Keeping in Touch

Q: Our shop has been compiling a customer email list for some time now, and we occasionally send an email announcing a special event or featured product. Emailing our customers is such an inexpensive way to do direct mail advertising — is there some way we can expand on this effort?

A: You have a very valuable asset in your email list. Customers have already shown great confidence in your business by giving you permission to contact them in this manner, so it makes sense to use your list regularly to keep in touch with your customer base. By enhancing the value of what you send, you can increase the frequency of store visits by current subscribers, and make more customers eager to sign on.

Permission-based email campaigns used to be limited to textual information and links to websites. But now it's easy and economical to create a full-color e-newsletter featuring photographs of new products, coupons for in-store use, informational articles and whatever other content fits your product mix. There are even web-based email marketing companies that offer do-it-yourself templates for newsletters. In addition to helping design the content, they manage your list and do the mailings. You can even segment your list so that customers with a special interest — such as a collectible line — can be targeted with a newsletter specifically for them.

Email marketing companies help you manage your list by handling bounces, unsubscribes, and additions to your list from your website. You have access to your list via a web page, so you can update addresses at any time. The services report back to you on how many customers open your emails, and how many click on links within the newsletters. A text-only version of the newsletter is usually offered for customers who do not accept HTML coded versions.

If you currently receive email newsletters, take a look at the bottom of the message to see if their email marketing company is listed. Ask other retailers and your web designer for recommendations. To get an idea of what email newsletters can do for you, look at sample newsletters by Constant Contact ( www.constantcontact.com) and My Emma ( www.myemma.com).

In addition, check with your suppliers to see if they can provide electronic images of their product, and if they have advertising dollars available for featuring their merchandise in your email campaigns.

Q: My appointment calendar used to be filled two weeks in advance with meetings with sales reps. Now, I sometimes go two weeks without seeing a single one! Where have all the sales reps gone?

A: The sad truth is that our industry is in danger of losing the rep system that has for many years provided retailers with product information and customer service. A February 2006 poll by Manpower Inc. listed sales rep as the number one job U.S. employers are having trouble filling.

Why are people not drawn to this type of work? For one thing, sales reps are usually paid on commission, and often the first months' pay is a draw against future earnings, which can be difficult to pay back. From the start, reps face high expenses, including private-pay health insurance, office and travel expenses. And just think of the price of gas today.

In addition, their income from vendors may remain stagnant or decline as vendors take key accounts in-house, make territories smaller, or decide to forgo reps altogether. It's hard to fault vendors for looking out for their own bottom line, but for reps, lower income and higher expenses are a losing combination.

As retailers, we need to ask ourselves if the rep system is worth saving. I believe sales reps serve a valuable function, bringing product information and samples that make buying more efficient than ordering from a catalog or website. Because they travel from store to store, reps also have firsthand knowledge of what's selling.

Many reps are willing to do staff training, take inventories and even put on a trunk show or demo featuring their products. A rep can serve as a vital go-between with vendors, negotiating for discounts and displays and helping with problems.

What can we do to keep reps on the road? Commission are based on a percentage of orders written, shipped and paid for. When we meet with a rep and don't order, cancel an order, or don't pay on time, it costs the rep money. It's important not to intentionally waste a rep's time. Appointments should be honored, especially if the rep has traveled some distance. We can also help reps increase sales by recommending non-competing stores that might be interested in their lines.

Sales reps also receive commissions on reorders that are faxed, emailed or phoned to them. However, some vendors won't pay for orders that are sent in directly to the company. Make sure your reorders get sent to the right place by maintaining a file of your vendors and their current reps. If you're worried that sending an order to a rep will mean a delay, ask for a confirmation so you know it's received and forwarded.

When you write an order at a show, ask if your local rep can get credit. If reps don't get credit for show orders, you might consider taking notes and sending the order through the rep when you get back to the store.

Establishing strong relationships with the sales reps who call on you makes you a better buyer. As retailers, we need to acknowledge that contributing to sales reps' success contributes to our own.