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Author: Phil Wrzesinski

Are Your Reps Coming to You for Training?

Favorite phone call. A rep just picked up a new line of products. He knows we sell them. He calls me to set up a time to have us show him the line.

He knows he will learn more about how to sell the line to other stores by talking to me than by going to the company. He knows this because he will learn from me why we bought it in the first place. And he knows that the reasons I bought it are the same reasons he will need to use to get other stores to buy it.

Two quick lessons in that paragraph.

First, we can do the same. Ask your best customers why they bought what they bought. The reasoning they use will give you incredible insight into the reasoning you should use to sell your products. Now you are thinking like the customer will think and selling to her needs, not to yours.

Second, are you that important to your sales rep?

My reps are my lifeblood, at least my great reps are. They make sure I get the right products and steer me clear of the wrong ones. They never try to oversell me. They never push me into products they know won’t work for me or my market. And I have a lot of great reps!

But I had a hand in making them great reps by cultivating a relationship where they gain as much from it as I do. For many of my reps, we are nowhere near their top account monetarily, but because we bring more than just dollar-value to the table, we get their very best in return.

You can do that, too. Treat your rep like an extension of your family. Make the relationship beneficial to both of you. The return on that investment will often end up in your favor.

-Phil Wrzesinski

www.PhilsForum.com

PS The principals to building relationships with your sales reps is the same as building relationships with your customers. Treat ’em like your new best friends. Share with them. A quote I use in my Customer Service live presentation is “Your customers will get better when you do.” The same applies to your sales reps.

Two Books My Staff Read

I gave my staff an assignment. Read some of the books I have read and give a presentation to the staff. At today’s meeting we had the first two presentations.

Lakisha spoke about the book Poke the Box by Seth Godin (not an affiliate link – I don’t have any of those).

She liked the concept of just initiating something, not being afraid to fail. We have had a couple instances of that recently when Carrie initiated our Birthday Club and Nate created better signage for our JTV Toys of the Week.

The one big lesson from Poke the Box is to always try new things. Not all will work, but if you poke the box and see why it isn’t working you can tweak it and make it work. But if you do not initiate anything, nothing ever gets done or improved.

Darlene had a harder assignment – one of my favorite books – Free the Beagle by Roy H. Williams.

This book is an allegorical story about a Lawyer and his beagle that must take a journey. The story is fairly simple and might remind you of The Wizard of Oz. What is impressive is the layers of learning Mr. Williams has woven into the story. On just one level the lawyer represents our logical left brain while the beagle represents our more creative right brain. There are nine other levels of understanding in the book (and I’ve only uncovered about six).

My favorite part of the book is the discussion that was recorded afterward. Mr. Williams invited a number of people from different backgrounds to give their takes on the book. Their insight is so fascinating that it alone is well worth the cost of admission.

Free the Beagle is great for anyone at a crossroads, anyone who believes they might be on a journey to bigger and better things, or anyone who feels stuck.

This is just one way I empower my staff to grow. I cannot pay them millions of dollars. I cannot offer them cushy benefits. But I can help them on their own journeys in life, help them grow into better people.

You can do the same for your staff. In fact, you should. For all they do for you, you owe it to them.

Some people say, “Yeah, but what if I train them and help them grow and they leave.” Roy Williams replied, “What if you don’t train them and they stay?”

-Phil Wrzesinski

www.PhilsForum.com

PS Yes, my staff meetings are a little unconventional. I once served ice cream for an 8:30am meeting. The meetings are also memorable. Yours can be, too. Download the FREE eBook Staff Meetings Everyone Wants to Attend and the accompanying Worksheet and start planning meetings that get the results you want.

Complete, Compliment, and Suggest

Closing a sale is a lot easier than all the books make it out to be.

It starts with asking a whole bunch of questions before you make the sale to make sure the product you recommend is the perfect fit (or at least really good).

And it ends with three simple tasks – Complete, Compliment and Suggest

Complete the Sale
“Ya want fries with that?” Although that has become the iconic symbol of poor add-on sales technique, the premise behind it is dead-on. You need to make sure that with every purchase the customer has everything she needs to complete the purchase.

If she is buying a blouse, does she need a sweater, jacket, pants, skirt, shawl, necklace to complete the look?

If she is buying a toy for her child does she need batteries, accessories, a play mat?

If she is buying a necklace does she need the bracelet, watch and earrings to complete the set?

If she is buying a new grill for the deck does she need grilling tools, a grilling cookbook, a conversion to natural gas kit, delivery and installation?

It isn’t just the obvious, either. Look at the whole picture. Why is she buying this item? Who is it for? What else will they need? Make sure you have shown all the possible items needed to make the sale complete so that she will not have to make another trip to the store later (which will not be to your store because she’s mad about not having everything she needs.)

Compliment Her Purchases
This may seem weird, but if you have done your job and helped her pick the perfect item, you need to then compliment her on her selection. It reassures her that she is making the right purchase. It helps her feel better about buying, and it opens the door for more relationship-building conversation.

Tell her why she will be happy with the item. Remind her why you believe it is a good fit to her needs. It is even okay to point out the flaws, if only to let her know that while not perfect, it is still a good fit. If you have used the product, tell her why you like it or why other customers who have purchased it have liked it. Be honest, though. She will smell a phony compliment instantly.

(Note: if you cannot sincerely compliment her on the purchase then you did not get her the right item. Sometimes you win in the long run when you simply say you are sorry but you do not have what she really needs. Show her something you know she will be happy to own.)

Suggest Better Ways to Use Her Purchase
One more way to make her feel good about what she is choosing to buy is to give her tips and suggestions that make the use of her new product easier.

We use this with strollers by showing customers how to clean the wheels, why to use a silicone lubricant rather than WD-40 (silicone is better for plastics than WD-40). Not only do we arm her with more product knowledge, we also eliminate the unhappy customer coming back because the wheels squeak. She knew they would eventually squeak and knew how to solve that problem.

If you Complete, Compliment and Suggest you will give your customer the ultimate confidence in her purchase and the same confidence in your store. Not only will you close this sale, you will have already begun closing future sales. Yeah, it is that WOWerful!

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS For more examples of how to WOW your customers, download my FREE eBook Customer Service: From Weak to WOW!

What Gets Measured?

We had a meeting of downtown business leaders to share our “one big thing”, that one nugget of truth that helps us be successful. Local businessman Bob Smith said…

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

Frances Schagen, who helped me with the eBook Reading Your Financial Statement, had a more positive spin on the same message…

“What gets measured gets done.”

What are you measuring?

I looked at my web stats for http://www.philsforum.com/ to see from where I got my traffic, to see which documents were downloaded, to see which eBooks were most popular this week.

I was surprised that my newest eBook – Customer Service: From Weak to WOW! – was only fourth on the list of eBooks downloaded for the week. Apparently more people were interested in Inventory Management, Staff Meetings Everyone Wants to Attend, and Understanding Your Brand.

Usually when I announce a new eBook, it dominates the downloads for the first week.

Now I need to read into the tea leaves from this data and decide one of three things:

  1. People are not interested in the new eBook on customer service.

  2. People are not aware of the new eBook on customer service.

  3. The other eBooks are more important to my readers than customer service.

Since I track these numbers regularly, I have some understanding that the Inventory Management downloads this week have been unusually high. This is a good thing. I also know that the Customer Service: From Weak to WOW! downloads have been weaker than a typical launch.

But previous posts on Customer Service have been some of my most popular posts (I know this because I measured it.) Therefore, the most likely answer to why the new eBook was not tops in downloads is a combination of #2 and #3.

Which means that my message in the launch of the eBook needs to be tweaked…

I just wrote a new eBook that you can download for FREE that will help you raise the bar of your customer service so high your competition will not even be in the conversation!

It is called Customer Service: From Weak to WOW! and although you will hate me for some of the things I have written, and you will dismiss some of my advice out of your own denial, you will be thankful you downloaded it and shared it with your staff. More importantly, your customers will be thankful when you quit giving lip service to customer service and start WOWing your customers.

At only four pages, how can it be that good?

Download it and see for yourself. It’s FREE!

-Phil Wrzesinski
http://www.philsforum.com/

PS Why do I give away so much for FREE? I want you to succeed. Period. That brings me lots of joy. Plus, I know that if you find it useful you’ll reprint it, re-tweet it, share it with others. Then even more of us independent retailers will see success. My goal is to raise the water level for all boats, even if I have to do it one harbor at a time.

PPS Of course, my other favorite thing is when I get hired to speak to groups of retailers. Giving information away like I do gets my name out there and helps establish me as an expert. The more you share what I say and the more you help me spread that influence, the more likely I get those opportunities. Thanks!

The Magnetic Principle

The power of a magnet to attract is in equal proportion to its power to repel.

That is a universal truth about attraction.

We hear with magnets that opposites attract because the positive pole of one magnet attaches to the negative pole of another. But in reality alignment attracts. For two magnets to hook to each other, they both have to be in the same alignment – heading in the same direction.

The same is true with batteries. Put two batteries into your flashlight facing different directions and the flashlight will not work. But put the batteries in alignment with each other and the light comes on.

The same is true with your advertising. When you clearly state your values, those who are aligned with your values will be attracted. Those who are not aligned with your values will be repelled. Just like the magnet, the stronger you state your values, the stronger the attraction and repulsion.

The problem with most advertising, however, is that we focus on the repulsion.

“I don’t want to anger anyone.”
“I don’t want to be controversial.”
“I don’t want anyone to hate me.”

And we write bland ads that will not offend.
And we wonder why we did not attract new customers to our store.
And we think that maybe we are not reaching the right people.
And we change our medium, but not our bland, white-bread, non-offensive, un-attractive message.

And we get the same results.

Focus your advertising message to attract, not to keep from repelling. Say something powerful enough to move the needle for someone. Roy H. Williams, aka The Wizard of Ads says that if your ad does not get complaints, you have not written a strong enough ad.

Say something powerful and meaningful that aligns strongly with your core values. Do not be afraid to make bold statements. In my current radio ad I start with the line…

“Shop here. Your kids will be smarter…”

The ad started yesterday and I had my first complaint by 9:00am that morning. I also had three people praise me for my ad. If they are complaining or praising, then they are listening.

Be the most powerful attractor you can by making bold, powerful statements aligned with your core values. Then you will get the return on your advertising investment you want.

-Phil Wrzesinski
http://www.philsforum.com/

PS The whole radio ad copy reads as follows… Shop here. Your kids will be smarter. Oh sure, that’s a bold statement to make, but I know it’s true. Need proof? Which is a better method for selling a toy? Because it’s tied to a movie or TV ad or because it has incredible play value requiring brain-stretching imagination? My competitors? They use the former method. I use the latter. Brain-stretching toys guaranteed to make your kids smarter and have more fun. Toy House in downtown Jackson. Smart kids, lots of smiles.

PSS If you need help figuring out your Core Values, download my FREE eBook Understanding Your Brand and the accompanying worksheet. Work it through and email me if you have questions.

Customer Service: From Weak to WOW!

Every business thinks they offer great customer service. Yet every one of you reading this has experienced lousy customer service, probably within the last week!

I think the problem is that we don’t have a definitive guide of what great customer service looks like.

Until now…

I also think great customer service isn’t enough. Just being great merely gets you a thanks from the customer (if that). It doesn’t move the needle towards referrals or word-of-mouth advertising. It doesn’t grow your business.

You give great customer service. She says Thanks. Transaction over.

We need to WOW her to get her to talk and get her to bring others to our store.

Check out my new eBook, Customer Service: From Weak to WOW! Like all of my eBooks, this download is FREE. The eBook takes you through 8 different interactions a customer has with your store and ranks the type of service she gets from Weak to WOW! so that you can see where you fit on the scale and where you need to improve.

Customer service in this country has been devalued because it has been so weak. We need to reverse that trend. Please download the eBook. Share it with your staff. Share it with your fellow business owners. Share it with your Chamber of Commerce, your DDA, your Shop Local program.

If we collectively raise the bar on what WOW customer service looks like, we make customer service an important element in the shopping equation once again.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS If you would like me to come to your town to do a one-hour presentation on this topic (or any other topic), send me an email. While I think the info looks good on paper, those who have seen the live presentation will tell you it is much more powerful in person.

Three Keys to Remember About Advertising

As business owners we are often the worst judges for determining what to do with our advertising.

We’re bad because we don’t act like the typical consumer. We see ads that most people would miss because we are an advertiser. So all advertisements are relevant to us, ads that would not be relevant to the average consumer. And we read them more carefully, so we know them better than most.

Then we make advertising decisions like where to place the next ad based on what we do and see, not what our customers do.

So if you are debating where to place your next advertisement or what to say, remember these three things about advertising.

First: You cannot reach all of the people. No matter what you do, no matter how much you spend, there will always be some perfect customers for your business that never heard or saw your advertisement.

Second: That is okay because chances are they will know someone who has heard or seen your ad.

Third: Therefore, the most important thing is for you to impact the people you do reach well enough to make them want to tell somebody else about you.

Picking your medium is now easy.

Choose a medium in which you can create a compelling ad, one with a strong emotional connection to your potential customers.
Choose a medium where you can get your potential customer’s attention and move her into action.
Choose a medium where you can tap into her powerful right brain, the side that deals with emotions and actions.
Choose a medium where you can paint a mental image so she sees herself doing exactly the behavior you want her to do.
Choose a medium where you can make a point that is relevant to her lifestyle and choices.
Choose a medium where you can afford to reach her often enough on a continual basis until she has no choice but to think of you first when she is ready for your product.

Personally, I like radio for that purpose. But that’s because I learned how to write radio ads. An awesome graphic designer might have a different opinion.

No matter which medium you choose, the most important thing is to craft a powerful, emotional message that causes her to act. Anything else is just a waste of your time and money.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The quickest, easiest way to come up with a powerful, memorable, emotional message is to unlock your Core Values. Read more in my free eBook Understanding Your Brand. Then download the Branding Worksheet and get your advertising doing what you are paying it to do.

Design for the Many, Not for the One

Too often we design policies for the wrong reason. We design them because somebody tried to take advantage of us. And in the process we restrict the many to protect us from the one.

Yet, no matter where we draw the line, there is still someone out there who will try to skirt around the edges and push past our boundaries. It never fails. Draw a line in the sand and someone will dare to cross it.

Solution?

Quit drawing lines in the sand.

For instance…

We offer layaway. Most stores that have layaway have fairly strict limitations. K-Mart’s policy was 25% down, 25% in 15 days, paid off and taken home in 30 days. Period.

We offer a 6-month layaway with only 10% down and one payment of any size per month. And we are pretty lax in enforcing it.

Now ours may seem like a more generous policy, but the truth is, the vast majority of our layaway customers use it less than 30 days and would fit easily into K-Mart’s model. In fact, only a small handful of layaways each year pass the 60 day mark, and maybe one per year hits 6 months.

But by offering 6 months, I look so much more generous and customer-friendly than K-Mart.

Here’s another example…

We just launched our Birthday Club. The postcard $10 gift certificate we send out has NO expiration date. Some stores give you only 14 days to come in. They want the gift certificate used right away or it expires.

They are afraid that someone will hold their birthday gift certificate and not use it until Christmas or some other time.

But how many kids are really going to do that? And even if they did, wouldn’t that be encouraging that the kids were learning how to save?

The reality is that the vast majority will be in right away to spend that $10 gift certificate. Only a small handful will not – regardless of the expiration date. And those who come in after 14 days will be pretty upset with you for not honoring it 4 weeks later.

Is it worth ticking them off? No.

Once again, our policy looks more generous and customer-friendly than the other, although both get roughly the same results.

The key here is to draw up your policies to allow for those customers who push the boundaries to push all they want. The vast majority won’t push. Make your policies look generous and in the favor of your customers. You give the appearance that you are putting the customers’ needs ahead of your own.

Sure, someone will try to take advantage of you. Someone always tries to take advantage of you. But the vast majority of your customers will not.

Look at all of your policies and see where you can make them more generous. The vast majority of your customers will still comply with what you expect, and you eliminate the nasty confrontations with the one or two customers who try to push beyond your boundaries.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS My newest eBook “Customer Service: From Weak to WOW!” will be coming out next week. Look for an annoucement soon.

Don’t Marry Your Inventory

Marry your spouse. Develop a long-lasting relationship built on love, trust, fun, and shared interests.

But don’t ever marry your inventory.

Your inventory shouldn’t be around for long. It is simply an affair designed to bring you some short-term enjoyment (profit). If it overstays its welcome, you both suffer.

Oh, sure, when you first get your inventory it is exciting and new. There is an infatuation. And people tell you how great your inventory looks with you.

But if it stays around, it starts to look old and tired, and so do you. Be heartless. Kick it to the curb and get something newer and younger and fresher.

(Note: this is the only situation for which I’ll give you this advice, so use it for what it’s worth:-)

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Yeah, a lot on Inventory Management this week. That’s what happens when I’m divorcing my inventory in our Summer Fun Sale.

Discounts or Dating, Which is Better?

The first question out of every retailer’s mouth at the trade show is, “What’s the Show Special?”

The vendor responds with some incentive such as Free Freight, a percentage discount, or extended credit (net 60 instead of net 30 days for instance) if the order is large enough.

If given the choice, which should you choose?

Your Choice
Most retailers jump on the Free Freight. And they would be smart. With shipping costs the way they are, freight bills run from 12% to 20% the cost of the goods. That’s a major savings.

Most retailers, though, ignore the extended dating. It is hard to quantify what an extra 30 days to pay actually saves.

Unless, like me, you’ve done the math.

Doing the Math
Extending your payment terms from Net 30 to Net 60, in terms of cash flow, is the equivalent of a 15% discount. In other words, it’s just as good for your cash flow as Free Freight, and far better for your cash flow than a 3% or 5% discount.

The key lies in the phrase for your cash flow.

If you are under a cash flow crunch, you should look at trying to extend your payment terms in lieu of any discounts under 12%. It will help you out far more than the 2-3% or 5% or even 10% discounts offered.

But if your cash flow is already strong, take the discounts. The one shortfall of extended dating is that it does nothing for the bottom line. Freight is an expense so Free Freight decreases your expenses. Discounts lower your Cost of Goods Sold. Extended dating merely helps cash flow.

Discounts or Dating?

  • If you need cash flow, choose the extended dating.

  • If you need profit, choose the discounts.

  • If you can get Free Freight (which helps both) take it

But never, ever, ever buy something you don’t want just to qualify for the incentive. Never. Okay?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Need more help with your inventory management? Download my free eBook Inventory Management