HARDISON’S TIPS – MAY 19, 2021 – HOW TO WELCOME PEOPLE IN YOUR STORE DURING COVID 19 2. Reassure Customers Thinking About Making a Visit to Drive Footfall and Increase Retail Sales As consumers, we’re all busier than ever before. So a trip to a store that turns out to be a waste of time because they didn’t have what you want is a very frustrating experience. One of the best ways to increase sales in a retail store is to make it easy for customers to confirm that the product they’re looking for is in stock. Some retailers have addressed the problem of stock availability by implementing expensive real-time stock tracking solutions across their store network. The problem with this approach is that customers…

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How to Get Students Comfortable Speaking in Your Virtual Classroom 3. How can I get students talking? It’s not just about getting students “talking”, it’s about how to get them talking about their authentic ideas and expressing their real selves. This can be difficult for students when classroom structures feel rigid, you run out of time, or are worried about how your peers will respond. The following resources can be integrated into your units and lessons to include flexible structures, student choice, ways to encourage self-expression and audience preparation: Stories About Stories (Storytelling Guide Resource 3): The author tells her personal experiences with students and why stories can promote student self-expression.  Getting Stories Started: For Speakers (Storytelling Guide Resource 5): This one-pager contains 6 personal checkpoints to…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – MAY 18, 2021 – HOW TO WELCOME PEOPLE IN YOUR STORE DURING COVID 19 How to Increase Sales in Retail Stores in a Pandemic? Messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Google My Business have billions of users between them and for many of those users, messaging is the way they communicate with everyone from their mother to their dentist or insurance company. Up until recently, it wasn’t easy for brick and mortar retailers to take advantage of these channels at store-level, particularly for multi-unit businesses. But companies like ServiceDock now make it easy for consumers to message your stores using their preferred channel and for your staff to respond from one simple app. Consumers can message your stores by clicking on a…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – MAY 17, 2021 – HOW TO WELCOME PEOPLE IN YOUR STORE DURING COVID 19 If you were asked to name one thing that would help you increase retail sales, what would your reply be? There are probably hundreds of possible answers but it’s likely the following responses would feature towards the top: More time engaging with customers. More people coming through the door. Knowing what customers actually want. Getting to know customers and building relationships with them over time. Being seen as a product expert in the community. What do all these things have in common? Very simply, they all involve the store associate having more interactions with customers. Retailers have spent fortunes improving their stores to create great experiential shopping environments…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – MAY 17, 2021 HOW TO GIVE A GRADUATION TOAST Graduation is an important milestone for any student. It signifies an end to one journey and the start of another. A toast can be a couple sentences long or a more lengthy tribute. They can be original or include quotes from famous writers. Ultimately, the best graduation toasts take just a little planning and come from the heart. Personalize Your Toast Since toasts typically happen at events highlighting one person, take the time to personalize your speech. When toasting, talk directly to the subject. Pay her personal compliments on her recent achievement. The best graduation toasts are specific. Use your personal knowledge of that person and fill your toast…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – MAY 16, 2021 Writing a Memorable Graduation Speech It’s not easy to give advice to your peers, and it’s even harder to do it in front of a room full of their friends and relatives at college graduation (or high school, middle school, or elementary school, for that matter). Whether you were chosen to speak at the commencement podium because of your top-of-class grades or were elected class speaker because of your charisma, there are probably countless memories, tidbits of wisdom, and funny one-liners you want to include. And after what seems like 100 other speakers, you want to grab people’s attention—not put them to sleep. Since you’re also graduating, you don’t need to use this time to…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – Public Speaking Workshop – May 15th Public Speaking Tips: Do’s And Don’t It’s said that some 10 percent of people love public speaking. They’re excited at the thought of presenting their ideas in front of a crowd, and get a buzz from the whole experience. Then, there’s the majority of us … who are hesitant (experiencing everything from a few butterflies to a full-blown panic) about talking in front of groups. (Glossophobia, which stems from the word gloss, is known as “a fear of public speaking.”) Even a mild discomfort can derail the best speaker, so it’s worth knowing how to prepare ahead of time and minimize the stress. One way to calm the nerves before a declamation, oration, or that toast at your sister’s wedding, is…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – MAY 14, 2021 – PHONE SALES SKILLS (PART FIVE) 3. Sort Your Calling List Every Morning When you think of phone sales tips, sorting your call list should be one of the first things you do to start your day. While there is nothing wrong with doing blitz-style calling (in fact, I encourage this to be hyper-focused for a matter of time on subsets of prospects), I would encourage you to take time in the morning over coffee or your breakfast to go through and sort your calling list. As an SDR (Sales Development Representative, this was always the first thing I did after arriving at my desk, powering up my computer, and looking at email. The most effective technique for me was to…

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Champion Strategies – Public Speaking workshop – May 14, 2021 PREPARUNG YOUR STUDENT FOR A SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATION We’ve all seen it.  Leaning back on the board, rocking from side to side, or avoiding eye contact with the audience are all common occurrences when students give oral presentations.  Like any other skill, successfully presenting in front of the class is something that can be taught and learned.  If students are repeatedly exposed to public speaking opportunities, it is likely that they will become more comfortable with the process, which will ultimately lead to an overall improvement in presentation skills.  Speaking in front of the class isn’t easy, but there are definitely measures we can take to prepare our students for continued success. Stage Fright If you’re human,…

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