McKinley Riegle
Working at Best Buy, employees are expected to get to know their customers, figure out what they need, and set them up with those solutions. Another important aspect of working for Best Buy is being able to improve our sales and numbers every year. We often compete with other stores in the district. Since we’re not commission based, competitions between other stores and departments are our incentive to sell better, and to sell more. Working with Apple products, as I do, I get most of my incentive through our Apple Solutions Consultant, Isaiah Taylor. Every quarter, we create quarterly goals. On top of that, we also track each day’s sales throughout each metric, comparing this years performance with last — that report is the comparative sales report.
The first report that I use every quarter is the quarterly goals. For my quarterly goals, two tables are made. The first one uses the acronym “S.M.A.R.T.” The S stands for specific. First, I create a very specific goal that I want to aim to achieve. Last quarter, my specific goal was to get my team to be more confident pitching AppleCare+ and explaining it’s benefits to their customers. The M stands for measurable. For this, I chose to use the comparative sales report to compare AppleCare+ sales every day, and I set the goal at 60% or higher. The A stands for actionable. For this, I discuss what I will do to achieve these goals. For these particular goals, I chose to have one-on-one training with each sales consultant, and to role play with them, so they get comfortable pitching to different types of customers. The R stands for relevant. For this portion, I discuss the relevance of what I will do and how it will directly affect our performance. Working with each sales consultant, and listening to their sales pitches gives me the ability to find the issues and help resolve them. So, for example, if someone is pitching AppleCare+ but only ever focusing on the accidental damage coverage, and not at all on the technical support, or trainings included, I would work with them to create a pitch that is catered to each customer’s needs. The last letter, T, stands for time bound. In this category, we set a deadline. In this case, it was a quarterly goal, so that was our length of time to achieve the AppleCare+ goal of 60% or higher.
The second chart uses the acronym “T.I.R.” These categories stand for teamwork, innovation, and results. Let’s discuss them one by one. Teamwork: This category discusses how we will work collaboratively, communicate openly, and provide inspiration to others on the team. So, instead of me handling all AppleCare+ sales, or Apple sales in general, I rely on my trained team to help me achieve our sales goals. Innovation: This category discusses how I will do things differently. How will I overcome barriers, how will I improve our performance every day? And finally, results — This is where we will review our results of the previous year, and eventually, the results of the current quarter.
These two charts (S.M.A.R.T. and T.I.R.) create a highly motivated and concentrated sales team. The second report that I find beneficial is the comparative sales report. Taylor created this report, and updates it every day to display the performance of last year versus this year. This report is imperative to our success because it gives us a starting point. We always want to, at the very least, sell as much as we sold last year on any given day. So, let’s say last year on this day, October 20th, 15 iPhones were sold. If we don’t sell at least 15 iPhones today, we will need to tack the difference onto the next day of iPhone sales. This makes achieving our goals more manageable because if we have one bad day, it doesn’t completely obliterate our progress or throw our goals off track.
Overall, I find these two reports to be an effective sales strategy. As Best Buy’s “Apple Master,” I’m exposed to a lot of customers, a lot of sales, and a lot of goals. I work for Best Buy, so I have goals with them I am expected to uphold; and then, on top of that I am responsible for Apple’s sales goals. These charts keep me organized, and makes all of the work that needs to be done manageable. I suggest both the quarterly goals report and the comparative sales report to anyone who struggles with managing their goals in their workplace.
https://youtu.be/D9oF2Xqj-fU
