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Setting Sales Targets? Give Them the First $50,000 on You

Nothing motivates like progress, even when it’s illusory.

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Nothing quite motivates like the feeling of making progress, even if that progress is entirely illusory. Several years ago, the Journal of Marketing Research published a celebrated study that found customers will buy coffee more quickly when they are given a “Buy 12, Get 1 Free” card, but with the first two stamps already filled in, than they will when given a “Buy 10, Get 1 Free” card. When it comes to the targets you set for staff, could you do something similar? Give them the first $50,000 toward their annual sales goal “free,” and see if that feeling of momentum doesn’t spur them to shift into a higher gear of work.

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When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”

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