MANAGERS: WHAT IS THE most important thing you can do for your owners? Do you understand that you’re their representative? That means you treat the business like you own it, and that you’re responsible for your owner’s (and your own) integrity. You’re also responsible for getting the closing ratio up from your team, which makes the inventory turn, as well as the cash book, the client and the store win.
Start by getting all of your sales associates to work on doubling their average ticket. You’re responsible for the experience each salesperson delivers to each client. Let me say that again: YOU are responsible for the experience your salespeople provide. That’s why store floor awareness is so important. You have to learn to listen with your ears, your eyes and your thoughts.
Managers who don’t have an office: The sales floor is your office. The better trained your team, the easier your job is and the better your team works together. You’re responsible for your store earning five-star reviews from the experience your sales team delivers.
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What is the most important thing you can do for your sales team? Training. Did you know the learning curve to be comfortable selling in our industry is three years? There’s more knowledge to sell diamonds and jewelry than it takes to sell cars, real estate or insurance. Getting your Graduate Gemologist degree generally takes around a year to complete online, and you take a test at the end. But even that degree doesn’t teach you brand knowledge, salesmanship knowledge, romancing skills, proving the price on the tag is real, or closing skills.
Training your team starts with a one-hour sales meeting every week, including practicing whatever subject you just talked about. Then there’s the training on the store’s culture: your morals and ethics. Then you must train on all nine “absolutes” to make sure they happen all the time. The absolutes are the gamechangers, and your competitors don’t do any of them.
Teach your team what a client really is. A client is a relationship, and we’re in the relationship business.
The millennials are your next 30–40-year clients, and you need to develop them as business friends. If they love what you did, they will send in their friends. The first time a referral comes in, there’s a 90% closing ratio — but their expectations are through the roof. We want to fill a lot of jewelry boxes in their lifetimes. Every five years, their purchases will get larger through 30 years, when they may spend 20, 30, 40, 50 or even 100,000 dollars.
To your team you’re a leader, motivator, teacher and coach. All are extremely important. You have to be a delegator: firm but fair, proactive and a great listener. Your team controls how much money you make and the store makes depending on how much time you spend with each individual on their weaknesses and strengths. Store floor awareness is the most important thing you can do for your team, and each presentation gives you the opportunity to step in with a team member if you know they need your help.
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It’s up to you — through your team — to make sure every client coming in is treated like a millionaire, no matter how much they really make. They must receive a luxury experience.
You being a motivator helps your team become their best, and recognition goes a long way. If they know you’re pleased with them, they’ll keep working hard to perfect their skill. The leader in you will show by example how easy these things are to do. And it will keep them from avoiding these things out of fear.
Be the manager your team wants you to be and always have their “six.” Ask each team member what you can do for them to help them improve, because if one improves, the whole team does.
