When done correctly, developing sales and training games can help your staff find their true selling potential. Done incorrectly, all sorts of chaos occurs. Here are some suggestions for morale-boosting games you should play with staff and others you should avoid.

GAMES TO PLAY WITH STAFF

? Name that Gemstone  
? Thinking Outside the Box  
? Explaining the 4 C’s  
? Dealing with Difficult Customers  
? Closing the Sale of the Rock  
? Going That Extra Mile  
? Engendering Trust  
? Selling As a Team  
? Magic and Mystery of Diamonds  
? Dress For Success  
? The Art of the Deal  

GAMES NOT TO PLAY WITH STAFF

? Name that Unsightly Blemish 
? Boxing 
? Explaining the Four Tops 
? Dealing with Difficult Crossword Puzzles 
? Sailing Too Close to the Rocks 
? ?Can’t You See I’m On My Break?? 
? Succumbing to Lust 
? Good Cop, Bad Cop 
? Magic and Mystery of Watch Batteries 
? Undress for Even More Success 
? ?Art, It’s Your Deal!? 

INS AND OUTS

There’s a fashionista born every minute

HOPE YOU’VE ENJOYED THE FIRST ISSUE OF Instore Magazine. It’s been A LOT of fun to produce.  

While we’ve filled out our staff and editorial board with experts from inside and outside the industry, some of us old dogs around here have also had to learn new tricks. The biggest change was our introduction to hip and happening fashion magazines like Harper’s, Vogue, InStyle and W. 

Despite having seen enough pictures of Gwyneth Paltrow to last eleven lifetimes, we have learned a lot. There’s tons of advice out there. Everybody’s telling everybody else where to shop, what to buy, and how to put it on. Despite the mortal danger to individualism, it’s been interesting. And we do feel somewhat clued in for the first time in … well, forever. 

In the past we’ve tried to learn the fashion rules. But they never stuck. Was it never wear white after Labor Day? Or never before Memorial Day? Neither? Both? Rather than guess, we formed fashion rules of our own, like: 

* Never wear white unless you feel fairly confident you’ll be going to the laundromat soon.  

*Anybody too old to wear a baseball cap as part of their job needs to avoid baseball caps. 

*Women really don’t think less of you for wearing sweatpants on a date. 

Another thing we noticed in the fashion mags was the language, a shorthand of style. Consider the following three headlines, actually found in magazines:  

?Is Green the New Black?? 
?Is Corduroy the New Denim?? 
?Is Gold the New Platinum?? 

Headlines like these must resonate for those in the know, but they just confuse us. It’s the type of fathomless confusion in which the harder you think, the deeper you sink. For instance, if Green is the New Black, what happens to Black? Or what happens if Green doesn’t step up and achieve New Black status? If it’s Blue or Pink, would people say, ?Poor Green, it was almost the New Black?? And what if instead of Blue or Pink or even Green, it was merely Old Black, experiencing resurgent popularity and retaining its status. Is Old Black the New Black? 

Come back in a month. Maybe we’ll have it figured out by then.