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Philip Gutsell Connects!
July 30, 2008

Monday morning I attended a seminar put on by the WHFA, titled Growing Your Business When Facing Challenging Conditions presented by Philip Gutsell.

Philip Gutsell, president and owner of GutSELL & Associates, consults home furnishings retailers on marketing, advertising, motivational sales training and strategic planning.

Mr. Gutsell okayed my sharing this information with you.  |He said there were Seven  Strategic Steps you can do to increase your busines, profitably.

I.  Increase Your Advertising Budget in the Key Areas  - Gutsell said the big chains are spending a whopping 10% of sales on advertising.  Generally 5% of sales is the average for ad budgets.  Fight the temptation to pull in your horns as many of your competitors are doing. 

Gutsell said research shows that 81% of people walking in your door anticipate buying.  If you close 40% of those, 60% are walking back out and you don't know why.  Try doing exit interviews to find out.

He recommend you upgrade your advertising. Black and white ads aren't working like they used to.  Upgrade by using color.

Your most valuable asset is your customer list.  You should contact your list at least four times a year.  Gutsell said that 50% of your customers who bought from you are back in the market within in a year.  You want then to see you again when they are ready.

II.  Convert/Remodel Unproductive Space - Be aware of areas of your store that are dead or dying.  Change them! But first, have a clearance sale to make room for the remodeling.  Then have a Pardon Our Dust sale and finally when the remodeling is done have a Grand Opening.  Your customers will see that in these troubled times, you are doing exciting things.

One tip:  If you have an across the board sale, the good stuff sells first!

III.  Expand Your Display - when you are under categotrized for the market.  An example Gutsell gave:  You say you sell leather furniture but your 10,000 square foot floor has three leather frames. You should have 12!

How do you justfy expansion?  "Take your current sales per squarefoot and project a 50% return.  If you can pay for the improvements and development on this basis you are generally in a safe zone."

IV.  Convert Warehousing toShowroom - attached warehouse space isalmost always more valuable as retail space.  And with real estate down or empty in many places, you may find warehouse space to be cheap at this time.

One tip:  Setup areserve account.  Put 1 to 2% of sales away each month in a reserve account.  If you can't live on 98% of sales, you are doing something wrong.

V.  Buyout a Competitor - before they have a going out of business sale.  |It's a great way to pick up market share, consolidate your competition, secure brand name distribution, and adquire their top producers.  As an aside, your advertising budget will shrink if you acquire their top producers.

VI.  Move to a More Productive Location - has the area changed, gone downhill, other areas more attractive.  Now may be a great time to make the move.

VII.  Improve and /or Add Better Salespeople - Gutsell said the three roles of a sales person are Greet, Qualify and Close!  Ask your self and your sales people:

"Did you talk to any customer without asking them to buy?"
"What is your favorite buying signal?"
"What is your favorite closing question?"  Anyone can say"shall I write it up?"  How about "Whattime doyou want it delivered?" 

Gutsell also related the story about the salesperson walking the customer to the front door hearing all the excuses why they couldn't order today.  The salesperson said, "Would you like to go ahead anyway?"  The customer turned and said, "You know we might as well!"

I enjoyed Philip Gutsell's information.  I always come away from a seminar like this with new ideasm and motivation to change something that's not working.

You can reach Philip Gutsell at GutSELL & Associates in Chicago at 773-792-2480 or gutsellassoc@aol.com

Posted by Mike Landfair on July 30, 2008 | Comments (0)