So What Are You Really Selling?

Many clients I have worked in my career think they sell “stuff.” Whether it’s hammers and nails, tickets to sporting events, or plumbing services.

If you asked a hardware store what they sold, their first response would naturally be hammers and nails, power tools, and so on. Sure, that’s what shows up on the receipt, but is that what customers are really buying?

I recently had a leak in my roof so I headed to the nearest hardware warehouse. I ended up in the right aisle, but was confronted by an overwhelming amount of options. I’d never repaired a leak in my roof and I had no idea where to begin.

When I found an associate, he took the time to ask about the leak, where is was, when it happened, and so on. Then he directed me to the things I would need to purchase to repair the leak. He told me what to do, what to expect while making the repair and what problems I may encounter.

So what was the most important transaction? What I bought at the checkout or what I learned in the aisle? I gave my trust to the associate on the floor, expecting them to lead me to the solution I bought. If that didn’t happen, my brand experience would be tarnished. What happened on the floor was way more important than what happened at checkout.

It’s one thing to sit in a board room, analyse transaction numbers and compare sales. But what about the real transaction?

Do you know what’s happening on the floor? Are you careful about who you’re hiring? Have they been trained with a script that reflects your brand or are they just making it up as they go along? A common complaint employees have with their employers is a lack of training. Yes, it’s hard to find good help. But the job doesn’t end with finding good help. You can make good help great with proper training and preparation.

Good people are hard to find.

But what about making average good and making good great?

Unfortunately, we find today that so many stores and restaurants are under-staffed so they hire quickly and throw them to the dogs, ill-prepared to meet the challenges of the job. What happens during that transaction prior to the sale? Is your team on track? Are your managers giving effective feedback that makes team members better?

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If you’re in a retail sector, give us your worst-performing store or restaurant and let us look at the transaction experience. We bet we can help you.

We’ll show you how to collect data through daily employee assessments so you can thoroughly understand the dynamics of your team and give them effective feedback to make those “good people” great people. These assessments will give managers the data to give frequent feedback that coaches teammates into being better players. It’s not that hard. But it’s surprising how so few businesses take advantage of it.