A reader named Eric Eilberg writes with the following bleg:
My family has run Marlen Jewelers since 1914. Over the years a lot of things have changed, and the business has survived and prospered. We’re a freestanding building in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. We employ six full-time and one part-time sales associates. Dad is the third generation to run the store. He reads a lot of business books and applies them to his industry. Recently he asked for some books on managing a retail sales floor, and I went looking. A Google search turns up very few useful results, an Amazon search returns a dearth but with no gauge of how useful they are. Perhaps the Freakonomics readers could shed some light?
Good bleg. I am hoping some of you can give Eric some useful tips. Feel free to give advice that doesn’t come from books, and if you’re in academia, don’t ignore the literature in your discipline. Finally, feel free to send your own blegs here.
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I know this Eric Eilberg! He went to St. Eds and I think Denison!
Institute workplace democracy … allow the workers to have an amount of input equal to the relative amount it affects them at their job. For some decisions, perhaps only one worker will need to be consulted, others may require the entire staff
End results are far happier employees and input from people who actually have to live with the decisions that are made
There are several books on “Influence” that are helpful. They all cover the same terrain. Just punch in that key work on Amazon and pick one.
My family was in women’s retailing all my life and I dabbled in retail as a teenager, ordering my own aisle in a grocery store. One thing I can tell you that works is the “law of scarcity” — that is, make it look like others are buying the item and that you only have a few left. People want what others want.
For instance, if you have a section of chicken noodle soup perfectly stocked four cans high and ten cans deep, you will sell very little chicken noodle soup.
But if you have a big indent in the soup, showing that others are purchasing it, you will sell a lot. People follow that lead. And you make the impulse sale instead of the competing store visited by the customer a week later.
The main two parts of a sales floor are people and products.
For People, I found a one day seminar I took (was required to take) called “how to supervise people” to be very beneficial. 15 years later and I can still benefit from some of the lessons learned. Also know and follow the local wages/hours laws. This is a simple CYA that can save your business.
For Product I would read Sam Walton’s autobiography.
Also Walk your competitors but for a reason. do not look for what you are doing better than them (No ego rubs) look for what they are doing better than you and then improve yourself.
See Harry Friedman’s web site for information on sales and management retail training. He has a good program to develop metrics measuring efficiency based on numerous variables.
Paco Underhill’s book “Why We Buy” should be required reading for anyone who works in retail. I work in a bookstore and recommend it to customers all the time. Well worth the fifteen bucks. I’d be interested to hear if you find anything else that works. good luck!
Paco Underhill’s “Why We Buy” is an excellent, and accessible, discussion of effective retail merchandising and communication. Read it and you’ll never look at a shop or restaurant in the same way ever again.
I was gonna help until the first comment was that he went to St. Ed’s.