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Author: Phil Wrzesinski

Teach What You Can Teach Part 2

In a follow-up to yesterday’s post, today I taught two high school classes. They were Child Development classes and I taught about the importance of Play for child development and how to find the right toys (tools) for Play. I’ve now taught this class to high schoolers, new parents, mom’s groups, and even a grandparents group.

For thirteen years I taught expectant parents and grandparents how to choose baby products at a class we did right in the store.

I do another talk called The Family that Plays Together, Stays Together that highlights how play and fun and laughter make you healthier and happier and strengthen the bonds of your family.

That’s just three classes based on the knowledge I gained running my store.

I’m pretty sure a good shoe store owner could teach about the importance of posture and good walking habits.
I’m pretty sure a good jeweler could teach about how to care for precious stones or the best way to polish gold and silver and brass.
I’m pretty sure a good grocer (especially one who specializes in locally produced goods) could talk about GMO’s and artificial sweeteners.
I’m pretty sure a good clothing store owner could talk about current fashions and trends in the clothing industry.
I’m pretty sure a good craft store owner could teach how to make something out of next-to-nothing.
I’m pretty sure a good health food store owner could teach about the difference in quality of certain vitamins and supplements.
I’m pretty sure a good bike shop owner could teach how to change your inner tube on your bike and other simple maintenance.
I’m pretty sure a good furniture store could teach the proper way to fix mars and scratches in a wood surface or how to get stains out of upholstery.
I’m pretty sure a good appliance store owner could teach about how to save energy while using appliances.
I’m quite certain a good hardware store owner could teach how to use tools safely and properly.

You’re a great retailer. What can you teach?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS When you decide to teach, the next thing you need is an audience. I get some of my talks because I put it on my website. I get others because I put it on brochures in the store. I get the rest because I make it so much fun that people in those classes tell others about it. (Yeah, that thing we call word-of-mouth).

Teach What You Can Teach

Question number one: What can you teach?

Make a list right now. Jot it down on a napkin. Tell it to Siri. What topic(s) do you know enough about that you feel you could teach it to someone who knows nothing?

Write. Down. Everything.

I can teach…

  • How to tie a shoe
  • How to squash a bug with a tissue
  • How to giftwrap a package
  • How to calculate the area of a square
  • How to buy the right toy
  • How to…

Question number two: What are you teaching?

You’re qualified. Go ahead and teach. You don’t need some fancy degree. You don’t need someone’s approval. You don’t need permission from some authority. The only permission you need is from the student. You are an expert. You need to share that expertise with anyone who will listen.

Expertise garners trust. Trust builds relationships. Relationships create sales.

Go ahead and teach what you can teach. Teach it to your staff. Teach it to your customers. Teach what you can teach to anyone who wants to learn. Believe me, there are a lot of learners out there who would love to know what you know.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS About half the population of shoppers is looking for an expert they can trust. When you become that expert that your customers trust, you win their loyalty. Half the population. That’s a lot of people looking for you.

Brick and Mortar Retail is Alive and Kicking!

According to a report from EMarketer, retail sales last year were a whopping $4.53 Trillion. Yes, with a T!

E-commerce was $264 Billion of that. That’s 5.8%. Oh, and M-commerce – you know, those mobile apps that are the new hot thing you need to have that are going to eat the computer’s lunch? M-commerce was only 0.9% of the total.

E-commerce and M-commerce continue to grow. And $264 Billion is a lot of cabbage. But contrary to what you hear, brick and mortar retail is certainly not dead. Over 90% is still being spent on the ground.

What are you doing to capture your share of that market?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS I have heard from other sources that the e-commerce number is higher when you account for only goods and services that are bought in typical retail stores. I don’t know the methodology EMarketer uses to determine their numbers, whether home sales or gasoline is included in the overall sales total. Since they are a company that caters to the e-commerce crowd, however, I’m going with their number. Even so, if e-commerce is truly 10-12% of retail as some claim, that means 88% is still done on the ground.

The Sales Process Broken Down

This year I am leading my sales staff to water. Fortunately, they are not horses. They are drinking it up.

At our monthly team meeting I am breaking down the sales process into small, drinkable chunks.

In February we talked about Being Accessible. Customers don’t like to approach a crowd of employees, especially ones engaged in chatter. We talked about positioning, where to stand to be most approachable, how not to congregate. We walked around the store with a clipboard in hand. Customers would rather approach a sales associate who seems engaged in other activities, than one who seems poised to pounce. The goal for the staff was to practice being more accessible.

In March we Listened. Too many people listen, not to hear, but to find a moment to break into the conversation. We did activities centered around Listening skills including repeating back what the other person said. The staff separated into pairs and shared with each other their favorite reasons for working here. Then the other person had to repeat it back to them and present it to the group. (Note: this is also a great way to boost morale. I have twelve team members and each one had someone else tell the group why they like working here.) Our customers do not come in for a product so much as for a solution. If you don’t listen to the whole problem, you might sell them a product, but not the best solution. The goal for the month was to practice repeating back to the customer what she said.

Tomorrow we go inside Our Customer’s Mind. We’ll be exploring all the thoughts that may be going through a customer’s mind while she is in our store. Empathy is one of the strongest tools for creating long-term relationships. The purpose is to get an understanding of where she is so that we can relate to her on her terms. Each customer is unique and is coming from a unique point of view. Knowing this helps my staff understand the importance of Listening even more, and helps them fashion better questions. Our goal will be to empathize more with our customers and continue improving our listening (and questioning) skills.

I’m already working on May (Suggestive Selling) and June (Closing the Sale), too.

Too many companies look at training as a One-and-Done thing. Train the new person. Send them out. They’re good to go. I think we have to constantly be training. We have to constantly be trying to learn and improve. And we don’t have to be in a hurry. One step at at time.

Roy H. Williams once told me that what successful individuals and companies have in common is a long horizon. They look well beyond this week, month or even year. Not only am I planning out the training for this year, I’m already formulating my thoughts for next year’s theme.

If you’re in this for the long run, you need to make sure you’re planning out your training for the long run, too.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Send me an email and I’d be happy to share the activities we are doing to get these lessons across. If you want to plan your own meetings, I suggest you read Staff Meetings Everyone Wants to Attend (free download) and use the Staff Meetings Worksheet.

Grow Your Business by Excluding, Not Including

“Without a doubt, networks yearn to be bigger and more inclusive. The challenge is to do that without losing what made them work.”   -Seth Godin (read the whole post here)

 As I was reading that statement from Seth, all I could think about was how this is probably the biggest mistake “networks” make – trying to be bigger and more inclusive at the same time. This may sound counter-intuitive, but one of the best ways to become bigger is to be less inclusive.

 What??

 Yes, be more exclusive. Exclude those people who don’t want something special, who only want to dicker and deal for a super low price. Treat your remaining customers as if they were your only customers. Treat them with the kind of special services you would give only to a select few. Treat them as though they were a celebrity, even royalty.

 What does that look like? It might mean offering exclusive appointments. It might mean extending your hours for special sessions. It might mean hiring an extra sales person and training him or her in the art of royal treatment. It might mean having food and drinks available. It might mean a concierge service, a coat check, valet parking, white glove delivery. It might mean doing different things, unique things, stuff that no one else in your category does or would even do. It might mean treating each and every customer uniquely, in the way she wants to be treated. It definitely means doing things that make your customers say, “WOW!”

 When you try to be more inclusive, you dumb it down and end up delighting no one. When you try to be more exclusive, you delight your customers to the point that they spend more and bring their friends back. 

 When you understand that, you’ll grow bigger. Just remember the last part of Seth’s quote – grow bigger without losing what got you there in the first place.

 -Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

 PS Can’t figure out what to do to be special? Start with this question… What would be the most crazy, over-the-top thing you could do to WOW your customer? Go there first and then dial it back until you get to something you think you can accomplish consistently that is above and beyond what she expected.

Doing Business When Your Street is Closed

Winter is finally giving way to that other season – Construction. Orange cones are popping up everywhere.

And shortly after that, if you’re a downtown business, you’ll probably be facing Festival Season – that time of year when the city shuts down the street for a car cruise or an art fair or some other event.

Either way, at one point or another, if you have a Main Street business, your business is going to have to deal with a street closure. How you deal with that will be critical to your success. Here are some suggestions for keeping the till humming while the streets are closed.

CONSTRUCTION

This is usually a long-haul situation and requires some smart strategy. The key is communication.

  • Communicate with your fan base the best ways to approach the store and the best places to park.
  • Communicate what is happening with the construction. Give blow-by-blow accounts and updates.
  • Have fun with the construction. Post trivial facts, goofy pictures, interesting finds. Get your fans to post their own pictures. Play guessing games – take close-ups or partial pictures and have them guess what machine it is. Turn it into a focal point that might make people want to stop by and gawk.
  • Set up a shuttle (you can partner with other businesses affected by the closure) to help get your customers in to see you.
  • Offer delivery services for the time the construction is taking place.
  • Expand your hours so that you are open at times when less work and disruption is taking place.
  • Roll out a red carpet – yes an actual red carpet – to get people over muddy, dirty, disrupted areas.

Don’t just assume business as usual. Plan for a small fall off, but be proactive in your approach to make it as convenient and fun as possible for your customers to do business with you.

FESTIVALS

Street closures for festivals are a different beast and require different tactics. First, they are usually short-term events that take place during your typically busiest times – Friday nights and Saturdays. Second, they draw a lot of people, but not necessarily your regular customers, and not necessarily anyone who wants to shop with you. At the same time, they disrupt your regular customers and keep those people away.

Therein lies the key. The people on the street are not your regular customers. What would you do differently to try to turn these people into your regular customers? The first goal is to get them off the street and into the store.

  • If you sell jewelry, put out a sandwich board and offer “Free Ring Cleanings”. Get those customers in the store looking at the shiny, bright, glittery stuff in your cases while they wait for your polishers to make their rings sparkle. 
  • If you sell clothing, put some racks on the street of your unique offerings that will entice someone to stop on by.
  • If you sell candles, get that aroma wafting out your door and onto the street. You’ll attract attention in no time.
  • If you sell baked goods set up a fan inside the door so that chocolate chip cookie scent reaches the end of the block.
  • If you sell shoes, put out a sign showing how to check your own shoes for wear and tear. Have a sizing specialist standing out front to engage the folks on the street. Offer a free shoe-polishing stand.

No matter what you sell, there is something you can do to engage with the festival goers and either get them in the door today or at some point down the road. You just have to be creative and proactive. Open the doors, put out a banner and make sure people know you are open for business. Do something in conjunction with the theme of the festival. Sign them up to your mailing lists, your birthday clubs, and any other program you offer. Use this opportunity to farm for new customers. There are a ton out there. Most of all be ENGAGING. Have fun with the event.

Street Closures are a reality. How you deal with them will have a direct impact on your bottom line. You can wallow in misery complaining about the lost business or you can let your creative juices flow and look at them as an opportunity to do things differently.

You know which one will pay off in the long run.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS I knew of a hair salon that was half a block off the beaten path of a major festival in her town. Rather than lament the street closures combined with no foot traffic at the front door, she had her staff on the street handing out coupons for free ice cream cones inside her salon. For the cost of some ice cream she was able to get a ton of traffic that always resulted in new clients and new appointments.

PPS Also remember that those festivals do serve a purpose. First they make your downtown seem more active and vibrant. That message sticks with people throughout the year. Second, they attract people to downtown that might not go otherwise. Fear of the unknown keeps people from shopping in new locations. Third, they often serve to raise funds for charities and non-profits, the same ones that would be hitting you up double if not for the events. Embrace them and enjoy them and make them work to your advantage.

Be the Best at One Thing

Quick, name the second place person in the MVP balloting. Any sport. Bet you can’t unless it was your favorite player who got snubbed.

When they give out the awards at the end of a sports season, the big winners are always the leader in at least one category. In fact, the short list of potential MVP’s always starts with the leader in each category.

Being pretty good in everything doesn’t get the same attention as being the best in one thing. It applies in sports and it applies in retail.

If you want attention for your business, you have to be the runaway category leader in one category. You have to be so far out in front that your competitors have already resigned themselves to a fight for second place. You have to be not the first but the only company that comes to mind in that category.

When you do that, you will get all the attention you desire deserve.

How do you figure out which category you should own?

  1. Make a list of everything you do better than your competition.
  2. For everything on that list, write down all the competitors who at least try to own that category.
  3. Figure out which category has the least amount of competition. (In other words, the one you own the most)
  4. Figure out how to do it even better than you already do. (In other words, widen the gap).

Spend all your time and energy growing your lead. You’ll win all the awards (customers) you deserve desire.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS After you focus on your best trait, shore up your worst trait – the one that drives customers away. But always, always, always in that order. Best first. Worst second. No one remembers second place or an average business.

Listening Your Way to Better Sales

“The fool speaks, the wise [business]man listens.” -African Proverb

Here is one tip to increase your business this year. Are you listening?

Be a better listener.

What your customer is saying is extremely important. Over-the-top important. It is the center of her universe and the whole reason she is in your store trying to give you money.

But she won’t give you that money if she doesn’t think you’re listening.

Be a better listener.

“It is better to listen in order to understand than to listen in order to reply.” -Anonymous

Here is a simple little game that I did with my staff to help them focus on listening…

Have your staff pair up in twos. Have the first person tell the second person what he or she likes most about working for your store. The person listening must repeat back what the first person said. If the second person gets it right, then the second person can share what he or she likes most about working for your store with the first person repeating it back. Then each pair must stand and tell the entire group why the other person likes working here so much.

The repeating it back is the key. To be able to do that, you have to listen to understand, not simply listen to reply. The goal for each staff member is to repeat back every question or important comment the customer makes this month. The more they do it, the more they get into the habit of doing it.

Repeating back to the customer what she just said might seem annoying, but it actually serves three distinct purposes.

  • It helps to clarify the customer’s concerns and make sure you got it right.
  • It gives you an extra moment to think about your response
  • It helps the customer trust that you are paying attention, are in the moment, and have her best interests at heart.

It is a simple acknowledgment that goes a long way in building the long-term relationship you want with your customers. Now, repeat this all back to me. (Paraphrase if you’d like. That is perfectly acceptable.)

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS There is another benefit to the training I did with my staff. I had each staff member verbalize why they like working for me. Then it was verbalized two more times, reinforcing it even more. Plus, by verbalizing it to the entire group, everyone got reinforcement for why this is such a great place to work. Oh, and if someone cannot come up with a good reason for why they like working with you – fire them!

Setting Yourself Apart From the Pack

I read a fascinating book called Built to Sell by John Warrillow. The book is a business parable about a guy who owns an advertising agency and wants to sell it. His mentor shows him how to transform his business to make it salable.

Most retailers would dismiss the book because on the surface it doesn’t seem to apply. The first step is to limit your focus to only that which you do better and more profitable than anyone else so that you can create a turnkey operation. That doesn’t translate well to indie retail.

But there is a lesson hid inside there that we all can use.

Maybe you cannot change your product mix to become the leader of the pack, but you certainly can change your services. In fact, you can change them so radically that you become a category of one (another good business book worth reading).

Simply decide which customer subset you want to cater to, and then cater to them at the exclusion of all others.

Roy H. Williams calls this “choose who to lose”.

For instance, you could decide you only want to cater to the uber-rich. You’ll probably want to change some of your product, but to truly capture that customer you’ll have to totally change your services. Hours by appointment only. Red carpet ready and waiting to be rolled. Soft sofas and chairs for seating. Food and drinks served. A personal shopper to bring the items to the customer. Private showings for her and her friends at her penthouse.

Or you might be a toy store that caters to the daddy crowd. That might mean beer and pizza and big-screen TV’s, pre-wrapped gifts, diaper changing service, plenty of activities to keep the kids occupied until the game is over.

Do something like that and instead of the kids clamoring to go to the toy store, dad will be suggesting it during breakfast.

While it is getting more and more difficult to separate yourself just on the products you carry, this age of self-serve checkouts leaves you a ton of room to separate yourself from the pack by the services you offer.

Who are you willing to lose to win the heart (and pocketbook) of someone else?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS We started with the bargain hunter. I don’t match prices or run coupons or special deals just to entice people in the door. Yes, we have a clearance sale to move out the dogs, but that’s it. We instead focus on customers looking for trust. There are plenty of them out there.

My Three Biggest Facebook Posts This Year

This year I have had three totally different Facebook Posts that stood out among the rest.

The first was this…

Can you all help me out? 

I need to hype up our JUST FOR FUN SALE that starts this Thursday 9:30am to 6pm.

Hundreds of great toys, hobby and baby products at deep discounts including LEGO and Playmobil, including ride-on toys and summer toys, including board games and puzzles, including dolls, including tons of arts & crafts, including bedding and feeding accessories, including a whole lot more.

Please hit the Share button and help me spread the word.

Thanks! You are the best fans ever!!

That post had a reach of 7,316 people (yet we only have 2890 fans). I got 179 Shares from that post. I had engaged enough with my fans that when I asked a favor of them, they responded in a big way! They responded because I had built up trust. I can’t go to this well too often or I’ll lose that trust and they’ll run away.

The second was this one…

We have a whole bunch of pallets from the many great shipments we have received this winter. Anyone want them? (please?)

There was also a picture of the pallets. Within 17 hours the pallets were gone. Total reach 4,136, including 48 shares. (My dad would say this just goes to show that any fool can give it away.) 

The third was this…

A crib mattress shouldn’t do this.

You shouldn’t be able to fold it in half with one hand while you take a picture of it with the other.

Your baby needs a firm flat surface for sleeping for a number of reasons… skeletal growth, proper breathing, protection from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), etc. The more firm, the better.

Don’t take my word for it. The American Academy of Pediatrics says it, too. So does every other organization interested in the health of your child (The Danny Foundation, First Candle, SIDS Alliance, et al)

Firm mattresses don’t fold in half as easily as this one did. 

When you go shopping for your nursery, there are three things you don’t want to skimp on – the crib, the mattress and the car seat. 

We won’t let you get a mattress that won’t be safe for your child. Apparently other stores don’t feel the same way as we do.

There was a picture of a crib mattress being folded in half with one hand. This reached 3,518 people including 28 shares. There was an emotional edge to the post. Baby safety is a hot topic right now. Hit the right emotional topics and you’ll see a lot of interaction and engagement.

Note than they all had a different style. They all also reached way more than 100%. One was asking for help. One was giving something away. One was sharing information.

The point to take away from this is that variety is the spice of life. Mix up your posts. Don’t make them all the same. Try new things and measure the results. When you find something that works, use it, but not too often.  Engage, engage, engage. Give your fans something shareworthy, regardless of whether it is about selling your store or your products.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS There are easy ways to “beat” the Facebook Algorithm. My FB posts for Toy House regularly reach 50% or more of our fan base. Click here to find out why.