Key Steps to Develop Authentic Salespeople

Salesperson, by the same token, we are talking about all the people who work in our stores. We are all salespeople, from the security personnel in the parking lots to the cashiers who collect the purchase.

When store manager takes on new salespeople (associates), they cannot demand the same productivity from the very beginning as experienced salespeople. There is a crucial process of achieving individual successes through this progression based on the department in the store where the salesperson is assigned:

  1. Conversion rate. Initial training should be about driving the sale of a particular product to many customers. This coaching will allow them to score small quick successes and build confidence, a sort of “soft landing” on his arrival in our organization.
  2. Average ticket. The salesperson’s new productivity will be measured in the push they have when collaborating with the rest of the team in increasing the average ticket (consumption per customer) of the assigned department.
  3. Customer loyalty. The experienced salesperson knows how to consolidate customer loyalty; it is easier to drive sales to regular customers.

Related Article: Investing in Training of our Grocery Store Associates

A good store manager knows how to leave and give up the leading role to involve his associates, to stop having the exclusive right to make decisions and ideas.

It has been proven that only 7% of reactions are conscious. The action protocols and internal rules that we have in our stores are essential for maintaining culture and discipline in our organizations.

But at the same time, they are insufficient because 93% of our associates’ reactions are unconscious, motivated by factors that we do not control. 7% of our conscious nervous responses are only the “tip of the iceberg.”

As managers, opening our stores every morning is conscious behavior, but appreciating honesty as a value is unconscious behavior.

Are we salespeople, or are we performing acts of selling? Let’s not boycott ourselves and start believing that we are failing as professionals if we are not authentic salespeople.

Let us practice our training of new salespeople what we would have liked to learn at the time, taking basic behaviors as reference points to achieve the objectives set.

  • Excellence vs. Demanding. We need a context of excellence to develop permanent innovation, continuous improvement, and stable environments of evolution and change.
  • Commitment = obligation + motivation. When we assume a commitment, there will always be an associated motivation. All of us perform much better from motivation than from obligation.
  • Responsibility vs. victimhood. Responsibility is choosing an attitude, while victimhood takes responsibility away from ourselves.
  • Acceptance vs. tolerance. Accepting that we are all sellers will open many more doors to success.
  • Vision vs. dreams. A vision is a dream, but with a commitment, with thoughtful steps to achieve it.

Ultimately, our challenge to train good salespeople (associates) will be to achieve global positive and sustainable economic results.

Retail is a lively business, in constant communication with our customers, and the more motivated and happier we have all our teams, the better our results will be.

Therefore, to achieve all these objectives, we will create a culture of commitment, responsibility, acceptance, trust, and shared vision.