Upkeep tasks for your staffs’ downtime
A new year calls for a fresh feeling in your store. Not only does the entire energy of your store change when you clean and move things around but customers are also unconsciously aware of energy shifts and are more attracted to rearranged merchandise.
Years ago, I spoke about visual merchandising at the Atlanta Gift Show and mentioned how moving product creates sales. A woman in the audience raised her hand and said, “Every morning, I walk into my store and move one thing, and every day, that one thing sells.”
Although I joked that everyone would be walking into their stores after the show and moving 15 things, I always wondered if people tried it.
Does your sales staff move and clean the shelved products when they’re not with a customer? Or are they staring at their phones? Rarely will a salesperson volunteer to clean, straighten and reset merchandise unless asked to or unless you have an amazingly motivated person working for you. If so, congratulations! If not, the beginning of the year is a great time to initiate new programs.
Consider holding a staff meeting to introduce the new initiative. Each person who works on the selling floor — and perhaps those who work behind the scenes — gets an area to be responsible for. Their job is to ensure it is clean and well-stocked, that all labels are facing the front, items are pulled to the front of the shelves, lines of merchandise are straight and the endcaps are fully stocked, neat and clean. If it’s done between customers, it doesn’t take long.
Introducing this new maintenance program can be challenging — and I’m being polite with my language. When announcing it, ask team members to vote on whether they get a set area or if they’d prefer a rotating schedule. When given a choice, even when it’s something they might not want to do, the act of choosing helps people feel like they have some say.
You may also introduce a part-time merchandiser who takes care of each area on a rotating basis and comes in several times a week.
Cross-merchandising is an excellent way to introduce new products to customers. To prompt this, ask your salespeople how they create multiple sales. What products do they recommend customers purchase together? If you have space, get each person to create a cross-merchandising display with a mix of products that solve a specific problem. You can even offer a discount when customers buy the bundle of products. To make this work more palatable to your staff, try creating a competition. Track the sales of each cross-merchandised display and after a month, give a prize to the winner whose display sold the most.
Store maintenance starts at the top and influences everyone who works there. If you are proud of your place, you encourage others to feel that way. While your sales staff aren’t likely to replace lightbulbs on your outdoor sign, mop the floors or clean the façade and windows, they will notice if you don’t take care of what you own or manage.
This “pride of place” also influences your customers. Because spas and most of your products are for private homes, your store should be as neat and clean as your customers’ homes, or even more so. When people shop in an environment they respect, that creates equal respect for the products and expertise of the people working there.
Download a printable PDF: Selling Floor Duties Checklist