Counters sales is one key to increasing revenue for your business. Whether you’re a distributor or a rental or hire shop, these simple tips can help you increase your profits. Many businesses could move more “desk items” than they currently are, and this has the potential to drastically increase the amount sold per transaction.

 Pay attention to these few points and you will be on your way to increasing counter sales.

GET YOUR PEOPLE EDUCATED & TRAINED

This is probably one of the most important things to keep in mind. People are naturally better at talking about and selling things that they are comfortable with. If your employees have not be educated and are not familiar with the items you have at your counter, they are much less likely to speak with customers about them, and even less likely to be efficiently selling them.

So, where do you get this kind of training? First, I would suggest going to the manufacturer and seeing if they would come and do a training session with all your counter employees. They know the products and market well, and will usually do this at no cost, which is a huge bonus.

Another aspect of training has nothing to do with products. Getting your counter people some basic sales training, or putting them through an online course, can help them overall sell much better. There are many free online sales courses that could add value to your team.

One issue that we have heard from some of our customers is that they have high turn-over for these positions. While this may deter you from investing in these employees with practical training, you may be missing out on key opportunities. As well, if your employees don't feel comfortable selling, this may be a reason why your turn-over is higher.

If you invest invest in your employees and provide them with the appropriate training and product education, they are more likely feel more confident and be more successful in their role. This goes a long way in keeping employees happy, which is key to keeping good talent.

INCENTIVISE PROFITABLE BEHAVIOUR

A lot of  the time, employees don’t know what the key opportunities are for growing the business. As a business leader, you should be identifying what the key growth opportunities are, and communicating the applicable opportunities to your employees.

For example, if you see a big opportunity in stocking diamond blades at your counter, you should be communicating that to your counter employees. Creating insentives for certain objectives can help keep them motivated. For example, something as simple as a pooled commission based on hitting blade sales goals, that is paid out to you counter sales team every month, can be a great insentive option.

This will focus your team on the things you see as business growth opportunities, and will also help drive the behavior you are looking for.  

PUT THE RIGHT PRODUCTS AT THE DESK

This will depend on what type of products are key to your business. Generally, the best things to stock at the counter are smaller items, or add ons, that go alongside the bigger products you sell. They can also be items that are associated with general safety.

For example, if your business is mainly Surface Prep focused, things that you could have at your counter would be:

• Tooling for grinding and polishing
• Safety glasses
• Shot for Shot Blasters
• Concrete hardness testing kits
• Gloves
• Blades / tooling for floor removal tools

These are just a few key products that you could focus on. They are all things related to the surface prep jobs that the customers coming to the counter could be interested in.

If you focus on these key points, your counter sales employees will be much more equipped to sell and upsell products that will generate more revenue and profit for your business.