Making Money Is Not Illegal, Immoral, or Fattening describes the profitable excitement that comes from having special events at your store. "Pop A Balloon to See What Discount You Get." "This Weekend, Ride the Miniature Train in Our Parking Lot." "Find the George Washington Portrait to Get 20% Off Your Purchase Today."
Advertising and holding special events are opportunities to build excitement not just for your customers, but also for your sales staff:
"With events, I'm big into champions. I'm big into holding people accountable. Whenever we schedule an event, there is going to be an individual, one person, responsible for executing that event in our store. They own that event. Over time, we learn who the winners are, the great employees who show leadership and initiative. We all should have more champions taking care of different areas in running the store."
You don't need to wait for major special events to give that pride of ownership. Have a Product of the Week that you assign to an employee who has shown a particular interest in that product line. The employee sets up the display, keeps an eye on the shelves to see that the item is properly stocked, and gets a special bonus that week for sales of the product.
But won't that discourage teamwork among your staff? Actually, it's the opposite if you do it right. The employee won't be around every hour the store is open, so will need to arrange with other employees to watch out for that Product of the Week. "You watch out for my niche, and when it's your turn, I'll watch out for yours."
Give them a niche to develop and your people will take you miles forward in profitability.
One Ace store owner I know has every employee pick a product of the day, and it is their job to "SELL" that product. Throughout the day the owner asks them how their product is selling.. He expects his people to sell..
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