To what degree do you take the considered recommendations of your staff—those who handle sales and those who handle returns—as to what products should be pruned out of your merchandise mix?
Pet Supermarket can answer positively to both those questions. Almost every day, the Pet Supermarket president distributes to all sales employees literature about the products. And the retailer listens to the employees.
The company competes for consumer dollars with Pet Smart and Petco, both much larger operations. An essential part of the Pet Supermarket success formula is to be sure all staff are educated both with product knowledge and with the skills to educate others. Those others include shoppers and fellow store staff. Plenty of people on a sales floor know the information, but many lack skills in teaching other adults.
Staff your store with experts who enjoy sharing their knowledge with customers in a team-oriented way. Customers want sales staff who know it all, but without acting like stuffy know-it-alls. Retired journeyman plumbers make terrible hardware store employees if they have trouble explaining the steps to replace a faucet. Teens with a wonderful sense of fashion style are bad clothing department advisors if they label some teen customers as beyond fashion rescue.
Your shoppers love being served by educated experts. As the salesperson asks questions and answers the customer’s questions, it gets clearer. Do your floor staff know where all the merchandise is located? Are they aware of the comparative features of brands in their department? Can they explain them to the customer if asked? Can they explain other things as well?
An image of expertise can be built with an image of the employee: When we see a portrait-style photo of someone that’s posted in a public location, and then we meet the person face-to-face, we subconsciously grant that person additional credibility. You could benefit from this by including in your store advertising and as part of your internet presence photos of your employees or posting an 8 x 10 in the department where the employee spends most of their time.
Customers don’t expect the salesperson to know everything. However they do expect the salesperson to get the answer when they don’t know and to do a personal handoff to another salesperson when necessary.
For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers
Click below for more:
Educate During Life Changes
Educate Children as Consumers
Make Your Sales Staff Celebrity Endorsers
Have Staff Who Show and Share Expertise
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