Advice on being a sales associate at sports authority

Question

Hey everyone, Im 20 years old and I just started working as a sales associate at Sports Authority.  This is my first sales job, and the grand opening of the store was exactly a week ago.  I have been working in the footwear department for the past week, and my manager seems to like me a lot.  He compliments me, and gives me a good vibe overall.  However, today the sales report came back for all the employees, and i dont think my numbers were so good.  He pulled me aside to talk to me and told me I was only averaging $66/hr.  The other two employees i worked with tonight were around the same age as me and were averaging in the mid $100&#x27;s.  I feel like i might be spending to much time with the customers and not getting to the point, which is selling.  Also I need to become more knowledgeable of the sneakers we sell.  Please give me some help or advice, I dont want to be perceived by my boss and co-workers as a shitty seller.  Thanks

smartapple123 · Answer

Hey everyone, Im 20 years old and I just started working as a sales associate at Sports Authority.  This is my first sales job, and the grand opening of the store was exactly a week ago.  I have been working in the footwear department for the past week, and my manager seems to like me a lot.  He compliments me, and gives me a good vibe overall.  However, today the sales report came back for all the employees, and i dont think my numbers were so good.  He pulled me aside to talk to me and told me I was only averaging $66/hr.  The other two employees i worked with tonight were around the same age as me and were averaging in the mid $100&#x27;s.  I feel like i might be spending to much time with the customers and not getting to the point, which is selling.  Also I need to become more knowledgeable of the sneakers we sell.  Please give me some help or advice, I dont want to be perceived by my boss and co-workers as a shitty seller.  Thanks

phat03 · Answer

Lets get some of your friends and family in there and boost up your sales.

smartapple123 · Answer

Im not down about it, just a little bit surprised.  I dont want family members coming in.  I just want to do a little more research on products and be more aware of time spent with customers, thats all.  I think people at work see me as a hardworker, so this low number would be a little surprising and embarassing to others and myself.

birdman11 · Answer

use good selling words to promote the product they are interested in, like "this is one of our best sellers" ,"we just recieved another shipment of these, the first shipment sold out so fast."  abc (always be closing) i was once told "you dont sell the steak, you sell the sizzle of the steak"

ironlionzion722 · Answer

you have to be nonchalant make them think its their decision while gently guiding them in the right direction.  Kinda like when you&#x27;re trying to get laid, if you&#x27;re too pushy it&#x27;ll never work and if you aren&#x27;t confident you&#x27;ll waste alot of time with out closing the deal.  Did quite a bit of sales and thats my best advice.

mainmanmainman2 · Answer

ugh wat 722 said, dont be pushy...most customers already research their stuff and go in already knowing what they want. these customers u cant push, only add socks or cleaner. or even maybe shoelaces lol.its not the end of the world, u&#x27;ll need to be more motivated for the next round.be self aware, see what the top performers are doing and what u are doing. its easy to take pointers.as for sales, u cant always get a sale w. every customer, just start fresh w. every person as if u have no memory from the previous customer who did not buy. good salesmen have the same attitude because he customer is a potential buyer.also go to the local library, theres good audiorecordings or books on the topic of "sales" or how to be a good salesmen, play the audiorecordings on your ipod or in ur car.^ these will help maybe not the next few weeks but of course later if u become a salesmen of luxury goods or high end stuff like cars.

Messier-11 · Answer

20 years old.....fuck sports authority. Find a different job or take out some loans and goto school somewhere if you haven&#x27;t gone off to college yet. Once in college get a job bouncing, bartending, waiting part time if you have to. I wouldn&#x27;t let sales numbers at sports authority get your nuts in a bunch at such a young age. good luck pal

DickyR · Answer

1. Care about people.2. Genuinely care about people.3. Genuinely be caring and nice.Follow those in order your sales will increase.

ironlionzion722 · Answer

Although you are correct Messier I think you&#x27;re underrating the job experience people learn from what seem like menial jobs in their youth

TheCrow · Answer

don&#x27;t speak too much time with the customer you are working with if you don&#x27;t get the feeling that they are going to buy.  I know it&#x27;s going to seem fucked up that the customers don&#x27;t get any personal time for you but that is life and you stand at $66 an hour and not good enough.  Double those sales and don&#x27;t waste time with customers who might not end up buying from you.  There&#x27;s also the juggling of a few customers at a time where you have a good sale in the making yet they are not sure about their minds being made up, then you take on another customer and then come back to them later.  It might take a while for you to start realizing what this business and world is about but that&#x27;s why you are getting to know the products, etc.  The bottom line is that you have a certain sales quota to meet and you have to balance out the easy sales with the customers that will think you are being assholes to them.  If you feel they aren&#x27;t going to buy well tough shit for them but you gotta make your $100 &#x2B; sales figure or whatever the quota is for your sports authority location is.

DickyR · Answer

If your people skills are good go find yourself a waiter job at a good chain.Cheesecake FactoryPF ChangEtc Etc.Good people skills translate into $$$ when being a waiter.

TheCrow · Answer

this is definitely up to debate but i would NEVER genuinely care about people who are my customers just because they can easily come back to the store when you aren&#x27;t even on your shift and then return items that have nothing to do with you being nice to them.  You definitely want to come across as being nice to the customer and doing the best customer service that you can to them, but there won&#x27;t be any need to waste any more time with them than you have to.  In other words don&#x27;t put too much heart into these customers, realize that this is retail, and you will soon find out how many real dumb fucks really exists out here in the real world.  Never mind even this gambling forum because there are a lot of dumb shits on here but it&#x27;s only the same when you are out driving on the roads, or in your case working at your retail store outlet.  i know it&#x27;s hard for you to see things a certain way because you are just starting out and you are still very young but there will be the time where you can reflect back on what i said.  The least you can do is lead the customer to the right product as opposed to something they bought and returned because the person they bought it for really liked a certain brand.  So it&#x27;s more important to determine the needs as opposed to being nice in my opinion.

slikstiks99 · Answer

Don&#x27;t hassle the guys. Let them know you are there if they want to try anything on and stay local. &#xD;&#xA;Take care of the women, especially the 18-35 range. Go the extra mile. EX: This shoe fits........... so just in case I brought size ........ and size ....... &#xD;&#xA;Probably not a bad idea to tell broads with big ass feet that a brand fits small to make them feel better about themselves.

mainmanmainman2 · Answer

newsweek article a few weeks ago18-35 age range is considered generation &#x27;screwed&#x27;.=(do ur job a few years maybe get promoted... pay off debts/speeding/traffic violations. save money. invest in stock that u think will take off. u&#x27;ll be ahead of a person that went to college and cant get a job because theyre overqualified.knew a guy that dropped out of a top 10 college and busted his ass, 7 years later hes in the highest tax bracket and has 2 houses. worked all the way up the chain. not too shabby.

smartapple123 · Answer

thanks for the advice everyone.  The sales quota is supposedly $300/hr, but nobody out of all 15 sales assosciates has hit that in the first week, im guessing because its a new store, and thats a hard quota.  Most people im guessing are around the $150 mark, with the best at around $230-250.  Im pretty shocked i might be the lowest one.  Just when my manager was about to talk to me about it, the store manager called for a team meeting.  Enough of the fuckin around, tomorrow i gotta do work!

smartapple123 · Answer

and also im leaving for college at the beginning of september, but i was supposed to transfer to a sports authority in that location(about 90 minutes from the current location), however, i dont know if that will be the case with these dam sales numbers

mainmanmainman2 · Answer

ur part time man, they&#x27;ll move u. they dont just hire and dump people.i&#x27;d stick w. the job throughout college. keep the debt down. maybe try to get a job at the campus bookstore ( if u dont want a challenge ) and its easier to meet girls that way.

LanceLogan · Answer

Hustling takes time to perfect just like everything else in life.

Messier-11 · Answer

that manager probably gave the same speech to everyone to try and increase their sales. I&#x27;d ask a few of the other employees if they got a similar motivational speech

HutchEmAll · Answer

Did you have 15 tackles for loss last year?

ocd · Answer

nope,&#xD;&#xA;4 touchdowns in one game...&#xD;&#xA;transfering...

Omerta · Answer

If you get a real sales job, its all about building relationships and trust within your core base. If you do that, everything else takes care of itself.

A part-time gig at a sports store? I would say product knowledge, or at least the perception that you know, will net the biggest return. Also, as you mentioned, know when to hold em and when to fold em. You have to be efficient or youll get tied up too often.

bigvern1013 · Answer

Make sure that you are getting full credit for you sales.....your coworkers may have something worked out where they are getting credit for some of your sales and not you.

If you were that surprised when the numbers came in and you were so much lower, it maybe that you are getting screwed and not fully credited with what you are doing.

I have worked around many great guys in the past but also some who were snakes...nice to your face and then stab you in the back.

CFB season is back.......quit your job and learn how to cap. Then take your winnings and buy as many shoes as you want. Oh yeah, why the hell are the Kettlebells at Sports Authority so damn expensive? Nearly 2$ per pound?

Advice on being a sales associate at sports authority

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