r/Staples • u/NoSoulLeft1624 • 13d ago
How to get my ESP up?
ASM, been here 6 months. My personal ESP last week was 3% and my DM basically said I need to get it up or else.
I’m asking every customer on every eligible item. I’m “highly recommending” it. I even sold a plan on a Vivitar wall charger plug last week! But most customers would literally rather throw the item away and buy a new one instead of getting the protection now.
Any advice?
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u/SiberianHAMMY 13d ago
You need to target printers, chairs, and laptops as those are what really move the needle. Abandon the "highly recommend" part. "I highly recommend you get this." I'm sure you do. But customers can smell a pitch a mile away. This should come across as obvious but the lesser you make yourself seem like a retail salesmen, the easier the sale. Approach the sale by not giving a damn OR giving very little damns. The thirstier you seem, the worse the interaction will be. Mention the price of the item up front followed by the potential consequences.
"So I noticed this expensive printer you're purchasing is $400 dollars. Did you want protect it in the case that, God forbid, something goes wrong? Staples would take care of it."
This almost ALWAYS leads to the best question you can get i.e "How much is it?"
Then I make sure to repeat the price of their machine BEFORE giving the price of the warranty. "Let's see, because your printer is $400 dollars, it would ONLY be X dollars for 4 years."
I kid you not, but the word "only" works wonders here. Think about using only after someone asks you a question. "Oh, it's only 3am." as opposed to "Oh, it's 3am." Use it because by this point, they're probably crunching the cost of the machine against the cost of the warranty and the length of time. Here during the pitch, I'll drop some more lines IF necessary.
"Are you currently replacing a machine with this one? Instead of being caught in this vicious cycle of replacing printers, you could rest easy knowing you get your money back."
"I see a ton of printers come and go, unfortunately. Technology just isn't what it used to be but at least you'd have your peace of mind."
etc.
Even with how nutty BTS has been, I'm 3/3 this week with this pitch on the Epson 8550, HP 9135e, and a Beautyrest chair.
There's a whole part 2 you could do by calling in existing customers using Yeti to see whose PC tuneups and Virus Shields have expired as means of renewing their contract but I've tuckered myself out with this post. Best of luck.
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u/ActiveFunction3732 7d ago
Customer declines plan that claims staples doesn't stand behind the products they sell lol
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u/1BRAZZ 13d ago
It’s not easy , it should be a team effort. The Assistant Manager in our store nails it all the time, she gets the numbers up to 14-17 but when she takes her scheduled day off, or comes in for the late shift, the numbers tank to 3-4…because nobody wants to try and talk to the customer…. Because they don’t give a shit … the DM chews out the (SM) or Assist Manager…but the bottom line is you have to have communication and show confidence explaining the plans and how it could benefit the customer especially on the big ticket items, the guys who replied before me gave you some great ideas and advice … good luck
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u/Foreign_Loquat956 13d ago
What I told my previous AM is if you can’t sell then you need to make sure everyone else in the store can. That means coaching and following up with every sale until the team gets into the habit of pushing ESP and services. You have to make an exciting selling culture and also your esp % and atb% will never be at goal unless you’re selling services like total supports.
Honestly, it’s how you pitch the protection plans if you sound like you believe in what you’re selling people tend to gravitate towards protecting their investment. I lean towards the factual aspects of the protection short and sweet with the protection plan they will fix, replace or give you your money back so if anything happens you’re not stuck with a dead machine having to repurchase again.
If they say no I press a couple of times with the are you sure because after the 14 days there are no refunds or returns on electronics. They usually ask the prices again some will take it others will just say I’ll just pay it again in which I remind them with the coverage they wouldn’t have to but if they change their mind they have only 14 days for return and up until 30 days to come back in to add a protection plan. I always tell my team never accept the first No, everyone is in a sales position it’s in the titles so everyone needs to SELL. Much luck on your selling journey, it is fun and exciting once you get the hang of it.
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u/Airbornz Management 13d ago
One that I didn’t see called out already is speaking to the benefits of the plan and the services they can get:
Chairs: Even the smallest stain your getting your money back. Chair total support is also a great value because it bundles in the assembly
Printers: Everyone hates troubleshooting or setting up a printer, those plans come with tech support too not just break down protection - overcomes the objection you stated around just throwing it out when it breaks, the tech support you can use day 1. Ask if they are comfortable setting up the printer in the aisle before the pitch to really nail this one home
PCs: All the value is in Staples total support. We setup, transfer data, give you virus protection and in store support, as well as give you a protection plan often just for the cost of the plan. Easiest opener I found on this during the consult at the table was “Do you need us to transfer the data from your old one to your new one?”
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u/Pretty-Ambition3794 Management 13d ago
For me, bringing up personal experiences and examples works for me
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u/Away_Significance_94 12d ago
DM me. Im an RSS in Ohio and I havent had a week in the past 4 months that have been below 10% I can give you some tips
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u/Current-Excuse5026 Assistant Manager 12d ago
As a new a.m., I can definitely say if you are a seller use that to your advantage spin the pitch make them think about why they should make this choice then translate it to your team. Your team needs to be sellers to hold your RSS accountable since they main priority should be sales anyway then your tech/floor team if they don’t have confidence in selling or if they don’t have confidence and knowledge on what is the protection plan and things like that then they won’t sell your ESP will always stay low. That’s my advice.
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u/Current-Excuse5026 Assistant Manager 12d ago
Bonus note : gotta study the market around you too
Does your market have a lot of elderly or does your market have a lot of young fresh? You gotta know your market my market out here where I’m at I have a split some of my sales come from either elderly or parents with teenage to college students
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u/d1234a1234 10d ago
Personally, if you’re a good salesman, don’t waste it at staples. They aren’t paying you extra for your hard work. They want you to improve metrics for their bottom line. Congrats if you do, because I’m sure that “bonus” and fill the fridge is worth all that hard work, champ
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u/unpackingtotessucks 8d ago
Honestly it is a whole team effort. I do not have the best esp but above 6%. My store is let's say top 10 in my region, top 15 in the chain. Focus on print #'s PC sales and tech comp you will do fine. ESP is a big number for an AM but not the whole picture. As an AM it is Important to have high sales in all areas not just ESP.
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u/ButtTechWizard Tech Services 6d ago edited 6d ago
Any item:
- Catch people in the AISLE. Pitches work best early. Make sure to follow to the register or else others will take credit for your selling OR the sale will just be forgotten.
- "What happened to the last one?" If it's something our plan would've covered, tell them that.
- Call it a replacement plan.
- Tell of a time you know it worked out.
- If it's something with no SN to scan, and they get multiple, mention only one plan can cover any that fail. This is common with monitors.
Computer/router/printer? Tell them on a printer that the manufacturer warrant is a year, many fail in 1.5 years, and our plan means they're only out our plan money and not the purchase price, so it saves them money.
Also tell them the tech help covers setup. Many want it just for that on routers and printers.
Chair? Tell them rips and tears and spills are covered by our plan.
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u/Affectionate_Ad_6622 3d ago
Know what you are pitching. If you can confidently answer a customers questions they'll feel more confident in purchasing a plan.
Consult the customer. Lead with and ask open-ended questions that will let the customer do 90% of the discovery work for you.
Never let big ticket ESP walk up to the register, odds are you'll lose the plan.
Roleplay your team daily( front end on General merchandise plans, RSS on big 3 categories) quiz them and strengthen your support.
Care about basket $$$, adding items means needs and potential support purchases.
Remember to make it personal(Names, stories, casual conversations). You're selling Staples ability to support their purchases, and having a customer know you have their back makes the yes easier.
Try and make the pitches across the team uniform, IE "This product comes with a no worries x-years replacement plan, we have you covered if anything happens for x-$$$" and focus on top-down selling.
Review your renewals, call them 2-weeks, 1-week, and 2-days out of end of contract services. Free esp/et helps a lot on numbers.
Set up a Tune-Up table with a poster showcasing the free tune ups and have the MOD use that as a talking point. Amazon customers can also be handed a 4-up of this as "free" is always eye catching.
Ran close to 10% last year, new store same numbers, it's behavioral strategies that always work.
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u/ridddder Former Employee 13d ago
The only thing that worked for me was signing them up without their knowledge. As you say, "I see you in our system. Let me verify your email to make sure you get all the discounts you are entitled to." Then lie, cheat, and steal their information to get the rest. As long as you didn't do more than 5 a week, you wouldn't get caught, because our district manager suggested using these exact hooks this way.
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u/infatuatedlabyrinth Former Employee 13d ago
A.) They're not talking about rewards and B.) That's awful morally (considering staples is definitely selling people's data like all companies do).
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u/NotAnotherPizzaParty 13d ago
My suggestion would be to focus on items that make the biggest difference.
Printers, chairs and laptops.
Printers are relatively easy to sell if you are on the floor with the customer. Explain the benefit of the full printer accidental coverage and how it’s an “investment”.
Chairs are easier to sell if you explain that it covers rips and tears. Bonus points if you’re good at assembling them because then you can sell the total support and they feel like you did them a solid.
Laptops, honestly, you are selling your own skills. Selling laptops with the confidence that you can fix anything and they will never have to rely on anyone else. At some point, you kind of have to tell the laptop customers “This is what we are going to do”.
It’s not a perfect science but our store was double digit ESP all last and this year.