It’s a busy retail world out there—every competitor wishes they had more customers. Actually, they wish they had YOUR customers. Keep competitors at bay and thrill your customers with these easy-to-implement, customer-pleasing, traffic-building, sales-increasing ideas!

1. The customer’s first 10 seconds inside the store sets the tone for their entire shopping trip. What kind of first impression does yours give? Check it daily.

2. Place Speed Bumps—small tabletop displays of product—just beyond your Decompression Zone. Make these displays irresistible and easy to shop: Customers are far more likely to buy if they are encouraged to pick up the product.

3. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires store aisles to be a minimum of 3.6’. Could a wheelchair-bound customer easily maneuver your aisles? Can two customers comfortably shop in the same aisle?

4. Set your end features to sell! End features are meant to display promotional items, not to house everyday, basic merchandise. You need to plan what will go on your end features, so assign each one a number, and make a list of the product that each end feature will house each month. Take this calendar with you to trade shows, and look for merchandise specials specifically for your end features.

5. Studies show that customers will spend 25 percent more in dollars, and up to 15 minutes longer in the store when they shop with a cart. Even if your store is tiny, you can still offer customers a shopping cart. Visit the Good L Corporation and check out their Basket Carts—they’re no wider that a typical shopping basket, but they sure help sell product.

6. Do not house shopping carts and/or baskets in the Decompression Zone because customers will walk right by them. Instead, place them just past the DZ and in key locations throughout the store. Instruct associates to get a cart or basket for customers carrying product—once their hands are full they tend to stop shopping.

7. Implement a signing program. Over 70 percent of purchase decisions are made in-store—signs serve as silent salespeople, helping customers until a real person is available to help. And unless handwritten signing is part of your store decor, don’t do it. Professional sign-making software is available from a variety of suppliers, including Insignia Systems, Inc.

8. Policy signing must be professionally done. Nuke the “No! No! Nos!” Write your policy signing in a positive voice: “We gladly accept returns and exchanges within ____ days. Your receipt guarantees it.”

9. Increase sales at the checkout with impulse item displays—your female customers can’t resist them!

10. Save the sale! Keep a stash of items that customers frequently forget at each checkout counter. Then when a shopper says, “I forgot to get __________. I’ll get it next time,” the cashier can reach under the counter and hand the customer that item. Cashiers can be your best add-on sales associates!

Nationally recognized retail strategists Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender of Kizer & Bender speaking in St. Charles, Illinois, talk with thousands of independent retailers each year, learning what customers want and how retailers can give it to them. You can reach them at 888-215-1839, e-mail info@kizerandbender.com, or visit www.kizerandbender.com.