Are you feeling the pressure? When you are in the midst of a big month before a holiday like we are now, it can start to feel pretty tense. Let me share with you some strategies that my private clients use in times like this to make sure that they reach their sales goals.
You know that you have to have your team on board and really working together to produce the sales results. I am going to tell you precisely what to say…the exact script.
So the best thing to do is to gather them together, punch your hands up in the air and start to scream, “FOR GOODNESS SAKES, GET OFF YOUR BUTTS, YOUR PHONES AND FACEBOOK AND START DOING THE WORK I HIRED YOU FOR!” Then, clear your throat and say, “Ok, then, this meeting is over, thanks for coming, have a great day and work with every customer cheerfully.”
Now that you have got that out of your system, don’t you feel so much better?!
You know you can’t do that. You have to have your teams’s help in reaching that sales goal. One of the most effective ways to do that is to put together a motivational plan which includes games and other ways of focusing on the sales to reach the goal.
There are 4 components of a successful motivational plan.
Short and Sweet – Run them for one week only. If it is done for any longer than a week, everyone loses interest. Be sure to offer “sweet” prizes. Candy and food are always good – it is amazing to see what the staff will do for a snack size bag of M & M’s. Other great ideas include $5 food gift cards, quarters and gift certificates to the store. A “Hour Early/Late Pass” is always valued – for a bigger prize you can offer to let an employee to come in an hour late or leave an hour early with pay. How about offering a “VIP Parking Pass” if that is applicable for you? Be creative. There is much you can do with just a small investment that can create big results.
Mix it up – Offer different ‘prizes’ and different goals in different weeks. Different prizes are easy to come up with as I mentioned above. Save the biggest prizes for the largest/most important weeks – often the weeks that represent the largest % of the holiday time business. One idea that has worked well for my clients is paying an extra $1 per hour worked if goal is made that week works well) By focusing on different goals I mean that some weeks the goal should be a total amount of sales, another time reward them for selling 4 items in one sale, and yet another time select an item or class that isn’t moving and give a prize for selling a certain number of them. One good game is “4 for $4”. For every 4 items sold, they get $4 in store credit.
Keep talking – Schedule a team meeting or write up what this fun new plan is so that everyone know about it. Make sure all of you and the managers know exactly what and where you are in relation to the goals….and expect the staff too also! I suggest keeping quarters and sometimes singles in your pocket to reward an employee when they know what the goal is. Keep stroking them – different people learn in different ways.
Make it fun! – This is imperative. Have fun with this. There are likely to be some naysayers in your group – don’t let them ruin the party. It is YOUR store, YOUR party and you get to run it the way YOU want to.
Your Assignment
Identify the following:
- What is your sales goal between now and Easter?
- Where will you post the info about these games?
- How will you communicate it to everyone?
- What will you do each week?
- What will the prizes be?
