ABC Retail is part of the commercial arm of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. With 42 stand-alone shops and 118 ABC Centres located in book shops throughout regional Australia, ABC creates and licenses more than 500 products every year.

In 2008, Performance Partners was approached by ABC Retail to improve the sales culture of the organisation and the sales performance of ABC Shops. After an initial review, it was clear that salespeople had excellent product knowledge but required improvement in engaging with the customer and closing the sale. Equally, Head Office had all the store metrics in place but Shop Managers lacked the time and business acumen to leverage these metrics on the shopfloor. It was decided that NSW would be the major focus.

Step 1:

Because there was no clear sales and service philosophy for salespeople to interact with customers, we developed a new sales process for shops. After facilitating workshops with all managers, we developed the content and a detailed roll-out plan.

Step 2:

ABC Retail brought all Regional Managers together for 2-days where we discussed the leadership practices and skills for driving a sales and service culture. We also signed-off on the sales implementation plan for shops.

Step 3:

We then facilitated a 1-day workshop with NSW Shop Managers; the first half-day on the new sales process and the second half-day on coaching the program on the shopfloor. Shop Managers then rolled this new sales process out into shops.

Step 4:

To support all NSW Shop Managers, we provided additional 1-on-1 coaching support on the shopfloor, both with Shop Managers but also assisting salespeople engage with customers and close the sale. Each individual had a development plan, supported by their Shop Manager.

In addition to the above, we have been involved in a number of other specific projects with ABC Retail. These include:

  • A review of the retail organisational structure, recommending who should be reporting to whom and what additional roles need to exist in the business.
  • Facilitating leadership forums and sales workshops for Shop Managers.
  • A more extensive analysis of the retail business, focusing on:
    • Tasks/processes that take the focus away from customer service.
    • Wages to sales analysis.
    • KPI’s and incentives.
    • Communication between Head Office and stores.
    • Mystery shopping.
    • Shop Manager sales tools.