Appliance Retailer’s longest standing writer, retail trainer Bob Johnson, died suddenly last week. To honour his incredible contribution to the industry in general and our publication specifically, this week we will be presenting a special series called The Best of Bob. Each day we’ll publish a standout piece from his remarkable 20 years of service columns for Appliance Retailer.

We start at the very beginning, Bob’s first ever column, from 1995:

Nothing happens in retailing unless you make it happen

by Bob Johnson

Do you remember the last time you decided to have a sales promotion?

You had to organise the stock, put the ads and the ticketing together, arrange the overdraft or extended credit and try to get staff motivated. Then, you had to try to squeeze some promotional dollars out of the suppliers.

Does this ring a tiny bell with you? But retailers must promote. It’s not enough to simply open the doors to a neat, clean, friendly store and then wait for the customers to flock in. The old axiom ‘nothing happens in retailing unless you make it happen’ is more relevant today than ever before.

Successful promotions are based on four key attributes:

1. Careful Planning

Most smaller retailers simply have no plans.

The key to any successful promotion is planning and attention to detail. Address the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How type questions like:

  • Why are we having this promotion?
  • Who are we targeting?
  • What is the theme?
  • What products or categories?
  • Who can I get to help?
  • When will it start and end?
  • How will we let people know?
  • How much/how many do we want to sell?
  • Where will it be held?

 2. Good Merchandising

Consider the Five Rights of merchandising:

  • Buying the right products (for your market)
  • Ensuring you have the right quantities
  • Available at the right time
  • Positioning them in the layout…
  • …And in the right place 

3. Totally Professional Salespeople

Some retailers spend thousands of dollars promoting their business and the hot products; customers rush in ready to buy and they’re met with:

  • “Can I help you?”
  • “Are you right there?”

Or even worse, customers are ignored while staff busy themselves with other, seemingly more important tasks. What is more important than a customer? You and your sales people must be 100 per cent committed to helping people own your products. If not, you’ve wasted your energy; you’ve wasted your money; you’ve wasted your customers’ time and you have damaged your store’s image — perhaps permanently — in the mind of the customer.

4. Evaluation and Congratulation

Too often, when it’s all over we pat ourselves on the back or heave a sigh of relief and get on with tomorrow. Don’t! Keep a written record of things like:

  • Cost of promotion
  • What stock sold (models, sizes et cetera)
  • Daily sales dollars
  • Total dollar sales for the period
  • Unit sales
  • Did you sell out? If so, how far into promotion
  • Changes in customer traffic and type
  • The weather
  • Competitors’ activities

All this will ensure you repeat your winners, not your mistakes. And finally, when your promotion is over, thank everyone for their support in writing! For example, thank participating suppliers for whatever it was: free pens, notepads, advertising or time on the shopfloor. No matter how small, it contributed to your promotion and you should show your appreciation for that support. But don’t write to the person who helped you, send them a copy of your letter to the chief executive of the company outlining the help this person gave you and the results of the promotion.

You must also thank your staff in writing with either a card or letter, bunch of flowers, small gift or something for their spouse that says how much you appreciated the extra hours they put in.

Have fun, do something different and breathe some life into your next promotion.

Except for the rather quaint notion of sending a gift to an employee’s spouse, essentially all of Bob’s first column is still applicable today. Even with the advent of the internet, smartphones, the cloud and myriad other technologies, the fundamental of good retailing remain the same.

Here are the links to all five entries in the Best of Bob:

Nothing happens in retailing unless you make it happen
Selling on price only… it’s been nice knowing you
You don’t have to be better… …just try being different!
The Simple Art of Merchandising
The Big Four customer objections — and how to handle them

(Commentary by Patrick Avenell. Additional research by Damon Apter.)