This is the fifth of 10 articles to help you increase your retail or restaurant sales or profits by 25%. These ideas are in no particular order.

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Tip #5 Pay Commission or Not.

This tip is a little tricky, but very important.

Personally, I believe that all members of your retail staff (or wait staff in a restaurant) should receive some type of commission...or maybe not. Read on and come to your own conclusions.

Let's look at some extreme examples.

The sales staff at Circuit City relied heavily on their commissions. They couldn't care in the least what they were selling you. The sole motivation of the Circuit City staff was to sell you something and make the commission. They couldn't care if the item met your needs or not. Buy this RGB TV. It is the best TV you can buy. It's only $995 and it is just as good as the $3,000 Sony LCD. You really don't need all those colors. The RGB  comes with three colors. No one ever uses the other colors. It's 30 Hz. You don't need anything faster unless you are playing video games. On and on. The Circuit City people were trained to push, talk and sell anything using as much misinformation as possible. As you know, Circuit City  closed its doors and went bankrupt.

(Systemax Inc. purchased certain assets from Circuit City including its name. The above paragraph relates to the pre-Systemax Circuit City.)

Best Buy, was Circuit City's biggest rival. Best Buy pays its employees a straight salary. No commission. We all know that Best Buy has survived and is flourishing.

Best Buy and Staples have one thing in common. They do not pay commissions to their employees. Employees receive an hourly rate and have no reason to talk you into making a purchase that you don't need or shouldn't buy. What makes these two organizations successful is their training program. All employees are trained to be nice, helpful, knowledgeable, and patient.

I am sure that you can go into a Best Buy or Staples and find some poor employees. I am also sure that the percentage of good employees at Best Buy or Staples is significantly higher than the percentage of good employees that you could have found in Circuit City or many other retailers you may frequent.

How do you get better employees? Here's a homework assignment. Whenever you go into any retail store or food establishment, notice the employees. Do they recognize you? Are they friendly? Do they smile? Do they look happy to talk to you? Are they helpful when you ask a question?

Notice the difference between those retailers and food establishments that you enjoy going into and those who you believe are crude and would prefer to avoid.

Now let's look at the typical auto dealership. Many, or perhaps most dealerships pay 100% of their wages based on commissions. You sell. You make money. You don't sell, you are gone. How many people enjoy shopping for a car?

The best auto dealerships are less pushy. You will find sales people that have been around for many years who are more knowledgeable and understanding than the "pushy types."

Some business owners believe that giving employees a commission leads to poor customer service and a poor shopping experience. I believe that it is not the commissions that lead to the poor shopping experience, it's the management.

I believe that as the owner or manager of a retail store or restaurant, you are responsible for training your sales people to give your customers the best experience possible. Many times, you only get one chance. The first time a customer walks into your retail store or restaurant may be the last time that customer walks into the store. Your employees need to understand the importance of every customer to the continued success of the business. You need to train your employees to value every customer and treat each customer as they would treat their closest relative or friend (assuming that they treat their closest relatives and friends well...but you get the idea).

It doesn't matter if your employees receive a commission or not. If they receive a commission, it is up to the business owner or manager to train employees to treat every customer in the best possible manner so that the customer has an excellent experience within your business. If your employees don't receive commissions, they also need to treat every customer in the best possible manner.

Are commissions a good thing? I believe that offering your sales people a commission is a good thing. Perhaps it should be 10% of your employees total remuneration (or perhaps more). Commissions give your employees some instant monetary feedback, some extra goals, and some additional motivation. What is important is that as the boss, manager or owner, you need to train your employees to value each and every customer that walks into your store (commission or no commission).

Although Best Buy does not pay commissions, it does rate it's employees. Those sales people who are most knowledgeable and most helpful to their customers tend to sell more and receive higher and faster raises.

Read more about commissions and how to train your staff in On the Floor Journal at:

http://email.tailorednews.com/TMsubscribe.net/ViewOnline.aspx?u=GqPtLJ3Ft6Fk&l=326628

Internet Explorer's market share has now dipped below 60% (according to Net Applications).

Internet Explorer is the browser that most of you use to access the internet. In 2005, more than 90% of all internet users browsed the internet with Internet Explorer. Now, it's down to under 60%.

About 25% of computer owners use Firefox. That's my preferred browser. It runs faster.

6.73% of computer owners use Google Chrome.

Google Chrome seems to be picking up users because it is the faster internet browser.

The Google people are definitely going after Microsoft. Most computers come with Microsoft Windows installed which includes Microsoft's Internet Explorer. It's pretty significant that even though 100% of computer buyers (who purchase a computer with Microsoft Windows) have Internet Explorer installed by default despite the huge Microsoft advantage, 32% of users are switching to either Firefox or Google Chrome.

In the next several years, it is likely that you will be purchasing a computer that comes with Google Chrome instead of Microsoft Windows. People are already flocking to Google's Android operating system available on cell phones such as the HTC Droid Incredible. Many reviewers believe that the new HTC Droid Incredible may actually be superior to the IPhone.

There's a lot of competition coming to Microsoft from Google. I believe that those of you who are currently using Cash Register Express or Restaurant Pro Express (or other competitive software) will be using a computer supplied with the Google Android Operating System (instead of Microsoft Windows). The software and data that you use will be stored in the clouds (on someone else's server instead of the hard drive on your local computer).

To see the latest browser statistics, go to:

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0

To learn more about what the browser wars may mean to  you, go to the BBC article at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10095730.stm