Well, hey, everybody. It’s Bob Negen. And in this episode of Real Retail TV, we’re going to explore a quick and easy sales training program for your team this holiday season.

So while it is best to have an ongoing sales training program in place, the kind that you find in the retail sales academy, I know a lot of people don’t have formal sales training, and you also might be bringing in part-time seasonal people. And no sales training and no training at all from part-time, seasonal people really leads to you leaving lots and lots and lots of money on the table. So rather than trying to start from the beginning and build it the right way, let’s start right now and make something happen. Let’s not let perfection get in the way of progress.

Let’s talk about quick and easy holiday sales training for your team. There are three parts to it. And, again, your understanding of this as the owner or manager is not the same as you teach your people to do these things. So if you agree with what I say, the next action item is to schedule a team meeting to do these things.

So let’s get into it now. The first thing is to create a holiday-selling mindset. And what do I mean by that? I mean that you if you talk to your team and make sure that they understand that being helpful is the first step in making the sale.

You know, so it encourages them to get out and even just greet and get into a conversation.

This is so important. It’s about confidence.

Confidence is a mindset thing. Right? So if you really, really get into your team members had this idea that helpfulness is service and everybody wants to be served. So this helpfulness mentality is going to go a long, long ways.

So part of that process is dispelling the notion that selling is manipulative, rude, pushy. No. At the holidays, people want to buy, and they also want to be helped. So if you can convince your team that just going out and being friendly and being helpful and really, really looking to serve your customers, you are halfway there.

So this, this mindset piece of selling as service, and if you just go out on the floor with a heart of service, you’re halfway there. The second thing is to teach them this thing that we call merchandise match. So if I go out onto the floor and I see Indy looking at something on the wall or touching a piece of fabric and just engage her in a conversation, I’m going to learn some things. And so when somebody says I am shopping for, you need to teach your people what the appropriate thing is.

So how do you do that? Really, in the beginning right now, it’s quite simple. You take a pad of paper and you create a very simple matrix.

And on that matrix or on that piece of paper, you match up your best sellers. So write down all of your best sellers and then write down next to them who would would who it would be perfect for. So if Indy says, I’m looking for a present for my grandmother, your team member would know, oh, this might be an appropriate gift. So, again, just helping them understand the products that you have on your floor, particularly your best sellers and who would match up with those best sellers.

Again, it’s ain’t perfect, but it’s better than nothing. Don’t let perfection get in the way of progress. So the second part is just sort of fundamental product knowledge. And the third part is adding on. You see, with every single thing that you sell, there are a number of appropriate add ons. And so this goes back to this same exercise.

If these are our best sellers, what are the add ons that are appropriate? You see, if you don’t teach your people, you can’t expect them to know.

So one of the things is that if you when you have this meeting, do it on the floor, role play. Somebody comes in and, you know, Indie, you play the grandmother.

And so Indie comes in and I’m a grandmother. So you start to do role plays and you help them understand these three things. Number one, selling is service. Just approach your customers with the attitude of I am here to help you. Number two, give them basic product knowledge so that they can feel comfortable and confident recommending your best sellers. And number three, give them product knowledge about add ons so when somebody buys this thing, they also understand that it is good service to add that thing to this thing.

And, again, this isn’t perfect, but from my own shopping experience during the holidays over many, many, many years, what I see is that so many independent brick and mortar retailers just throw their team members out on the floor and hope they get the best results. And remember, hope is not a strategy.

And although what I just shared with you, this quick and easy holiday training program is not ideal, it is better than nothing. So if you haven’t started yet or if you have no plans to do holiday sales training, this is the format. This is where you start. One of the things that I will predict is that if you start right here, you just give them these three pieces of information that the mere act of doing this quick and easy training will give you momentum.

You will see the sparks in their eyes. You will see their enthusiasm for learning about what you do because your team knows that when they when when they know what they’re supposed to do, they’re more confident. And when they’re more confident, they have more fun. And when they have more fun, it leads to more confidence. And what does it all lead to? It leads to more money for you. And, again, if you start, it may give you momentum.

But even if you do just this, you are way, way, way better off than you would have been if you did absolutely nothing.

So there it is. Quick and easy. Quick and easy. If you have any tips or suggestions, put them in the comments down below. I’d love to hear them. I’m Bob Negen, and we’re gonna see you again next week.