John Stanley Associates

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John's brand new book
'Rethink Retail', has been released
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We have moved!

Not office, just website address. :)

Click on the link below to view our brand new website.

www.johnstanley.com.au 

JOHN STANLEY ASSOCIATES LAUNCH COMMUNITY MEMBERSITE FOR RETAILERS

The challenge retailers have in today’s complex market is how do they keep up with ideas and communicate with each other over those ideas on the global platform. Until recently that opportunity did not exist, but in this fast moving world a solution has come to hand.

John Stanley Associate, have developed a Community Membersite where retailers and suppliers can communicate with each other and share ideas from around the world.

The website is also used as a forum for ideas and training sessions.

The site, which was launched in November, already has retail members on board from Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, South Africa, Holland and the UK and other members from around the world are in the process of joining.

John Stanley is a business coach of world renown and works with retailers of all sizes in all industries growing their businesses through coaching, mentoring  and teaching them how to grow sales, increase market penetration and add value for their customers in tough times, all at low cost to the retailer.  His services are highly sought after and clients say that “you cannot afford not to employ John Stanley” because he gets them excellent returns for the small investment in his services.

He has led two Tele training sessions to date. The first was on  “Building Christmas Sales”  and the second was “Creating Sales Promotions in January, the quiet month” .  These forty minute interactive training sessions have been well received and provided members with ideas to grow their business. The training sessions go out live ,but are also recorded for members who cannot connect at the time of the session.

John and his team say the aim of the Community Website is to provide a platform for the leading retailers to share ideas from around the world in quick time: the industry is getting tougher and the leaders need to obtain new ideas and put them into place quickly, plus have the opportunity to share thoughts with other leading retailers from around the world.

The Community Membersite is open to any retailer who is looking to be a leader in their market place.

The community has been in existence for two months and is password protected to ensure that not everyone has access to the information. Entry is by subscription and for the first three months it is a dollar a month to allow retailers to see  that the programme provides the value that the member needs, after the initial three months the subscription will be $45 a month.

This is a new venture for John Stanley Associates and the team are pleased with the reaction and response they have received to date, especially as members are joining from around the world.  That means ideas are being shared early on from a global perspective.

You can join the John Stanley Associates Community Membersite by contacting info@johnstanley.cc to register and obtain your password.

Provide Information to an “Online” Customer

Rethink - Retail

As business owners we have a challenge.  We have internal customers (our staff) and external customers (our consumers) who need technical information based on the products we provide.

Traditionally, our internal customers went to trade colleges to get diploma’s and certificates in what we sell and therefore when we appointed them to the team they already often had a degree of product knowledge.  We would then provide weekly update training sessions of product knowledge.

These experts could then pass on the information to our customers during the consultancy part of the selling process and provide leaflets for the consumer to read at their leisure at home.

In the ideal world this process works, but we do not live in an ideal world.

I recently talked to a lecturer of a retail trade school; he told me that ten years ago he was teaching on average over forty students a year.  This year he had four students doing the same course.  This trend is happening in many trade schools around the world.  That pool of students educated in what we do and looking for a career in retailing has shrunk rapidly.  The pool is still there, but their desires have changed.  Where once they were looking for one career, they are now planning on many.

Rethink - Retail

As business owners we have a challenge.  We have internal customers (our staff) and external customers (our consumers) who need technical information based on the products we provide.

Traditionally, our internal customers went to trade colleges to get diploma’s and certificates in what we sell and therefore when we appointed them to the team they already often had a degree of product knowledge.  We would then provide weekly update training sessions of product knowledge.

These experts could then pass on the information to our customers during the consultancy part of the selling process and provide leaflets for the consumer to read at their leisure at home.

In the ideal world this process works, but we do not live in an ideal world.

I recently talked to a lecturer of a retail trade school; he told me that ten years ago he was teaching on average over forty students a year.  This year he had four students doing the same course.  This trend is happening in many trade schools around the world.  That pool of students educated in what we do and looking for a career in retailing has shrunk rapidly.  The pool is still there, but their desires have changed.  Where once they were looking for one career, they are now planning on many.

Product Passion - A disaster when it’s lacking

Retail ReThink

Retailing is about people, if you lack the people skills you shouldn’t be in retailing. This is the first priority in retailing …. or is it?

My daughter was recently employed by a cosmetic jewellery store. She was recruited to save the business. The company could not afford to pay the rent and was putting it down to the economy, fuel prices and other reasons outside of their control.

After the first week on the job, she came home disgruntled.  “What’s the problem I asked?”, the response was, “These guys don’t deserve to be in business, they are not passionate or have any respect for their product, so how are they going to make this business work”!

This made my ears prick up. Retailing surely is about people not products, what was my daughter saying.

She went on to explain that the management of the business treated and talked about the product, albeit when customers were not around, as if it was trash. They did not respect their product or have a passion for their product. She went on to say that without any respect for the product, how could they sell it with integrity to the consumer. An interesting perspective on retailing I thought.

So lets take a closer look at this idea of product passion.

Retail ReThink

Retailing is about people, if you lack the people skills you shouldn’t be in retailing. This is the first priority in retailing …. or is it?

My daughter was recently employed by a cosmetic jewellery store. She was recruited to save the business. The company could not afford to pay the rent and was putting it down to the economy, fuel prices and other reasons outside of their control.

After the first week on the job, she came home disgruntled.  “What’s the problem I asked?”, the response was, “These guys don’t deserve to be in business, they are not passionate or have any respect for their product, so how are they going to make this business work”!

This made my ears prick up. Retailing surely is about people not products, what was my daughter saying.

She went on to explain that the management of the business treated and talked about the product, albeit when customers were not around, as if it was trash. They did not respect their product or have a passion for their product. She went on to say that without any respect for the product, how could they sell it with integrity to the consumer. An interesting perspective on retailing I thought.

So lets take a closer look at this idea of product passion.

Can I Help You?

Rethink Retail

One word can grow your sales
One of the objectives of any retailer is to convert more consumers into customers.  Even when times are more difficult, consumers will still go “window shopping”.  They may set out without any ideas on what or if they plan to purchase anything, but the chances are that they will not go home without purchasing something.

Not everyone is extrovert enough to go window shopping, find something that appeals to them and purchase it straight away; some require a nudge to encourage them to make the final step.  That’s where the salesperson comes in.

Rethink Retail

One word can grow your sales
One of the objectives of any retailer is to convert more consumers into customers.  Even when times are more difficult, consumers will still go “window shopping”.  They may set out without any ideas on what or if they plan to purchase anything, but the chances are that they will not go home without purchasing something.

Not everyone is extrovert enough to go window shopping, find something that appeals to them and purchase it straight away; some require a nudge to encourage them to make the final step.  That’s where the salesperson comes in.

From a Swamp to a Retail Icon – Retailing in Macau

If you visited Macau eight years ago you would have come across an ex Portuguese colony as a peninsula and island of China that was a rundown province with a small city and surrounding swamp.  The population of 500,000 on this 25 square kilometre territory were relying on mainland China and envious of the developments taking place 45 minutes away by ferry in Hong Kong.

If you returned to Macau today you’d discover the largest gambling floor in the world and a community whose casino income is larger than Las Vegas and Atlantic City’s income combined.

Macau must beat Dubai in the speed it has moved from an underdeveloped community to the Las Vegas of Asia and one of the most prestigious retail environments in the world.

    

If you visited Macau eight years ago you would have come across an ex Portuguese colony as a peninsula and island of China that was a rundown province with a small city and surrounding swamp.  The population of 500,000 on this 25 square kilometre territory were relying on mainland China and envious of the developments taking place 45 minutes away by ferry in Hong Kong.

If you returned to Macau today you’d discover the largest gambling floor in the world and a community whose casino income is larger than Las Vegas and Atlantic City’s income combined.

Macau must beat Dubai in the speed it has moved from an underdeveloped community to the Las Vegas of Asia and one of the most prestigious retail environments in the world.