With the economy continuing to sag and business dropping, the fearless leaders (managers and possibly corporate) have decided to step in and boost sales with merch.. i mean "souvenirs." Unfortunately, I suck at it. I can't even sell a Hooters brand lighter for peat's sake. I'm just not a sales person. I feel bad trying to get families that can barely tip me to splurge on shirts for the whole crew. I can't help it. I just feel silly doing it. So now, to motivate us, management has decided that our schedules will reflect our merch... i mean "souvenir" sales. One of my buddies who happens to be one of the "merch queens" told me she actually brings the shirts up to the table during her pitch. Evil, but genius. Does anybody have any advice for me? I like my sweet set of hours that coincides perfectly with school, and I don't want to lose them.
4 comments:
I'm awful in sales. I would never take a job in anything that requires me sell. Luckily for me, when people come into the bar they actually already want to drink and it takes little for me beyond "what can I get you to drink?" to sell anything.
But I do think it's a good idea to bring your most popular selling shirt.. maybe when you're bringing the check just let them know about the merchandise. You can also try to spot people to oversell to. Like groups of guys or people who seem to be fascinated by the "hooters experience".
But that's coming from someone who has no ability to sell. Good luck!!
If you have a chance check out my blog about bartending please do!
Bringing things to the table really works. A DTYU shirt is always an easy sell and if people have it in front of them it's a lot harder to turn it down. This is especially easy if it's their first Hooters experience or they're from out of town. Then you can bring the shirt up and say something like "Better get a shirt so you never forget how sweet your first time at Hooters was with me."
Also, recently I've been selling a buttload of calendars by bringing them up and pointing out that a girl from our store is in it (check it out, her ass in on Thanksgiving). People love that they can get it signed right then and there and it makes a great gift item.
Oh, and one more tip. I sometimes write on the top of my receipts to check out our merchandise. I've had that method work quite a few times.
Overall though, I - like you - hate selling merch, but luckily I still seem to do pretty well at it! And never forget to tell people you can sign merch too...for some reason people love that crap!
I was a sales manager for a large corporation for quite some time and my advice is to stop thinking that you are burdening the customer! They need that shirt or lighter or whatever to remember the awesome experience they had with you! Also, you may think that they can't afford the stuff but most times your probably wrong! We are a material based society and people will spend money on foolish things just bc they "need" them.
So you need to create a need they need to understand that buying the shirt or lighter or whatever is going to make their life better and help them remember a great time they had.
Also, maybe if you told a funny story about how you gave your bf or dad or whoever a shirt or ligheter or whatever then they will see that you buy the stuff as well! (the story doesn't have to be true)
You can do it I'm sure! Also, there are alot of books and stuff out there that will help you be a better sales person!
Great sales people are made not born! Good Luck
Hey thanks for the ideas! Now that calendars are out, I think I'll fare better!
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