He instilled the basics in seasoned players repetitively, just as a CEO must drill his or her staff on the basics tirelessly. Traffic counts, close ratios, and achieved markup are like a football coach's films of the game. They provide benchmarks to measure performance. Suppose, for example, your ad pulled traffic and people were looking and walking. Generally, this means that people did not see what they expected to see.
Perception is everything.
The perception may have been that the prices were too high, or the selection was not so great, or there was not a selling atmosphere. This does not mean you have to give away the store to have a successful promotion. This is especially true with a negotiated floor. When sales people have the option of cutting prices, they often loose the art of enhancing the value of merchandise to achieve an equally effective perception of value. Remember, perception is everything.