These are some simple tools and strategies to help your boutique stay ahead.
Don't believe everything you hear. Just because the press says the economy
is sliding downward doesn't mean your sales will be affected.Your mental mindset plays a tremendous role in your success.While it is difficult to maintain a positive perspective during times like this, it is essential to keep focused on your main objective.Associate with positive, like-minded people and avoid 'doom + gloomers' like the plague!
Retail guru Debra Templar, of Templar Group, answers a fashion buyer's question on surviving tough times.HERE ARE FIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY TO GROW YOUR SALES:- Get Closer to Your Customers
Hopefully you have a great relationship with your existing customers. Now is the time to strengthen that relationship. Aggressively look for ways you can help them solve problems they may be experiencing.Two things happen when shoppers are disgruntled in tough times:Small improvements by businesses are noticed with gratitude, ie: more helpful service or more flexibility in returns.On the other hand, what were once insignificant irritants become insults and reason for disaffection and abandonment.Poor retailers will have a drastically reduced margin for error.You won't be able to mosey along as you have before, offering a mediocre product and service to an indifferent consumer.The reality is that consumers are going to be far more selective, buy closer to need and look for genuine value.
- Become More Visible
Resist the temptation to crawl into a cave and hide until the economy recovers. Your customers will forget about you and you may die. Now is the time to increase your profile, with marketing and promotions.When you increase your visibility you may just give customers a reason to buy from you versus a competitor.Ensure your social media game is up to speed. Recognise that Facebook and Instagram are a must for most retailers. Ensure your pages are interesting – places your customers and soon to be customers want to visit.Set the tone – it should be the same experience people have when instore. Friendly, warm and welcoming. And post regularly – preferably at least once every 24 hours. And, no, you won’t “bother” your customers as most won’t be getting all your posts in their newsfeeds. They’ll be getting some of them.Make sure you use your database to send out offers to your existing customers. Don’t have a database? Come on! Start one, NOW.Most businesses (including your competition) will be doing less and doing with less: they'll be cutting out marketing, they'll stop promoting, they will discount deeply - and they'll be scared to death to approach current customers for business for fear of alienating and losing their customers altogether. Use all the tools at your disposal not just the ones you've always used...As weaker retailers fall over, they will gift their marketplace totheir surviving competitors.
- Fine-tune Your Sales Skills
The skills you currently possess got you where you are today but they won't get you much further. During times of economic uncertainty, it is essential to refine your questioning skills and learn to ask some tough questions. How have your customers' buying processes changed?What new challenges are they facing? What needs must your customers have satisfied now as opposed to later?If you aren't closing sales, it could be the economy; it could also be that your skills need sharpening.Great sales skills will enable you to close sales even during difficult times. Conversely, not having the skills will allow potential sales to slip through your fingers. If business is really slow, use some of that extra time for education.
- Don't Micro-Manage Your Sales Team
Leave them alone. Let them do their jobs. Don't become a control freak - constantly calling meetings, demanding additional reports, basically driving them mad! Salespeople sell - let them sell. If you start to micro-manage through your fear, your insecurities - you'll lose your top performers. Don't misunderstand me - monitoring and measuring are essential. But, you should have been doing this anyway. If you haven't - YOU now need to learn how to sales manage!
- Compensate Your Sales Force Fairly
Compensating a sales force is one of the most misunderstood aspects of running a business.Far too many businesses don't compensate their sales people in a manner that benefits both the business and its salespeople. Because sales activities are the lifeblood of most businesses, if the rewards fail to sufficiently motivate and reward your sales people, the overall success of your business is compromised.And if the rewards overcompensate the salesforce, profits are unnecessarily eroded. Investigate what rewards your top salespeople would like. You’ll be surprised. It’s not always money.These five tips all have one thing in common: They require action.You can't allow fear and anxiety about the economy to paralyse you. Instead focus on what you can accomplish and take steps to do so.The one thing you can count on is that the economy will fluctuate. Right now, it is considerably more challenging than it was a year ago. However, that doesn't mean you can't reach your sales targets.Get smarter. Get focused. Get busy. Get ready to succeed in a tough economy.[author credit]
For the past 20 years Debra Templar has been working alongside small business owners teaching them about customers – how to find them, get them and keep them – and all that entails. She knows that businesses thrive or die depending on their offer to customers. Knowledgeable and pragmatic, Debra gets to the heart of the issue and offers cost-effective solutions, all with the aim of improving the business. This year Debra was recognised as one of Vend’s Top 50 Retail Influencers world-wide.www.thetemplargroup.com.auwww.facebook.com/debratemplartalksshop
[author credit]Melissa is CEO of accounting & advisory firm A&TA. For more pricing tools head to The Numbers Lounge 
Each item purchased would be given a code that registers with the appropriate description. Therefore, at the end of a period in the above example you would be able to determine how many Knitwear Key Items in wool you have sold.How it WorksClassify Your Merchandise into Appropriate GroupingsThis is necessary to develop a sensible range that reflects demand and to make purchasing easier for the customer.You do this by constructing a family tree based on the hierarchy of decisions which customers make when they buy.This means identifying all the factors that customers (and therefore buyers) must consider in making that final decision to buy an item such as the type of product, function, brand, style, colour, fabrication and price.You will need to decide if the first decision is made on brand or on size and then fabric or colour and how flexible these are. For example, a customer won’t buy a shirt if they’re wanting a jacket but they might buy a grey or a blue one when they would have preferred a black one.Determine the Breadth and Depth of StockBreadth within a classification such as shirts would relate to the range of choices for the key selection parameters and depth to the number of units held in each.Breadth is the most critical issue because you can’t stock everything. If you did try to stock everything you could not have enough depth or quantity of stock to satisfy demand for the popular items because you would be tying up money in items few would want and customers would be confused by the breadth of choice.You have to ensure that you have sufficient depth in the merchandise that represents the main thrust of your business. Clearly, this should reflect your target customer and market position.It is imperative that the business is credible in its major classifications and therefore carries sufficient depth in those classifications and categories that you anticipate to be most in demand. In a fashion boutique customers don’t want to see a lot of the same item because they are seeking uniqueness so this type of retailer might seek to have more colour or style variations.Set Down the Model Stock to be Held on the SalesfloorThis will be the actual units to be stocked in each classification grouping which meets both your assortment objectives and your financial constraints.A lot of consideration has already gone into the selection of appropriate product for your business. Setting the correct unit quantities to each item is now the key to the success of that item. There are many methods and formulae that you can use to establish a quantity to be purchased however, before you start calculating this, you must consider the following: