Have you not broken your new year resolution ?

Hello Workaholic,

Most of us make new year resolutions, that are a long list of things we have not done in the past many years.  New year is a good time to think of those "memories" and wanting to start it all over again. But never get down to do it and is already broken !

Let us take up , the one that many employees like to make.

Setting up their own business. !

With the appraisal time coming to an end, this is probably the best time as any to go back to those thoughts.

Here are the top 3 things, that could get you started :-

1. In the new financial year starting from 1st April, things at office are bound to be "slow" and hence, the world will not fall , if you take a few days off to "take a break". If possible, go away from home too to a small town, just off the city. Leave your mobile behind, but take your laptop and its accessories. Don't forget the internet connection..

2.Set your self for a few days and put down everything you wanted to do in the past but never found the time . Slowly, what you wanted to do, will emerge.

3. If by now, you have a clearer idea on what you want to do, then download the many business plan templates on the net, ex. A good one is at http://www.carmaconnect.in and fill it up.

By this time, your "time off " would have come to an end, head back to  your home / office and begin to think it over.

The big idea  will begin to start buzzing in your head non stop and that is a good way to start off being your own boss !

Get in touch with me , if you need some "support".

Read more »

Greeting Customers in a Retail Store

A Genuine Welcome J J.

This is a series of articles on Retailing in India, targeted at Retailers wanting to improve their business.

First impressions count.

In a speciality store …

Speciality stores have seen the benefits of a greeter for a long time now, because, of the higher value of the products being retailed by them.

But in a large apparel store or a  super market ?

For some “crazy cost control reason ?”, most apparel stores and super markets in India, don’t have a greeter.

Even today,  where the small business owner runs the store, he sits just near the entrance and is always at hand to greet, welcome, smile at the visitor.

But with the “multi store franchisee / company managed store” format, the store manager is often on floor or in his “cabin / back office” , which is often at the back end of the store. Staff are always busy, packing and un packing or helping existing customers. Or just “discussing and chatting” with each other to be able to welcome and greet the new customer.

What is the Culture of our society  ?

Ex 1. We go forward and greet a friend or even an expected visitor at the door of your home , even at odd times ? as it is our culture not just in India, but in any part of the world.

Ex. 2 Even a small old time barber shop ensures that the owner greets you with a smile, when you enter the barber shop.

What may be are the reasons of not greeting?

Companies make huge efforts on the 7 Ps of marketing, ie Product, Price, Promotion, Place, Process, People and Physical evidence ( store)  in influencing the customer to come the store.

Staff Role ?

The staff are all standing around the  “hanging racks” and unlike a high end jewellery store or a traditional saree store, not behind counters either.

Who should be the greeter ?

In any kind of a retail outlet, select a person, who has a natural tendency to smile to welcome the customers.

In case you want to experiment, allocate regular sales staff members to take turns in manning the entrance of the store. And you will begin to see the kind of learning by the staff and also the customer satisfaction results in less than a week !

A simple smile and a "Welcome to our store today. Is there anything I can help you with?" is more than enough to begin with.

If the customer gives you the typical "Just looking" line, simply answer with a line such as "Welcome again, my name is Jyoti , if you need anything I will be nearby to assist you". Having  given the customer your name and also informed them that you intend to hover near them as they progress around your place of business so you do not appear as a sales person that is stalking them around the store.

That is all that is needed as a basic greeting.:)

At a later stage, we will show you how to sell even to a “just looking” customer.
How to guide the customer to a category of your interest ?

If the customer says, she is just looking, then offer to take her around the store, show her the new arrivals, talk about new services etc. This way, you will be able to guide her to areas of interest to you and your company and also may be help her make up her mind. It is quite possible she does not know what to buy and is just browsing.

For example, you might want to focus on the sales of high margin products, or bundled offers, whereby the ticket size of the bill can be increased, or there are opportunites for upselling, explain an add­­-on services etc etc

This would be a good opportunity to just show the entire range, as research has shown, that even regular customers don’t necessarily know all the products and ranges that are in the store, as they tend to shop for what they have already come to buy.

How not to greet the customer ?

Remember to "greet" not "confront". There used to be a famous store  store in MG Road , Bangalore, where a line of Sales people standing near the entrance, would pounce on you as soon as you entered. Don’t do that.

If a customer walks into your place of business and you pounce on them like the stereotypical "predatory" sales person, guess how they are going to treat you?

If you put yourself in their path like a road block and proceed to try to force them to engage you in conversation you will find yourself being evaded by the customer both physically and verbally.

No one enjoys walking into a store and being "confronted" by a sales person.

I would now like to thank Rick Segal for his GREAT formula of remembering the entire Sales Process .

Obviously, Greeting is the first portion of the GREAT formula and we have just learnt about it.

o    G - The Greeting—As flexible as retailing can be and how things can come in different shades of gray, we are very stubborn about one particular greeting that just keeps working and amazing retailers. The key to the greeting is building a bridge to researching. We have that bridge builder in the above examples.

If you just watch the kind of greeting that is done by you and those of your colleagues, you will understand the opportunities that are there….

We will learn about the rest of the GREAT formula in our next lessons….

What is the best form of greeting ?

An Indian Namaste with a genuine SMILE can do wonders in welcoming the customers . The Namaste with the hands folded says that you are thankful for the chance to be of service to them, and it does not involve the shaking of hands with the customer, something he or she may not be comfortable with when meeting a new person. A shake hand is typically done, when you either know the person or the customer volunteers to offer his / her hand first.

Action point :- 

Would you like to practice a new form of Greeting today at your store and share your experiences here. Why not even post a photo of you ?

We welcome your feedback 

Retailgurukul@gmail.com. 

The author has more than 30 years retailing experience in India.

Read more »

Morning Meetings @ Stores

Store Meetings for Retailers

It is one of the better management practices that we have begun to see in the more successful stores. Increasingly, if you were to ask the Store managers, if they had been doing this in the past, when they were young and in junior positions like most of us, then they will say no.

What is this “new thing”, that we are discussing now ?

What is a “meeting in the store” ?

Typically, a store meeting is a place where all the relevant employees of the store get together to discuss various opportunities and problems that are faced by the store .

Prayer, For a country that has so much of religion, it is quite normal for staff to start the day with a silent prayer.

In some stores, it is normal to end the meeting with a prayer. The choice is that of the staff and a silent prayer , a huddle in the style of the Indian Cricket team at the centre of the pitch or holding hands together are all different forms of team building.  As the staff at the store often come from different faiths and a silent prayer allows each person to pray to his faith.

What is the time when the store meeting should be done ?

Ideally, the store meeting should be done, before the store opens for the its customers .

In fact for a restaurant that is opening for dinner, then a meeting at 6.30 PM is perfectly the right time.  For such a meeting, who all should attend. ? From the door man, the waiters, the steward, the Chef and the restaurant manager.

For a Mens Section in a large department store? Surely the sales staff of the mens section should attend and the meeting can be conducted by the Section Head. In fact, it is a good idea to get one person from another section say the Ladies section to attend this meeting in turns, so that the customers who are done with their shopping their can then be directed to the mens section for some additional shopping. Similarly, the new things in the ladies section whether merchandise or ideas can also be shared, which can be used in creating new opportunities for sales.

Who conducts the meeting ?

Ideally, a person like the store manager should conduct the meeting, and one who has the authority and responsibility to take decisions.

Who all should attend the meeting ?

All the store staff, responsible for the day to day operations of the store should attend the meeting. In large stores, multiple meetings can be conducted , one each for each Category or section of the store, for example, separately for Ladies Section, Gents section , Kids Section etc.

Then, the section managers, can then attend a section managers meeting with the Senior Store Manager.

What are the kind of topics that should be discussed in the meeting ?

Topics such as the sales target, ways of achieving it are obviously on the top of the list. Among the other best practices are reviewing the customer feedback forms , discussions on customer complaints and how they have been solved and specifically, if there are customer complaints that are still not resolved. Yet another area of keeping the relevant people informed are any special deliveries that are due for the day, etc . Some topics to start this off …

·         Customer Service

·         Loss Prevention

·         Policies & Procedures

·         Business Goals

Sales Training :-

It would also be a good opportunity to also demonstrate any good practices of the store and also reward the staff for their good work. In fact, the value of the reward is much less important than the fact that the staff have been rewarded in front of their peers.

Additional Motivational opportunities and team building.

In large stores, a number of support staff whether from House Keeping, Security, Cashiering are common resources to the entire store. Hence, it would be a good initiative to invite the people and ask them to share some of their challenges and good things about our department. For example, we might find that many of the products that go for billing might not be having price tags. In situations where the customer is in a hurry, they often ask the product to be dropped from billing. This is a big loss of sales to the team.

A wonderful example :-

In a jewellery store on a High Street, that I know, the security staff was also invited to attend the meeting. Initially, such an invitation itself was a big thing for the “slightly old security man” who hardly any body cared about, whether it was the staff or the customers, except to leave their belongings when they entered or pick them up on their way out.

Since the meetings were held in English, the man could not understand much, But over a period of time, he began to ask questions and understood the business better and the impact of the customers on the business. Since the store was located in an area with a lot of mosquitoes, a lot of them used to enter when ever the door was opened.

Imagine the surprise of the staff, one day, the Security Man, brought a mosquito repellent liquid like Good Knight, saying that he had seen the mosquitoes coming in and disturbing the customers and he had gone and bought this repellent to be kept in the store. The rest of the staff were speechless at his gesture.

Your next step:-

After having learnt about the benefits, will you start a meeting to discuss the benefits ? Let us know too…

Best of luck from Retail Gurukul

Read more »

Will you volunteer to have a BOSS :) :(

Yes, The question is correct. If you had a choice between having a Boss and not having a Boss, will you still have one?

It is said, that in life, you cannot choose your parents, and in your company::_-  your Boss, your subordinates, your peers etc . At home too, after  you have had some choice in choosing your spouse, what are the other spaces where you can get yourself a "BOSS" if you want.?

There are still a few things in this world,  that you would have started to do something on your own for your own sake. Not for the sake of your parents, company, spouse, kids, friends etc.
For example, stock market investment , Gyming as part of your new year resolution , even a small time business on your own.

Now is the choice for you to either learn and do it on your own with all the trial and errors and costs associated with it.. After all, you want to do it and no body pushed you. Right ?

But then, is it the right thing ? Finally, what does a Boss typically do ? Help you set a target, monitor your progress, push you when you are sticking to the mutually agreed target , be a shoulder to sometimes at least go and cry / crib/ complain etc. And, kick your  @#$% sometimes if you failed ...

Now compare all these benefits of not having a BOSS . Ex. A Gym. The coach there is there to help you, yet if you skip your schedule, he at best can ask you couple of times. At best, he might send you some messages etc. But ultimately, it is you who has to decide whether to go to the gym or not. All this after having paid the full 3/6 /12 months fees in advance, running in thousands of hard earned rupees. Yet, finally, you give up half way through, saying you dont have time !

Now let us see if you had instead got a BOSS at the same gym. He would ensure that, ( you have paid up the 1000's of Rs ), that he will sit with you and set a target of say loosing 10 kgs in 12 months. He will then ask and get you to come to the gym every second day, and an average of 4 days in a week, including week ends. Then he will set up a schedule of workouts , monitor your workouts, your diet,  sit with you with your performance report, about the attendance, target vs achievement ( why have you been missing the classes, why and what have you been eating, you are short of your target by 300 gms for the month etc etc ).

At the end of the quarter, he would have applauded you in front of your other colleaques for the achievements, given you a gift , and pushed you to the next higher target of say 1.25 kgs next month.

So, net , net would you like to have a Boss ? or not ?

I certainly would, considering that it was my money, my target . All I need is sometimes , a kick in my @#$% so that the target is achieved and it is all for my benefit.

What say ? 

Read more »

Nation,Family and then Company in that order ?

In a country , where politicians have no morals, Mr. Dinesh Trivedi, the then Railway Minister came as a breadth of fresh air.

He went about doing what was best for the country , ie increase railway passenger fares, which due to populist notions had not been increased by both his boss Mamata Didi and the earlier irrepressible Mr. Lalloo Prasad Yadav and others even before him.

He said, it was necessary to keep the Railyways healthy and since he was a central minister, did not find the need to go back to his Boss for her approval.

He said, first came the Country, then his family and then the party . Even in his resignation he has maintained that, since the country came first, rather than the party or the Railway ministership that came with it, he has chosen to actually resign rather than go back on the fares and keep his chair.

Congrats Mr. Trivedi, may your tribe increase in this country getting rotten by the day. See what is happening in both Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Disgusting.

Now, what will you and me do in a Company when faced with such a challenge .

Will ethics and moral values ensure that the Country ( paying taxes , duties , etc ) will come first, before your own company ?

Or if required ,quit the job, because your company wants to avoid some legal payments so that they can enrich themselves at the cost of every one else, ie country, government, share holders, employees.

All the employees can mostly do is follow the instructions to survive in the job or quit and find another.

What say ?

shivaram

Read more »

Retail Sales Professional - It's all in the mind :)

Chapter 1. Let us start with the mind…

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. – Buddhist proverb

Did you know, that selling is the world’s oldest profession ?

Did you know, that in India, it Retail industry is the second largest employer, that means that  plenty  of jobs or opportunities in sales are going to be available now and in the future for a long long time.

Want to become a Sales Professional, not just a sales man in a unknown neighbourhood store ?  

But then, whether we call ourselves Sales Professionals or not, every one is in the field of selling.

1 .Five important benefits of becoming a Sales Professional ?

1.    You get to  meet people and solve their problems

2.    You can almost decide your income, because most sales jobs come with a combination of salaries and incentives.( reduce the hyperbole )

3.    You get to learn new things every day

4.    You will become a very good communicator.

5.    You can move up in life.

2 Characteristics of a Sales Professional ?

The best description of the characteristics of a Sales Professional is given below

THE SALESMAN*

Salesmen are big problems to their bosses, customers and wives, to credit managers, hotels, and sometimes to each other.  Individually and collectively they are cussed and discussed in sales meetings, conventions, behind closed doors, in bathrooms, bar rooms, and under one's breath from many angles, and with much fervor.

They make more noise and more mistakes, create more cheer, correct more errors, adjust more differences, spread more gossip, explain more discrepancies, hear more grievances, pacify more belligerence, and waste more time under pressure, all without losing their temper, than any class we know—including ministers. They live in hotels, cabs and tents on trains, buses, and park benches, eat all kinds of food, drink all kinds of liquids—good and bad—sleep before, during and after business with no more schedule than the weather bureau, and with no sympathy from the office.

Yet salesmen are a power in society and in the public economy. In many ways they are tribute unto themselves. They draw and spend more money with less effort, and less return, than any other group in business. They come at the most inopportune time, under the slightest pretext, stay longer under more opposition, ask more personal questions, make more comments, put up with more inconveniences and take more for granted under greater resistance than any group or body, including the U.S. Army. They introduce more new goods, dispose of more old goods, load or move more freight cars, unload more ships, build more factories, start more new businesses, and write more debits and credits in our ledgers than all the other people in America. With all their faults, they keep wheels of commerce turning, and the currents of human emotions running. More cannot be said of any man. Be careful whom you call a salesman, lest you flatter him.

*From Zig Ziglar’s, Ziglar on Selling, p. 14 (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), originally sent to him by Donald Benenson of Levittown, New York.

3 In a country where there is so much emphasis on education, I am not so well educated. How are my chances ?

Sure, a formal education is a great starting point for any career, but even an MBA from IIM can at best get an interview for a position that you may not get , if you did not have an MBA.

But, after that , it is only the performance that counts on a day to day basis.

History has shown that people who have succeded or failed, are of all kinds, college educated, college dropouts  or did not even attend college.

But ultimately, what matters is a willingness to succeed, the desire to learn the trade, and the tenacity to keep learning as you go along.

That is more important, than a college education.

4 How is life as a sales person?

Let us face the reality , upfront. There are those who make things happen and then there are those who wonder what happened ? . Any job or profession today, is more difficult than it ever was before. It will be tougher in the future also. But, ups and downs are part and parcel of any life today. Unless, you are willing to go and live in the Himalayas, tough days are part of daily living . It is better to be ready for them mentally so that you can face it when a tough or bad day happens than be not prepared for it.

The “mantra” is to say, this can happen to any one and take learnings out of it.

5 When the going gets tough, will you still be there ?

Ex. To show who in a group can do something difficult and which people cannot This month’s target achievement should separate the men from the boys! Because the market is poor, there is new competition and target achievement seems so difficult.

Difficult days are when the committed Sales Professional will still find ways to do the work, while the “chalta hai” sales representative will find reasons to explain why he could not do the job assigned to him.

6 Personal time for going to the movies, spending family time.

Weekends may no longer be Saturdays or Sundays . Weekly off is typically a “working day of the week ie Monday to Friday. But the advantage is , you will be able to enjoy a much more “quality time” either with your family

Or at the movies. In fact, many things like movies, food are now a days cheaper on week days compared to week ends. So you have an additional advantage of having a holiday on a week day.

7.Being ethical

Being is no longer an extra advantage in this age of white lies, half truths and outright lies. Being ethical is not only the right way to live , it is also most practical way to live. There are any number of examples of individuals, companies and large diversified groups who have lived by the law and spirit of running an ethical business. Ultimately, they have prospered compared with those who took short cuts to success.

Being ethical is no longer an advantage, in this age of white lies, half truths and outright lies. There are any number of examples of individuals, companies, and even large diversified companies who have succeded, without compromising on values.

8 Can mindset and training be related ?

How can training and mindset complement each other? Simply put, training is like your vehicle and the mind is the driver. Even if the vehicle is powerful; it will only perform at its level best when the driver also performs.
9 The Sales Professional For the 21^st Century Malls and Hi Street Brands.

With literally thousands of brands being retailed in the country and many to come in the years ahead, all Sales Professionals may or may not have college education or an MBA to their names, but they are educated enough to want to do a college education but they are educated enough to want to do a college education.

10 Now and into the future

With the number of things that are being discarded and the number of things that are being introduced every day, there will no dearth of new sales job opportunities now and into the future.

So, being in sales is the best profession in the world. If you do not want to be in sales, then get out now and find a job that works with what you want out of life.

But remember, you can take the man out of selling, but you cannot take selling out of the man.

How did you like this article ? Did it help you become a better Retail Sales Professional ?

Do send your feedback to shivaraaam@gmail.com or 90360 365 24. You can also follow me on twitter @shivaraaam or blog at http://www.retailgurukul.blogspot.com

Read more »

Do you know the way to your women's heart ?

Ask any man, whether a 21 year old boy with a girl friend or a married man in his late 30's with a kid or even a guy in his late 50's with over 30 years of married life...

Do you know the way to your woman's heart ?

The response will be a surprise, a blank face  or a huge laugh, all meaning the same thing, that he just doesn't know.

Approach your  woman and ask her if an unexpected gift from her man at an unexpected time will mean a lot to her ? and the answer will be an emphatic yes.

Remember the TV advertisement from SBI Life about an old man gifting his wife a diamond, the surprise on her face and she asking him why does she needs a diamond at her ripe old age.. ??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMMNbY4STfU

These incidents have lessons for all men ... next time go out ,buy something for her, whether it is a single red rose (costs about Rs. 10 again, fallen from Rs. 60 on Valentine's Day) to a new dress or some fancy precious jewellery and see the smile on her face and you will know you have reached her heart...

And for the many retailers, next time you see a man in your store , ask him the question...

Do you know the way to your woman's heart ?
He will again be blank because he has never thought he will ever understand her !

And if he by any chance says something , tell him your ready answer , " an unexpected gift at an unexpected time " and take him to show some of the "unexpected gifts " ready in your store.

And take a few minutes to tell us how was your experience ...

Retail Gurukul
Shivaram
shivaraaam@gmail.com
90 360 365 24

Read more »