Who Sells the Most - Your ads or Your People?

Published on this site: November 22th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

Advertising is not a substitute for good sales technique and superb customer service. Inserting an ad in a handy newspaper to call attention to a line of goods will not sell those goods unless you can back it up with intelligent, well
directed sales efforts in the store. Sales technique and customer service must follow advertising. Unless it does advertising is a failure.

The function of advertising is to bring prospective buyers into the store; nothing more. How you advertise, how much you advertise and where you advertise, can all contribute to advertising’s success or failure. Assuming you do an adequate job of promoting your products through advertising, the visitors will come. Your job, then, is to convert them to customers.

When the visitors (they only become customers when they are buy something) arrive, everyone in your employ must be ready for the task. Any enthusiasm created by your advertising efforts will cool quickly if greeted by sour faces and dour attitudes within the store, or worse, expecting the customer to crawl under the counter or up a ladder to get what was advertised.

Some merchants believe a "test" of advertising is to hide the item promoted and make the customer ask. If no one inquires, it proves advertising doesn't work. People are basically shy and will not ask, fearing they didn't hear or
read the ad correctly, since the item is not prominently displayed. Rather than risk the embarrassment of hearing "no, Stupid, we didn't advertise anything like that", they will leave the store, perhaps never to return. The first
step to back up your advertising is to display the advertised products in a conspicuous location with signage supporting the ads. "Ah hah!.. this must be what we read about. Here it is!".

But not in the front window.

For advertising to work, your visitors must be converted by your salespeople. If the advertised product is in the window, the visitor can make a decision not to explore further based on a quick first impression. At least give your salespeople a fighting chance to "one on one" with a prospective customer.

Don't blame the advertising if your staff can't convert visitors into customers. Or worse, if you run them off before anyone has a chance.

Everyone in the store should know the items being advertised and be able to explain or demonstrate them.

Question your advertising if there are no (or few) visitors. Question your sales efforts if there are visitors but no (or few) sales.

Advertising will pay handsome dividends when the service within the store is directed intelligently. Advertised goods should be displayed prominently and demonstrated easily by willing workers. Unless you can render such service, on a consistent basis, don't advertise. Sell out.

BIG Mike McDaniel - http://BigIdeasgroup.com BIG Mike is the Small Business Advertising Expert and author of "Grab 'em and Close 'em, the Art of the
Elevator Speech". This book explains the importance of crafting a dynamite 13 word speech about what you can do for them. More info at http://tinyurl.com/lzcyl