7/22/16
Managers in the PC sector of the retail industry have tough jobs. Long hours and even longer lists of responsibilities prove taxing for even the best. A search in LinkedIn’s job sectionfor PC retail general and district manager openings revealed responsibilities ranging from achieving sales goals to actively participating in the community.
In all instances the nouns or subjects associated with these verbs relate to people, the manager’s staff or customers. Stop and think about these verbs individually. Each action requires time, energy, skill, and a process. Beyond this, managers must meet key performance and revenue goals, maintain adequate inventories, collect data analyses, and the list goes on and on.
As Program Manager of the Intel® Retail Edge Program, one of the highlights of my job is hitting the road to visit with retail sales managers and sales reps at our partner retail stores. The Program is designed to provide product training and education to retail sales professionals and managers on the latest Intel® products and technologies. We’ve also included training tips to help sales reps create better customer experiences.
Our annual Score with Intel® Core™ competition gives sales reps and managers the opportunity to win prizes1,2, trips, Intel® Processor-based devices, and discounts on accessories. It’s also a way to give back to the community. Managers can nominate at least two local K-12 schools to receive up to a $25,000 donation at the end of the competition.
These road trips allow me to personally interact with GMs, DMs, and sales reps who provide great insight into what they like best about the Program and competition and what we can do to improve it.
While recently visiting some of our partner stores, I ran into James P., a member of the Intel® Retail Edge Program and a participant in the 2015 Score with Intel® Core™ competition. In fact, James is a previous winner from the 2011 competition. He won a new MINI Cooper* automobile!
James’ co-workers weren’t around in 2011, so they didn’t believe his story of winning a car when he was encouraging them to sign up for this year’s competition. But as the saying goes, “The proof is in the pudding.”Well here’s the pudding—click here to watch the video of James getting his new car.
Further conversations revealedthat some sales reps don’t really believe anyone actually wins anything. Here’s more proof with another video of one of our weekly prize drawing winners from a few weeks ago:
Some sales reps think their general or district managers don’t have time to learn about the benefits of encouraging them to participate in Score with Intel® Core™ and the Intel® Retail Edge Program. Maybe they don’t realize the prize1,2 rewards are a result of completing valuable Learning activities. These interactive Learning activities arm sales reps with the tools they need to interact with and guide customers to the right device for their needs.
In its years of existence, the Program has grown into a thriving community in which more than 50,000 retail sales reps from more than 5,000 retail stores have participated. That’s a lot of learning which has resulted in a measurable increase of device sales and a reduction in returns.
The Intel® Retail Edge Program helps PC retail managers meet some of the responsibilities defined by the action verbs mentioned above.
If you’re a retail manager in PC sales, what do you look for in a training program from your technology partners? I’d welcome any feedback.
It’s not too late to enter the 2016 competition. Sign up today to get your store competing!
This article originally appeared on LinkedIn* Pulse. To view the original article, click here.
References:
© 2016, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Core, Intel Retail Edge Program, Score with Intel Core are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.
1 Please see the official terms and conditions at www.intel.com/retailedge for specific prize details.
2 Program members from Quebec are not eligible to win prizes. But can still earn Chips by completing the weekly competition Learning activities.
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
