ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Putting a sales coach on the bakery staff can pay big dividends.
That's what Darrell Brensing, vice president of education at the American Institute of Baking, Manhattan, Kan., told retailers at the Atlantic City Bakery Expo held here last month.
Brensing led a seminar on how to get bakery and deli associates out of the order-taking mode and into the selling mode.
Brensing said a "sales coach" can simply be an associate who is a good salesperson and who works well with his fellow employees.
"Look for a good salesperson on your staff, or get such a person, and put him or her on full-time." "You don't have to buy a new piece of equipment or a new showcase to make more money. "What you need is someone there in each of your bakeries who knows what selling is about," Brensing told SN in a post conference interview.
The coach, he said, "is the person who observes on a daily basis how employees interact with customers and can show them how to sell your products."
He said a coach can help dispel an employee's fear of selling and show how to approach a customer with a "friendly greeting, a smile or eye contact."
Creating a friendly atmosphere is a prerequisite to making a sale instead of just taking an order, said Brensing. The coach can set the tone of the department, and create guidelines for giving away items or offering customer service.
"For instance, if he sees there's a little kid with the customer, the associate needs to know if it's all right to give him a cookie; or if someone admires a piece of Black Forest cake, is he free to offer a sample of it?" Brensing asked.
