Excerpt from April 2010 Hardware Retailing article

“Last month, Hardware Retailing focused on helping retailers with project selling. By putting emphasis on selling entire projects versus item sales, retailers have welcomed increased traffic and transaction sizes. A great way to promote your store as a project destination is to become an expert on those projects. From instructions to helpful tips and tools, retailers will want to make sure their staff knows how to perform basic DIY projects.

K&B True Value in Annapolis, Md., does an exceptional job at promoting entire project sales while educating its customers on basic DIY projects. The store hosts how-to presentations in the store, video tapes them and uploads them to its Facebook page, so customers can refer to the instructions again at home. The store promotes the sale of the add-ons during the presentation and posts signage that indicates where in the store customers can pick up their products. Ease is key with this kind of presentation. Inviting guest experts can help expand topic coverage, but make sure to have your staff present some of the seminars as well so your customers develop trust in your staff and store.”