possible job promotion.. Advice needed please?

[LewSpeight]

Okay, so as most of you know I work at Jessops..
I've got myself an interview tomorrow with my current manager to be promoted to a Team Leader / Supervisor.

I'm up against an Ex Teamleader who's asking for his job back, who had his interview this morning. The manager has to me he needs me to think about how i can bring more profit to the store, and how he can justify the pay rise and what i'll do differently to what i do now (I've worked there for years so feel as though I'm already at somewhat of a Teamleader position).

Basically, I'm coming up with things like 'driving sales to smash targets', 'pushing the team to deal with situations effectively and positively', offer shop floor training to the sales guys to ensure their knowledge and selling techniques are top notch.

I can't really think of anything thats really going to blow it out of the water though, which is why i come to the mighty org for some advice or tips...

Any ideas?

Sorry if I've missed anything, i'll be active on this all night so please, fire away and i'll respond asap..

Thanks

Lew

[PyroUK]

Hi mate,

From personal experience of trying to negotiate pay rises because I do more than was required of me, which other than the job title sounds like your situation, I found it hard to convince them of extra things I did or could do as it seemed "normal".

You say you feel like you are at that level already, so if you can, find examples of where you go above and beyond what is your "normal" role that could be considered as more of a senior responsibility. I find it hard to try and show what could be done as opposed to what is done presently.

That being said, if you have ideas about how things could be improved etc that is great, as you can then say I have these ideas but don't have the role to effectively implement them. Give examples but don't be too specific. Don't want him nicking your good ideas!

Above all sell yourself as you would in any interview. Where you have strengths that can really shine as a TL show it.

Hope that makes sense in the slightest and good luck for tomorrow!

[LewSpeight]

Hi mate,

From personal experience of trying to negotiate pay rises because I do more than was required of me, which other than the job title sounds like your situation, I found it hard to convince them of extra things I did or could do as it seemed "normal".

You say you feel like you are at that level already, so if you can, find examples of where you go above and beyond what is your "normal" role that could be considered as more of a senior responsibility. I find it hard to try and show what could be done as opposed to what is done presently.

That being said, if you have ideas about how things could be improved etc that is great, as you can then say I have these ideas but don't have the role to effectively implement them. Give examples but don't be too specific. Don't want him nicking your good ideas!

Above all sell yourself as you would in any interview. Where you have strengths that can really shine as a TL show it.

Hope that makes sense in the slightest and good luck for tomorrow!


Thanks for that matey. Yeh, you actually seem to be understanding me perfectly, and how you described it there sums up the situation perfectly.
I'm just trying to think of specific things that i can hit him with that will help to lead the team towards success..

Anybody any more ideas?

[PyroUK]

That's a bloody miracle! Haha

Can I ask, the competition, how long ago and why did he leave the role and did he stay with the company or go external?

Also how did he get on and how do you get on with your manager?

[Stuuk1]

That's a bloody miracle! Haha

Can I ask, the competition, how long ago and why did he leave the role and did he stay with the company or go external?

Also how did he get on and how do you get on with your manager?


Mirroring this, also add in how determined you are to do well and prove yourself within such a fantastic company.

Other than that... I now know where to get me some discount on some L glass... ;))))

[LewSpeight]

Im not 100% on this other guy, but apparently he left about a year ago but was one of the best sales persons in the company, so ya'know.. No pressure.

I don't really want to go into detail about him because i want to try sell myself the best i can to the manager, regardless of any competition.
Me and the manager get on really well..

[Littlepeahead]

You'll ensure every member of staff knows the stock inside out and can convince the customer not to have a look in-store then go off and buy on line.

They will upsell the extras. If I buy a camera you'll make sure the staff convince me I'll need a clear filter if it's an SLR, bag, card reader, separate flash etc and tell me why I need it. I'll respect your advice.

Be the shop the semi pros and keen amateurs with the cash want to go to, not just selling little compacts to numpties, mobiles are killing that market.

You'll make sure that I want to visit the store not wait a week for a delivery that I miss because I was in the shower. You'll stock all that I need, from paper to lenses, at comparable rates to online but if it's faulty I can just bring it back and talk to a human and you'll have trained your team to be amazing.

[PyroUK]

It was mainly to see how much competition, don't talk about him at all.

So he WAS good. But he has been gone for a year or so. Sounds like he went external, I'm guessing that as he has been given an interview, either hr or manager has changed or he left amicably. Could be good and bad.

Essentially then, work on anything that has changed in that time that you can or have embraced and run with. You have an advantage in that respect, you know where the company is, what it's facing and how it can move forwards NOW.

Good that you get on well with the manager, despite the fact that personal opinion shouldn't really impact on interviews no one can completely ignore positive or negative bias.

You have a good head on you and you are keen so I think you are in a good position!

Oh also, as an added thought, ask him how you can help if you get the promotion. Shows willingness and all that :)

[PyroUK]

You'll ensure every member of staff knows the stock inside out and can convince the customer not to have a look in-store then go off and buy on line.

They will upsell the extras. If I buy a camera you'll make sure the staff convince me I'll need a clear filter if it's an SLR, bag, card reader, separate flash etc and tell me why I need it. I'll respect your advice.

Be the shop the semi pros and keen amateurs with the cash want to go to, not just selling little compacts to numpties, mobiles are killing that market.

You'll make sure that I want to visit the store not wait a week for a delivery that I miss because I was in the shower. You'll stock all that I need, from paper to lenses, at comparable rates to online but if it's faulty I can just bring it back and talk to a human and you'll have trained your team to be amazing.


Yeah and that! Haha

[Littlepeahead]

Maybe mention things like the recent Which? Report about mobiles killing the compact market. PM me if you need me to send it to you as I'm a subscriber.

[Specialone]

Do what all business people do at the high level, knobble the opposition, that's right, take your gloves off and get creative, spread some rumours or something lol


Ps, I wouldn't do this nor condone it, but the 'dragons' never got to their level by playing by the rules, I'm certain of that.

[sputnik]

My only comments would be to note that in retail, staff often think that high sales figures are the be all and end all but ignore profit margins. A 15% profit on £200 turnover is not better for the business than 31% margin on £100 albeit that it might give you headline bragging rights over the next branch up the road when comparing turnover. Any business that only targets turnover rather than profit asks for trouble - profit is king.

The flipside is that punters soon realise when a store is just steering them to whatever gives them the best margin/commission or whatever if it is done at the expense of selling the best product. Sell profitable crap once but customers probably won't come back. (Never stopped some businesses though!)

The elusive retail balance (perhaps sadly) lies somewhere in between. The best retailers sell you good kit, and offer knowledgeable well informed advice from knowledgeable well informed staff so that customers a) trust you b) walk away with stuff they are happy with and is good quality and c) enjoy the experience so that d) because of a), b), and c) will come back to you next time.

Did they end up with the absolute cutting edge best stuff available that is sold at no margin? No. They could have bought that at the place up the road run by enthusiastic geeks... or at least they could have had that place not gone bust!

Now you just need to demonstrate that you know all this and can do it better than the next geezer...

Good luck.

[davepreston]

its a supervisor leader role, so make your pitch about leading not personal sales
say stuff like, my goal is to make the people we have now better, tim is more tech while adam is more sales so id try and pair up tim and adam more often so tim picks up some sales patter while adam learns the tech stuff, plusthey can bounce of each other for the benefit of the customer, this in turn raises both their sales figures and therefore the company's we get two better trained and most likely happier staff and best of all it costs us nothing , putting simple plans like this into place and using the people skills and relationships I have already will see us grow and have better staff retention


well you get the idea
DP

[pegasus]

Firstly,
Steer clear of cliches !! eg "smash sales targets" be specific "I intend to achieve minimum 120% of this months target"

Secondly,
Does your company implement KPI's? If so, then stress that your duty will be to make sure that each member and indeed the store achieves its KPI's but again be specific eg . Jessops offer an extended warranty service, on products, target for this week is 5, you would look to achieve 5x120% = 6.

Thirdly,
Does the manager and team achieve a sales bonus/commision?. I am sure they do. Make sure you tell the store manager that you will do whatever it takes for all staff to achieve their bonuses.

Lastly,
Customer service, Although this is last in my list, it does not mean that it is the least important, this is flexible and should always be what drives the sale, be natural, and above all honest, there is no need to slag the opposition, just be honest and sell the strengths that make Jessops the no.1 choice!

If it were me, I would also bullet point the above, and make 2 copies dated and list attendees, looks professional when you hand it to the interviewer.
Don't forget to ask what the company will offer you in return for you upping your game.

Best of luck

P

[Littlepeahead]

The advantage Jessops has these days os that there are very few high street camera stores that sell just camera equipment. The disadvantage is that I bet a lot of people do come in to the store, have a browse, go home, see if it is cheaper on line and order it there.

As a team leader/manager can you make me as a customer change my buying habits? If you can then bingo, you've made a sale for Jessops instead of Wex/Amazon or whoever. But key to that is staff knowledge. I want your guys in store to be geeks but not also good at communicating what they know without being patronising.

So I consider myself to be a semi pro photographer so probably your ideal customer, if I come in store I want the staff to be able to tell me exactly why I should upgrade from a Canon 60D to a 5D Mark III. It's over £2k of my hard earned cash so it's got to be pretty good so can someone tell me why, in terms I understand at my level?

But if my sister who is just about able to point and shoot is buying a camera for her son, then again, different type of customer, and you have to be able to sell to her in a completely different way.

I do think that a lot of camera shops get is very wrong but if you as a team leader can train all your staff to get it right then you will definitely increase sales.

If your staff could just as easily be making me a second rate coffee next door in Costa or selling me a lottery ticket in the Co-op then it's all wrong.

[PyroUK]

What LPH says is very true. When I worked for O2 in the stores (years ago now mind, thing a may have changed) it was all about the service. The motto was service drives sales.

If you get your guys the right product knowledge and ability to speak to customers as humans then you are on a winner.

Also don't know if it's doable with your line of work but we as staff used to play with all the phones constantly. So we could get to really know the product, so when someone asks you how easy it is to change the language you can tell them straight up. If you can get your guys to interact with the cameras and lenses and what ever else then that will be better! All stuff you can do as a senior / team leader.

Edit:
Another thing is you can then work on getting them to work out needs. Give the right service and sell the customer what they need and they are likely to come back. What someone needs is not always what they want. Helps to start the process of building a long term business relationship :)

[Biker Biggles]

Drop a few names.Mention you are on first name terms with Camilla Jessop who used to post on here abnd goes like the proverbial train.Does she own the company?