Last weekend I got a text from a friend of mine asking to meet up. She was coming to my neighbourhood for an appointment at the local hair salon, so I told her I’d meet her there. I arrived just as she was finishing up and I witnessed an exchange between her and the stylist: as my friend was paying, the stylist brought her a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of conditioner. I noticed she grabbed one specific brand off a shelf that held at least a half-dozen other conditioners.
This raised a question in my mind. I was pretty sure I knew the answer, but I wanted to ask anyway. I approached the stylist and asked her why she picked that brand. She went on to provide me with a laundry list of benefits, most of which I didn’t understand. Then I asked her, “How do you know all this?” “Oh… the brand rep comes in, like, once a week.” That made sense. “What about these other brands? How often do their reps come in?” Her answer, unsurprisingly, was “Not often.”
We know that brick-and-mortar sales are directly connected to our brand reps’ in-store presence: the more they’re in the store, connecting with sales associates, the greater the sales. Largely this is because of brand education. You inform the sales associates about your products, and they can inform the customers. The more informed a customer is about your products, the greater the likelihood of them buying your products.
But the problem is, brand reps can’t be in every store, all the time. Brand reps can’t train the person that starts the day after their in-person visit. Brand reps can’t transfer all the education from a sales associate that has moved on. Brand reps can’t travel to their entire territory every week, as it’s costly, and the ROI on in-person training for the small outliers isn’t always a top priority. This can lead to gaps in education, education about your brand’s products in physical stores. Maybe those shampoo reps had been coming into the salon, but not on the days when that stylist worked. Maybe a rep came in the week before five new sales associates got hired, so they miss the presentation. Ideally, your brand reps would live in each and every store. Imagine that: your brand reps could talk to each and every sales associate, in every store, before, during, and after their shift. No gaps in knowledge.
Now here’s the pitch: What if your brand reps had a butler? An executive assistant to take some of the load off their plates? If you employ a Digital Retail Sales Enablement Platform, you can do that. DRSEPs are incredibly multifaceted tools. Your reps can use them as an education platform; they can create and run all their incentive programs network-wide and launch directly to sales associates through their mobile devices (no more mailing in receipts, etc.); they can track their sales in real time, they can improve in-store visibility through direct comms with store managers, and most importantly, they can take back some of their time. All while driving sales. Brands like Vuori, Columbia, Salomon, Hestra, SMITH, FOX Racing, Prana, K2, Grundens, Fjallraven, and more use a DRSEP, ENDVR.io, and many experience a 33% increase in annual in-store sales and see a 35:1 average return on sales associate spend. Where else can you see a high return ratio?
Back when the digital spreadsheet was first introduced, there was a moment of panic within the accounting industry. At that point, accountants were employed mainly to “run the numbers” – add, subtract, multiply, etc. But now, a computer could do it in milliseconds! There was very real concern that this new tool might spell the end of the accounting profession as a whole! But that wasn’t what happened. Accounting software actually gave back time, leaving the menial tasks to the computer. Now the accountants could use their time to run different business models or test out different theories. With the minutiae off their plate, they could really begin to thrive and offer their clients more than just 1+1=2.
Using a Digital Retail Sales Enablement Platform like ENDVR.io, you can drive brick-and-mortar sales, increase sales associate engagement, and have a constant presence and connection in-store, all while freeing up time for your Brand Reps to focus on the important stuff. But we’re just scratching the surface here. If you want to learn more about DRSEPs and how they can help, click HERE.
If you want to learn more about how to increase your in-store sales, click HERE.
