Home » Archives for Phil Wrzesinski » Page 15

Author: Phil Wrzesinski

More Than a Fair Exchange of Value

You all know I follow a bunch of blogs. You’ve probably read a blog or two on my blog roll. I read them because they challenge me. They challenge my thoughts on retail. They challenge what I think I know. A few minutes ago, I read this on a blog about Customer Loyalty.

5) Deliver a “fair exchange of value”. Too often retailers want to create “delighted” customers. Many retailers spend far too large a percentage of their revenue trying to create “delighted” customers. The reality is that customers want a fair exchange of value and rarely expect a retailer to delight them. Give them a good value, provide a comfortable and efficient shopping experience, work with them through any issues, solve their problems, and they’ll become not just loyal, but committed.

Can I agree to disagree?

Yes, customers expect a fair exchange of value. I grant that. But a fair exchange of value is the minimum. It is the bar. You have to do that just to keep them from flaming you on Facebook or Yelp. Do anything less than a fair exchange of value and you’re screwed. It is the lowest level of entry into the game.

Customers expect a fair exchange of value from frickin’ Wal-Mart!

If all you give them is a fair exchange of value, then you’re no better than Wal-Mart. And in today’s retail environment, that is not good enough. It might get you a thanks, but it won’t win you loyalty.

After you give them a fair exchange of value, you have to delight them. You have to make them say WOW! You have to make them think of you not as a store, but as their new bestie. You have to delight them to the point they cannot wait to tell their friends, tell their co-workers, tell their family.

Loyalty doesn’t come from a discount or cash back. You aren’t loyal to your friends or family because of the financial kickbacks. You’re loyal because of your shared values. You’re loyal because your friends and family have your back. You’re loyal because at the end of the day, you know those people care.

If you want loyalty from your customers, you better first give them a fair exchange of value. Then you better have their backs, you better share their values, and you better care.

My own personal belief is that too often retailers don’t do anywhere near enough to delight their customers. Yet that is where the loyalty is hiding.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS This doesn’t mean I’ll stop reading that blog. There is always something to learn. The true key phrase in that passage above is, “Customers… rarely expect a retailer to delight them.” Just think how much you will stand out in the crowd when you’re the exception to that rule.

Three More Ways to Freshen Up Your Store

I gave you four inexpensive ways to make your store look fresh.

Here are three more things you can do that might cost a little more, but will definitely freshen up the place.

  • Do a Wholesale Change of Fixtures. Move them around. Change the directions. Change the locations. Keep in mind things like sight lines, traffic patterns, and where you want to lead your customers, but nothing does more to freshen up the joint than to do a wholesale change of the merchandise.
  • Put Posters on the wall. Hang them from the ceiling, too. Put up fun posters with cute pictures of your products in use. Put up adorable pictures with interesting quotes. Put up informational posters that talk about your philosophies, how to shop your products, or how to make smarter choices. Guys like to read posters (better than having to talk to an actual person). Introverts like to read posters, too. New signage always brightens up the place.
  • Add a new Design Element that gets people talking. Add in something fun and unexpected. Put in a stage for performers. Build a tree right in the middle of your store – complete with bark and branches (and decorate it for Christmas when the time comes). Build a mountain out of plaster and paper mache and use it as the focal point of a display. Put in a fountain. Add a disco ball to the bathroom. Put a picnic area, table and all, right outside the front door. Put up a directional mileposts pole (North Pole 3,303 miles). Not only will your store be fresh and hip and cool. People will be talking about you.

Later this week we will have these Before I Die… chalkboards up on the side of our building.

Yeah, people will be talking about us. That’s the first half of the battle. You know what the second half is.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Along with the Before I Die project, we’re doing three of those other things listed above. My resident artist is working on our directional milepost pole with 46 real and fictional locales (“Where the Wild Things Are” is my favorite!). More posters are going up on the wall soon. And I am heading to the lumber yard tomorrow to buy the wood for our stage. What are you doing to make your store fresh and exciting?

Four (Cheap) Ways to Make Your Store Look Fresh

When was the last time you changed things up? Is everything where it was last year? Even if the products have changed, if you haven’t moved the categories around since last year, your store looks soooo 2012.

Yet, in a store like mine, where we have huge sections and categories, just changing the merchandising around can seem a daunting task.

Here are four simple and inexpensive things you can do that will make your store look fresh, new and exciting.

  1. Paint a Wall. Not the whole store, just one wall. Paint it a wild and fun color. Something that ties into the merchandising of that area. A gallon or two of paint and a Sunday afternoon is all it takes to brighten up the place.
  2. Put a Planter with fresh flowers out front. Fresh flowers equals fresh store. You can even talk to a local florist or nursery about having them supply the planter and flowers in exchange for putting “Flowers by _______” on the planter.
  3. Put a Table Cloth on your main display. Not only does it change the look and feel, while also covering up the cracks and scratches, it highlights the product on that display and raises their Perceived Worth.
  4. Refresh the Signage. Take down every paper sign in your store and reprint them from your computer. (The investment in a good color printer pays for itself on this one). 

People want to shop where the buzz is. People want to shop where it feels like things are happening. If your store looks like last year, you won’t get that buzz. You’re already buying new products. Might as well send a few more signals out that your store is fresh and exciting. You’ll probably get some Word-of-Mouth, too, so consider anything you spend as an advertising expense.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS I have some other ideas I will share later, but they cost just a bit more.

When to Speed Up, When to Slow Down

One speed does not fit all in the retail world. Some shopping trips are quick hitters, kinda like guerrilla warfare – get in, get out, move on. Some are slow, easy strolls. A time for browsing, a time for gabbing, a time for pondering (a time for grabbing?).

And even within a single shopping trip there are multiple speeds. Getting to know your customer and build rapport takes time and shouldn’t ever be rushed. Getting the customer checked out and back in her car, however, requires a sense of purpose if not urgency.

Here are some reminders…

SLOW DOWN
The getting-to-know-you phase. Don’t pepper them with so many questions that they feel under attack. Let the relationship grow as naturally as possible so that they’ll feel more comfortable with you.

The product selection phase. Give them time to study during the decision-making process. Some people can make quick decisions, but many others need that extra moment to filter all the information. Go too fast here and you’ll seem pushy.

The close. This seems counter-intuitive, but the reality is that there is so much training on closing the sale that most sales people are in a hurry to get that sale closed. In the process, however, you miss ample opportunities to continue serving the customer and growing the sale. Use the phrase Is there anything else I can do for you? liberally. Make sure the customer has everything she needs before you close the sale.

SPEED UP
The checkout. Once the customer is here, her only thought is to get out the door and on to the next event. Accuracy trumps speed at the checkout. But speed shows competency. To truly build trust, you need to be both accurate and efficient. Look at your procedures and see what you can do to quicken the process without hurting the accuracy.

The follow-up. If you do follow-up calls on purchases, call sooner, not later. If they have a problem, they will usually know right away and your promptness makes you look eager to solve the problem. If the customer asks a question or has a problem that requires follow-up, respond quickly – even if the response is “We’ve contacted so-and-so and are waiting for a response.”

Ask your frontline staff about the speed of the customer. Where is browsing and strolling encouraged? Where is it limited? What part of the checkout makes customers seem impatient? Where are we too fast? Where are we too slow? You’ll get valuable feedback and you’ll get your staff to become more aware of their own speeds in the process.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS When you meet with the staff, share the idea of the different speeds of the customer with them, but really listen when they start giving you feedback on what is too fast or too slow. Let them help devise the plan to slow down and speed up as necessary. If they create the plan, you’ll have their instant buy-in.

Leading from the Conductor’s Podium

The conductor of a symphony orchestra has the best seat in the house. All the music is focused right at him. From the podium he hears and sees everything that is going on. He sees things in the back row of brass that the violinists in the front row can’t. He hears things from the clarinetists that the timpani players can’t. He gets all the information from the podium.

That information is what he uses to guide his orchestra to create a beautiful sound.

The leader of a team has the best seat on the team. He gets all the feedback from all the different members of the team. He gets all the different perspectives and is able to plot them against the big picture. From his position of leadership he sees and hears things that the individual members of the team cannot always see and hear.

That information is what he uses to guide his team to achieve more.

But what about the view from the other side?

The podium, while offering a clear view, also puts the conductor in a position of power. Everything he says or does is amplified. Every word, movement, gesture is larger than life. Conductors who use grandiose gestures and sweeping movements are fun to watch. But they take the focus off the music and put it on themselves. They use their power to control. The musicians soon learn that it it is not about them, but about the conductor.

An experienced conductor, however, knows that the true power of an orchestra comes from the musicians, not from him. He uses his movements sparingly, knowing the podium amplifies everything he does. It doesn’t take much movement of the wrist to move the baton. His job is to put the focus on the orchestra, to direct their power.

The leader of a team needs to realize that his leadership is like a podium. Every word and action is amplified. He can go yelling and screaming and put all the focus on him, or he can use subtle movements that put the focus on the team and direct their power.

The podium is the best seat in the house. But you better know how to handle it.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Every word is amplified, too. Choose your words carefully, constructively. Your team is looking to you for direction. They will follow what they see and hear you do, including those casual, flippant remarks you thought were harmless. Read this from Bob Phibbs to see more of what I mean.

Storytelling 101

“Tell more stories!” they shouted at you. “Stories sell!” they exclaimed. “It’s the best way to market yourself!” they bellowed. After the ringing in your ears faded, you said, “Okay, I have stories to tell.” You start telling them. But deep in the back of your mind, where you let few people enter, you’re wondering. Are my stories interesting? Are people even listening?

Seth Godin said it best today when he wrote, “Here’s how to know if you’re on the right track: if you stop a story in the middle, the audience will insist you finish it.”

Yes, your stories are interesting, but you might not be telling them right. How do you become a storyteller that has people on the edge of their seat waiting for the next line?

Jeff Sexton knows. He writes the best blogs about storytelling in an advertising sense that I’ve ever found. You could spend a day or two reading his past posts and learn more than you ever would on a college campus.

Roy H. Williams, is the master, well, um, the Wizard. He was nicknamed the Wizard of Ads and it stuck because it is true. His Wizard of Ads trilogy of books is to this day the most fascinating series of books I’ve ever read.

Here are some basics I’ve learned from these masters.

Start with something interesting. You need to hook the listener right away. You can fill in the background later (if at all).
Choose what to leave out. Details slow down the delivery and distract from the story. Cut out all the descriptions that aren’t absolutely necessary (which is like 95% of them).
Leave in the verbs. Stories need action. Action is excitement. Action makes people want to see what happens next.
Surprise me. If I already know how the story ends before I get to the second line, I’m outta here!
Tie the ending to the beginning. People want resolution to their stories. If you hooked me with an interesting opening, I want to know why that is important at the end.

Your writing is influenced by your reading. Read great books by great storytellers. Look for these clues in their writing. Mimic it in your own. Write. Write some more. Test it on your friends. Stop in mid-story and see what happens. Test again with new openings and new verbs. Write some more. Tell some more.

Soon your audience will be demanding you finish.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Some of my most powerful ads have been stories like these…

She almost fell out of the pew.  Her pastor actually called Toy House the Promised Land for kids.  Right there in front of a packed church.  The lady on her left leaned over and said, “You work there, don’t you?”  She nodded.  The lady leaned in again, “I love that place.” She couldn’t help but smile.  “Me too,” she whispered back.  It’s the promised land for kids and adults.  Just ask the lady sitting on your left.  Toy House and Baby Too is an impact partner of Home.fm.  We love to see you smile.

What is your earliest Christmas memory?  Mine was grandma and grandpa sitting on a bench handing my sister and me our gifts.  I was only three, but I tore open that package with the speed of a six-year-old.  A towel, a white, Raggedy Ann towel.  I smiled a big smile, unfolded my towel and plopped down.  I couldn’t figure out why my sister was crying.  After all, she got Raggedy Andy and he’s way cooler.  Merry Christmas from the Toy House in downtown Jackson.  We’re here to make you smile

Christmas Eve, nineteen sixty-five.  He didn’t know if he would make it.  Nine months of active duty, he missed his family.  And he was an uncle now.  His sister had a baby girl, a precious little child for which a stuffed animal from an airport gift shop just wouldn’t do.  When his dad picked him up in the family sedan, he asked, “We got time to stop by the Toy House?”  “Of course, son.  Welcome home.”  Merry Christmas from the Toy House in downtown Jackson, an impact partner of Home.fm. We love to see you smile.

Motivating Your Employees

This Friday I am doing a talk here in Jackson on motivating your employees. The talk is part of the Small Business Summit put on by OSB Community Bank and takes place at the Grand River Marketplace from 11:30am to 2pm. (Warning: the content of this presentation will make lesser minds explode).

You’re invited.

I am debating whether to put together another Freebie for you. I can certainly write up what I am going to say. My hesitation is that it will end up mostly being a book review. Well, two book reviews.

Much of my leadership style and much of how I motivate my team come from two books.

Drive by Daniel H. Pink
Maestro by Roger Nierenberg

Would you like to learn how to motivate your staff to their highest level of achievement and creativity? Read Drive.

Would you like to learn how to lead a team of high-achieving creatives? Read Maestro.

Would you like me to summarize my thoughts on the two books including how I use their approaches in real life in a new Freebie later this fall? Leave me a comment below (or on Facebook or Google+ or by email).

Hope to see you Friday.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Would you like me to give this presentation to your group? Send me an email. This presentation will knock the argyles right out of those wingtips.

Emotional Responses

“The mind uses logic to justify what the heart has already decided.” -Roy H. Williams

The best way to get into the customer’s mind is through her heart. Tell stories. Share values. Speak to the emotions.

On the flip side, however, the best way to hold yourself back is to make business decisions based purely on emotions.

As independent retailers, we’ve all faced this dilemma. The product that a new manufacturer promised us would never be in the mass market was just spotted on the shelf at your local Target store. You’re mad. You just placed a $1000 order and now the product line is no longer “special”. Or you happened to get an email from a flash sale site showing one of your favorite products on sale for what you paid for it.

Your first instinct is to flame the manufacturer on the discussion boards, cancel orders, deep-discount your on-hand inventory and vow to never carry that line again.

Stop. Wait. Take a deep breath. You’re making an emotional response.

Before you make any decisions, do a little fact-checking. Are you still selling the product at the retail and turn-ratio that works for your store? Are your customers coming into your store expecting you to have this product? Do you believe in this product? Does this product fit into your image as a store?

If the answers to those questions are no, figure out a game plan to get rid of your excess inventory in a smart way. Find a replacement product that says yes. And move on.

Surprisingly, sometimes the answers will still be yes and you’ve just dumped a viable line and burned bridges on the way out.

There will always be manufacturers who do things you won’t like. There will always be situations that frustrate you. The smart businesses, however, skip the emotional responses and make business decisions.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Remember that at the end of the day, you are beholden to two things – your customers and your bottom line. Make sure all of your decisions on both accounts are smart business decisions, not emotional reactions.  Don’t think that other manufacturers aren’t watching how you react to these situations. They know who the hotheads are.

Are You Planning or Learning?

Five years ago, how many of you predicted that Amazon would be the retail power that it is today? How many of you accurately predicted the housing market collapse? How about the Great Recession? Did you nail that one, too?

None of us did.

Any Five-Year Plans that were made in the beginning of 2008 would not be producing fruit in today’s market. The market changed in ways no one was expecting.

Do you think the plans you’ve made this year have any chance of accurately predicting what will be happening in 2018?

“We cannot plan our way into the future. We must learn our way into the future.” -Jeff De Cagna

The one thing you can plan on with certainty is unforeseen events, seismic market shifts, new threats, new challenges, and a marketplace no one in today’s world would recognize.

The one thing you can do to prepare for that is to learn more. Read more blogs that challenge your views of the world. Take more classes that stimulate your mind. Attend more events that change your perspective.

The more you learn, the more likely you will be on the leading edge of those changes. The more you learn, the more likely you’ll be able to implement the strategies that will succeed in the new market. The more you learn, the more likely your current plans will be able to adjust to the new challenges.

I’m not saying that planning is bad. But strict five-year plans that do not take into account the fast-moving changes in today’s business climate have little chance of succeeding. Learning organizations will always have the leg up on planning organizations, because they will be nimble and smart enough to make the necessary changes to succeed.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Plans change. Values do not. Know the difference. Regardless of the products and services, we’ll always be here to make you smile.

What Do You Sell?

I don’t sell toys. I sell Play Value.

I don’t sell baby products. I sell Peace of Mind, Safety, and Love.

I don’t sell books. I sell Imagination, Travel, and Dreams.

I don’t sell hobby products. I sell Creation.

So why would I be advertising toys, baby products, books and hobbies when I should be selling Play Value, Peace of Mind, Imagination, Creation and Dreams?

Not everyone who sells toys sells Play Value. Not everyone who sells baby products sells Peace of Mind, Safety, and Love. Not everyone who sells books sells Imagination and Dreams. Not everyone who sells hobby products sells Creation.

But almost everyone who buys toys, baby products, books or hobby products wants Play Value, Peace of Mind, Imagination, Creation or Dreams.

It isn’t products that they want. It is feelings. Sell the feelings. Sell your customers what they truly want.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS This is called flipping the conversation. Flip the conversation you have about your store from the tools you sell to the projects those tools create. Don’t talk about the hammer, talk about their dream tree house that hammer will build. Don’t talk about the shoes, talk about how they will feel when they finally run that race. Don’t talk about gift ideas, talk about the smile on the recipient’s face and the hugs shared. That is how you speak to the heart of your customers.

PPS The smarter of you already figured this out. I’m not just talking about your marketing. I’m talking about your customer service, too. Align your services and approach to customers around their feelings and you will feel it, too. At the cash register.