5 ways to Increase Sales

 

This month you will find my Take 5 Article in the New Age Retailer (http://www.bluetoad.com/publication?m=2646&l=1). In this article I talk about 5 ways to increase your average sale. If you are a subscriber to the Type 40 Newsletter, you have read several postings from me on this subject.

These ideas are not new ones, but they are good ones:

1 – Grab their attention with displays that thrill, fill and spill

2- Stack it high and watch it fly! Picked over displays guarantee that your items will be ignored and your sales will be smaller.

3 – Shelf talkers or talking to your customers? Shelf talkers are great for grabbing attention, informing on a product and having your own product cheat sheets available when you need them although nothing beats a great sales staff.

4 – Upscale it baby! What is your stores average price point? Are you heavy on $1 to $5 items? Are you so focused on value that you forget that unique quality that can only be found in a small boutique like yours?

5 – Keep it moving and keep it clean! Move your displays around to keep your customers interest. If they always see the stack of journals to the left of the register, they will assume there is nothing new to see.

We have our own independent store in Ferndale, Candle Wick Shop, and we know what it takes to keep all the balls in the air; waiting on customers, marketing your store, merchandising, buying, bookkeeping and general miracle making. You can read the 5 Ways or any article with full intentions of implementing many of these ideas; yet at the end of each day you wonder where it went and why your list is even longer. We understand, we do it too.

Instead of trying to do everything, every day – pick one. Pick one point from above, pick one thing off of your to-do list, pick one idea that has been stumbling around in your brain, or pick one thing you are excited about and do it. Do it today. Get inspired (Light a Blessed Herbal Inspiration candle) and take a task and get it off of your list.

I run 3 companies, have a 13 year old in Marching Band, am a board member on the Local DDA, am writing a book, do spiritual readings and am on the city finance committee (oh and I am married and LOVE to spend time with my husband). People ask me all the time how I do all of this. Honestly I wonder if I really do it. I have a small and amazing staff that back me up and what keeps it all together is that I pick a day, afternoon or hour for something and dedicate myself to it. I target tasks for specific days and knock them out. If I don’t get them done, I look at my schedule for when I can finish it or rearrange what is on the list. I know that Mondays are bookkeeping days and Tuesdays are buying days at the store. Thursdays are my graphic design days, and Friday is meeting day with the staff. Having those targeted days allows me to collect all the little things that come up in those categories and then look at them as a whole when I can put my entire focus on them.

The other thing I do is set deadlines to my tasks to help me prioritize. I may have a deadline of June 2012 and I have deadlines of 3:00 on Friday. I even put deadlines on things like, make dentist appointment, or rearrange displays in store. My to-do list is divided up in many ways – by category, then by deadline. I also take a tip from Stephen R Covey and do a quick “Urgent, Important” analysis (found in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People).

One habit I needed to learn and implement in the beginning of getting organized is to actually work my plan. You can spend DAYS on getting organized, but if you never actually work you plan, you just wasted a whole bunch of time. By the way, plan on having to re-asses your plan about every two weeks (you know, that pesky moon cycle). Life is running so fast these days that you don’t even get a full month before you are thrown a curve ball. So, get yourself organized in a flexible manner and then keep your eyes on the prize. Feel free to drop things off your list as you change your mind and get new ideas and information. Ideas are only good as long as you can get behind them and feel passionate about them.

You don’t have to be crazy busy to need a plan of action. I need a more detailed plan of action when things are slow. Distraction is my middle name, and if there isn’t at least a simple schedule even the most blatant goals can be forgotten. When you plan it, you are more likely to do it. When you keep it all in your head as something you would like to get to, let’s face it, it never happens.

 

Happy scheduling!

Jacki Smith

Enchantress & President

Coventry Creations & Type 40 Sales