Secret Item
Okay, so here’s how this works. You pick a bunch of items you want to sell — older stuff, things that have been sitting there, mid-range pieces that just need some attention. Write each one on a slip of paper. Put each slip in an envelope. Seal it.
Now your staff each draws an envelope. But — and this is the important part — they don’t open it. They hand it right back to you. You tape it to a board in the backroom with their name on it.
- The envelopes stay sealed all week. Nobody knows what their item is.
- Staff sell like normal. They track their sales like normal.
- At the end of the week, you open the envelopes in front of everyone.
- If someone sold their secret item — without knowing it was theirs — they win a prize.
- If they didn’t sell it, no prize. But also no punishment. It’s fine. It’s a game.
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What this encourages: Here’s the thing. Since nobody knows their item, the only way to win is to sell everything. You can’t focus on one piece. You can’t game it. So suddenly your whole inventory is getting shown, including the stuff that usually just sits there. It’s a trick, really. A nice trick.
One note: Don’t put anything crazy in the envelopes. No $20,000 pieces that haven’t moved in three years. Keep it reasonable — stuff that could sell if someone actually showed it the way they should. You want people to have a fair shot.
DISCLAIMER: Spiffs are not appropriate for every store, but can add a sense of excitement to the sales process for some. It depends on your store, and it depends on your staff. If you haven’t tried these, give it a try and see what happens. But if you do try it, make a big deal of it.
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