Retail Online Training


Now that the busy holiday season is over, it’s time to focus on effectively managing your team’s sales performance. 

We have compiled a list of ten strategies that can help boost retail sales and can be utilized during coaching sessions.

Assessing your team’s performance during peak shopping periods can be challenging. 

Sales tend to be easier during these times when customers are actively making purchases. 

However, when customers are less abundant and not obligated to buy, the competence of your sales associates becomes crucial for your business.

Here are ten strategies to improve retail sales and effectively manage sales performance in your store:

1. To accurately assess performance, create work schedules that allow all team members to experience both busy and quieter shifts.  This ensures fair comparisons of sales per hour between associates.  Schedule your top performers during peak hours while providing equal opportunities for those with uncertain or average performance.

2. Take a close look at each associate’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from the past few months, particularly during busier periods.  Review previous schedules to identify high-performers and underperformers, and look for any correlations to the scheduling.

3. Use your top-performing associate’s KPIs as a benchmark and rank all associates accordingly.

4. Keep detailed records of your observations and conclusions in your sales reports.  These will be valuable references during discussions with your associates.

5. Initiate performance discussions at the beginning and end of each shift or day.  Providing immediate feedback and coaching proves to be more effective.

6. During coaching sessions, highlight observed behaviors and their impact on results, both positive and negative.  Offer guidance on how to change unproductive behaviors and monitor the associate’s progress in implementing those changes.

7. Make sure that product knowledge materials are readily available for associates to review.  Require them to acknowledge their understanding by signing or initialing the material.  Excuses for not staying updated with product knowledge should not be tolerated.

8. Ensure that your management team understands their responsibilities when they are in charge.  Consistency among the management team is crucial.  If a coaching point is important to you, it should also be important to the rest of the management team.  This united front is essential for associates to observe.

9. Always have a member of the management team available to answer questions and provide general assistance to associates in their sales efforts.

10. If an associate continues to underperform despite receiving feedback, suggestions, coaching, and a reasonable amount of time for improvement, it may be necessary to initiate a formal performance management process.

By implementing these strategies, you can enhance retail sales and effectively manage the performance of your sales team.

All the Success!
DMSRetail
PS. We have a tool to substantially increase your organization’s sales performance. It is called “The 33% Increase Formula” and can be found HERE

Retail Online Training