Issue 07/08

Europe Week 7 – Notes from Bernie Collins

Once again last week’s Made to Measure sales performance let down the area performance.

In the past when promotions are not performing the census from managers has been

"Customers are only interested in a 50% OFF sale offer"

So you have the 50% OFF sale offer, why are you not performing and achieving target.

• Not one branch recorded Made to measure sales in excess of $1,000
• Two full time Branches recorded a nil week on Made to Measure

How did we perform, or in this case how did we not perform ???

AREA	TARGET	ACTUAL	% TARGET
B. COLLINS	16513	5108	31%

This really is a pretty poor performance. How are you going to improve on this?

Ask yourself have you pulled out all the stops??

• Have all customers on mailing lists been informed of the promotion
• Have you arranged for the sale to be advertised over the AAFES intercom system.
• Have you utilised the RM garments where cloth is offered on made to measure by displaying as a New Measure model offer.
• Are all passing customers being made aware of the 50% OFF promotion.

You are the sales professionals out there, so where are the made to measure sales.

• Spruce up the displays
• Get the intercom message going out at regular intervals
• Speak to passing customers about the sale
• Full concentration on appearance of the department
• Get motivated to get them sales.

Remember Nil recorded weeks on made to measure cannot be tolerated.

On to a happier note, Ready to Wear, with the help of the up and coming prom events recorded an increase on target by 118%

Best performing branches this week on Ready to wear are:

Br No	Location	RM
		LY	Target	Actual	% Increase
3259	Ramstein	7200	6166	9,855	160%
3192	Heidelberg	4494	4044	6430	159%
3162	Lakenheath	3015	4786	5220	109%

Ramstein with just under $10k on RM’s came in with a great all round performance with Trevor, Robbie, and Bernie recording sales in the branch this past week. A combined total of $10,390 was recorded with a measure sale from Bernie helping top the $10k.

In 3192 Heidelberg Alan Self followed on the $7k recorded the previous week by achieving $6430 this week so a great run by Alan, combined sales $8k last week and $7k this week.

3162 Lakenheath, showed a 109% increase and $5220 sales although many personnel are down range from this area at present. So a good solid performance by Gary Bloom with $6168 sales combined recorded.

Dave Cox in 3281 Chievres recording combined sales $5513 before departing for holidays leaving his relief John Knight with a good target to follow on over the next two weeks.

So how did the area perform on combined targets;

AREA	$ TARGET	$ ACTUAL	% TARGET
B. COLLINS	57548	53442	93%

Now you can see where the measure sales performance has let you down.

Branches who have ordered replacement stock of blue zipper bags will be receiving plain blue bags in the next shipment. The zipper bags with the Alexandre logo are being replenished into Goole in the near future and will be sent out on request.

Stationery, Managers must keep control of stationery so that the branch does not run out of receipt pads for Ready to Wear and Made to measure.

As you will have noticed there has been changes made to Oasys to allow for the new additions to the system as informed at the Conference.

Information on these Oasis changes and how to access them will be given to all this week.

Replenishment on 00303MJ and 00304MT Plain Black Venetian, especially small sizes 32R / 34R is being requested by several manager’s, the status is that delivery into the warehouse in Goole on this line is being expedited by Tracey and as soon as this arrives will be allocated, picked and packed and sent to branches. This also applies to other mixer lines 00252MJ / 00253MT Plain beige where matching sizes are low in some branches.

At present the stock of ties in branches is at a peak position as the second delivery drop of ties has arrived in branches. Remember there will be no more tie delivery until October.

Managers must have a selection of each tie design on the tie rack and replace once sold. Duplicate ties that have to be put in boxes as the capacity on the tie rack has be exhausted should where possible put in a stock room area. Boxes that have to be put under back bays or floor racks should be stored neatly to prevent the whole department appearance looking untidy.

Remember to keep replenishing ties from these boxes on a daily bases if necessary.

So let us see a better Made to Measure performance this week and not only beat targets set but pull back the deficit from the past weeks.

You’re the Sales Team and you all need to achieve, to achieve your bonus.

Bernie

U.S.A. – Notes from Andy Schofield

An extremely tough week last week Ladies & Gentlemen.

Quantico and Belvoir closed their doors for a couple of days throughout the course of the week due to power failure and Andrews AFB closed their gates to the BX as they held the annual air show event.

This cost us dearly in total cumulative sales which meant we finished the week with a meager 68% and only 74% of Last Year.

Ready Made finished with 78% against Target but a better 80% of Last Year.

Measures were appalling with only 57% against target and 66% of Last Year.

We need to get that figure up this week guys – let’s pull out all the stops please and go after that 100% target figure. We’ve had rough weeks before, it happens, but it’s the week after the “Storm” that counts.

“When the going get’s tough, the tough get going”

How tough are you???

Only one AAFES branch made target last week:

Fort Sam Houston – I am sure it’s cold out there all on your lonesome Jeff, it would be nice to see some other shops sharing in the lime light. Jeff managed to do 102% cumulative target last week with outside temps in the 90’s!

If Jeff can hit target with those kinds of temperatures then the rest of us don’t have an excuse!!

STAFF ISSUES

Although I am still actively looking for two relief members that will work and cover McChord AFB in Seattle and also cover / work along the Eastern seaboard, we have had a good initial response to the ad’s. Watch This Space for an update soon.

EMAIL ETIQUETTE

We are sending more and more emails to customers and you can write to them about their orders, deliveries, promotions, new stock you have in etc. To help you, below are tips for reading, writing and replying to emails – professionally:

• Write carefully. Once you send an e-mail message, you cannot take it back or make it disappear. The reality is that your messages may be saved for a very long time. They may also be read inadvertently by others, or forwarded to others without your knowledge.
• Use upper and lowercase text. Using all uppercase letters means SHOUTING and can be offensive.
• Sign your messages with at least your name. It's nice to add your e-mail address too, since some e-mail programs make it difficult to see who the sender of the message was.
• Address your messages carefully. Check the spelling of customer’s addresses.
• Be diplomatic. Criticism is always harsher when written, and e-mail can be easily forwarded.
• Be calm. You may have misunderstood what was meant. Don't reply while you're still angry.
• Be brief. Don't include background images, pictures, animations, etc. unless they are critical to your message. When replying to a message, you don't have to include the entire text of the original message. Include just enough to give the context of your response.
• Watch out for viruses in attached files. Attached files are a common way to spread computer viruses. Just receiving an attachment cannot infect your computer. But opening or running an attachment can.

CALL YOUR CUSTOMERS ABOUT THE 50% OFF SALE WITH A FRIENDLY REMINDER!

YOU CAN ALSO TELL THEM ABOUT THE MEMORIAL DAY SPECIALS!

Let’s make the last sale weekend count ...

Andy

BANK HOLIDAY 28TH MAY 2007

It is a UK Bank Holiday on Monday therefore we will be closed for the day and will re-open on Tuesday 29th May 2007.

2 SUIT SPECIAL

Details of the fabrics to be sold in the 2 Suit Special will be released very soon, in the meantime please continue to push the 50% off sale as much as you can.

DO NUMBERS

Due to holidays and sickness we have been unable to process any DO numbers this week. If you have sent information to Goole and it has not yet appeared on Oasys, please do not worry as we will resume back to normal next week.