Grow Your Sales; Fire Your Retail Sales Manager!

     &mmp;nbsp;      In one of our revenue development workshops we begin the conversation by suggesting, “If you want to increase sales, fire your retail sales manager and your entire retail sales force.” It’s a great way to wake up all of the retail salespeople in the room.

            We follow up with, “Then rehire your retail sales manager as a local sales manager and lose the word ’retail’ on your account executives business cards.”

            The reality is that Main Street is shrinking in every market. Markets that had eight or nine retailers selling home electronics a few years ago, for example, now have two or three, and they’re probably big box stores where your ‘retail’ salespeople can’t connect with the decision-maker.

            Look around your market. The growth is not in local retail establishments. The largest and fastest growing sector of your economy is the service sector; services like law firms, plumbers, financial advisors, electricians etc.

            Not only is the number of retail prospects in your market shrinking, more importantly, online shopping, smart phones, a global economy and big box stores, are dramatically squeezing retail profit margins, which in turn, puts the squeeze on ad budgets.

            Why should we be pursuing the service sector?

·        Margins are excellent! Once the dentist’s first few customers have covered their fixed costs (chair, rent, equipment and receptionist) the profit on the additional two patients you attract for them is nearly 100%!  Service sector doesn’t have to buy what they sell. If a retailer sells 200 units his cost is twice as high as selling one hundred units because she has to buy everything she sells.

·        Services Don’t Need Volume  One roofing job for a local roofer can pay for a sizable campaign on your station and a cosmetic surgeon doesn’t need to line patients up around the block to make a huge buck.

·        No Global Competition.  When you have a tooth ache or a leaky faucet, you don’t go online to look for service from Hong Kong or Pakistan. The service must be performed locally and the decision-maker lives in your market.

·        Less Haggling.  Retailers, by definition, buy low and sell high.  Most local professionals or service providers have never seen a radio account executive, and seldom do they know what your competitor’s rates are.  With higher profits per sale, rate is not as important and usually one or two new sales make them happy advertisers.

We don’t have time in your short weekly ENS on Sales to explore all of the reasons the stations we consult are capturing huge increases from service sector clients, but I think you get the point;  your most lucrative growth opportunities in 2012 and beyond, are in the services and professions.  So as you plan for a ‘Happy New Year’, plan to fire your retail people in favor of training a local marketing team.

      One final word:  You can’t sell services or professionals if you are still speaking retail. Lawyers, for example, don’t want and can’t handle ‘traffic’….they want ‘billable hours.’

Click here if you would like to arrange a no-obligation demo of our, Selling the Service Sector, workshops.