Hey. It’s Bob Negen. And in this episode of Real Retail TV, we’re going to explore why don’t people do what you want them to do.

Before we get into why don’t people do what you want them to do, it really is sort of an age old leadership and management question.

I want to invite you to a special event that we’re doing on February nineteenth from twelve to three. It’s called Put Me In Coach, and it’s about creating a sales culture.

And from twelve to two, we’re gonna be exploring what you need to do to motivate your people to create a great culture, a sales culture, a customer focused sales culture in your store. And then from two to three, it’s going to be open for your team members too. We’re gonna talk to your on the floor sales associates and and help them understand that why they’re what they’re doing is so important. It’s gonna be a little bit of training and a lot of motivation.

But, anyway, put it on your calendar right now, February nineteen, twelve to three eastern.

A link for registration is going to be on this page.

So now let’s talk about why don’t they do what you want them to do. And I wanna share, I don’t remember where I learned this or even when I learned this, but I do remember that once I learned it, I felt a real sense of liberation because I right away understood that if I was frustrated about my team not doing what I wanted them to do, all I really had to do was look in the mirror and ask myself, am I doing the things that you’re going to learn about right now? So this idea of taking responsibility for the culture and quality of your team, when you understand this, it all becomes easier. You now have a checklist to sort of go through to figure out what the problem is and how you can solve it. So when we talk about why don’t they do what you want them to do, let’s put it in the context of creating a sales culture, a service culture that sells.

So before we begin, let’s have an assumption.

And that assumption is that if you created a sales culture, if you had people, if everybody on your team knew what they were doing, were focused on serving your customers and giving them you know, going out on the floor, getting into conversation skillfully, asking great questions, selling them the right stuff, the perfect purchase, adding on where appropriate that you could build your average ticket by fifteen percent.

Now when you think about that, if you build your average ticket by fifteen percent, what that means is that you can increase your sales fifteen percent without adding any new customers.

Does this sound good? I hope that it does. Now the next thing that you’re probably thinking is, is, that’s too good to be true.

Well, let me ask you a question.

Think about your best sales person and what their average ticket is.

Then think about your average or even your worst sales person and figure out what their average ticket in is. If the gap is more than fifteen percent, and it almost always is, it means that you have that potential to grow fifteen percent. Your best salespeople don’t have a better quality customer.

They just handle those customers more skillfully. And, you know, the other beautiful thing about it is is when you think about your team members, beautiful thing about it is is when you think about your team members, the people who sell successfully, who have that high average ticket are almost always, even always, the people who give your customers the best service, the people who give your customers the service. The people who give your customers the kind of service that brings your customers back in again and again and again. So when we make that assumption, now let’s talk about how we take this.

Why don’t they do what you want them to do and put it in the context of you increasing your sales by fifteen percent merely by creating this sales culture? Why don’t they do what you want them to do? Number one reason, they don’t know what to do. And so so often, owners and managers, and I can speak from experience in saying that this was true of us also at the Mackinac kite company.

We assume that if we hire somebody, that they will know what they are supposed to do. That if you hire somebody, we assume that they’ll know that they’re supposed to go out on the floor, engage your customers, and try to sell them something.

But it’s just not true.

Unless you show them and tell them what to do, you cannot assume that they’re going to do it.

People cannot read minds. You must tell them what they need to do. Get out on the floor and sell some stuff.

Second reason is they don’t know how to do it. Now this is another common problem in that so many so many times, the owner or the manager are owners and managers are good salespeople, and then they become frustrated that a team member is not successful like they’re successful.

And so it’s just important to recognize that if they don’t know how to do it, if you don’t give them the tools to do it, you can’t expect them to do it successfully. Am I right? And understand this, and you know it to be true, selling is a skill. And if you train people how to sell, they’re gonna be more confident when they’re out on the floor. They’re going to have more fun when they’re out on the floor. They’re going to do a much better job when they’re, out on the floor, and they’re going to raise you the average ticket when they’re out on the floor. So sales training.

What to do is sell. How to do it is to be a successful, skillful salesperson, and this is where sales training comes in. This is why you should be at put me in coach because we’re going to explore all of these things.

The third reason is that it’s easier not to do it than it is to do it. And this ties back into training.

So when if you have a person on your team who is not confident selling, they are going to, by default, stay behind the counter. They are going to, by default, say, hi. Can I help you? And then the customer is gonna say, no.

I’m I’m just looking, and then they’re going to feel like they’ve done their job. So unless they feel confident, unless they feel like they know what they’re doing, they’re it’s gonna be easier for them to not engage your customers than it is to be than it is going to be for them to engage your customers. So it’s easier not to do it than it is to do it. And the fourth reason, and this is really important, they aren’t willing to do it.

So think about your team. You may have somebody right now on your team who once was a great sales person. They got out on the floor. They engaged your customers. They talked to them. They asked good questions.

But now they might just be a little burned out. Now they’re just not having any fun. But now they’re not willing to go out on the floor and give your customers the kind of service they deserve when they’re in your store. Now this is where the disciplinary action process comes in.

If someone knows what to do, they know how to do it. They’ve proven that they’re comfortable doing it, but they’re not doing it. You need to make them pick a lane. And there are two lanes.

One lane is get it together, get going again, engage in the behaviors that you once engaged in. That’s the good lane. The bad lane is termination, and you have to be willing to let people go. If they’re not a superstar or they’re not on the road to becoming a superstar, they need to go so that you can find room on your schedule for someone who is going to be great.

So those are the four reasons. Now let’s go back. Would you make a commitment to yourself if you could build your average ticket by at least fifteen percent? Build your sales by fifteen percent without having to do lots of promotions.

I love promotions. Without doing a lot of marketing, I love marketing, but just doing more with the customers you already have. Now if you said yes, it seems to me like this is a great way for me to build my business, then, again, I wanna see you or not. I don’t wanna see you.

I wanna encourage you to be at put me in coach, February nineteen, twelve to three eastern. It’s going to be an absolutely awesome event. You’re gonna learn so much, and your team is going to see why selling is service and why being a skilled, successful successful salesperson is fun. It’s easy.

It’s exciting. It’s all the things that make a retail job fun. So I hope to see you on February nineteen. And if I if you have any questions or comments, put them in the comments down below.

I’ll be happy to make sure that they all get answered. So we’ll see you on the nineteenth.