A high-performing sales team is the key element of a store’s ability to convert products into profits. No matter how attractive our storefront, no matter how good our inventory selection, if we do not have a team of knowledgeable professionals up to the task of creating profitable sales for the store, everything else is just irrelevant. So how do we make sure we have a sales team full of rock stars and not also-rans? It comes in three phases: hiring, training, and independence.
Make sure your sales team members have excellent customer service skills. Photo Credit: ATA
First rule: The best potential candidates to hire never show up when we need them most, so always be hiring. Always being open to hiring a top-notch candidate is one key strategy for success. To do this with consistent success, you should clearly define what makes for a high-performing salesperson or team member. One path to figuring this out is to observe the traits and qualities that your current best-performing employee(s) exhibit. Are they personable? Are they able to close the sale with lots of accessory items? Are they able to work independently? Are they positive and enthusiastic? Do they make customers become repeat customers? Exploring and defining those traits can help you better understand the qualities to select for in new hires. Notice, however, that short list of traits mentioned has nothing to do with technical knowledge! Technical knowledge is the easy part and often best learned on the job. It’s the people skills that are hardest to train. After running a shop of my own and consulting on other businesses, it became clear to me very quickly: hire candidates with good people skills and teach them the technical elements. Avoid the urge to hire for technical skills before people skills. Sure, the person with the technical skills can walk the walk and talk the talk, but rarely do they have the skills to close a profitable sale. We are hiring salespeople, not bow technicians. In addition, you might be saying to yourself, “Always be hiring, but we have a full sales team right now. I cannot afford more payroll.” But time and time again when I see business owners take that leap of faith and hire that top-quality candidate, within a few months that new hire has grown the business (and its profits) beyond their payroll expense.
Sales members should know a little bit about every product. Photo Credit: ATA
Training your team should be an ongoing and never-ending journey. Every morning, before you open, it is wise to have a 15-minute team meeting. In 15 minutes, the lead for the day should go over upcoming obstacles, opportunities, and challenges and clear up any issues at hand that will affect the day as well as upcoming days. Also, especially when things are slow, during that same quick meeting there is the opportunity for product knowledge training. One of the most overlooked reasons why stores may struggle to sell accessory items is that sales team member(s) avoid mentioning certain products to a customer simply because they are afraid to showcase their ignorance. The key to robust product sales is that every salesperson should know three to five aspects of every product that can solve customers’ problems. Three to five key features can easily be trained within 10 to 15 minutes. The days of sales team members being the repository of “everything archery” are gone. The internet has more and easier access to information than any salesperson could hope to cram between their ears. A recent study shows that 95% of customers have done research into the product they look to purchase before they visit a store. The day of the “hyperinformed customer” is here, and it is our sales team’s job instead to help guide customers to the right product that solves their problems and helps them achieve whatever goal they have for participating in archery. When we train and nurture our teams to take that mental shift from “selling stuff” to “solving problems,” we will, at the end of the day, sell more and sell more profitably.
Lastly, it is imperative that we take off the leash and give our sales team the authority and autonomy to make on-the-spot decisions regarding customer satisfaction and sales transactions. All too often when I secret-shop stores around the country, I witness a culture where the sales team member needs to get approval from some higher-up for every decision from managing a disappointed customer, negotiating a package deal, or something as simple as a special order. When we give our sales team members as much autonomy as reasonably possible, we free them up to stay on their tasks and keep things operating efficiently. I can hear it now, ringing in your head as you read this: “But if I give them too much autonomy, they will give away the store!” I can say this with confidence, if you hire right, train your team and invest in their growth, you will have a sales team that eagerly wants to see the store succeed and will strive to make your store a rousing success. But to do that, you need to let them feel empowered to, first and foremost, make customers happy and excited about your store! Sure, you might occasionally hire a bad apple or have an employee make a mistake, but those are cheap and easy to correct compared with the added success and profits a well-hired, trained and autonomous team can deliver.
Take this simple three-step process with your team, and you will unlock success beyond expectations.
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