Know Your Audience
Because it is easier to sell and service when you speak the same language
Nerves are frayed. Budgets are tight. The economy and consumer are proving to be more and more challenging.
Throw into the mix poor communication, misunderstanding and lack of perspective and you are risking your position witth your buyer.
No matter how you do it and who you work with, we urge you to start educating yourself about that perspecitve, as well as how your company's role and relationship is changing with respect to your retail clients. We urge you to become proactive in taking advantage of the opportunity this represents.
One way is to start interviewing and even hiring former retail buyers in sales and/or planning roles. You would be amazed as how many of your competitors have already done this. Or start talking to companies that offer software or services. We offer a free consult and I am sure other companies like ours do as well. Or you could send an executive and/or member of your sales team to our Intro Retail Merchant Class. This class offers a certain portion of our years of experience in a high level manner that does not require a lot of time or cost.
"...The class helped us understand the retail buyer's perspective . Developing strategies and incorporating buying related tasks into the wholesale side of the business will enable us to grow our sales and improve profitability. The class pinpointed a variety of ways we can do this."
- recent attending CEO
Topics include:
Understanding a buyer's point of view, expectations and openness to vendor management, looking for opportunities of growth (statistics, retail assortment, demographics), Retail Math & Measurement standards, why tracking the business at store level matters (lost sales, opportunities, profiling, inventory productivity), assessing risk on margin guarantees and markdown negotiations.
The next class will be at the Marriott Courtyard, 114 W. 40th Street, on September 24th from 8:30am - 12:30pm. The cost is $795. The Syllabus and Registration Form can be found at:
http://www.ers-c.com/class_ers.html
Jim Lewis
Please keep us informed
We would like to know what issues you face and how we can help, including any future classes you feel would help your business. Please click here to send us such an e-mail.
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