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Author: Phil Wrzesinski

Yes They are Price Shopping With Their Phone – It’s Okay

The new applications on iPhones allow your customers to scan a bar code on a product on your shelf and get all kinds of information online including the price others are charging for the very same item.

Oh no! Oh, yes. Customers can more easily price shop you than ever before. What are you going to do?

Some stores are banning customers who do this. Don’t be one of them.

Allow your customers to use this new app. Embrace the technology. As Bob Phibbs pointed out so well, use it as a means of connection with your customer. Ask them what they found. See if the info is accurate. Chances are, you’ll be able to add info to what they find, or at the very least be able to make that info relevant by explaining to the customer what it means.

By all means, however, treat these customers with ultimate kindness and respect.

Sure, many of them are price shoppers, transactional customers, who won’t ever be loyal or profitable for your business. But that is no excuse not to kill ’em with kindness.

One thing we know about transactional customers is that they are always big on word of mouth. They love to talk about their shopping experiences.

And when they leave your store, they could be saying, “Wow, what a bunch of overpriced jerks!”

Wouldn’t you rather they said, “What a friendly knowledgeable store – expensive – but they really know their stuff,”?

Embrace the new iPhone apps and other programs that allow customers to price shop and get other info on your products. And then recognize that they came to you first. Now give them a reason to buy.

-Phil

More Than One Way to Say It

I wrote two articles for a local organization’s newsletter about Shopping Local. The first was soundly rejected. The second was roundly praised. Funny thing is, both said pretty much the same thing. The difference is that one said it powerfully, one not as strong.

Yes, it was the more powerful message that was rejected. The fear was that it would be seen as offensive to some. Of course, that was my point. No, not to offend, but to attract.

A message is like a magnet. It’s power to attract is equal to it’s power to repel. The stronger the attraction, the stronger the repulsion.

If you are writing to attract, write powerfully and pull no punches. If you are writing not to offend, don’t be upset if your message doesn’t get through as strong as you would like. Those are the trade-offs in making a memorable message.

I understand the reasoning behind the newsletter’s owners wanting not to offend (otherwise I wouldn’t have written the second article). Some of my original points were directed right at some of their membership which wouldn’t have gone over well. And that’s a fair reason for the rejection.

But there’s a lesson here worth remembering. The most powerful messages will offend as many people as they attract. And that’s okay.

Here are the two articles. You tell me which one was more powerful…

What Does it Mean to Shop Local?

There are differing opinions as to how we define a Local Business. Here is the definition that counts…

A local business is one that is owned and operated by someone actively involved in this community.

If in doubt, ask yourself, “Where does the profit go?” Locally owned businesses invest their profits back into Jackson. Chain stores send their profits back to headquarters (usually to pay for some CEO’s golden parachute). Online stores never let the money spend a moment in town.

Studies continually show that locally owned independents and locally owned franchises give back far more to the community than big box chain stores and online sites. They employ more people per sale, pay them a higher wage, pay more in taxes and give more in charity than the chain stores*. They also do more business with other locals keeping the money flowing through Jackson many times over.

A study in Grand Rapids showed that just a 10% shift in shopping habits from big chains to locals would create hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in economic activity, not by spending more, just by spending it locally.

Your local businesses sponsor local events. They sponsor your son’s Little League teams. They supply most of our local leaders. They don’t run at the first sign of trouble. They are rooted in our community.

Christmas is a time for giving. As you plan your giving, think about the businesses who have given back to Jackson, who have invested their livelihood in Jackson.

You can find a bunch of them at http://www.jxnlocalfirst.com/.

Merry Christmas!

Phil Wrzesinski

*Studies cited at www.jxnlocalfirst.com


Keep Your Dollars in Jackson

They say it takes a whole village to raise a child. It also takes a whole village to raise an economy. But first you have to invest in the village. You have to put your money where your house is. Spend your money in Jackson.

The holidays are a time for increased spending. They are also a time for increased everything else, increased traffic, increased stress, and increased demands on our time.

For some, that’s a compelling reason for shopping online. Sure, you might save a buck or two, but the money you saved was money that left Jackson with no benefit to the local economy. And if you didn’t pay sales tax, that’s a loss of revenue for our schools.

When you shop local – when you stay in Jackson to make your holiday purchases – you are investing in your neighbors. You are employing people in your community. You are adding to the available dollars for charity. You are growing Jackson’s tax base and economy.

Washington, D.C. does not have a silver bullet to kill the recessionary beast. Lansing cannot fix what ails us.

But you can.

Spend your money in Jackson and it will make a difference – a big difference. A study in Grand Rapids showed that just a 10% shift in shopping local would create hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in economic activity, not by spending more, just by spending it locally.

Keep your dollars in Jackson this holiday and you’ll be giving a whole lot more than just presents.

Merry Christmas!

Phil Wrzesinski

See the difference?

Cheers!
-Phil

A New Twist on Training New Employees

I just hired seven new employees for the store. Now comes the fun part – training.

My standards are high. My customers’ standards are even higher. They have an expectation about our store that may seem unfair in these days of self-serve retail. They expect to be waited upon. They expect to have their questions answered quickly, correctly and with good cheer. They expect the staff to be friendly, knowledgeable and efficient. They expect us to have what they want, get it through the checkout quick, giftwrap it for free and have them on their way before their child has time to even think about a meltdown.

Oh yeah, and they want to have FUN while doing it.

In short, my customers are expecting the world, and I am planning on giving it.

The seven new employees had two things in common – a desire to help others and a strong work ethic. Those were the characteristics I required in this round of hiring. Now comes the task of teaching them about the toys, about our services, about our policies, about our cash registers, about our philosophy. There is a lot to learn. More than I can remember. More than I have time to teach.

I did two things you can copy for your business when you have to hire & train new employees.

First, I created a checklist of all the skills the new employees need to learn. I broke it down into main items and subcategories to make sure nothing was overlooked. Simple things like closing procedures or bagging toys were on the list along with educational material like How Toys Teach, and Phil’s Top Ten Toys. Cash register procedures, time clock procedures, delivery policies and every other service we offer is on the list.

And next to each item on the list is a blank line.

The second thing I did was empower my current staff to train the newbies on all of these procedures. The only caveat is that the employee who does the training has to put her initials on the newbie’s checklist next to that item.

There are three immediate benefits of doing training this way.

  1. The regular staff gets a sense of responsibility in training the new hires. They feel more empowered which leads to even more responsibility.
  2. Everyone is accountable for how well the training is accomplished. If your initials are on the checklist, you better have taught them well. Knowing that you’ll be evaluated, too, has the regulars honing their own skills in the process.
  3. We’re building camaraderie right from the start. The new staff are interacting more with the old staff and getting to know them quicker than if they were just working along side each other.

Sure, I’m still involved in the training. Some of my involvement is direct teaching the skills I want to teach, but most is just overseeing the process and evaluating the new employees’ skills as they learn. Best of all, I get to see who of the regulars has the ability to teach and who needs more work on their own skills.

All in all, through this process everyone is improving their abilities to give the customers the kind of service they expect. And I’m getting seven new smiling faces ready for the frontlines this holiday season.

-Phil

Google AdWords – Good or Bad for Advertisers?

John Kelley from Google Ann Arbor was in Jackson yesterday telling a room of 150 people about how Google makes its billions of dollars a year. Almost all of it comes from their advertising auction known as Google AdWords.

If you’re not familiar with how it works, here’s a quick breakdown.

You set up an account with Google, choose some keywords or phrases, and then make a bid of how much you are willing to pay to show up in the right hand column when someone uses the Google search engine with your chosen keyword.

The cool thing is, just showing up on the right doesn’t cost you a penny. You only pay when someone actually clicks on the link. And you only pay whatever you were willing to bid.

For instance, you might choose the keyword “toys” and bid a maximum of $7. When someone types “toys” into a Google search, eight links show up in the right hand column on the first page. Those eight are in order by how much they were willing to bid. If two other people bid higher, you’ll be third on that list. If no one bid higher, you’ll be at the top, and at a rate only slightly more than the next highest bidder.

Again, you only pay if someone actually clicks on your link.

The beauty of this system is that you only pay for the ads that work, that get people to your website. And you only pay what the market will bear. It is supply and demand at it’s greatest. A truly capitalist product that allows small mom & pop shops to compete with large national corporations.

And since it regularly brings in billions of dollars it must work well, right?

Maybe, maybe not. Like all advertising, it comes down to how you use it.

Yes, it is one of the most measurable forms of advertising. You know how much you paid to get traffic and how much revenue that traffic generated. Yes, it is relatively easy to get started and easily tweaked to make it work better.

No, it doesn’t work for everyone. In fact, there are two groups for which Adwords would be a lousy investment.

  • Businesses who don’t have a website (if you don’t have a website, you should read this.)
  • Businesses who don’t generate revenue directly from their website.

If you fall into either of these categories, Adwords won’t help you grow one bit.

Think about it this way…

The person searching online for a retail product willing to click on a right hand sponsored link is looking for an immediate solution. They are typically looking to make a purchase right away. If you don’t sell online, they’re hitting that back button as quickly as they can.

You won the auction, but lost the sale (and the ad money).

If you’re going to do Google Adwords, here are some suggestions:

  • Do reverse searches to see what keywords are most being used in your category.
  • Only sign up for keywords that relate directly to the products you sell online. Otherwise you’re getting a lot of the wrong traffic
  • Write many different phrases for your posts (you get 94 characters for your description) and constantly measure and tweak to see which ones get clicked most often.
  • Measure, measure, measure. Change where people land on your website, see how long they stay, if they buy and where they exit. You will learn quickly where your website breaks down in the sales process.

As you measure your Return On Investment you’ll get a clearer picture of whether or not this program is working for you. Unlike traditional advertising where your only measurement is if business is going up or down overall, at least with Adwords you’ll know what works and what doesn’t. The old advertising joke is that half of your ads work and half don’t, you just don’t know which half. With Adwords you’ll know (for better or for worse).

If your retail business is strictly brick & mortar – no online presence – Adwords isn’t for you. If you are using your advertising to brand your store, Adwords isn’t for you. If you aren’t up for constantly measuring and tweaking your results, Adwords isn’t for you. But if selling online is your primary goal, it could work – and work well. Billions of dollars can’t all be wrong.

Do you agree or disagree?

-Phil

What Apple Have You Eaten Today?

This post is totally off topic, intended only for those who want a little brain exercise and reflection time.

Last night I watched the movie Phenomenon with John Travolta & Kyra Sedgwick. There was a particular scene that stuck with me.

John Travolta’s character George Malley is dying from a brain tumor. He has just befriended Kyra Sedgwick’s character & her two children. The kids, however, are upset at becoming his friend only to find out he’s about to die. George has a fascinating way of handling this topic with the kids.

He takes an apple and explains that if the apple was just thrown on the ground, it would rot away and be gone forever. But if you were to take a bite of the apple, that bite becomes a part of you forever.

In a touching moment in the movie, the kids both end up taking huge bites of the apple.

The scene got me thinking… What bites of *apple* have I taken that are still with me?

The first thought that came to my mind was my homeroom teacher & swim coach from high school who had two phrases he repeated often. The first was, “Can’t never did nothing!” To this day, if you say to me, “I can’t,” I’ll respond instinctively and immediately with that quote. His second quote was, “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. The harder you practice the luckier you get.”

Both of those quotes must be in the forefront of my unconscious mind because of how fast they jump into the conscious when the opportunity presents itself. And every time I say them, I picture Coach Pultz standing next to me.

That is just one of many apples I’ve eaten in life. Other apples include every camp counselor who put up with my shenanigans as a kid, every speaker who inspired me to try something new, every writer who wrote something I wanted to remember.

I’m curious to hear about your apples. What apples have you eaten in your life that are a part of you forever? And have you eaten any apples today? Also, what apples are you offering for others? How far does your orchard spread?

You might be surprised when you stop to think about how wide an influence you already have in this world because of those who have eaten your apples.

Sure gives a new meaning to the phrases, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” and “You’re the apple of my eye,” doesn’t it?

-Phil

Breaking Trust the AT&T Way

Two letters have undone all trust I ever had with AT&T. For 60 years we have used AT&T in one form or another for our store. That’s a lot of trust built up.

The first letter came on August 24th saying that my account with them was about to expire. With 16 phones, 8 business lines, and a business open 7 days a week, you can believe I called them right away. After jumping through a bunch of online menu hoops I got a guy who informed me that my account was not about to expire, but that he had some great offers of other products I might want to buy.

Yeah, the letter was a total scam to get me to call so they might sell me some services I didn’t want. Apparently the hundred plus phone calls from sales reps that I had blown off wasn’t enough for them to get the message that I was completely happy with my current level of service and didn’t want anything more.

Trust meter down 50%.

The second letter came today. It informed me of the “new services you have requested” and that my new bill would be $106.35 more for the new services.

What!!?

Apparently, even after explaining that I was happy with my current services and didn’t want anything more, AT&T thought I should have Caller ID for my 8 lines (two which are purely modems, not even used for receiving calls). And somewhere over the past month, they decided to add that to my account for an extra $106.35 a month.

Yeah, I got back on the phone. Only this time it took 5 calls and umpteen hoops before I found a live person. Unfortunately, the phone number led me to a live person that had no clue how to help me with my problem. Yes, she finally transferred me to someone knowledgeable on the subject, but even then, he couldn’t help me. (What’s the point of giving out a phone number if the people answering that phone can’t deal with the issues for which the number was given?)

Bottom line? They changed my account because they changed program I was on. It wasn’t anything I had actually requested. I just wanted to stay on the old plan, but the old plan now had Caller ID bundled in it and I was getting Caller ID even though I don’t need it, don’t want it, can’t use it. No option. It was now in the plan, and I had to pay for it.

I suppose AT&T’s idea was, if you can’t get someone to buy your products, just bundle them in and tell them they have no choice but to pay for them.

Trust meter down 100%.

On Monday I’ll be calling their competitors.

There are so many lessons in this, I don’t think one post could cover them all. Here’s the one I want you to remember…

Trust takes time to build, but only seconds to shatter. We have used AT&T in our business for over 60 years. We have never had any issues with our phone service. Yet it all was destroyed in 39 days, and now I’m shopping around.

Trust is precious. The trust you have built with your customers is gold. Remember how hard it was to get that trust, and then do everything in your power to keep that trust. Make sure all your policies, procedures and ventures are designed to build trust, not break it.

-Phil

PS If you sell phone services, call me Monday.

Being a Successful Retailer

If you’ve been following this blog regularly, you probably know everything I’m going to say here. Some of it is in my Bio, and some is on my new website www.PhilsForum.com.

For those who are just starting to follow, I’d like to give you a little background about who I am and what I want to accomplish with this blog.

I am a retailer. I run a toy store so I know a lot about seasonal business. I also sell baby products so I know a lot about working on deadlines (nine months might seem like a long time, but it sneaks up on a lot of couples).

And most people consider my business to be quite successful. We were named by George Whalin as one of the 25 Best Independent Stores in America. So we must be doing something right.

In a couple weeks I’m going to tell the city of Jackson how to be successful in a market with 15% unemployment, a shrinking blue-collar workforce, and a struggling government & economy.

I can sum it up in two words – Keep Learning.

When I realized that our advertising wasn’t working, I took classes, read books and studied until I fully understood branding and how ads work. I give a lot of credit to Roy H. Williams, aka The Wizard of Ads for what I learned.

When I realized that I was lousy at hiring, I evaluated the problem until I understood where I went wrong and developed a system to improve the quality of people I was bringing in. (I’m publishing a book about it later this fall.)

When I took over 50% of the buying responsibilities for the largest selection of toys under one roof, I studied open-to-buy systems and adapted them to fit our situation and needs.

As an Independent Retailer, there are always fires to put out, always challenges to face, always new obstacles to overcome. I believe the successful businesses are the ones who are always learning, always expanding their knowledge & understanding of four key areas:

  • Customer Service
  • Inventory Control/Merchandising
  • Financials
  • Advertising/Marketing

I have found that the more I study, the more prepared I am to meet the new challenges and turn them into opportunities. As my high school swim coach used to always say, Luck is when Preparation meets Opportunity.

How do I do it? I devour business books. I am reading Trust Agents by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith right now. It will be the 12th non-fiction book I’ve read this year. One of my favorite books was Seth Godin’s Tribes. It’s no wonder that I follow both Seth’s and Chris’s blogs.

Which brings me to the goal of this blog… I want to share with you what I’ve been learning so that we all can be successful.

Your feedback is welcome. The more you comment and tell me what’s on your mind, the more I can tweak this to give you what you need. If there are topics you’d like to see addressed, let me know. If there ideas you want to share, by all means share them.

We’re in this together. At least that’s my way of thinking.

Your thoughts?

-Phil

Social Media – A Must Have or A Passing Fad?

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace. You’ve heard the names. Some of you even have accounts – personal and business. And everywhere you turn, another talking head tells you how these new Social Media platforms are going to change advertising as we know it. Yet the critic in the back of your head wonders if it’s really true when they say Social Media is going to make all other forms of advertising obsolete.

There certainly are some advantages to using social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. First, they’re FREE. That has to count for something. You can set up a Facebook page for your company with almost all of the same information as your website at no charge to you. You can send messages to all of your fans without the cost of an email service. You can change pictures, announce events, and have chats with your customers without contacting the IT department.

And it’s all Free!

Well, not exactly…

In life, no matter what you want, you have to spend one of two currencies – time or money.

While Facebook may give you all of the above services at no monetary charge, there is a huge time commitment necessary. You have to create all the content yourself. You have to build relationships one friend at a time. You have to monitor discussions regularly. It can take months or even years to develop a friends list with enough people to move the needle.

The same is true of Twitter. Setting up an account is easy. Getting a bunch of followers is harder. Saying something worthwhile in limited space enough times to be relevant is even harder.

But both can be effective tools in your advertising tool box – especially if you have more time than money. Twitter can be an effective way for stores with a fast-turning product to keep customers informed of what is in stock. Facebook can be a great way to give an active fan base a platform for gushing nostalgic about you.

If you’re going to jump into the social media pool, here are some things to think about:

  • Decide your purpose for doing social media. Is it to generate leads, keep people informed, set a platform for customer involvement, or some other purpose? Clearly define your goals and it will help you determine your path.
  • Be transparent. No, you don’t have to tell people what you had for breakfast, but if it has your name on it, it better be you writing it (or at least editing it). Don’t just dump it off to the “young kid on the staff,” and hope he stays consistent with your brand. Be honest, forthright and genuine. Don’t try to be something you are not, just be yourself openly.
  • Stay up to date. Update it regularly – at least weekly, preferably more often. If you can’t commit to that kind of regularity, don’t do it. A stale account can be more damaging than no account at all. (Yeah, I know, my Facebook account needs some more love.)

Knowing how the different social media work is important, too. The three most talked about – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN all work somewhat differently.

Twitter is about inside information – no, not the kind of stuff for which the SEC sends Martha Stewart to jail, but information that lets your followers feel like they know more than the average Joe because they follow you. Your tweets need to have the kind of information they can’t just get from your website or off the street. Let people into the workings of your mind by telling people why you’re carrying a certain brand (or not carrying one). Show them how you decided on a certain product or service. Tell them about issues affecting your business that may affect them. Be the first place to announce new arrivals. Make your Twitter followers feel like an insider and you create a connection with them that raises loyalty to a whole new level.

Facebook is about making and keeping connections. Facebook is all about the customers and their interactions with you. It is the media of nostalgia – posting pictures and videos, sharing memories. Your Facebook page has to encourage this behavior. Start discussions, post pictures and videos. Keep up a dialogue with your fans. Yeah, you can announce events, but if that is all you do, your fan base will get bored quickly. It isn’t about you. It’s about them.

LinkedIn is often seen as a more professional site. I liken it to speed networking. Meet and greet people. Find people who think or act like you do and make connections. If you are a service provider or independent consultant, LinkedIn could be a valuable way for you to expand your circle of influence. But like all the social media, you have to be active. Just setting up an account and waiting for people to connect to you won’t help. You have to join some groups, post comments, offer assistance, write recommendations, and actively seek out connections. The more active you are, the more connections you’ll make.

As you can see, social media is a simple equation – time for money. If you have time, you can make social media work for you. If you have the discipline to stay current and active, you can make social media work for you.

And if you don’t have the money to do traditional advertising, you better find the time to make social media work for you.

Do you agree or disagree?

-Phil

Billboards – Drive By Advertising or Wasted Space?

Coming into Las Vegas, you don’t need a show guide to see who’s playing. One trip from the airport and all the major acts in town are displayed larger than life. Penn & Teller, The Jersey Boys, David Copperfield, are all standing tall above the road. The promoters in Las Vegas must believe that billboards are an effective form of advertising. And they’d be right.

To some extent.

Billboards certainly have the power to be effective tools in your advertising repertoire. They have two inherent advantages over other media.

  1. They reach lots of people fairly inexpensively.
  2. They reach lots of people with regular, heavy frequency

We are creatures of habit. We travel down the same roads on the same route to work, to school, or to home. We see the same billboards once, twice, maybe as much as 6 or 8 times a day. That is a lot of impressions. Some say billboards are the most cost-effective method of reaching a mass audience with enough frequency to be remembered (remember our discussion about frequency in radio?).

But not all billboards ARE remembered. Like other passive media, there are important steps to creating a successful media campaign.

First, you have to understand the limitations of billboards. A person has, at best, about 3-4 seconds to read your billboard – only enough time for 1 picture and 8 words (including your logo). That is not much room or time to say much of anything. On those Vegas Act billboards there is a picture of the performers, the name of the performance, and the hotel where it is performed. Nothing more, nothing less.

Yet, too many ineffective billboards try to cram too much text, too many or too complicated pictures, and then add in the company logo, address, phone, website and directions. It will take you three or four passes just to read it all. Yet, you’ll be bored enough to ignore it after the first drive by.

Frequency, while good because it reinforces your message, can also work against you. After seeing a billboard a few times, if the picture has no meaning and stays unchanged over time, it starts to blend into the background.

And frequency is not always the most important element. Those Vegas boards are seen only once, yet they work. Why? Because the message already has an emotional content for the reader. When you see Penn & Teller, you already have a feeling attached, either from experience, or other forms of advertising. The feeling may be one of excitement or one of disinterest. But the feeling is there nonetheless.

Therefore, the emotions that your billboard evoke are every bit as important to it’s success as the number of people who see it and the frequency by which they see it.

To do billboard advertising effectively, follow these tips:

  • Limit your board to 1 picture and 8 words including your store name & website. Anything more and the board has too much information. Simplicity is best.
  • Print the design of your board on an 8.5×11 paper and tape it to the wall across the room. All designs look good on a computer screen. The key is if it looks good from a distance.
  • Use a picture that elicits an emotion tied to your store. Without an emotional tie, the billboard is just clutter on the mental freeway.
  • Change your boards frequently. After about 3-4 weeks, unchanged billboards become invisible.

Billboards CAN be effective when done right, reaching a ton of people at a fraction of the cost of newspaper or TV. But you have to be able to make an emotional connection with 1 picture and 8 words. Can you do that with your business? If so, call your outdoor advertising rep today. If not, get back to the drawing board and find another advertising avenue to explore.

Do you agree or disagree?

-Phil

You Have to Have a Website

In today’s business climate you HAVE to have a website. It is a minimum requirement of doing business.

Over 70% of all households have Internet access. That number grows even higher at higher incomes and lower ages. According to a Pew Report study, shopping is one of the top uses for both men and women.

The key word is “shopping”. According to Merriam-Webster, shopping is defined as, “to examine goods or services with intent to buy”. The wealth of information on the Internet makes examining goods or services easier than it has ever been.

From this data many of you might make the false assumption that you have to offer e-commerce on your website, that you have to join the throngs of online merchants. Although you certainly can be successful selling online, here’s another statistic to make you think.

According to the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce, online sales in 2008 were a whopping 3.3% of all retail sales. Yes, that’s right. Only $3 out of every $100 spent at retail were spent online. I guess the demise of the brick and mortar store might be slightly overblown.

Here’s the point. Over 60% of Americans are shopping online, but only 3% are buying online. So how are they using the Internet to do their shopping? They shop online four main ways.

  1. To see what is available
  2. To find information about features and benefits
  3. To read reviews from other users and experts
  4. To find stores that carry what they want

Yeah, the first three are pretty much the same stuff they could get just by entering your store and asking your staff (if they found you with #4). But they are doing it online for a number of reasons.

  • The Internet has more information than most sales people
  • The Internet is open when your store is not
  • You can surf the Internet anonymously (in your pajamas)
  • You don’t have to show your ignorance

Those last two points are important. According to the Pew Report above, men are more aggressive shoppers online, which only makes sense. Men do not like to admit they don’t know something. They don’t like to ask questions. They certainly won’t ask for directions. The Internet allows them to get all the info they need before entering a store so they do not feel inferior. Another group that prefers the anonymous aspect of Internet shopping are Introverts. They also like to get all the information they can before they have to interact with someone.

Men and introverts – two groups that collectively make up 75% of the population – give you all the reasons necessary for you to have a website. Think of your website as the Silent Salesman for your store. He costs a fraction of the other staff, yet he works tirelessly 24/7 building trust and goodwill and making customers more comfortable with your business. And he gets to embody all the qualities of your best salesman because you get to create him.

You have to have a website and you have to have the following components:

  • Your hours, location and contact information – make it easy to find, many people are using the Internet as their yellow pages
  • Your purpose for being in business – what you do and why (from a customer’s perspective) you do it better than everyone else
  • What customers should expect when they visit – products, services, policies, etc.
  • Pictures – the Internet is a visual medium
  • More information – keep the basic pages simple (everything on one screen), but offer more for those who wish to click on it

The key is to make your site pleasing to the eye with minimal but well-written copy that answers the questions potential customers would ask about your business. Make it interesting and always about what the customer will find or experience in your store. And keep it consistent with your Character Diamond.

You don’t have to do e-commerce. You don’t even have to show all your products. But you do have to make sure you are linked to all of your vendor’s websites as a place to buy. And make sure at the very least you talk about what product categories you do offer. List the best known brands and let them advertise for you. The goal is to give enough information to make potential customers interested, comfortable and willing to do business with you.

In today’s business climate you have to have a website. Do you agree or disagree?

-Phil

PS If you’re doing e-commerce, I highly recommend you read the book Call to Action by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg. It will help you convert more lookers into buyers.