Retail Marketing Group (RMG)’s Post

🌟 Team Member Spotlight: Makeda Escayg! 🌟 At Qurate Retail Group we believe that our success is driven by the amazing individuals who bring their skills, dedication and passion to our team. HSN is a part of Qurate Retail Group which comprises six leading retail brands – QVC, HSN, Ballard Designs, FRONTGATE, Garnet Hill and Grandin Road – all dedicated to providing a more human way to shop. Today we shine our spotlight on Makeda Escayg, Sales Strategy Manager. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲? I just celebrated my 11th work anniversary in July!   𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥? I bring product presentations to life and amplify HSN’s brand value across diverse media platforms through cross-functional teamwork, leadership, streamlined processes, creative skills, and vendor relationships within Sales Strategy. I’ve had other roles in my journey. For example, in 2016, I joined the Television Production Supervisor Team, overseeing 40+ technicians and earning the HSN Vision Award in 2017. I also became HSN's first Black female leader in the Television Production team. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐒𝐍? Quick answer? It’s a cool place to work! Most people are pretty impressed when I say I work at a national TV network where we get to provide solutions, educate and entertain all day.  HSN is also a cool place because my colleagues are supportive, every day is different, and the work my team and I do has a direct impact on the business. Not to mention our customer: We get her and she gets us. 😊 𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐇𝐒𝐍? There are too many favs! However, I wear Lamik Beauty Revelation Brow almost daily. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 #𝟏 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐚𝐭 𝐐𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩? Be a versatile Subject Matter Expert. Know the role and excel at it. However, one also has to be able to adapt to various functions and/or activities. Our company is ever-changing so the skills one possesses must be transferable. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭? Raising my 5-year-old son. Outside of that, being a first-generation college graduate on the Bachelor’s and Master’s level. 𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝? I really loved when my grandmother would make her stew chicken, callaloo, and baked mac n cheese for me when I came to visit her. 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝟓/𝟏𝟎/𝟐𝟎 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨? Not advice per se but I would have leaned on this scripture a lot more and a lot sooner. “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮? Loving, generous, and personable -- according to my beau. 😊

Lessons I learned from working 10+ years of retail: ➡️ Be knowable People connect with other people, not the sign on the front of the store. People came in either familiar with the brand or not, but it was up to us (the people working at the store) to share the store's brand story, animate the experience and most importantly, help the customers get what they needed/wanted. This is how you build relationships. Repeat customers knew a lot about the product and the brand, but now they wanted to know a little more about me—the person recommending the products, navigating the variables to find the perfect fit for my customer. Knowing more about me helped them trust and ultimately connect. These exchanges enriched my part-time job experience—it felt like the work I was doing was actually helping solve a problem, even if the problem was trying to find someone a great pair of jeans. TLDR: Talk to strangers, share the human experience with each other, even if it's just at the mall. Also finding a good pair of jeans is hard 👖 #Retail #TalkToPeople

We think that the most important relationship at work, is the one with your Manager. Having someone that gets you and can bring out the best in you plays such an important role not only in your overall career development but also in just how much you enjoy coming into work every day. And this is no different in retail. In fact, having great Store Managers means that you have the best chance of ensuring a great customer experience. Because as we know, happy teams = happy customers.

#hiring Regional Manager, San Jose, United States, fulltime #jobs #jobseekers #careers #SanJosejobs #Californiajobs #SalesMarketing Apply: https://lnkd.in/ge6C_hYx We'll need these details in order to be able to contact you. Personal Summary This section is optional. Use it to tell us a little more about yourself. 3. Questions References Please provide three professional references of your most recent supervisors and/ or retailer partner. Include their full names, your working relationship with them, and their contact details such as their phone numbers or emails. On a scale 1-5 what's your comfort level using technology applications? Select On a scale 1-5 what's your comfort level with Color Products? Select On a scale 1-5 what's your comfort level with Skin Products? Select On a scale 1-5 what's your comfort level with Hair Products? Select On a scale 1-5 what's your comfort level with Beauty Tools? Select On a scale 1-5 what's your comfort level with Fragrance? Select On a scale 1-5 how would you rate your training and education skills. On a scale 1-5 how would you rate your selling skills. On a scale 1-5 how would you rate your communication skills. What is your desired pay rate? On a scale of 1-5, rate your experience with Sephora. On a scale of 1-5, rate your experience with Ulta. On a scale of 1-5, rate your experience with Nordstrom. In order to contact you with future jobs that you may be interested in, we need to store your personal data.If you are happy for us to do so please click the checkbox below. Allow us to process your personal information.

As many know (and have even seen live in action… I’m looking at you Ellie Schroeder), I’m always selling, and ALWAYS recruiting. I’ve also always believed that great sales talent can come from anywhere! Take myself for example… from commercial driving to sales! As Ellie may remember, I’ve even recruited from a retail store we went to. (One of the first times we hung out in person, actually 🥲) Well, it happened again today - I was in an Ulta, I came in for some foundation before my vacation, and a woman came over to help me. Over our conversation, while building rapport, she’s upselling me on other products, asking me what else I may need. GREAT salesmanship. She even managed to get me to buy some mascara from Estée Lauder! I told her she was doing a great job, and that I was a salesperson too! (Like recognizes like 😉) - told her she should come work where I work! Turns out she’s spent much of her career in international business (Did I just find our next all-star international Account Executive?? We’ve got an amazing team here) We exchanged info, but regardless of what happens, the fact remains: GREAT SALES TALENT CAN COME FROM ANYWHERE! It also goes to show… ALWAYS be upselling and asking GREAT discovery questions! #Sales #AccountExecutives #Grit #StayCurious

One of my first student jobs was in retail at SEPHORA. Don't let the glitz and glam fool you (though it was fun!) – this is a hardcore sales job 🤑 Every shift started with a breakdown of our monthly, quarterly, and weekly goals. We got updates on how we were performing 📈 We had targets: items per basket, total items sold, upselling, cross-selling, product launches we were focusing on, and much more. I learned that sales isn't just about numbers. It's about understanding and guiding your customer. I became pretty good at: 🎯 Asking the right discovery questions and guiding people through the options available. People are experts in pain but not in solutions. 🎯 Identifying your champion and buyer! Teenage girls are great champions but the purchasing power lies on the parents, you need them both! 🎯 Disqualifying. Some people are just there to browse and that's okay. I'll prioritize customers that need me. 🎯 Understanding how trends affected sales. This was the rise of YouTube beauty gurus and to be good at my job, I had to know what they were recommended and WHY! While I never thought that working at Sephora would help me in my PMM career, I am glad it did. And I got loads of free makeup!

The modern trade promoter is more than just a promoter—they are the backbone of retail success, playing multiple roles as a merchandiser and sampler. Whether it's ensuring products are perfectly stocked or engaging customers with the latest offerings, these professionals drive brand visibility and success right on the store floor. #trademarketing #Promoters #BTL #FMCG #Merchandising #Loyaltyprogrammes #sampling

tl;dr: So long, and thanks for all the fish. Twenty-three years and 5 months ago, I began the journey that ended last Tuesday. At 21 years old, I applied to my first big-boy job at AT&T in a retail store, where Renford Markham and Troy Mamon gave me a chance after Renford asked me to sell him his pen (the first time I'd seen this technique). In July of the same year, AT&T Wireless (AWE) would split off and the company left behind all of the "old ways" that might hold a wireless carrier back. Most of us remember where we were on September 11, 2001, and I was off work, glued to my TV, while the nation learned that we needed a better communication system in case of emergencies, after no one could get a call in or out for the majority of the day (this is also when I got landline service that I keep to this day). I was able to use my nerdy knowledge of the internet to help get our store moved to a better location, which increased our sales by several times (in fairness, as it became more popular, it got to a point where everyone needed a phone, so that increase was probably inevitable). I made a great living in that role for 5 years, got to be an irresponsible kid with means for a little while before spending a commission and Profit Sharing (AWE fam, remember profit sharing?) check on an engagement ring. For timeline sake, this is around the time that AT&T and Bellsouth bought AT&T Wireless to incorporate it into Cingular Wireless (privately held). After being told that I wasn't ever going to be able to make it into management by an area manager, I proved him wrong and ended up being the one that they sent to other stores to cover when the manager was vacant. Eventually I got wrangled in to a program with Sales Operations where we were trying to get the sales reps to sell AT&T Unity (which coincided with Cingular going public and re-merging with AT&T (T, again) and embrace it. Scott Ford and Tom Burton lead the program, and it gave me a glimpse behind the curtain outside of direct sales. From that point on, I no longer saw my career path going up through the stores, to Area Manager and then Director of Sales, but up through Operations instead. Thanks to Brian Catania and Reed Good taking a chance on the guy who'd 'never be a manager', I was able to find a job in Sales Operations, in Compensation, where I was able to use my experience in the stores, both as a sales rep and as a manager who helped them sort through their commission problems, to try to solve commission and quota-setting problems before they started. Over the last 14 years, I've supported every sales channel (for at least a month), playing whack-a-mole with their weird issues, and learning far more than I ever thought I would, back when I was a kid. **If you weren't tagged in this post, please don't feel slighted, I've had LinkedIn for my whole adult life, so if you're seeing this, there's a very good chance I met you through AT&T, and that's way too many folks to tag in a post.**

"You won't get promoted dressing like that" A former district manager said this to me. They insisted employees wear suits and ties day every day, despite my clients coming to meetings in pajamas. I chose comfort over formality, dressing down as much as possible to appear more approachable. That regional manager wasn't *actually* wrong on the importance of how you dress. The problem was the overly corporate, suit and tie look hindered success. A suit might look professional, but it lacks the warmth of relatibility. And relatability is what resonates with customers — that's the heartbeat of your brand. So I didn't follow the strict dress code. The consequence? Despite being the top sales rep 3 quarters in a row, I didn't get promoted. Even when I directly requested the bump. It didn't matter that I drove the most revenue while maintaining superb customer satisfaction scores. I didn't "fall in line." So I got curved. Frustrated, I chose to leave within the year. I took a similar role at a competitor, and guess what? I got promoted 3 times in 2.5 years. They didn't care if I wore a tie every day. They cared about how I treated clients and what I brought to the company. They weren't stuck in a close-minded, legacy way of thinking. They were open to the idea of relating to your customers and employee comfort. The end result extended far beyond myself: Far less turnover. Far more promotions. Far better company culture. The best advice I can give any leader: be open-minded and adaptive. Sometimes, being flexible is the best thing you can do for your customers and employees — and thus, your company. By allowing people to shine. Just as they are. P.S. now I wear a backwards hat all day every day and no one I work with cares at all. Turns out, when you're valued for who you are, the small stuff like how you express yourself with clothes doesn't matter one bit ❤️