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No matter what products you sell in your store, there’s an amazing amount of work that occurs before they appear on your shelves. From the original research involved in sourcing new products to sell in your stores, to actually putting new products on the shelves for sale, there are often hundreds of different approaches available to market or merchandise these products in order to contribute to their successful sales.

As retailers, when we bring in new products and work on sales promos for existing products, there is a long list of steps that we take in order to better merchandize our products and make the most sales that we possibly can. We use tools such as in-house newsletters, paid advertising in local newspapers and periodicals, developing in-store signage, setting up tastings and demos, and building inventory to set up large displays. Larger companies often have thousands of dollars invested in advertising and marketing to merchandise the products they sell, using a host of different media forms. It often seems that a common approach toward advertising and marketing is to use them as the primary approach to drive sales. There are numerous studies available that will prove or disprove the contribution advertising makes to your sales growth, and depending on if you are talking to someone who is personally invested in selling advertising or not, those statistics and studies can, like most statistics, prove any point that the provider wants them to.

I’m certainly not advocating a reduction of your advertising, but I will say that it’s important to balance your sales approach. If you include an in-house promotion that also focuses on selling the new products to your staff, your sales results can be much more effective. All of the time, energy and money spent on promoting your products can be for naught when your staff members aren’t aware that you are selling a product that a customer is asking for. Just as there are many different ways to merchandize your product selection to your customers, there are numerous ways to make sure your staff knows about the products on your shelves.

Pitching to the Home Team
At Zingerman’s, we try to promote our products to our staff with as much energy and enthusiasm as we promote them to our customers. We don’t always succeed, but if we’re doing it well, we’ve spent as much or hopefully more time selling our promotions to our staff than to our customers.

Because there is such a large amount of lead-time involved in selecting and sourcing new products, it gives us plenty of time to sell new products to our staff. We ask ourselves what the compelling reasons are to bring in a new product. Is it an olive oil from one of the first ranches in California to plant olives instead of grapes on their land, or is it a third-generation producer who is still producing aged bone-in ham using the same recipe as their great grandfather? These kinds of compelling reasons can just as easily enthuse our staff and build excitement about the arrival of a new product as it will our customers. The percentage of our customers that will make a purchase after our staff share their excitement about it is going to be much higher than the number of people that will read an advertisement in the local paper and walk in and buy without experiencing staff interaction.

If we’re doing it right, from the moment we decide to consider an item, we begin talking to our staff about the potential new item. Whenever possible, we conduct tastings with the crew to evaluate the product, and we ask for their opinions upfront. Talking about a product long before it arrives can build anticipation as well as give staff members the inside scoop and the pleasure of being involved in the next new thing before anyone else is in the know. In addition to getting an idea of the staff’s reaction to a product before you place an order, you also have the opportunity to develop personalized copy for products that can be used for your advertisements and your in-store signage. The more enthusiasm you put into selling your products to your staff, the more likely they are to have a positive reaction. Even if you put lots of energy into a new product, and you think it’s the most fantastic thing you’ve discovered in years, if the staff’s reaction is indifference, or lacks enthusiasm, it won’t matter what you spend on advertising — your sales are going to be lower than you’d hoped. The staff’s reaction is a key factor in potential sales, and I’d much rather know this before committing to buying pallets of a product and ending up stuck with slow-moving inventory.

Planning Your Ads
Advertising deadlines generally occur at least 30 days before a print date, so it’s possible to share the ad design and layout with your staff. Showing your staff the new ads, with their colorful design and clever wording, will be much more compelling and interesting than a memo to them about an upcoming new product rollout. If the first time the staff sees an advertisement is when one of your customers brings it into the store, they aren’t going to feel that they have the tools to be successful, and there’s a certain level of embarrassment when customers know more about a product than they do — not a great confidence-builder when you’re trying to sell.

We promote products to our staff through quizzes that test their product knowledge — passing grades are rewarded with free products to take home or sometimes a T-shirt. We also ask producers who come in to do demos for us, to hold a special training session for our crew, and we allow all of our staff to attend public tastings. We ask the staff to help us set promotional sales goals, and we provide a reward if they hit them. We post updated results throughout the month so they can tell early if they are on track to winning.

Taking the time and effort to sell to your staff before you sell to your customers can add new life to your advertising and merchandising efforts, and generate improved results in your future promotions.

Grace Singleton is a Managing Partner at Zingerman’s Delicatessen and Catering. Since joining Zingerman’s as a Managing Partner in September 2003, Grace oversees the accounting, merchandising, catering and retail departments of Zingerman’s. Grace teaches a variety of internal Zingerman’s staff classes, is a co-teacher of the ZingTrain’s Bottom-Line Training seminar, and is often invited to present to outside organizations on Zingerman’s approach to business. She can be reached by e-mail at gsingleton@zingermans.com.