from the experts
Selling by Sight
A clean store is a fun place to shop. A well-merchandised store is a great place to make money.
WORDS BY DEL ELLIS I
know most everyone has heard the old cliché, “There is no second chance at a first impression.” It still holds
true today, and it’s definitely in effect when I walk into a facility the first time. I am an outsider looking inside. But the typical storeowner is an insider looking inside. It is human nature to become desensitized to an envi- ronment you traverse daily, but the ability to continually employ “fresh eyes” to see your sur- roundings as someone else would see them is vitally important. I start by helping storeowners and staff with this fresh perspective.
52 Mobile Electronics February—March 2013
When I walk into a store, I im- mediately look for five things:
1. Is the facility clean, neat? If your showroom and instal-
lation bay are dirty and disorga- nized, what makes your future client think you’re the best facility to work on their vehicle? Things you might not notice — old cups used as pencil holders, outdated calendars and frayed posters on the wall, dust on the displays, holes in the boards — may have become part of the scenery for you, but stand out in the eyes of a customer looking to give money to a professional business.
2. Does your product scream “Find me cheaper somewhere
else?” Product boxes out on the showroom floor or on shelves as part of your merchandising also means you have bar codes within easy reach of your customers’ smartphone cameras. The prob- lem? With 30 percent of all elec- tronics bought online, you make your store part of the “showroom- ing” statistic. Most storeowners and staff state it doesn’t happen in their stores, but I have seen people taking pictures of things, then leaving and never returning.
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