Here Christine explains what is involved in Field Marketing and Merchandising:

As ever, here are the notes to go with this video in case you are unable to watch the video:

What Does Field Marketing And Merchandising Entail?

It’s all about increasing sales. A field training and merchandising team will do that by encouraging the store to increase the number of units sold, or raising the average selling price.

To do this effectively, you have to make sure that the stock is

• out on display
• positioned in an eyecatching location
• merchandised correctly with point of sale materials

This is so the customer can see any offers, see the price correctly, and gain information about the product.

If the product needs some involvement from a sales person - i.e. it’s not as simple as the customer selecting an item off the shelf - you would ensure that the sales person is up-to-speed on the product. Meaning they understand the product and have confidence to sell it.

To build this confidence, we would train the staff, show them how to use the product and introduce some key selling skills.

This leads to more sales for the retailer and in turn the manufacturer… so overall everybody wins!

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• Make sure you approach every customer
• Build rapport – be open and friendly, ask questions like - ‘how are you feeling today’ or ‘what is the weather like outside’.
• Ask open questions (these are, who, what, why, where, when and how - these types of questions give you more information than a yes or no answer) to identify the customer’s needs.
• Once you identified the customer’s needs, match them to the product using both a feature and a benefit, e.g. – ‘keeping the children’s uniforms clean must be a problem for you, with this model, it as a daily wash cycle, you can put the children’s uniform in when they get home from school and they will be washed within a half hour, this will save you both time and money’
•  Know what your available stock is – use lost leaders (these are products that are low priced and well advertised products that bring the customer through the door) as a sell up tool, this gives the customer a superior product and it means more money in the till for your store.
• Ask for the sale – don’t be afraid to close the sale, ask the customer ‘when would you like this delivered’ (this option also gives you an add on sale too) – if they come up with an objection, e.g. ‘I want to take it with me’ – you say ‘great, no problem, we have one in stock, you can take it away today’.
• Customers may say ‘I want to have a look around’ – you  can reply with, ‘To save you the time having to look around, we check our prices every week to make sure we are competitive and if you do happen to see it cheaper elsewhere, we will beat the price’ If the customer still chooses to ‘look round’ you may still get the sale, the customer will more than likely come back to you to buy the product, if you have built a good rapport with them.

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We’ve put together a video running through some tips on how to differentiate your brand in retail stores. Here’s Christine with her top tips:

To ensure this is accessible to all, we’ve also written up the show notes below.

If I had to sum it up in 5 tips, the important things to make sure your brand can be differentiated are as follows:

• Make sure your product is on the shop floor. You can’t sell an empty space. Ensure you have plenty of stock in the warehouse to put on the shelves when they’re empty.

• Make sure your product is positioned well. It’s possible to purchase good store space in a retail outlet, so have a word with the buyers to find out where the best spots are.

• Make sure the product is well merchandised when it’s in position. There’s nothing worse than a scruffy dirty point of sale (POS). So make sure the point of sale is clean, relevant, eye catching and up-to-date.

• Once your product is on display, make sure staff know about it. It’s not always the case that staff are trained on all products. It’s important that staff can speak to customers about your product with confidence - that will differentiate your product from a different brand.

• What a lot of companies will do to achieve this is employ a trainer merchandising team where people will go in to a store representing that brand making sure all the above are followed through.

We would love your feedback, any positive or negative comments, or anything you would like to add.

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• It is imperative you try to record the details of anyone visiting your stand

• Worst case scenario, have something for them to take away that will retain their interest with an invitation to call you.

• Put the photographs of the people manning the stand on the literature you are handing out so they have something to jog their memory when they get back to their office.  Remember they will be taking several pieces of literature home, help them to remember you.

• Record details of everyone visiting with their area of interest and contact details and their preference to when they receive a call from you

• Follow up the calls within a few days of the exhibition finishing.

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• Open questions i.e. start with Where, What, How, When, Why Who. Open ended questions require information in the answers and they will help you engage in conversation

• Start with friendly easy questions ‘Hi how are you enjoying the day?’, ‘Where have you traveled from today’?

• Lead into questions about them. ‘What line of business are you in’? ‘What do you do there’?

• Gradually lead into the product group/service you are representing. ‘How many times a year does your company get involved with ………………..’?, ‘When did your company last…………………..’?

• Get them drawn into your stand as you speak to them. Use your body language to do that or show them something on display – brochure, samples etc. The more people you have on your stand the more you will attract because your stand appears to be busy.

• If you are to busy to talk to someone who has walked onto your stand, Make eye contact smile and explain you twill be with them. Try to get to them ASAP if only to secure their details. E.g. ‘Hi, I won’t be a minute can I ask you to fill in the …….(competition, enquiry form, whatever you have produced to record their details), or ask them for a business card

• Create interaction where possible with samples and catalogues

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Exhibiting at a show can be great for generating new business, but it’s a large investment in time and money, so you’ve got to make the most of it!

This is the first in a 3 part quick tip series which will help you prepare and manage an exhibition stand. This first post will give you some ideas about how to get people over to your stand.

• Hold prize draws - this can generate interest and allows you to collect contact details of people interested in your field.

• Free ‘stuff’ - your visitors can take home something with your brand and contact details that they will keep longer than a business card.

• Enticing stand display - make your purpose clear, and portray a professional image.

• Open friendly staff - make sure you staff your stand with people who are approachable and happy to help.

• Someone in the hall encouraging them to visit - don’t restrict yourself to your allocated corner.

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For successful brand promotion, you need passionate staff who will promote the brand consistently and achieve sales and loyalty for the client.

Building a strong relationship with retail stores and sorting issues out will also help achieve confidence in selling the brand.

It’s important to put the right people in the right job, and to have good communication processes in place.

It’s also vital to have comprehensive training about the brand and product line. Your product line may not be suggested by a customer advisor because they don’t know enough about it.

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Merchandising acts as a silent sales man.  So if there are no sales staff around, the merchandise explains about the features and benefits of the product.

Retail merchandising staff make sure that the products looks clean, it is in the right place and the correct sales tickets are on the correct products.

They may also put out promotional material such as leaflets, stands and shelf wobblers to draw attention.

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