People LOVE to buy… There is no question this is true. A little research on Retail Therapy supports the idea that when people feel bad they want to go out an buy things. The real question is why dont retail sales people help people buy? This is going to be a short post, and really more of a spark that will hopefully start some good conversation, but lets think about this for a second. When was the last time you had a REALLY good retail salesperson? How many times have you WANTED to buy and walked away with nothing because nobody gave you the little nudge you needed to make the purchace? Skip hit on the idea earlier this week in his post that most retail people see them selves as customer service people not sales people. Lets think about that for a second though… Isn’t helping people to buy things they WANT providing good customer service?

The retail industry needs help right now. They are stuck in a downward spiral and there is only one way out… Sales Training. Retail sales are down, but the mall is not empty. The problem is no one is buying despite low prices.

Retail managers… does this look familliar? I cut prices to drive up sales, but now I have a reduced margin. To solve that I cut costs (People usually), but revenue is still not where I need it so I cut costs again and agan and again… There is no end to this cycle other than bankruptcy.

The real solution? Retail organizations need to focus on helping people buy by improving sales skills instead of cutting prices. Imagine what would happen if a organization with only 1 Million in sales improved by 1% because of a $3000 investment in sales training… Ya, it’s only a 10K improvment but 7K is positive ROI and you have it every month from here on out… AND you did not have to reduce margins to get it. Just a thought… Now, what do YOU think?