let’s do exercises.” “Come on, let’s get healthy.” “Come on, let’s start something. I’ll be there, you be there, and you bring a guest and I’ll bring a guest—let’s start something.” That is so inspiring to have somebody say “let’s.” “Let’s do it.” “Let’s build a team.” “Let’s win the championship.” “Let’s walk off with the trophy.”

“Let’s.” Wow, there is something about that, that can keep you awake at nights. There is something about that, that turns on the juices. There is something about that, that reaches deep in the soul. For a person could do extraordinary things when somebody says “Let’s.” “Let’s do it.” “I’ve got two with me already; if you’ll be the next one, we can conquer the world.” You say, “Whoa, together nobody is a match for us.” By yourself, you’re vulnerable; but with us, nobody is a match. You say, “Wow! I want to belong to that team.” So figure out ways to say “Let’s.”

To your abundant success,

Leon Skaliotis – Founder, Retail Fundamentals.

Leon is an accomplished retail specialist in Melbourne, Australia, who  successfully coaches Melbourne retail owners on how to create highly profitable businesses by attracting shoppers and converting them into loyal fans.

To receive your complimentary copy of “Retail Secrets Every Owner Should Know” click: www.retailfundamentals.com.au

You can contact Leon Skaliotis direct on (+61) 0425 83 3344  or email: leon@retailfundamentals.com.au

Challenges

To really help people in extraordinary ways, learn to deal in challenges. That is what sports is all about: challenges. That is what music is all about. The challenge to play so well, someone is inspired. The challenge to say it so well, someone gets it. The challenge to be so gifted in language that someone sees it. Insight is unbelievable; only human beings can do this.

The man closes his eyes and puts his hands over his eyes and says, “I see it.” You say, “No, you don’t; you’ve got your eyes closed.” No. There is more than one way to see. And all someone has to do is to see an answer that they can start on immediately, and within six months, their life could start to multiply and change. Within one year, the difference will be extraordinary, and a person who was lost now becomes a person of influence—just because someone helped them to see for the moment what was wrong and the possibility to change it. And then the challenge to go do it and do it well.

 Now, here is the best challenge of all: “Let’s go do it.” Don’t always say, “You go do it. You change.” But rather, “Let’s get healthy. Let’s go change the world. Let’s build an enterprise. Let’s work on this together.” See, I always respond better to “let’s.” Sometimes it is hard to lift yourself out. It’s hard to be self-inspired at first. And if someone says, “Come on, let’s start a new program.” “Come on, let’s do exercises.” “Come on, let’s get healthy.” “Come on, let’s start something. I’ll be there, you be there, and you bring a guest and I’ll bring a guest—let’s start something.” That is so inspiring to have somebody say “let’s.” “Let’s do it.” “Let’s build a team.” “Let’s win the championship.” “Let’s walk off with the trophy.”

“Let’s.” Wow, there is something about that that can keep you awake at nights. There is something about that that turns on the juices. There is something about that that reaches deep in the soul. For a person could do extraordinary things when somebody says “Let’s.” “Let’s do it.” “I’ve got two with me already; if you’ll be the next one, we can conquer the world.” You say, “Whoa, together nobody is a match for us.” By yourself, you’re vulnerable; but with us, nobody is a match. You say, “Wow! I want to belong to that team.” So figure out ways to say “Let’s.”

To your abundant success,

Leon Skaliotis – Founder, Retail Fundamentals.

Leon is an accomplished retail specialist in Melbourne, Australia, who  successfully coaches Melbourne retail owners on how to create highly profitable businesses by attracting shoppers and converting them into loyal fans.

To receive your complimentary copy of “Retail Secrets Every Owner Should Know” click: www.retailfundamentals.com.au

You can contact Leon Skaliotis direct on (+61) 0425 83 3344  or email: leon@retailfundamentals.com.au

The Man In The Arena

I carry the following quote with me on a piece of laminated card. It has never failed to inspire me when I have turned to it; I hope it does the same for you.

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

26^TH U.S. PRESIDENT

To your abundant success,

Leon Skaliotis – Founder, Retail Fundamentals.

Leon is an accomplished retail specialist in Melbourne, Australia, who  successfully coaches Melbourne retail owners on how to create highly profitable businesses by attracting shoppers and converting them into loyal fans.

To receive your complimentary copy of “Retail Secrets Every Owner Should Know” click: www.retailfundamentals.com.au

You can contact Leon Skaliotis direct on (+61) 0425 83 3344  or email: leon@retailfundamentals.com.au

How To Communicate More Effectively

The tips below will help you fine-tune your communication skills so you can save time, reduce stress and become more productive by communicating effectively in every interaction you have in your retail business.

1. Limit Distractions and Listen

Listening is the key to effective communication, but it’s not always easy. One way to become a better listener is to try limiting distractions during your conversations that make it difficult to hear and absorb what others are saying. That may mean closing your email , turning off your telephone ringer, or closing the door to your office. By doing these small things, you ensure that the person you’re speaking with has your full attention.

It’s also important to limit internal distractions, that is, everything going on in your mind. When you have several topics to tackle during a meeting or conversation rushing through them to get all of your ideas out may be tempting, but this causes confusion and can make the other person feel like his or her input is not important. Slow down and remember that communication is a two-way street. Establish a give-and-take that allows both parties to have their say.

2. Be Responsive

One of the worst things you can do when a conflict arises or someone has a complaint about your business, products, services, etc. is ignore it. In most cases, some kind of response should be issued immediately, even if it’s just a brief statement that you’ll look into the issue.

If you wait until you have all of the information necessary before reaching out to the unhappy customer, they may end up not only unhappy, but now also angry. Keep the lines of communication open in all situations by being as responsive as possible and making sure the people reaching out to you feel like their issue is important to you.

3. Ask the Right Questions

So much of communication relies on getting the information you need, and many times this means you need to ask the right kinds of questions. There are clues about which questions you should be asking in every part of the conversation you’re having. You need to be able to listen and zero in on those clues to figure out which questions will unravel the information you need.

Consider the case of an employee who has not been meeting goals and is generally unhappy at work. If you don’t ask the right questions, you may never get to the root of the issue, which can be anything from personal issues to being under-challenged.

4. Make the Most of Meetings

Meetings are notorious for being time wasters if they are not well-planned and thoroughly organized. If you are the organizer, the first thing you should do to respect everyone’s time and make your meeting as efficient as possible is to schedule it in advance. Then, take time to prepare an agenda that outlines focus points and sets a structure for the meeting.

Here are some other smart meeting tips that will help you make sure your meetings are productive:

• Confirm the meeting times one to two days before the meeting.
• Assign a meeting moderator who manages the meeting and makes sure participates stick to the agenda.
• Encourage input and questions from everyone in the meeting.
• Take notes, or assign someone else to take notes, to capture the important details of the meeting.

5. Combine Communication Methods

Face-to-face or voice-to-voice communication is great for eliminating the time challenges that often come with email. But it can also create more questions and confusion if all of the parties involved are not on the same page.

Even if most of your communication takes place over the phone, you can create summary emails that outline what was discussed, what the next steps are and who is responsible for what. This can be a great way to combine different communication methods for more effective (and less confusing) forward-moving communication.

6. Focus on Customer Service

Good customer service depends on two-way communication. Often when conflicts arise with customers, the key to resolution is communicating to uncover the problem, then continuing to communicate until a solution is identified.

One way to maintain long-term relationships with your customers is by keeping open lines of communication. This means asking for input on how things are going and how they feel about the products and service you’re providing. This can be accomplished at the end of a sale, during day-to-day conversations, with a focus group, or through formal surveys.

7. Use the Feedback You Receive

If you are already communicating with your customers, you will probably receive feedback regularly, even if you don’t solicit it through formal methods. This can be a goldmine of useful information about how your business, products and services are perceived by customers and potential customers. In order to be effective, though, you have to use this data to change and improve your processes. Create a process for collecting the feedback you receive in one place, then set aside time every month or two to analyze the data and create a plan for implementing and tracking improvements.

Ultimately, effective communication can be one of the most important skills you use in your retail business. If your communication skills can use some fine-tuning, take time to analyze how you communicate, and the results of your communication. Then focus on ways you can improve it over time. You may be surprised how much that changes your relationships with staff, customers and colleagues for the better.

To your abundant success,

Leon Skaliotis – Founder, Retail Fundamentals.

Leon is an accomplished retail specialist in Melbourne, Australia, who  successfully coaches Melbourne retail owners on how to create highly profitable businesses by attracting shoppers and converting them into loyal fans.

To receive your complimentary copy of “Retail Secrets Every Owner Should Know” click: www.retailfundamentals.com.au

You can contact Leon Skaliotis direct on (+61) 0425 83 3344  or email: leon@retailfundamentals.com.au

Delight Your Customers Like Apple

No one can argue with Apple’s success when it comes to delighting its customers, and although it’s never a good idea for any retailer to 100 percent copy another brand’s strategy there are several things that retailers can learn from the electronics retailer.

Here are highlights of the strategies:

Use a blueprint: All employees, whether they interact with customers or run things in the back of the store, must be on the same page. They must have the same goal, which is to deliver the best possible customer experience. Need to implement effective systems in your retail business? Click here.

Check people in, not out: Apple greets its customers as they enter the store and provides product information based on their need as opposed to trying to make a huge sale. Instead of trying to sell every customer the latest, most expensive tablet, Apple employees will delve into what the shopper’s intended use is. For example, is he just using it to surf the Internet or does he want to watch movies?

And this is done before the shopper is checking out, not while he is paying, which is what most retailers do. Starting a dialogue at the end of the customer experience is pointless, because at that point the retailer can’t offer any help.

Reduce the customer’s effort: Apple has a “smart button” near each product that customers can push when they need help. They don’t have to wait for someone to approach them, or seek out an employee when they need help. Want to dramatically increase your sales conversion? Click here.

Don’t sell; let them buy: Apple has done such a great job of making customers feel like it cares about their needs  that when customers are ready to buy they buy Apple. Sales associates don’t have to be pushy or try to make hard sales.

To your abundant success,

Leon Skaliotis – Founder, Retail Fundamentals.

Leon is an accomplished retail specialist in Melbourne, Australia, who  successfully coaches Melbourne retail owners on how to create highly profitable businesses by attracting shoppers and converting them into loyal fans.

To receive your complimentary copy of “Retail Secrets Every Owner Should Know” click: www.retailfundamentals.com.au

You can contact Leon Skaliotis direct on (+61) 0425 83 3344  or email: leon@retailfundamentals.com.au

Five Ways To Drive Customer Conversion Rates In Your Stores

Same-store sales are looking a little flat and you need to find ways to deliver better results. There’s still a scent of the financial melt-down lingering, but you survived that crisis, and it’s time to start getting the sales needle to move in a positive direction.

There are only three ways you can drive sales in your stores: (1) encourage more prospects to visit your store; (2) increase your average ticket price and (3) increase your conversion rate –that is, sell more of the prospects already visiting your stores. These are the folks who visit your store but don’t buy.

To a great extent retail sales has been a two-trick pony: Drive more prospect traffic and increase average ticket. Driving more prospects into your stores usually requires an advertising or promotional investment of some kind, and increasing average ticket, well let’s just say that most retailers have been and continue to focus on this one – but what about conversion rate? Driving conversion rate is the third trick every retailer needs to learn – it’s another source of sales opportunity that most retailers today completely overlook. Need help improving your conversion rates? Click here.

Before I get into the ways you can drive conversion, I need to confirm that you actually track traffic and calculate conversion rate in your stores. First, you need to actually track prospect traffic. This is not the same as transaction counts. Lots of retailers are confused about this. Transaction counts represent the number of people who made a purchase; traffic counts represent the total number of people who came to the store including buyers and non-buyers. Conversion rate is simply calculated by dividing sales transactions by gross traffic counts. For example, if you logged 500 traffic counts in your store and there were 200 sales transactions for the day, your conversion rate would be 40 percent (i.e. 200/500).

The fact is, if you don’t track traffic in your stores, you can’t calculate conversion rate. If you can’t calculate conversion rate, well, you can’t improve it. So for the roughly 35 percent of retailers who actually track traffic and conversion rates, here are five ways you can improve conversion rates in your stores.

Understand why people don’t buy: One of the most important things a retailer can do to improve conversion rates is to understand why people don’t buy. Long lines, can’t find sales help, out-of-stocks, poor merchandising, the list goes on. There are reasons why people visit your store and don’t buy and you need to understand it. Every store manager should spend some time observing visitors in his/her store. Resist the temptation to help; just observe the behaviors. Watch customers as they move through your store, and it won’t take long for you to identify some actions you can take to turn more visitors into buyers.

Align your staff to traffic, not transactions: Sounds simple enough, but many retailers overlook this. Staff scheduling is tricky at the best of times, but aligning your staff resources to when prospects are in your store will help you maximize your chances of converting more of them into buyers. Pay particular attention to lunch time, when store traffic can be way up, but staff lunch breaks can seriously drag down conversion rates. Associates need to eat, but customers need to be served. Matching staff schedules to traffic volume and timing in your store will help improve your chances of converting more.

Look for conversion leaks and plug the holes: Traffic volume and conversion rates tend to be inversely related. That is, when traffic is high, conversion tends to go down or sag. When traffic levels are low, conversion rates tend to go up. It’s not hard to understand why this happens. When the store is busy, till lines are longer and it’s harder to get help from an associate. The opposite is true when the store isn’t as busy. So, if you want to improve conversion rates, look at the traffic and conversion patterns in your store by day of week and by hour to look for when conversion rates are sagging – these sags represent the times when sales are being lost.

Set conversion targets by store: Having goals and targets are important if you want to improve results. If you don’t have a conversion target for your store, you need to set one. It’s important to remember that every store is unique and conversion targets should be set uniquely by store. One store might be doing well with a 15 percent conversion rate, while another may be under-performing even though it has a 30 percent conversion rate. The trick is to move your own conversion rate up relative to your store’s performance.

Make conversion a team sport: It takes the collective effort of all staff to help turn prospects into buyers. From the cashiers and sales associates to the merchandisers – everyone in the store plays a role. So don’t think of conversion as merely some business metric, but rather a simple measure of how well the whole store is doing at helping people buy. A good way to help improve conversion is to ensure all your staff understands what conversion is and that each of them helps influence it. Ask your staff about why they think people don’t buy and what the store can do to improve conversion rate. Discuss targets, get them to buy-in and share results. Get them excited about moving the conversion needle and you will significantly improve your chances of actually doing it.

Everyday, prospects visit your stores with the intent to buy but leave without making a purchase. Getting your store to capture even a few more of these lost sales can have a significant impact on overall sales results. Improving your in-store conversion rate is not hard to do, but it does take focus and attention – the suggestions above will help you drive conversion in your stores.

If you don’t track traffic or measure conversion rate in all your stores today, simply put, you are missing out on an entirely new way to drive sales. You can’t improve conversion if you don’t measure it. The retailers who are focused on driving conversion rate have a significant advantage over those who do not.

To your abundant success,

Leon Skaliotis – Founder, Retail Fundamentals.

Leon is an accomplished retail specialist in Melbourne, Australia, who  successfully coaches Melbourne retail owners on how to create highly profitable businesses by attracting shoppers and converting them into loyal fans.

To receive your complimentary copy of “Retail Secrets Every Owner Should Know” click: www.retailfundamentals.com.au

You can contact Leon Skaliotis direct on (+61) 0425 83 3344  or email: leon@retailfundamentals.com.au