Where do the best retail salesmen gravitate to?

What's the purpose?

Are you looking to compare or hoping to hire salesmen from your competition?

You won't find any good ones.

You might find the odd owner/operator who is good at selling....but very unlikely to find a top person working as a job.

Good luck though

your post is not that clear.

What is it that you are trying to do?

Are you looking to hire better sales people for your friends baby store?

That is what is seems like in your first paragraph.

But in your second paragraph it seems like you are either...

1) wanting to find a business that has great sales people and replace the your friends baby store with one of those types of businesses

or

2) wanting to hire sales people from those types of businesses (car sales person, furniture store sales person) for your friends baby store.


So more clarity in your question will allow us to give you more clarity in our answers

Thanks

Hi, just looking to gain some insight and ideas from them, that's all.

You're on the right track with car dealers and furniture stores.
Any business where sales is absolutely key and people can make a good living.
I'd add door, window and siding companies. Just keep your eyes and ears tuned
for all media marketing/advertising that works and that your client can adapt to his business and his personality.

Any commissioned sales place will work for the basics.

To get the best try this.....

• Walk into any place with commissioned sales people (or call)
• Ask for a manager.
• Tell the manager you are looking to buy (product they sell, high end) and want to work with his best sale professional. He should direct you to that person.
• When you get to that sales professional explain you are looking to see how the best operate and you will pay him for his time. Ask him how long an average sale takes and how much he would make. Offer to pay double that to follow him around for a day.
• Once he agrees to it schedule the day (he will likely tell customers you are here for training and to observe).
• Watch and learn - repeat as needed

Remember you have to pay if you want this to work as most Sales Professionals who are high achievers are motivated by money.

I've seen people do this before. It is very common for a smart new salesman (the kind that will be top achievers) to pay the best salesman in the dealership to follow that person around.

Yes commission based businesses will often have a new salesman follow a vet but these are normally average vets or if a high performer is forced to do it they just do the bare minimums to get it done and avoid costing themselves sales. To get the goods you need to pay. And IMO the minimum should be double their average commission though you may want to do double their average day if the sales are small and there are lots of them.

Delta,

I would have your friend think about the demographic he is selling to--namely young women. Of course women buy plenty of furniture and cars, but sales in these professions is male dominated for a reason. If you want to persuade someone to make a quick decision about buying a high-end product, certain attributes and training are required for success.

Selling baby items is different. The vast majority of the customers will be women and the average ticket will be much lower than a furniture or car store. I had a baby store client back in the day and impulse buys are a huge part of the profit picture for that biz.

The best salesman for the job in my opinion, will be a saleswoman. So, where would you find great saleswomen that might be interested in a retail job? Think Avon lady.

But not just Avon. there are lots of MLM businesses selling jewelry, health products and cosmetics--and most of their top product movers are women.

--Sean

Sean,

First as a single father with full custody of his child I want to point out that we do exist. And in many relationships men will be as active as the women in picking this stuff out. Especially if it is a boy.

Second we have no idea the price point in this store but the fact they are looking for info on the best sales professionals suggests a higher end selection.

Third why assume that the best Sales Professional wouldn't be a woman? The best rather they are a man or a woman will be able to sell to both. in furniture & appliances I have seen many women dominate their fellow sales professionals. TVs and electronics not so much. And while I don't personally know of any I see how a female car saleswoman could brand herself and dominate that market. Not really sure why we don't see more car saleswomen. It seems they simply don't apply for the jobs in the numbers that men do. But many of the best Sales People I have had the pleasure to work with are women.

Fourth while there are great sales people in the MLM world selling Avon, 31, or etc the pay levels are relatively low so unlikely to attract as many high performers. It also will be harder to find said high performers there. I wouldn't even have a clue who to call. Plus the best are unlikely to be local (law of averages).

Fifth I agree that impulse buys are important in all retail sales environment. But to maximize impulse buys is more about merchandising and incentivizing the sales staff. You don't really train for impulse buyers. You train how to turn browsers into buyers and how to maximize every sales opportunity. if all we cared about were impulse buys it would be much smarter to advertise like crazy to get the foot traffic and than hire the best merchandiser you could get. Beyond that all you need is clerks. This is how many big box stores handle it. Wal-Mart floods your brain with merchandise to get you to impulse over and over again. How often do you only buy what you came in for? It's the reason Milk is in the back of the store.

Jason V, replying to points that I never even came close to making is called a strawman argument. And it is weak.

Who said anything about yellow pages or media advertising? I was talking cars and furniture. I used to be a professional journalist and I don't communicate in maybes--I talk about facts and my own experience.

How many women do you think sell cars and/or furniture as a percentage of the sales force? It might be as high as about 10%. And yes, when women enter the car business they are often top performers--they just don't choose the job very much compared to men

That is a 2013 fact. So, please spare me your 1970s bra-burning righteous indignation.

Aaron, I hear what you are saying but what percentage of baby store customers are men? Sure don't forget them, but that is a female dominated market.

And I don't care how high end your baby store is, spending $5,000 in one visit will be rare while being common in a furniture store and we all know what a new car costs.

"Third why assume that the best Sales Professional wouldn't be a woman?" Where did I do that exactly?

I mean, you guys actually read what I wrote, yes?

So, just to be clear, my point was that woman don't tend to choose certain areas of sales and there are actual reasons for that. A successful car sales pro would not make a great baby store rep, in my opinion.

I'll just say I disagree with your views on points four and five that you made, Aaron. There are great MLM sales people in every major metro and the saleswoman that helps you to decide to buy an $1,100 stroller is the ideal person to load you up with accessories, IMO. But maybe I should have said accessories instead of impulse items, so my bad on that.

I love a spirited discussion guys, I would just appreciate discussing what I actually said or wrote and not some angry extrapolation of what you think I meant.

regards,

Sean

I was basing that on what you said.

Of course women buy plenty of furniture and cars, but sales in these professions is male dominated for a reason

Male dominated says to me that you expect the vast majority of the sales people to be male and the best of the best to be male. And in furniture sales in this market that is false. Furniture sales is female dominated in my experience.

So, where would you find great saleswomen that might be interested in a retail job? Think Avon lady.

But not just Avon. there are lots of MLM businesses selling jewelry, health products and cosmetics--and most of their top product movers are women.

Coupled with this that seems to say the only place I will find good female sales people is in MLM.

While we may have taken what you said and reworded it in a way you didn't mean that is how it came off to me.

As for MLM I will concede the point that there would be superstars in most major metro areas. Even in this area I have seen the pink caddy when they used to give them out. I suspect that a superstar MLM sales person and a superstar furniture sales person will make similar money. While a car superstar will make more and a B2B sales superstar would make even more.

That said I think that furniture and high end clothing would be the best place to find sales people with transferable skills to the baby world.

As for the sales person being the best one to load you up with accessories I agree and pointed to that. I agree impulse may not have been the best term for what you meant.

Personally I don't think male vs female would come into play as much as you think. A good Sales Professional moves beyond that. Though there may be some customer bias but I doubt that will be much. For example in many women's clothing stores the male Sales Professionals are the top sellers. And for men's clothing I would want to hire a woman if all things were equal as there does appear to be a bias that works in their favor.

But overall I don't think gender comes into play. And while any other selling environment will not directly translate I think the sales basics you would learn would transfer.

I truly believe with the right product training and proper pay plan that a true Sales Professional could sell anything well.

Go spend a day with Claude in Ohio.

Thanks for engaging Aaron, I appreciate your thoughtful comments even if I disagree with some of them.

Male dominated simply means male dominated as in predominantly male. There ARE reasons women don't tend to go into car sales. I believe I have a pretty good handle on why, but will keep those thoughts to myself for now, even though they are not prejudiced in any way.

The bottom line: this is all about self-selection and not about my antiquated opinions of women. I thought that would be self evident--my mistake. I'm sure I could have expressed myself better on that point.

back on topic:

My experience is that SUPERstars of MLM make more than top car guys--that is to say $200k and up. Of course it depends on the product and the brand in both cases.

I was actually thinking of someone who was merely good. I know several women that got into an MLM to be able to earn while keeping raising children as their number one priority. this sort of career choice is much more common among women than men, in my experience.

The cool thing for a baby store owner is that children grow up, circumstances change and many folks in this category will be ready to consider a regular job at some point. Anyone that has focused their energy on the raising of kids could be a great candidate for baby store sales, IMO. And yes that goes for men too.

That said I think that furniture and high end clothing would be the best place to find sales people with transferable skills to the baby world.

High-end clothing would be a great source. I think the challenge would be to offer enough of an incentive to draw a top-performer away from any gig where they were doing well.

Regards,

Sean