Towards the end of last year Retail Newsagent published letters from a couple of Lottery retailers who were concerned by the installation of new Lottery terminals near to them. With 8000 new terminals being installed and 6000 being promised to independent stores Camelot’s retailers were going to get closer to each other.

My store has selling the lottery for years and we have got used to having lots other terminals trading in our catchment area. In fact there are 11 others within a mile of my front door. This has led us to adopt Camelot’s best practice for retailers. This includes training my team to talk to our customers about the lottery products particularly bring rollovers and promotional draws to their attention. On scratch cards we always have a full display laid out as per Camelot’s planogramme. I regularly talk to my staff about new games so that they a confident with customers about their differences.

The key reason for the National Lottery is to raise funds for the Good Causes and I am delighted with the fact that we have helped to raise nearly £900,000 by selling the Lottery in our store. As you can see from the photograph I tell my customers about their generosity and I know that the Good Causes money does come back as over 2500 groups have benefited from grants in South Lanarkshire 

But the key reason why players enter is the chance to win so each month we let customers know that we are regularly paying out prizes by displaying a notice each month of how much we have paid out.

With the recent announcement about the increase in entry cost for Lotto in the Autumn I have mad sure that my staff know about the changes in the prize distribution that will happen at the same time. This will enable them to talk confidently about the increase and ensure that our sales remain buoyant.

My guide to selling the National Lottery

• Train your staff well on:
• Never Selling to an Under Sixteen Year Old.
• The social responsibilities of selling a gambolling product.
• Talk to them regularly about the different lottery products and promotions.
• Always have a full Scratch Card display as per Camelot’s planogram.
• Always use the current promotional material.
• Always have a well stocked playstation.
• Regularly check that you have enough Lottery play slips and ticket rolls to meet demand.
• Listen to what your Camelot representative tells you and follow their guidance to maximise your sales potential.