I Learned How to Sell From Selling Shoes…And You Can Too

BOB PHIBBS, CSP

CEO The Retail Doctor www.RetailDoc.com

Iput myself through college as a salesman in a shoe store that used an “ups” system where once you waited on someone – whether they purchased or not, you went to the bottom of the order much like a baseball player until everyone else had their “up.”

You had to build trust with a customer quickly, always looking for a higher ticket via helping the customer get what they wanted.

Back then, and still today, most clerks just ask a guy’s size when he picks up a shoe. But I wanted to measure their foot to save time and know if choices were limited.

This strategy kept trainees from discussing features and benefits on the sales floor only to go to the stockroom and discover there was no shoe in the customer’s size.

I trained the salesmen to bring out four boxes of footwear. After the customer decided on the original pair, he would invariably ask, “What’s in those boxes?” This is much easier selling when they ask rather than you push.

Whether you sold or not,

I know a lot of people who made money selling in the retail industry - particularly in shoes. The whole experience was one of pampering and catering to the customer.

Contrast that to the selling process now - you try on your own shoes after asking for your size and figure out if they fit. No wonder so many shoe store owners are nervous about online shoe retailers!

Selling shoes in a store has to be better than online.

If all your clerks do is fetch products, they add no value to the transaction.

That part-time job selling shoes is where I first learned much of what I still teach today about persuasion, presentation skills, energy, sales techniques in retail, teamwork and success. I use it in my online retail sales training program SalesRX.com.

Customers don’t realize that when they have an exceptional experience it is not by chance, but by the training given to the sales team.

that was your chance to make a sale.

Five Things I Learned:

Have a goal – sell more shoes Get the customer to take action. In shoe stores, it is to get them to take off their shoe. In apparel, it is to go to the fitting room. Keeping options open. Arousing curiosity. An “ups” system without training limits your ability to grow sales. Who is the best person to serve the customer?

Think Different - Why Just Keeping Up Is No Longer Good Enough

PRAKASH MENON

Executive Mentor FOUNDER/CEO - FAIL SMART SCHOOL FOUNDER/CEO - BLACK BELT IN RETAIL SCHOOL

The world’s most innovative companies are not only the first to come up with new ideas, they also know how important it is to leapfrog (as opposed to catch up) when they find themselves lagging behind.

Apple founder, Steve Jobs, was a master at this. When Jobs first built the original desktop Macintosh, the ‘iMac’, he focused so hard on allowing a user to manage their photos and videos that he completely missed the boat when it came to handling music.

So while PC users were downloading music and burning CDs, the iMac paled to insignificance. But rather than catching up to his greatest competitor by upgrading the iMac’s CD drive, Jobs leapfrogged them with an integrated system that combined iTunes, the iTunes Store and the iPod. It was a move that ended up revolutionising the music industry.

Then despite the iPod’s massive global success, Jobs spent little time basking in that glory. Instead, he opted to think about the next piece of technology that could jeopardise it. And so the iPhone was born, which allowed users to add music to their mobile phone handsets for the first time.

As Jobs famously said at the time, “If we don’t cannibalise ourselves, someone else will.”

Today we are all grappling with extraordinary changes that represent a permanent shift in the way we work, communicate, share our lives, create value, develop leaders and innovate.

As a result, there has never been a greater need to stay relevant and ahead of the game as opposed to simply keeping up.

In short, companies that thrive in the 21st Century are those that master the ability to continually reinvent themselves to cater to the everchanging needs of the market and their future business leaders. Those that don’t, risk disappearing forever.

This isn’t just about being ready for change. It’s equally about developing an appetite for change. Making a change in a project within a business is the old story. Developing a fast-moving, agile business is the new goal.

Sometimes even the best decisions aren’t always the right decisions. For instance, what would be the point of launching something never seen or heard of before if your target market fails to see what’s in it for them?

In fact, the wise leader has the strength of character to learn from a mistake and move on, comfortable in the knowledge that the new direction is better than the previous one.

Remember change is often hard at the start, messy in the middle, and perfect at the end. But as challenging as change may be to deal with, it is paramount to the success of any 21st century business.