Effective selling

Reassess and improve your selling skills with this focused series of articles by Bill Brown.

Different aspects of selling will be added on a regular basis, to build into a complete sales manual covering everything from getting to know your customer and building traffic to selling up and add-on sales.

Bill Brown

Bill heads up Bright Perspectives, a retail consultancy that helps and advises retailers grow and develop.

Amongst his wide retail experience, Bill has spent several years as a cookshop owner.

Visit Bill's website or email him.

Latest articles from Bill Brown

No flash in the (cake) pan 22-Apr-2013 An article in 'The Mail on Sunday' on Easter Sunday described the growing home baking phenomenon and asked: "Is the cupcake taking us out of recession?" This question, to me, is quite valid, says Bill Brown.

22-Apr-2013 No flash in the (cake) pan

88% of people leave stores because of poor service* 1-Feb-2013 Do you read the Shop feature page in the Telegraph Magazine? For the benefit of those who don't, I will tell you that it is a regular feature written by Mary Portas. She visits a different shop every week and reports, very straightforwardly, on its various attributes - good and bad.

Exploit the internet to get your news published 22-May-2012 In my cookshop business I was always being approached by people who wanted to use our business and products for PR purposes. I never went out of my way to solicit such offers but I received plenty all the same! Just think what could be possible if you made some time to be proactive in this area.

Direct marketing: ways to find new customers 15-Feb-2012 Direct marketing is any unsolicited contact your business makes with existing or potential customers in order to generate sales or raise awareness.

Five ways to maximise your business performance 10-Jan-2012 Running a cookshop, like most retail businesses, means that it's all systems go over the Christmas period.

Got a hunch about a new product? Then go for it! 8-Nov-2011 Did you watch the BBC television series Britain's Next Big Thing earlier this year? The gist of the programmes was to get big retailers to hold open days and encourage new designers and craftspeople to show their products to the retail buyers.

How effective is your website 14-Sep-2011 I read an amazing report recently*. It listed the performance of the 500 top retailers' online stores, and what it found was that many very prominent retailers had websites that fail to perform well.  4 comments

Make your suppliers your business partners 23-Jun-2011 Are you making the most of your suppliers? Are you developing your business using their help? I would guess that most retailers do not utilise the power that our suppliers have for radically improving our businesses.

Finding the right staff to grow your business 3-May-2011 The most important resource that you have in your cookshop business is your people.

Your people are your secret weapon 22-Mar-2011 Are you making the best use of the people in your business? I'd bet there's much more you could do to bring out the best from them.