Adam Corbally talks Markets June 2013

Well I hope that you all ‘loved’ the ‘Love Your Local Market’ campaign and got involved in your own way.I was lucky enough to have the pleasure of spending the launch of Love Your Local Market in Oswestry, arriving on the Tuesday I spent the evening speaking at a start up Britain event and the next morning I visited the outdoor and Indoor Market, who were this years very worthy winner of Best Indoor Market Award. A thriving market, it was great to meet traders old and new, even having the opportunity to meet some traders who were starting up in the very near future. The afternoon was spent speaking to three local colleges back to back, which was a fantastic and informative experience for everyone involved, which I personally took a lot away from, namely that there are lots of people out there with a lot of fantastic ideas to get trading, they just need the inspiration to get started. So if you know someone out there who would be great at trading, then give them the encouragement they need to do just that.

I’m sure the Love Your Local Market campaign has enticed a lot of new traders to markets nationwide and with that a lot of new customers, although let’s not lose sight of the fact that we need traders to keep coming back week after week which of course helps customers do the same.

I have heard of some great innovative events set up, such as student markets in different parts of the country, although as I have said many times, any new market traders should be integrated to the existing markets on existing market days and to my disappointment my advice has been ignored in many cases. People are hailing one off one day markets held on a different day to existing days as a success, when in fact the result is quite the opposite and if anything does more harm than good to existing 52 weeks a year traders and their morale.

Markets and their success was built on regular traders and more importantly, regular customers, a lot of people seem to have lost sight of a very simple business model and are more interested in hailing one off markets as the answer to markets problems, which I agree does create awareness, but will not help markets survive in the long term. I hope no one reads this article as a negative and understands that I am 100% positive about markets in the U.K. and their future, although I do feel that people who are already doing great by organising events could become brilliant by involving existing traders, which would not only lead to a better atmosphere on markets but would also unite a host of traders, young and old, who I’m sure you would all agree could learn a lot from one another, especially with the technology know how younger people bring to the table and the work ethics of the older generation.

I am always keen to hear of any readers views and events you guys have held, so please do get in touch via my website.

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For those of you that are Apprentice fans out there, you will notice that this year’s season is in full swing and you can check out my take on things on the Daily Mirror online.

Adam Corbally talks Market - May 2013.

In these difficult times for the whole of the retail sector, I think too many sales people and retail outlets are forgetting the power of negotiation and how, letting customers haggle for discounts, can actually boost overall sales and revenues. I was at the first BBC One Show Roadshow in Sheffield, in the Money Zone feature, talking about negotiation and the five ways to negotiate.

The basic rule is to negotiate every single day. Negotiate everything that you do in life. For example, I went into a Marks & Spencers store with my partner to buy a suit bag, some new shoes and a shirt and tie. I like the store because it’s quality, it’s reasonably priced and you get the selection as well. But my partner warned me that I’d never get money off in the shop, so I asked the assistant for a 10% discount as a regular customer. When I was told they couldn’t do a discount, I asked to see the manager, the decision maker. My partner was, by now, obviously cringing and wanting the world to end because of my cheek.

At this point I usually skip into ‘secret shopper’ mode and try to see that if they think I am a secret shopper, how far would they go to keep me happy, because, let’s face it, everyone’s up against it in terms of retail sales at the moment. So after being told they would still not offer a discount, my last ditch pitch was to ask for added value, maybe give me the little portable shoeshine gratis. But the reply was still a firm ‘no’!We left the store and my partner was mortified and told me an iconic brand like M&S do not need to give discounts because of their standing in the high streets. Well, this was a challenge and two weeks later I walked into Hugo Boss, picked up three pairs of jeans at £89 each and asked the salesman “what discount are you going to do me?” This is important because you let the seller make the decision based on his known profit margins, and the discount can often be bigger than you expect.

As it was, he took £30 off each pair of jeans explaining the shop had jeans as low as that in its sale and that he could put these three through at the same price, saving me £90! My partner had to eat her words in that Hugo Boss is a much bigger global brand than M&S and I had used the same tactics and got a totally different result.

By this time I had a rapport with the sales guy, he knew I was there to spend money and it was a sale he may not have made otherwise, so then I went on to choose a Hugo Boss suit at £370 and I walked out of the store with it for £250. The lesson is that regardless how ‘big’ a brand is there should always be a deal to be done.

So who, beyond me, are the winners in this story? Well, Hugo Boss and particularly that salesman, because I will go back to him again and have since recommended many of my friends to him who have boosted his sales figures by buying lots of merchandise from him! The losers are M&S because, if I’m looking for a quality piece of clothing, I’m now more likely to try Hugo Boss first, even if, like-for-like, I’m paying more for it.  Essentially there are five rules of negotiating:

• Make sure the seller knows you’re ready to buy.

• Never be shy in asking for a discount right from the off.

• Let the seller believe he is leading the negotiation by

asking ‘what can do this for?’

• As a last resort go for the added value option to

get something out of the deal.

• Keep that port of call open, letting him know you’ll

be dealing with him in future and recommending him

to others.

Sales is a numbers game, so the seller has to be open to allowing the customer to negotiate and his best result is to come in on the added-value level and be able to manipulate the margins he can do deals with easier than those that are immoveable.

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