Overseas TeamTalk Back Chat

BACK CHAT FROM THE USA

Written and composed by Mark Fletcher

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL ONCE AGAIN

Now that we are well into the New Year we should look towards the end of the financial year. It’s only 7 weeks away, so now is the time to pull out all the stops and push for anything you can get to hopefully do target and obtain bonus. Good luck to you all.

MEET THE TEAM

ANDY ISAAC

Andy joins the Overseas division from the UK side of BMB as he has been working with our Company for 4 years now in Debenhams Weymouth. Andy is no stranger to Bermuda as he spent 4 years on the island as a child whilst his father was serving in the Navy when the British had an out post in the mid Atlantic. Andy returns to Bermuda to help Jamie in The English Sports Shop, smack bang in the middle of the 2 Suit Special which is the most important time for the Bermuda Marketing calendar. A Baptism of Fire I think !!!!

Good luck to you Andy in your new venture and welcome to the Team.

Another Member of staff who has been with us for a while now but many of you may not have met is:-

DREW MEEK

I had a chat with Drew to see if we could get to know him a little better.

Drew on his second stint with Alexandre London manages McChord AFB in Washington State. However, when needed he also takes care of relief on the West Coast. Drew came out of College grasping at his psychology degree looking to make lots of money, but decided it wouldn’t with the qualifications he had and found there to be more money to be made in commission based sales. That was how he discovered Alexandre London in Nellis, Las Vegas where he worked for us before he moved to Alexandre Saville Row in Marshall Field’s Minneapolis.

Drew worked in Minneapolis for a short period before we closed the concession where he took the job on relief but relief work didn’t agree with him at first so he looked for work elsewhere. He found it with Starbucks where he was looking to open his own franchise and move on to bigger and better things. In July he called Andy Schofield for a reference to support his application and Andy discussed the idea of returning to the fold with the job he does now - which brings us to the present. Drew hopes to advance in the Alexandre world and eventually get a higher turnover store.

We all look forward to meeting Drew at the next sales conference, where I hope to get a demonstration in a couple of his hobbies. One of those is Popping!!! I think everyone should be interested in that one.

One of our other “Newbie’s” Amanda Higgins (photo in Back Chat August 07) in Quantico forwarded me a picture of some of her Made to Measure results.

These gentlemen would be her toughest critics - her father and the father of their soon to be born baby Jason. Don’t they look sharp! Our congratulations go to all of them and we wish Amanda a happy and healthy pregnancy.

ACCESSORY SALES

One of the topics that came up at the last sales Conference was the amazing amount of money that could be made for add on sales of Accessories. The branches who up to the end December have sold the most shirts, ties and cuff links are as follows:

	USA	Europe
Cuff Links	Fort Meade - 112 units	Kaiserslautern - 210 units
Shirts	Andrews AFB - 375 units	Lakenheath - 594 units - wow
Ties	Fort Belvoir - 1181 units	Lakenheath - 1198 units

Now some of these branches may have had an advantage due to their size and overall footfall, but it should be an example to us all. Here are a few tips to increase your Accessory sales.

Every suit sale you make should automatically follow with the help to find a new shirt and tie. Most customers who purchase new suits would typically like a new shirt and tie to complete their outfit. Even when you can’t find a size in a shirt or he doesn’t like our selection we have lots of ties that would match any shirt he buys. So get what you can. It all helps.
Never assume that the customer would not like our shirts and ties or are not able to afford our prices. Always offer our product first, especially when asked for help in finding a matching shirt and tie.
Dress as many suits as you feel fit to show off our product - you will be amazed at how many extra sales can be made by having the display to sell from.
Cuff links make great gifts and Valentines day is fast approaching so promote them to any ladies that might be passing through our departments.
Remember a large portion of our shirts require cuff links, make sure they have a set after selling a shirt!

Spring will soon be upon us and our new ranges will soon be touching down in store, so this is a great time for us to re-look at our departments, keep them fresh and start to move the lighter colours back to the front of the store to create new interest.

NEWS FLASH

One of the reasons for lack of business recently may be down the D.O.D. cost cutting. Evidence of this was seen on Andrews Air Force Base, where the pinch was being felt the most.

I hope that you made you smile...

Mark

BACK CHAT FROM EUROPE

Written and composed by Trevor Scarratt

FIRSTLY MAY I WISHYOU ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR...

This is first edition of BACK CHAT for 2008 and going forward the aim is to produce one at the end of each month. So please keep sending me new ideas, stories, anecdotes, even jokes that can be used each month to entertain the readership in our European stores (and the US guys as well.) As I always keep saying BACK CHAT is only as good as our contributions to it. I received some good material to kick start 2008 and I want to thank those who contributed. So without further delay let’s get the ball rolling.

WIFE IN TANDEM...

I suppose the “nightmare scenario” of those working in retail is that phenomenon known politely as the “interfering wife”. The following story from Gary Bloom illustrates only too well the pitfalls of dealing with this, thankfully, rare species.

Says Gary: ”I had a customer and his wife (big chap, little woman) who came into the department and before he (the customer) could open his mouth, she said ‘he needs a blazer’. I looked at him and said `52 regular` and at that point she said ‘he’s a 48’ -most rudely. So I put the Blazer on him and she said, `there you are - what did I tell you’. Yes I said, but that is a 52 regular, at which point the husband turned on her and said `why don’t you be quiet and let the gentleman do his job’. At this she walked off. A very pleasing ending ”.

I am sure most of us could recognize Gary’s situation only too well from over the years.

AND THEY THINK WE ARE EXPENSIVE...

As I think we would all agree, some customers think our Made-to-measure prices are a tad too high. Well the following from Leigh Poulton should not only be food for thought for those folks who are put off by what they think are our “exorbitant” prices, but also be a mighty selling point for ourselves.

Leigh was recently talking with one of Kaiserslautern Branch’s most legendary shoppers, Mr Vernon Lane, about customers who say they buy online as it is cheaper.

He informed Leigh about a website which sells the same fabric as ourselves, www.executivetailor.com. Here are a few comparison prices.

If one were to buy an “off-the-rack” suit it costs $1095. A custom-made suit made in the USA, or the UK or one manufactured to your size, can cost up to $3500 depending on your choice or where it is made!

Says Leigh: ”Maybe the next time a customer moans about our prices and suggests online, the info above could help us on our selling points!

EUROPE MEETS USA...

In Mid-November last year, during a late holiday, a fellow Merseysider of a “blue persuasion” named Dave France, on a visit from the US of A, breezed in to the beautiful Bavarian city of Nuremberg for an enjoyable lunch with our very own Alan Self. Alan informs me that “Sechs and Kraut” were enjoyed, which I presume was a local dish.

Many points of interest were discussed with the main two unanimously agreed upon. The first, being that Everton (the third team in Liverpool, after our reserves) would win the UEFA Cup in Manchester in May and the second, also concerning football, that those “Tractor Boys” (Ipswich Town, of course) would gain automatic promotion to the Premier League also in May.

After lunch, Dave went off to see his beloved Everton beat Nuremberg in their UEFA Cup qualifying match whilst Alan went home dreaming of a few away wins for Ipswich to help their cause. Alan’s parting words: ”Come on you `BLUES`.

INCREMENTAL SALES...

Back Chat is not just about highlighting our hobbies and having a bit of fun, but is also a forum for ideas that we can utilise in our stores. As most of you know, a conference was held recently in the UK attended by John Collins. One of the interesting statistics to emerge from the conference concerned the amount of incremental items sold last year such as ties, shirts and cuff links.

I echo Mark’s words in the USA Back Chat and I think that you will all agree that the amounts sold in those stores are impressive. The selling of accessory items with a suit or sports jacket / trouser combination help boost the average sale price and help achieve target.

But how can these extra sales be achieved?? Perhaps you can send me your own ideas which I can use for next month’s Back Chat.

For my own part, I asked AAFES if we could use space on their own tie rack to display our own ties, which, hitherto, had been laying in boxes and they kindly said yes. This idea helped boost our sales of ties over the Christmas period, particuarly the red ones.

The thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.
Lily Savage

VIP VISIT...

It is no coincidence that one of the names mentioned above, namely that of Gary Bloom, is mentioned here again. His store has been achieving marvellous business of late and it was only fitting that he was praised recently by none other than the AAFES Vice Chairman. Despite just returning to work from his two days off, Gary had his department looking spick and span in time for the visit. Says Gary: (he) was very pleased with the department and figures.

LAST LAUGH...

Doctor , Doctor I can’t pronounce my F’s,T’s and H’s - Well you can’t say fairer than that then.
Tommy Cooper

I hope you enjoyed reading the above and look forward to your contributions. Trevor.

AND FINALLY...

Which member of our team does this famous “Doctor” remind you of...

Answers - please send to Mark and Trevor for the next edition of Back Chat. Who knows there might even be a prize !!!!

Back Chat

January 2008