Sunday, March 18, 2012

Where to get ideas? Go to Ikea.....seriously - INNOVATION IS THE KEY

My mission is to not just sell stuff. Even stuff we don't need, or don't even know we want.

It's to help people stay in business.

The Scooter Maven can help sell things you might not want, nor want to display, but the idea is to build a better store. To build the experience of what it means to be in a scooter store.

A great guy that can comment on that is Ingvar Kamprad the founder of Ikea. See the video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIx9BlPX0Qo


In America anyone with twenty grand can open a scooter shop. So it you have different levels of merchandising, business, and selling backgrounds. You have to help everyone achieve their best level of business and sometimes help them just stay in business before its too late.

Between 2008-2010 we saw almost 400 stores close. Many of them will never come back. Some of the owners called me when it was already too late to help them. I always have the same advice, go hang out with an expert. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLLl-jDj5Dg&feature=plcp&context=C47c6e83VDvjVQa1PpcFMefU_uPe6hIp0-K6RQSFX5vRX4xVEBpkI%3D


When I worked at Coca Cola they always wanted the consumer to know they were there the moment you turned into the isle. Every can was to be properly displayed and no corner should be lost for a possible point of purchase. The scooter store is the exact same thing. What are you selling? Why are you there?

Is it fun? To save gas? To save money? put up a sign that says these things because the consumer might not know. PUT UP SIGNS! SAVE GAS! HAVE FUN! SAVE MONEY!

Tell them what you do, Tell them what you sell, Tell them what they want.

As a salesperson over the course of ten years I have heard every possible reason from a shop owner as to why they don't stock parts or accessories. The thing is to run a better shop you don't need the Scooter Maven to give you advice, the best advice you could ever get is to walk into the store of the worldwide experts. Do you want to know about product layout go to Walmart, they maximize every square inch of the floor.
Right now there are computers running walking patterns on consumers eyes and foot traffic experts analyzing data.

Would you like to know why stocking accessories is important? Go to Ikea. The Swedes have re-invented the art of keeping you trapped inside the shop. While you attempt to get out of the maze they created, they have accessories for the accessories.

When a shop owner tells me they dont like to have oil, more than one helpmet or even roller weights, or extra mirrors. I ask myself two questions, one is the store a hobby? Seriously, is it a serious business person on the other line?
Second how much research have they done.

My favorite comeback is "You don't know the people around here." Fill in the blank. They are "rich snobs" "poor" "dont link spending money" "just want transportation from point A to point B" etc....

The truth is consumers by nature need to be told sometimes what they want. If I dont see a bluetooth helmet in the shop, I might never know it exists.

The client will go to Walmart to buy his oil if you dont stock it. The client will buy his helmet online at a shop that is faster, smarter, and cheaper than you. That is the truth.

Its true at the distributor level and its true at the store level.

So ask yourself is this is a store or a hobby ? To save $500 because you have the wrong accessories is just to loose $1,000. To save $500 because you have no accessories on the shelf could mean you loose the business.

So before you buy those accessories talk to the experts. http://www.mrp-speed.com

No comments: