To stay relevant to the market, it is common that many businesses go through several transformations across the year, especially when business operations have been fully recovered as we enter the endemic stage. Nevertheless, it is natural that resistance to change occurs among your businesses when they have to move out of their comfort zone and get used to the new way of doing things.
Why Do Businesses Have To Transform Before It’s Too Late?
Business KPIs Falling Behind
Significant Business Landscape Changes
Identified But Missed Opportunities
1. BUSINESS KPIS FALLING BEHIND
First thing first, when business key performance indicators are falling, it would be a sign that your organization needs a transformation. Especially if the business sales profit could not cover the operating cost , products and services quality standards did not meet average consumers standard and high numbers of customer complaints are raised, these are all red lights for the business that something needs to be transformed. If businesses persist in their existing work processes, they might risk being substituted by other business that could better serve the consumers. This phenomena can be commonly seen especially in the fast-changing retail sectors. One of the main pain points of retailers even after the border is opened is lower walk-in rate. If we do not transform to online business, not doing digital marketing, not coming up with different promotion initiatives, not offering fast response or fast delivery services and not having seamless shopping experience, high chance is we will be forgotten by consumers and being eliminated in the market.
2. SIGNIFICANT BUSINESS LANDSCAPE CHANGES
In the retail sector, one thing you might realize is many of the major retail businesses have begun to move to online platforms. If other retail industry players still refuse to hop on the trend to digitize their business, they will soon be dominated by these retail business giants. One of the business landscape change examples is the shift of consumers’ behaviors from buying offline to ordering online,picking up offline. This phenomena actually has been accelerated during the pandemic times. At that critical time, consumers had been forced to browse products and do their shop online as it was the only way to minimize human contact. If businesses did not provide online order services, they would immediately be excluded by the consumers. On the other hand, those businesses which undergo the new retail transformation and provide online ordering services will indeed be considered as more attractive for the consumers.
3. IDENTIFIED BUT MISSED OPPURTUNITIES
Nevertheless, identified but missed opportunities could also be a big nuisance that indicates business needs to be transformed. When the employees put too much focus on their daily manual work processes, they might miss out many opportunities to improve their work productivity, hence hindering them in achieving their full potential. For example, employees might be too engaged in fulfilling the timeline of the task while compromising the quality of the work. Inversely, employees with perfectionism might suffer in fulfilling the task at the stipulated timeline. When smart business leaders identify these work struggles among their employees, they would introduce technology or solutions that support, encourage and enable employees to act on these opportunities that help them grow and increase their work productivity. However, if business leaders choose to not transform their business, their staff might suffer from handling tedious low level tasks that eat up long working hours yet contributing low values to the business development.
All in all, these are the key indicators that show that businesses need to begin to transform their business. Want to have successful new retail transformation? You must know about this 3R success formula – Renew, Reignite and Replicate. More details on this 3R formula will be explained in our next article.
While waiting for our next article, if you are feeling that no business can escape from transformation, but don’t know where to start? Fret not! You can start by visiting our website for more information on available programs that can boost your business today!
Written by Lim Ee Hau,
SHRA Corporate Trainer
Ee hau is a member of the SHRA trainer team. He has a psychology background and he is passionate in assisting individuals to achieve their life goal. He loves to connect with people by initiating insightful conversation. He enjoys swimming and you can catch him bouldering in the gym during his free time.
Ever find yourself struggling as a manager? From handling tons of emergencies and employee problems to working late at night to prepare reports, proposals and finish your own tasks. Well the truth is, tons of managers are facing the same issues especially when it comes to handling day to day operational problems and emergencies, not to mention tons of managers are also struggling to manage their own work-life balance while trying to ensure employee’s work-life balance!
During times like these, we wish we could have the ability to snap and solve every problem instantly! Although just snapping our fingers to solve problems may not happen, there is in fact a way to break this cycle and make most of our problems disappear! The secret? The art of continuous improvement! Rather than focusing on solving surface problems happening around us, we should be focusing on the elements we can improve to solve the root of the problems! Here are some of the secrets I have overheard!
Don’t Tell My Manager, I Overheard Her Secret Successful Management Formula!
Maximize available tools
The true essence of a team
Aim for the moon
1. MAXIMIZE AVAILABLE TOOLS
“The grass Is always greener on the other side, so let’s make our grass greener!”
In my previous jobs, most of the time we would focus on suggesting new tools or new softwares for us to use to improve our current work practices. I remember suggesting to my manager to purchase and implement using this software that simplifies our work processes to speed things up. My manager at the time would approve it and immediately implement it and brief us on how to use it in hopes of improving our productivity and work quality (since she spent at least thousands for this software)! Did it manage to increase our productivity and the quality of work? Short answer, yes! Long answer, only by 5%.
Spending thousands of ringgit just for a 5% increase in productivity and work quality sounds like a waste right? Well, that’s where this unique quote comes in! What my manager currently would do on a daily basis would be to challenge us and guide us back to the tools and resources we currently have available to us. I remember once suggesting to try out this new tool to which she suggested one of the existing tools we already have. I was a little disappointed at that time but soon realized it was some of the best advice I could have received!
After her suggestion, I was still a little adamant and decided to look more into the tools I suggested. Turns out, not only was it expensive, but it can only be used for one particular activity only! To make matters worse, if I had gotten that tool, the setup would take a long time and eventually cause delays! So if you’re eager to improve and manage your team or business and are very willing to invest in new tools, consider the ones you have now first! One of my manager’s secret in having less headache is by making sure all the tools we have and are familiar with would be considered first! This saves time in getting, implementing and testing out new tools (as well as potential last minute headaches)
2. THE TRUE ESSENCE OF A TEAM
“A group of people together – A Gathering, a group of unified hearts – A Team”
In any organization, business or company, teamwork is the one golden skill that every employer is looking for in their teams. I have been through a few organizations as well as companies and ultimately “Teamwork” is always one of the company’s core elements and core skills. Don’t get me wrong, teamwork is truly necessary in order to succeed and excel in this ever growing world, but how many of us truly understand what truly makes up the core essence of teamwork and practice it when managing our teams?
I would often feel excited working with different supervisors, managers along with colleagues in developing programs and sessions. On one such occasion, we were able to bounce off ideas and craft a 3-day external program that was so well received that the participants were eager to sign up for the next program we were planning to have next year! That sounds like good teamwork right? Well, that was when I met one particular supervisor. He implemented tons of changes and directions for us to think of that were quite new to us. We managed to create a pretty good session and was well received as well. However, after that session, most of us lost our motivation to work on future sessions anymore.
So what happened? We felt the supervisor in question was often hard to reach and was often fixated on his ideas and concepts. Whenever we suggested elements that were different, we were often faced with rejections without consideration. Fast forward to today, everything makes sense to me with regards to why my current manager practices certain methods. After she delegates tasks and explains to us the expectations needed for the tasks, she would welcome any questions, objections or even complaints we had and address every single one of them! Were some of the things she addressed what we were hoping for? Not always, but somehow it always makes us feel lighter afterwards and productive.
Her secret? She is focused on how we can achieve our KPI and target. However, she was more focused on how all of us could get there together without leaving anyone in the dark or leaving anyone behind. By doing so, not only were we able to produce good results, but we would support each other, let out any concerns once and fully focus on completing the task as a team. So working well and producing good results are actually by products of actual teamwork! The actual teamwork would be how we are able to support each other, help each other through struggles and reach the finish line together consistently throughout our work tasks. In case you’re looking for some tips, she never talks about work during breakfast, lunch and dinner, but would instead share with us about her life and learn about ours genuinely. Additionally, she would often set up a safe space discussion with us!
3. AIM FOR THE MOON
“Aim and focus on the bullseye, You will either end up getting 10 points or 9”
I believe we are familiar with Walt Disney’s quote about aiming for the moon, and at least hitting a star when we miss. Well, that isn’t really far away from my manager’s secret! We usually focus on aiming high and aiming to achieve more so we would list out tons of areas we want to hit and tons of goals we want to achieve. At the end of the day when we achieve one of those goals, we would celebrate that one goal achieved compared to zero goals achieved. That was what I used to practice and believed in until now.
I would often list down tons of things I want to develop and tons of areas I want to improve on (because we want to achieve as much as we can in the shortest time). At the end of the month, as long as I achieved one, I would be happy! That stopped when I met my current manager. Rather than all these tasks and areas, she would tell me to focus on one. Sounds cliche right? Well, it doesn’t stop there. One time she asked me which do I think is my main priority, my “bullseye”. I said my ability to curate content that is relevant and relatable, and she discussed together with me on what are some of the ways we could achieve that target. Just a few days after this conversation, I reflected and actually conducted one of my personal proudest training as of now!
It doesn’t just stop there, I was able to actually achieve 3 goals that month instead of just 1! Furthermore, the success wasn’t one off, I was truly able to practice this technique for the following training as well. Her secret? She mentioned that it’s not just about aiming high and aiming for more, it’s about adjusting your aim to that one single target so you can hit it instead of expecting for the worst. By focusing on this element, our team was able to actually speed up the processes of our work tasks as well as the quality of it, significantly reducing our manager’s headache.
So my manager’s secret formula really isn’t about focusing on using the best tools or adopting the best practices of others. Her secret lies in continuous improvement on the things we already have! Our team, our tools as well as our goals are often aspects that are overlooked but can actually be the most powerful way to not only increase our productivity and reduce day to day operational problems, but it also allows our manager to focus on what truly matters, strategizing and looking for gaps to practice continuous improvement!
Management is not an easy role to play as it requires lots of skills as well as strategies to ensure everything runs smoothly. Interested to find out about how you can practice this low cost but effective continuous improvement method? Maybe you’d like to learn other management techniques on top of continuous improvement? Well, wait no more as we have the program just for you to improve your management skills today! Interested to check out any other courses we are offering? Feel free to check out our programs here!
Written by Bryan Law Chu Zheng,
SHRA Corporate Trainer
Bryan is a member of the SHRA trainer team. He is a major in Psychology with a retail background. He has a deep passion for human interaction and personal development.
You can catch him dancing or playing the uke on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Executive Diploma Vs Diploma, Are You Aware Of The Differences?
In your quest for knowledge, do you frequently find yourself delving down new internet rabbit holes? There’s no limit to the random topics you’d like to learn more about, from historical figures to foreign languages. The fact that you’ve always thought this was just a personality trait may surprise you—your desire to learn is a sought-after trait that can help you advance in your career. For one to upskill, you might be confused on which program is the best for you considering that there are plenty of options to choose from.
Students who are particularly interested in earning a diploma can select from a wide variety of options. However, when it comes to furthering our education beyond the bachelor’s degree, things can get a little muddled since it can be difficult to sort through all of the options available at various colleges and universities. That’s why for today we have narrowed down two programs for you.
Executive Diploma and the standard Diploma are two popular diploma titles that have persisted over time. Aspiring businesspeople may find it difficult to choose between these two options because they lack sufficient knowledge of each. But worry not because the information in this article will assist you in making an educated decision about which of these two credentials is best for you.
Executive Diploma Vs Diploma, Are You Aware Of The Differences?
1. DIPLOMA
First of all, what is a Diploma? The Diploma that we are talking about here is referring to a Graduate or Postgraduate diploma where it is an additional specialization that enhances a person’s employability, and it is typically shorter in duration than a degree program. After completing a bachelor’s degree, many students pursue a graduate diploma, which is an academic or vocational credential.
A university or graduate school usually bestows this degree, which typically necessitates two semesters of study to complete. Acquiring a master’s degree may be possible in some cases for academic graduate diploma holders who want to move quickly. The awarding body must be registered with Malaysia’s Ministry of Education in order for a graduate diploma qualification to be recognized locally.
In some nations, a graduate diploma and a postgraduate diploma are the same thing, however in others, the postgraduate diploma represents a more advanced level of education than the graduate diploma does. Part-time diploma programs are often offered at two different times throughout the academic year at the majority of institutions and universities.
Online independent study, consultations, workshops, and lectures are some of the many educational opportunities available. The length of time required to finish the tenure for these kinds of classes is often between one and two years, depending on the institution.
2. EXECUTIVE DIPLOMA
Executive Diplomas are designed for working professional to expand their expertise in a specific field. Most applicants to such a program have at least some professional experience (at least 1-2 years) to draw from. For example, a marketing manager in retail industry may have extensive knowledge in marketing, however lack of knowledge in retail industry. Therefore, Executive Diploma in Retail Management would be an ideal choice for the marketing manager to gain more retail knowledge.
Having a diploma demonstrates that you understand the obstacles that a position like this would provide and that you have the necessary resources to overcome them. Training for executives, entrepreneurs, or university graduates who want to learn how to run and grow their enterprises in an ever-changing and competitive national and international environment is another goal.
When it comes to qualification, there is not much difference between the two options. To improve the standard of living of individuals, the executive diploma program can also be a government or private sector initiative to further their education.
3. THE DIFFERENCES
Now that we have a rough idea on these two diplomas, let’s begin with the differences between these programmes. First, let’s talk about the duration. Traditionally, a standard Diploma will take 1 to 2 years to be completed with a relatively tough full-time curriculum. Another full-time program like an Executive Diploma, on the other hand, can be finished in 3-6 months only.
Furthermore, candidates with less professional experience or recent college graduates are more encouraged to apply to the standard Diploma program. After getting their diploma, these aspiring professionals go on to achieve positions at the entry level or in management. On the contrary, it is recommended that experienced professionals enroll in the Executive Diploma Program instead if they are interested in switching to a different professional field, enhancing their business skills, or taking on leadership or entrepreneurial roles in the future.
Besides, students for the standard Diploma program are given an overview of fundamental aspects of business throughout the first year of the program. In the second year of the program, students have the opportunity to select their area of concentration, and the last semester of the program requires them to do an internship.
Meanwhile, due to the fact that students of an Executive Diploma are typically seasoned professionals, the material covered is somewhat different. Students will gain the ability to more effectively address difficulties that arise in the workplace as a result of the course’s focus on practical applications and interactive business learning.
That being said, how can you know which one is the best fit for you? Ask yourself what you want to accomplish in your life. Do you want to further your career in your current field or do you want to make a career change? Are you prepared to put in the time, effort and investment required for your studies? When you get these questions covered, it’s time for you to pick the option for yourself. You can only benefit from the programs if you know exactly what you want to accomplish!
You want to upskill your education but don’t know where to begin? Fret not! You can start by visiting our website for more information on available programs that can boost your career today!
Enquire For Our Certification Program Today
Written By Syuhada Rozihas,
SHRA Corporate Trainer
Syuhada Rozihas is a Corporate Trainer at SH Retail Academy who is passionate about making a difference for herself and those around her. She has trained more than 1,000 sales professionals, executives and managers in the areas of retail sales. Meanwhile, in her free time, she enjoys hiking and running to keep her in shape, as well as baking for her loved ones. You can find her on LinkedIn.
University-industry collaboration has been emphasized in the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Education). Digital disruptions has greatly affected the global retail environment, in which both graduates and workforce needs relevant and future ready skills to stay competent. As an industry player, Senheng Electric (KL) Sdn Bhd has stepped up to provide its real-world business case studies in the development of curriculum design and delivery of Professional Certificate in New Retail Marketing. Through this initiative, students gain practical insights from Senheng as one of the top industry players in the market, benefiting students in terms of acquiring the right skills and industry relevant knowledge to tackle challenging issues in retail landscape.
The Professional Certificate in New Retail Marketing is jointly developed by TAR UC Centre For Continuing And Professional Education and SH Retail Academy Sdn Bhd, enabling industry exposure to retail businesses, both for teaching (quality of knowledge) and work place applications (quality of employment).
Mr Lim Kim Chieng, President of Senheng Electric (KL) Sdn Bhd is invited as the guest of honour for the signing ceremony. Present to witness the formalization of this academia-industry partnership was Vice President of Retail Operations and Retail Support, Ho Weng Hung, and TAR UC’s Vice President Assoc. Prof. Dr Chook Ka Joo, and Vice President Assoc. Prof. Say Sok Kwan.
A Memorandum of Agreement (‘MoA’) signed between Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (‘TAR UC’) and SH Retail Academy Sdn Bhd on 14 July 2022 at TAR UC’s Kuala Lumpur Main Campus signifies the start of new academia-industry collaboration to prepare both graduates and professionals with updated knowledge and capabilities so that they can thrive in retail industry. The MoA was signed by Ng Chiah Yee, Director, Centre For Continuing and Professional Education and Cassandra Chan Yi Rong, President CEO of SH Retail Academy.
“By providing Senheng case studies and best practices to be infused in this program, we help students develop the practical skills and know-how understanding of business needs related to the theories, allowing them to thrive and succeed in their workplace” said Mr. KC Lim, who attended the signing ceremony as Guest of Honour, in his welcoming remarks.
During these trying times, selling our products and services has become tougher and more challenging to do. Despite using technology, the internet, social media and e-commerce platforms, the returns seem to not be as much as the effort spent! What if I were to tell you there is a much easier and more effective matter to attract customers and simplify our efforts? Nope, it’s not techniques to sell our products better or making our posts more attractive, rather it’s how it makes our brand more attractive – A Brand Story!
You might have heard customers complain about price, product selection and options, but never a company or businesses’ brand story. However, that does not mean a brand story is irrelevant, on the contrary, it means a brand story is absolutely needed to truly shift our customers’ mindset of use as a mere “product and service provider” to their “favorite go to brand” for their products and services needs. That’s when we truly move away from talking price and truly talking value.
So, brand story is the missing ingredient for every business…….before they become popular!
Think of all the popular brands such as Nike, llao llao, Honda etc. Most of their brand stories come after they’ve become popular. As such, allow me to share our companies’ brand story as tips for you to start thinking more deeply about your companies’ brand story
HOW WE BEGAN?
We started out as a training department in Senheng focused on training and upskilling employees according to changing trends for the purpose of improving the business and improving the quality of life and work for our beloved employees. One day, our Chairman, Mr KH Lim was given the mission to look into retail productivity of not only Senheng but all Malaysian SMEs. His hopes were to allow Malaysian SMEs to grow and become a strong economic force.
Hence our company SH Retail Academy (SHRA) was formed for that very purpose. We provide upskilling and training to retailers and SMEs in Malaysia by providing insights and valuable information. As Senheng has gone through many ups and downs, we are here to prevent that from happening to you and to maximize the resources you have by guiding you through potential business land mines.
WHY THE NEED?
However, in retail, where the market trends and consumer behaviors are consistently changing as well as adapting, a one size fits all training or a theory-based training can never benefit and upskill employees. Furthermore many businesses have realized the continued practice of traditional retail is no longer the way. If an outdated or irrelevant training provider is selected, the information we get may gravely cost us customer retention, upselling opportunities and inaccurate forecasts.
As such, without forgetting the core of our beliefs, we prioritize delivering the most relevant and up-to-date information, processes and skills to employees through our training. We understand that many businesses wish to move away from traditional retail. In light of that, we have dedicated ourselves to constantly update our database and case studies according to the best practices of the market to reduce your struggles in adapting to New retail. We use case studies and scenarios from none other than successful retailers both internationally and locally to provide you a one-stop solution to solve all your retail worries.
WHAT DO WE DO?
In a world of escalating change and growing in complexity, businesses are required to adopt a flexible, adaptable yet strong business model in order to survive. We specialize in providing you and your business fundamental knowledge, skills and training programs centered around creating a seamless business model to enhance your retail approach.
With our 3R Model, we could help you to renew your employees’s mindset, replicate successful business practices and reignite your team’s passion and motivation in the journey of New Retail Transformation.
As such, our various retail based programs are catered to clients and customers’ needs and requirements. This ranges from crafting programs suitable for frontline salespersons to leaders in the retail sector. Our programs are focused on practical application, thus our program includes retail case studies, proven success formulas and up-to-date best market practices for clients’ to begin implementing in their business.
Besides, our programs are centered around employee upskilling. As such, not only do we use industry proven case studies, we adopt psychology proven strategies, theories backed by scientific methodology as well as practice NLP infused techniques to provide a sure-fire success formula for your employees to learn, practice and grow comfortably in this fast retail pace.
WHY US?
We have trained over 140 companies, 3,400 individuals and over 22,000 participants throughout our establishment and we have trained companies such as SpectacleX, Fitness Concept, AIA Public Takaful and so on. Furthermore, we utilize case studies and success formulas from Senheng, Malaysia’s No. 1 Consumer Electronic Retailers In Malaysia and a pioneer in Digital Transformation and New Retail in Malaysia.
Due to this, our programs encompass diverse retail examples and retail needs from various retailing fields to effectively tailor training programs suitable to your specific retail field as well as your company. Our programs focus on retail specific topics such as customer service, sales skills, personal development, leadership etc. To provide a holistic and one-stop solution to your retail training needs.
In addition, our programs are focused on making changes by targeting the root cause at a higher level. By focusing on the employees beliefs, mindsets, skills and behavior, this allows us to not only achieve one or two objectives, but multiple objectives in a single session. Effectively and efficiently using you and your employees time.
Beyond case studies, applications, success formulas and diverse experience in curating retail programs for different fields, we also collect, analyze and provide you instant access to holistic reports immediately after training that includes employee attendance, pre-training and post-training knowledge assessments and training evaluation for a clear update and view of your employee progresses.
TIME FOR YOUR BRAND STORY!
With our company brand story as an example, you can craft your very own brand story according to said template. By briefly introducing your companies’ history, the need for your company, a simple statement of the services and products your business provides and the benefit your clients can get from you, you can craft an informative and engaging brand story for your company.
A tip for you when you craft your brand story would be to really dig deep and introduce your companies’ value and personality. Similar to customers’ preferences with products, our brands should also be able to communicate our values to our customers like a person. With that added personality and value, the brand story would be able to successfully shift customer mindset from “price” to “value” instead.
A good brand story would encompass the above items while an excellent one would contain many other aspects and elements in the story. What’s that? You’d like to learn how to create a strong brand story and utilize this retail power? Interested to find out what other programs we offer for you? Well, you can start by visiting our website for more information on the list of programs we offer and stay tuned to tips on improving your brand story!
Written by Bryan Law Chu Zheng,
SHRA Corporate Trainer
Bryan is a member of the SHRA trainer team. He is a major in Psychology with a retail background. He has a deep passion for human interaction and personal development.
You can catch him dancing or playing the uke on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
With the recent drop in sales as well as drop in customer traffic, our first instinct may be to look at reducing our price and introducing promotions to attract customers. Tons of businesses can be seen doing this both offline and online as a desperate attempt to lock customers. However, price may be sensitive towards customers, it may not the core issue that is causing a loss of customers! The core issue may be closer and deadlier than you think, and that is your sales skills and abilities.
Customers may use price, lack of free gift or product not useful as reasons to not purchase your products even when they are on promotions. However, you may see the very same customers purchasing an even more expensive product or service from another store instead. Customers nowadays have the capabilities and cash to purchase products. However, like our phones, customers have become smarter consumers. In order for us to retain and lock our customers, we need to take a look at how we sell our products!
As such, the million dollar question would be what areas of my sales skills do I need to improve? Let’s take a look at 3 areas that may be causing you to lose customers.
Sell first, ask never
Selling math and not medicine
One Size Fits All Selling Method
1. SELL FIRST, ASK NEVER
Let’s do a small exercise together, let’s think about our recent shopping experience. How many questions does it take the salesperson to ask before selling us a product? Most of the time it’ll be 3 questions:
What are you looking for?
What is your budget?
What brand do you prefer?
After you answer these three questions (sometimes just two) the salesperson would proceed to begin selling. If your most recent shopping experience is online, then that number goes down to 0. So why is asking such an important step before selling you ask? Well, let me illustrate with my sales experience. I asked a customer of mine those 3 questions, promoted one of our products. She said she will consider it and proceeds to walk out and never come back. Sounds common correct? It doesn’t end there, I decided to ask 2 more questions to my next customer and those 2 questions helped me to close that sale!
What questions did I ask? I asked my customer “Are you using this for personal use or office use?” and proceeded to ask “What’s wrong with your previous device?”. These 2 questions were simple but crucial as it gave me an idea of what the customer wants instead of guessing their budget and guessing which product would suit them. She told me she needed a device for office use and the previous device was slow and laggy. As such, I sold her one of our premium products that runs faster, smoother and charges faster to fit her office usage. She took it without hesitation and I managed to sell a premium product! Just with those 2 extra questions, I managed to close 2 more sales that very day!
We are obviously not mind readers, as such, we need information to sell effectively and this information comes from (you guessed it) – asking! Rather than focusing on selling hot products or affordable products, we can take one step back by asking what our customers want and what they need before attempting to sell our products to them. That saves us time from guessing while also allowing us to focus more on selling the product to the customer instead of debating and convincing them based on prices.
2. SELLING MATH AND NOT MEDICINE
“Sir/Miss, our package A includes (1,2,3), our package B includes (1,2,3,4) and our package C includes (1,2,3,4,5).”
“Sir/ Miss, our product here has the latest processor, best camera, and largest storage in the market!”
I believe you’ve heard these phrases a ton of times, the question now would be, does it immediately make you feel the want and need to buy the product? The answer is probably no. Most salespersons out there are focused on selling the overwhelming number of specifications to the customer in hopes of impressing the customers with their products and services. However, selling is more than just a numbers game, more specs does not mean better selling, sometimes it is just as simple as selling medicine at a pharmacy or clinic.
Take my recent trip to the pharmacy for example, I was looking for sunburn medication (thanks to the ever blazing sun at the beach during raya) as well as itch relief medication (no thanks to the enormous amount of mosquitoes and flies). One of the promoters approached me, asked me what I needed and guided me to the respective products. She explained to me based on my sunburn condition, she would suggest product A as it would rehydrate my skin while also relieving the effects of sunburn. She then suggested product B for itch relief as the cream helps to alleviate the effects of the itch. I bought it instantly with no confusion and a 100% happy shopping experience.
I doubt you have ever heard a promoter selling panadol to you by saying “this product has paracetamol in it, one of the best ingredients in the market!” If we were to ever hear that I believe most of us would buy the panadol for the promoter instead! As such, we need to shift from selling our products based on their specs to selling our products based on its functionality! Rather than saying this package contains what services, we can highlight the benefits brought about from the different services. Instead of saying “this product has the best processing chip in the market” why not try saying “this product has a fast processor that does not lag when opening multiple tabs” instead. Rather than focus on selling and mentioning the amount of specs the product has, we can think of what functions the products bring instead.
3. ONE SIZE FITS ALL SELLING METHOD
Most of the time we may develop a single method to sell all our products, from the way we greet to the way we close sales. Although it’s good to have a standardized way and tempo for selling, it is crucial for us to personalize and differentiate our selling method according to our customers preferences. Let me introduce to you Salesperson A and Salesperson B, my ex-colleagues.
Salesperson A, has a very standard way of selling and greeting. Be it the customer is young, old, male, female, tall, short … you get the picture. Everytime he sells a product, he would use the exact same script to sell. He would start by telling the customer this is the hottest product, introduce the camera features, mention about limited stocks and lastly tell them about any add-on deals. He does the speaking 80% of the time and his sales achievement that month? RM 45,000.00
Salesperson B on the other hand, has a more fluid way of selling and greeting customers. For gamers, he would highlight advanced gaming features; for vloggers or camera enthusiasts, he would focus on the camera quality as well as the 5G technology. He would vary his script according to customers preferences and usage.His sales achievement that month? RM 120,000.00
You may think I am joking but I kid you not, it is because of the personalization of selling that allowed him to easily connect with customers. Not only did he get the highest sales achievement that month, he managed to establish good customer connections and secure a bunch of returning customers. It is good we have a standard way of selling, but selling should be fluid and personalized according to everyone’s needs and preferences. Instead of practicing a one size fits all approach, it would be beneficial for us to have a standard way and experiment from there to personalize according to customers’ preferences.
In short, it is crucial for us to revisit how we sell our products and services to our customers! To ask more instead of sell more, to talk functions instead of specifications and to personalize our selling method instead of standardization. These are some of the important yet often missed out areas that can potentially save our business from being ruined.
Obviously there are a ton of areas in sales skills for us to brush up in order for us to truly excel and triumph over our competitors. You want to upskill and learn these sales skills but don’t know where to begin? Fret not! You can start by visiting our website for more information on sales skills and other programs that can supercharge your business today!
Written by Bryan Law Chu Zheng,
SHRA Corporate Trainer
Bryan is a member of the SHRA trainer team. He is a major in Psychology with a retail background. He has a deep passion for human interaction and personal development.
You can catch him dancing or playing the uke on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Retail. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear that word? Did you imagine a girl or a guy making rounds in the shop, pulling a trolley or rack full of clothing, assuming that they work in a fashion store? Or, did you visualize a scenario of a lady named Karen maybe, browsing through the grocery aisle, shifting her gaze back and forth between the product and the worker there, even asking to see the manager? Or, are you one of those people who envisage a world of digitalization, transformation or even revolution when it comes to processes of operating and purchasing products?
Regardless of what you think, there’s nothing wrong with that. When it comes to retail, almost anything is possible and believe me when I say that, because different people have different ways of retailing. Some might like it, some might not. In terms of perspective, retail workers will most likely view it from their end and for the rest of the majority, non-retail workers a.k.a customers, see it quite differently.
Customer is always right, a phrase coined by Harry Gordon Selfridge back in 1909, which can make businesses go into an automatic mode of prioritizing customers to ensure satisfaction on a god-tier level. As a result, this concept may enable customers to feel entitled or should I say, rude to a certain extent when it was never meant to be taken literally. The argument is, in the era of digitalization our focus should be on technologies, rather solely concentrating on customers. The question is now, how do you actually integrate technology into your business to elevate retail experience? You know what, let’s go on a fun ride. Put your seatbelt on and let me bring you further into this topic.
The Change Of Consumer Behavior
Retail Evolution With Industry 4.0
Uniting Superior Customer Experience (CX) And Operational Excellence (OX)
1. THE CHANGE OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
To compare conventional shoppers with modern ones these days, I’d say there is a ginormous gap in between. Do you agree with me? If your answer is yes, congratulations! You just earned a ‘Great Minds Think Alike’ badge. If you don’t, it’s okay, let me convince you more since I presume your mind might be even greater after this. First of all, there’s no need to think so far, let’s take a look at COVID-19, what do you think? Some people can already feel the dread just by hearing the word ‘positive’. Putting this event into the retail context, this pandemic is basically revolutionizing every aspect of the world, especially retail.
Back then when retailing was pretty much traditional, retailers put customers on the podium and let the light shine on them. Products that were sold were always customer centric and it was a rather single-minded approach, making retailers short-sighted when it comes to strategies. In the digital age of retail, putting your sole focus on customers is not going to work anymore. What you need is to discover and make use of other channels and approaches to get people to flood your shop, both offline and online. Does it sound better now? I believe it does.
Not forgetting, the convenience of customers is on the rise, and let me tell you, that trend is here to stay. Any brick-and-mortar store that does not include an online shopping option or channel is, safe to say, doomed to failure in the future. That is why, brick-and-mortar shops must carefully consider what physical locations can offer that online buying cannot. It’s mostly a physical experience that allows customers to see and, to some extent, test out things before they buy them. For big-ticket items like furniture and automobiles, it can benefit greatly from a hands-on approach or most people call it, experiential shopping experience during the purchasing process.
Changes in consumer behavior and the interplay between online convenience and the benefits of a face-to-face experience will continue to shape the future of retail. With that thought in mind, it is imperative for retail business owners to keep up with these ever-changing behavior and preferences via digital means if they want their firms to thrive.
2. RETAIL EVOLUTION WITH INDUSTRY 4.0
So now, what comes next after consumer’s changes? This is where I bring you into the digital evolution of retail. Have you heard of Industry 4.0 before? Give yourself a moment to think about it. The concept of Industry 4.0 actually refers to the fourth industrial revolution in manufacturing. In simpler words, it prescribes how new technological innovations can be used to control production processes. Sounds cool right? For retail workers, digitization is at the heart of Industry 4.0, which aims to free people from tedious tasks all day long. Which is why technological advancements have accelerated dramatically over the last decade to give us new methods to manage our work life, and Industry 4.0 provides workers with greater chances and freedom to accomplish their best work. As a result, the more Industry 4.0 technology a firm or organization adopts, the more benefits it will reap eventually.
In addition, with this concept, we can bid farewell to data barriers. Isn’t that great? This is because it is quickly becoming a tool for businesses, particularly in the industrial sector to support decision-making that is data driven and boost overall profitability and competitiveness. With the passage of time, the Industry 4.0 discourse has become much more mainstream and global, spawning a slew of neologisms in the fields of labor, operations, education, marketing, management, society, and innovation, as well as various industry-specific phrases such as Retail 4.0. I’m in such awe with my jaw dropping right now due to all these miraculous advancements. Are you amazed too?
Coming back to this, the term Retail 4.0 has been used to describe a variety of trends and advancements in the worldwide retail industry. It focuses on introducing innovation to the customer experience and evaluating the role of the shop in merchant-customer relationships, and is often referred to as intelligent digital. Some features such as omnichannel ability, customer interaction personalization as well as responsive merchandising have been made intrinsic to the retail industry of a new era. Without technology, we won’t be able to achieve such greatness don’t you think?
3. UNITING SUPERIOR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AND OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE (OX)
Now that you know a customer-centric approach is not enough, I’m going to tell you how you can do so much more. In retail, digital transformation has shifted many things including products and customers, therefore comes the merge of customer experience with operational performance. In certain scenarios, customers’ experience is frequently misunderstood by retailers as the experience at the final touchpoint. They went all out by focusing on customer service and sales, designing the greatest online and mobile user interfaces, and investing in social interaction along with listening. But here’s the truth, all of these efforts, however, will be for naught if the underlying operations are not capable of supporting the customer’s journey. Thus, it is critical to provide trustworthy data to operational systems in order for them to function efficiently.
Imagine this scenario, a customer who has a loyalty card and shops at a retailer frequently. The identical individual is now looking through the merchant’s online store. Even though the merchant collects device and browsing data, it is unable to link the activities that take place across different channels. Meanwhile, the corporate marketing department of this business continues to send unrelated email offers to customers based on what they have previously purchased from the store, without knowing what they have searched for online. If the company can properly combine all of this information taken from different channels and sources, they will be able to deliver the consumer far more relevant and timely offers.
To sum it up, retailers need to stay relevant to ensure survival in this dog-eat-dog world where nothing comes easy. As of now, the majority of technological drivers of retail 4.0 are still in development. However, we can’t help but see a 4.0 technology trend emerging across all platforms, and it’s only a matter of time before they take off. Subsequently, now is the moment to begin adapting to the reality of retail 4.0. Creating new infrastructures and updating existing ones must be part of an organization’s strategy for operating in a continuously changing environment, without losing focus on customers. If everyone competes for cutting-edge technology that has the potential to greatly enhance sales figures, we can be confident that several positive outcomes will follow.
Before I end this article, I have good news to share with all of you. Fortunately, you don’t have to look far to learn about new strategies in retail because we have just the right thing for you. If you’re interested and keen on implementing New Retail methods for your business, stay tuned for our New Retail program in April 2022. You can also visit our website for more information on programs that can assist you in your professional and personal endeavors while you wait. Till next time, toodaloo!
Written By Syuhada Rozihas,
SHRA Corporate Trainer
Syuhada Rozihas is a Corporate Trainer at SH Retail Academy who is passionate about making a difference for herself and those around her. She has trained more than 1,000 sales professionals, executives and managers in the areas of retail sales. Meanwhile, in her free time, she enjoys hiking and running to keep her in shape, as well as baking for her loved ones. You can find her on LinkedIn.
3 Retail Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Business in 2022
Think that brand story is not important
Spending too much time on long and redundant processes
Overly maximize retail resources
1. THINK THAT BRAND STORY IS NOT IMPORTANT
In this day of age, having just a brand and logo is no longer sufficient to push your product to stand out from the rest. Hard to imagine? We can do a little exercise! Let’s take out our phones and go to either Shopee, Lazada, Taobao or any e-commerce app and search for something simple like a bag. You’ll see that there are tons of options and variety with an even larger pool of brands and logos for these products. So how do we differentiate the products? Take myself for example, I was looking for a good quality ukulele (to deal with the boredom of the pandemic). I filtered through tons of reviews and feedback of various ukulele brands, when I say tons, I mean TONS! After what seemed like an eternity, I came to the conclusion that it was too much and I closed my app and went to bed.
In the end, much like every other customer, I decided to just go to a physical store and search for my “dream” ukulele. That’s when I came across L.Luthier. I was curious about the interesting logo so the staff explained, the h in the logo is distinct and made to look like the mandarin character for people “?”. This is based on the founders’ passion to work hard in creating perfection to aspiring musicians. Thus the logo looks like someone bent over, working on a project.
I bought the ukulele and had an amazing time with it but the story behind the logo, brand and the passion of the founder touched me till this very day! In this day of age, we as modern shoppers purchase based on the uniqueness and relatability of the brand to us. As such, the long neglected brand story has actually become one of the important distinctions for businesses to have to differentiate among the ocean of brands out in the market!
2. SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME ON LONG AND REDUNDANT PROCESSES
“I need to sort out my online store orders and physical store orders!”
“My staff is on leave, I need to arrange someone else to take charge!”
“My store is running out of stock, I need to arrange to order them now!”
Are these some of the statements you use frequently these days? If so, that is a huge red flag indicating that your business needs to adapt to stay on top! Previously as a retail executive, I found it tiring to work day-to-day solving issues such as manpower and stock issues. By the time I had resolved all these issues, I only had time to complete daily tasks with no space to improve. Sometimes I even had to push some of the leftover tasks to the next day! This became a continuous cycle of solving issues and completing tasks before time runs out rather than a focus on how to improve the current situation!
Things finally began to look better when I decided to spend some time organizing a system and way of documentation to allow for smoother store inventory management. Next, I focused on using apps and tools to track orders and manpower issues. It took me two weeks to completely utilize and execute these systems and a number of tasks left unattended. However, it became so so SO much better to manage my daily tasks. I found myself having more time to improve the system I implemented, having an easier time resolving issues and having a much smoother process in predicting upcoming issues.
So if you find yourself constantly spending your time solving issues without extra time to improve your business, that means it’s time to focus on streamlining and automating your business. Similar to the quote by Winston Churchill “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks!”, when your time is mostly spent on resolving menial and tedious issues, you won’t have the time to do what you are meant to do! In this case, optimizing your business!
3. OVERLY MAXIMIZE RETAIL RESOURCES
The resources in this case doesn’t only include your products and staff, it also includes the space you have in your store! It’s tempting to make sure to display all possible products in your store for the customers to pick, but if this causes the store to be filled to the brim with items and no space for the customer to experience them, that becomes a huge issue! A store that maximizes their retail resources generally have the following characteristics:
Have sufficient space to display important and focused products with some variety
Space for customers to walk around, experience and test out the products.
Properly lit and themed
Take L.Luthier for example, I went to their store and despite the variety of guitars and ukuleles that were hanging on the walls, they had ample space for us to sit, experience and test out their instruments! Not only that, but the store design was very rustic, very comfortable and lit with warm yellow lights. This compared to another ukulele store I went to and it was cramped to the max. They had all their ukuleles on display, but had no place for me to sit and properly test it out, it was quite poorly lit so I found myself accidentally bumping into things. To make matters worse, the sales person even had trouble demonstrating the ukulele because of the cramped space (he was still quite skilled though).
So as much as you want to display all of your products, an important question to ask yourself would be “will my customers be able to experience my products properly?”. Modern shoppers have the option to go to any online store to purchase what they want, so what sets physical stores and online stores apart? The ability to experience the product and have someone assist you while doing so! Rather than focusing on product and staff, it’s time we focus on the space we are utilizing and whether it’s conducive for customers to experience the products!
As a retail business owner in this day of age, it is important to be customer-centric. Developing and crafting a unique brand story to set yourself apart from competition, allowing customers to experience what the store can offer by properly maximizing retail resources while automating processes to be more efficient could be the difference between a normal retail business and a successful one that stays on top of the game!
Managing a retail business requires us to constantly stay updated on market trends and the latest most efficient practices in the field to stay on top of the game. Interested and hungry for the latest market trends and top practices? Check out our Retail Management Program on our website or look at other public programs that can help you to excel both in work and in life!
Written by Bryan Law Chu Zheng,
SHRA Corporate Trainer
Bryan is a member of the SHRA trainer team. He is a major in Psychology with a retail background. He has a deep passion for human interaction and personal development.
You can catch him dancing or playing the uke on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Career success is typically tied to one’s self-worth in our society; we all want to be loved. Fear tells us that we’re putting ourselves out there and risking failure and social rejection when we do so. When it comes to selling, no one is exempt from the constant risk of being rejected.
“I’ll be fired if I don’t close this deal. “I’ll be unable to pay my bills, my spouse won’t be interested in me, and my family’s proof that I’ll never amount to anything if I’m fired from my job.”
These thoughts perfectly illustrate what most people in sales feel about their job.
To share with all of you, I had a friend who worked as a telemarketer and I still remember when he told me that he dreaded his job. After failing to reach sales goals one day, he became paralyzed with terror. In his personal life, the fear of losing a job affected him greatly. He was in constant conflict with his wife and his family, and he was generally unhappy. He is not, in my opinion, an outlier. Telemarketers and sales reps alike face the same obstacles when it comes to sales rejection, and business owners struggle to help their sales people overcome objections so they can close more deals. It’s time to do something about it.
You’ll learn how to deal with sales rejection in telemarketing and how to help your team and yourself move from a terrified to an unafraid frame of mind in this article.
Examine Your Selling Methods
Put Your Listening Skill Into Practice
Keep In Touch
Keep A Positive Frame Of Mind
Don’t Take It Too Seriously
1. EXAMINE YOUR SELLING METHODS
Building better relationships and avoiding pitching too early are two things that each salesperson may take to increase their results. However, you must perform a lot of self-reflection at the end of the day. Consider every sales rejection as an opportunity to learn something new. Attempt to deconstruct each transaction to see what went wrong and what went correctly. External issues on the client’s end might sometimes be the source of a rejection. It’s sometimes the result of a competitor beating you to the punch or offering a better deal than you. And occasionally your product isn’t a good fit for what your lead is looking for. You won’t be able to enhance your sales unless you figure out why your presentations are failing.
Next, determine your sales conversion rate as well as the industry average. It’s as familiar to you as the lyrics of your favorite song. You may feel as if you’re getting a lot of “no’s,” but this is likely due to the nature of your product or service. You can’t judge your sales ability unless you know how it stacks up against others in your ecosystem. Learn about your own talents and weaknesses. What effect does your behavior have on your sales? Prepare your pitches in front of the mirror, record your practices, and anticipate frequent objections. Knowing how your voice and expressions change as you talk about different topics can help you enhance the quality of your in-person, video chat, email, social, and phone pitches.
Aside from that, don’t be hesitant to ask questions such as, “Did I do a good job emphasizing the benefits of the product or service?” Have you forgotten to mention something that you typically do? Consider sending a quick survey to clients after a successful sale to assist you figure out what elements contributed to your success. Send one to prospects who also rejected your pitch for extra brownie points. What are the worst-case scenarios? Your request is simply ignored.
2. PUT YOUR LISTENING SKILL INTO PRACTICE
Did you know, listening is especially important during the actual conversation? The most effective technique to sell is to actively listen more and speak more meaningfully. Create a positive relationship with your customers because people will buy from individuals they like. Demonstrate genuine interest in how they are doing by engaging in a conversation about a similar extracurricular activity or simply cracking a joke to lighten the atmosphere. After that, ask insightful questions as well. Don’t hesitate to give the prospect an adequate chance to discuss their company, worries, and requirements. You’d be astonished at how much information can be gleaned just reading between the lines.
Not to be forgotten, attempt to construct a picture of a joyful conclusion for them. After you’ve listened carefully, demonstrate to them that their objectives can be met with your answer. Be the one who writes their story, but don’t be too ready to get started. Whenever someone raises a price issue, don’t give up and start lowering right away. Understand where the pricing objection comes from first, and then stand firm on the value of your offering. Along with creating rapport, it is important to establish trust. If a prospect inquires as to if there are any other suitable options available, name a few good competitors. It conveys sincerity and self-assurance. Being prepared to explain why is essential, however.
3. KEEP IN TOUCH
If we look at it from the standpoint of telemarketing, I believe it is fair to say that only a small number of sales or appointments are made on our very first contact with the decision-maker. It is not uncommon for it to take anywhere between 5 and 10 phone calls to generate genuine interest and set up a sales appointment. When it comes to sales prospects, it’s amazing how many slip through the cracks because of a lack of follow-up. You shouldn’t expect sales to happen on your first pitch.
The data from HubSpot shows that 44% of salespeople give up after a single unsuccessful offer, yet prospects require more than a straightforward transaction. In fact, 80 percent of purchases require at least five further follow-up engagements. Another 20 percent will hold off on making a purchase for 12 months after asking information about your company from you. Unless you’re giving up after the first pitch, you’ve given up far too soon. When your finest pitch fails to impress, it might be difficult to find the motivation to try again, yet it may be exactly what your prospect requires in this situation.
If you and the other party agree on a time and day for a follow-up phone call, mark it in your calendar, on your task list, or, better, on your CRM system, and regard it as an absolutely necessary phone meeting that must take place. After all, you wouldn’t bother to show up for a face-to-face meeting or a scheduled phone contact with your most valuable customer, would you? It’s understandable. That phone call you didn’t pick up could very well have been from your next best customer!
4. KEEP A POSITIVE FRAME OF MIND
Preparation is easier when you know what is going to happen rather than when you don’t. As soon as you accept that rejection is a fact of life, use your knowledge to your advantage. Consider the following questions:
– Are there a variety of reasons why someone might say no to your proposal?
– Rather than putting a stop to the discussion, what can I say in response to these arguments?
– How do I gracefully accept a firm “no”?
While there are many various reasons why people say no, you can prepare solutions that help them see your offer from an entirely different perspective if you anticipate their objections in advance. When someone initially says no, this can help them alter their mind and say yes. When people refuse to modify their beliefs, smile and shake hands with them. How does this make you feel better? Even if you don’t feel happy, you can reply in a positive manner if you practise how to respond to rejection. Your feelings will eventually catch up with your actions.
In addition, choosing to focus on the larger picture rather than dwelling on each no will help you maintain a positive outlook. Assume some of the individuals you meet will become clients. That percentage is not always under your control. However, you may be able to influence the percentage of new clients that that percentage represents. That’s a good overview.
Dealing with negativity is a regular element of the sales process. It’s just part of the territory. When bad things happen to us, such as being turned down by gatekeepers or losing transactions, we experience negativity, and we experience it via the way we speak to ourselves in our heads on a subconscious level. Every day, make an effort to feed your brain with good thoughts. Inspiring quotations, motivational music, historical accounts of resilience and determination are all on the menu this week. You must maintain your good attitude. You are capable of completing the task. Never lose sight of the fact that you are just one prospect away from closing a sale that will change your life.
5. DON’T TAKE IT TOO SERIOUSLY
The advice that salespeople despise the most, despite the fact that they understand its reality, is that they should not lose a commission since the loss of a commission impacts their own income and, if they do not improve to reach their quota, the loss of their employment. Recognize that rejection is an unavoidable aspect of the job as a telemarketing, and accept it. It should never come as a surprise to you. It is not something to be avoided, but rather something to be accepted as a fact of life and dealt with responsibly. Don’t let the rejection impact you since you might get a call from someone who is ready to see the demo that you are talking about on the following call.
To convince yourself that you can be anyone, it’s important to recognise that rejection is not directed directly at you. Repudiation, on the other hand, might be caused by a variety of factors that have nothing to do with them, such as poor timing, negative experiences with past sales representatives, business conditions, economic issues, and even bad moods. None of which will be revealed to you by gatekeepers or even decision makers. Clients simply refuse to do business with you. It’s not a problem. Winners merely smile and move on to the next person on their list of potential customers or vendors.
Here you go, these are the 5 ways to overcome rejections. And, if you wish to upskill yourself to learn more about the right telemarketing mindset, telemarketing persuasion techniques or telemarketing strategies, we have got you covered in our telemarketing program.
In SH Retail Academy, we combine application successes that are time-proven from Senheng with the latest knowledge and concepts to bring effective retail industry training programs for companies in Malaysia. Beginning from the formulation of our training program outlines, content and delivery methods; each process is derived using retail thought process and retail needs. Should you need any assistance, be it offline or online, we’ve got you covered with more valuable tools.
Find out more and kick start your journey today by reaching out to us here.
Enquire For Our Telemarketing Training Today
Written By Syuhada Rozihas,SHRA Corporate Trainer
Syuhada Rozihas is a Corporate Trainer at SH Retail Academy who is passionate about making a difference. She has trained more than 1,000 sales professionals, executives and managers in the areas of retail sales. Meanwhile, in her free time, she enjoys hiking, running and baking. You can find her on LinkedIn.
Shopping, a refreshing leisure activity loved by Malaysians of all ages. Especially during the weekends where we get to spend our precious time with our friends, family, and partners or even by ourselves! Imagine having an amazing mood, looking forward to purchasing something you’ve been wanting for a long time only to come face to face with a mediocre promoter =/.
There are tons of amazing promoters during my personal shopping experience and I believe some of you would begin thinking of that one time when a promoter “wow-ed” you so hard you bought the item mainly because of them (and yourself of course). However, the same applies to the opposite where I believe you can recall unpleasant experiences as well.
So for aspiring promoters, retailers and readers out there, here are some of my learnings from my recent experiences with promoters:
3 Learnings From Recent Experience With Promoters
The Golden 3P’s
Handling questions and objections
Basic customer service
1. THE GOLDEN 3P’S
The lifeline of a promoter and the foundation to whether the promoter can sell an item lies in the 3P’s. These 3P’s are Product knowledge, Promotions and Price. As a promoter, it is a MUST to know these 3P’s as it provides us, the customer, the confidence that you know the product you are trying to sell and that we can believe in you. This knowledge not only encompasses your own products but it also encompasses competitor products or even products of different brands.
I recently visited a store in Setia City Mall to look for a formal blazer for myself (to finally change that old tight blazer and possibly to get more than one to look more fashionable, yay) when the promoter approached me. I was eager to carefully pick out the “Ultimate” Blazer for myself. My excitement was brief as the promoter only mentioned brief differences between the blazers such as color, size and design. I thought to myself maybe he wanted to know more about my preferences and questions before going in-depth to explain the product. So I decided to ask more questions such as “What type of body would the center and side vent blazers fit?”, “What are the differences between the materials?”, “What setting would be suitable for the double-breasted and single-breasted blazer?” etc. The promoter however only gave me brief answers such as “like this lo”, “this one not sure oh” and “depend on people one wor, see what you like”. As you can imagine, I was immensely disappointed with the experience and the first thought process that came to mind was “Why does the promoter not know how to sell this item to me?”
Fortunately, a senior promoter (I assume) stepped in as he noticed my disappointment and took over from there. He was eager to explain to me each and every purpose for the designs of blazers. I went from having little to no knowledge of blazers to understanding how I can tell if my body is more suited for the single breasted or double breasted suit. He even explained how the side vent and center vent could highlight my figure more either sitting or standing. I was thoroughly impressed and found my love of blazers again. Not only did I learn about the product more, the promoter decided to upsell and pair slacks and slacks together with the blazer. But wait! That’s not all! On top of that he introduced the promotions currently ongoing to me as well. Although they currently do not have the color I was hoping for (wine red), I left the store with the promoter’s name card and the excitement of waiting for their message. This experience really cemented the importance of the 3P’s to me.
2. HANDLING QUESTIONS AND OBJECTIONS
As a promoter you’re bound to meet with tons of questions and objections. I can recall in my previous job as a promoter, the countless times I had customers coming in asking repetitive questions like “What’s your best product?”, “What’s your newest product?”, “What are the differences in specs?” as well as interesting questions such as “Why does Product A have a higher price but a lower specs?”. Although there are tons of questions being asked, it falls ultimately on how we answer these questions that impact whether a customer is willing to buy or not.
Similar to the promoter I had experience with during the formal coat incident. I realized the way they handled my questions was to avoid answering them as they may not have sufficient knowledge to answer them. However, despite not knowing completely, the answers given could be different. Take my experience going to VIVA Home for example. I was looking for a solid wood dining table since the flood partially ruined my table. So the promoter introduced some of the products to me and as such I asked a few technical and difficult questions. Although he did not have the answer to my question, the answer he gave was very professional:
“Based on my understanding, the usual standard for this would be … However let me check real quick and get back to you, in the meantime, feel free to take a look at these dining tables”
I was amazed by how he handled the question and how he kept me occupied while he searched for accurate answers. Furthermore, he was adept at handling my objections towards going for this product so he tackled my objections by providing clear explanations and by upselling as well. In the end I got the promoter’s name card because of how well he managed to tackle my questions. So questions and objections are opportunities in disguise like the quote by Brian Tracy “Treat questions and objections as requests for more information”.
3.BASIC CUSTOMER SERVICE
Thirdly, one thing I learnt from my recent experience would be how important basic customer service is to a customer. Both my friend and I went to check out some used cars for him. We went to a total of 7 car dealerships, and these are some dishonorable mentions for the promoters that made us feel uncomfortable:
· Overcharging
· Overly focused on upselling
· No patience for questions
We were thoroughly disappointed because some of the promoters had incentives in their mind rather than us. Especially in this day of age where 86% of people put emphasis on customer service. One of them even tried to sell us at a higher price than what was advertised on the web. However, I also managed to identify some of the golden customer service skills for the promoter that did seal the deal for my friend.
· Confidence
· Customer-focused mindset (Respect)
· Tailor suggestion to customers
The promoter that sealed the deal, Promoter A, was very confident with not only his selling skills but also the product. Furthermore, he was very focused on providing the most suitable car for my friend by understanding his habits, his preferences and his issues to create a more customer-focused mindset and image for himself. From then onwards, we realized we went with his suggestions and his options because we felt he was a promoter that looked out for our needs. So we trusted him completely and my friend was very satisfied with his purchase.
As a promoter, constantly developing our knowledge and skills is essential in achieving our work target as well as life targets as well. Interested to learn more about the skills and knowledge to become the A+ Promoter? Stay tuned for our Promoter Program coming to you this April 2022! In the meantime, feel free to drop by our website to look at other programs that can help you to excel both in work and in life!
Written by Bryan Law Chu Zheng,
SHRA Corporate Trainer
Bryan is a member of the SHRA trainer team. He is a major in Psychology with a retail background. He has a deep passion for human interaction and personal development.
You can catch him dancing or playing the uke on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
