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Author: Phil Wrzesinski

Phil Wrzesinski is the National Sales Manager of HABA USA toy company, a Former Top-Level, Award-Winning Retailer, a Thought-Provoking Speaker, a Prolific Author, a 10-Handicap Golfer, an Entertaining Singer/Songwriter, and a Klutz Kid who enjoys anything to do with the water (including drinking it fermented with hops and barley), anything to do with helping local independent businesses thrive, and anything that puts a smile on peoples' faces.

Proof That Customer Service is Not Dead?

I read two stories yesterday that caught my interest for two different, yet related reasons.

The first story is about the results of a survey of 600 mall shoppers across the country. The results showed that a larger percentage of Millennials believe that sales associates are “extremely important to their retail experience” than Boomers believe that statement. Doesn’t this fly in the face of conventional wisdom about Millennials that they just want to be left alone to shop with their headphones on and smartphones in hand?

Haven’t we all been told that today’s young adults don’t value customer service as much as previous generations?

This study says you’re wrong. Only 9% of the Gen Y respondents did not believe sales associates add value to the experience. In other words, Customer Service is not dead. It is as important as ever, even to this current generation of tech-savvy shoppers.

Image result for nordstrom localThe second story is about a new store concept launched by Nordstrom called Nordstrom Local. The store is 98% smaller than the typical department store. In fact, it doesn’t stock any merchandise. It is a location for BOPIS (buy online pickup in store). It is a location for fashion advice. It is a location for meeting with a personal stylists. it is a location for alterations and tailoring. It is a location for manicures and refreshments. It is a location for all of the services that make Nordstrom special except for one thing—the actual product.

I am watching this project with a lot of curiosity to see how it pans out. It will be a true test of whether customer service is really that important to a significantly sized crowd or not. In many ways Nordstrom Local seems to be embracing the concepts I read about in this article. Nordstrom is betting that customer service and experience is more important than the product.

Me? I’m not too sure. I’ve always believed you need a solid mix of both to truly be successful. At the same time, I would love to see this concept be successful if for no other reason than to prove once and for all the Customer Service is not dead.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The first two links come from a daily email I get from Chain Store Age. If they didn’t open up for you, you need to get an account (It’s free!) If you are a retailer and are not getting this information and these stories, you should sign up. While many of the stories are about chain stores, the information you will glean about retail in general and about your competition is priceless.

Measuring the Right Result

This is the year of confessions. I’ve told you I don’t like cleaning up and filing things away. I’ve admitted I only went to the University of Michigan to get football tickets. As much as it pains me to be one, I’ve even admitted I’m a Detroit Lions fan.

I have one more confession. I love musical theater. I get cranked up watching Broadway shows. I even get excited watching live Broadway-esque performances like the one Neil Patrick Harris did here.

Image result for disney newsiesLast night I watched Disney’s Newsies on Netflix. Not the 1992 movie starring Christian Bale but a filmed stage production. Loved it!

While reading more about the production on IMDb.com, I noticed it had a pretty high rating from the public. I started reading reviews and and they were mostly 10’s. The reviews that weren’t so stellar didn’t talk about the acting or singing or dancing or storyline. They talked about camera angles and editing of camera shots.

One person gave it a 4 solely because of the choppy editing of the dance sequences. Tough critic.

It got me thinking about how we measure success of our business and how our customers measure success of our business. The two criteria are completely different.

Your customer considers your business a success if she comes in, gets what she needs, and feels good about it. You consider your business a success if you can pay all your bills and make some money for yourself. Two completely different sets of measurements, yet when you stop and think about it, the more you take care of your customer, the more likely you’ll have enough business to pay all your bills and make some money for yourself.

You need to measure what is important to your customers as much as you measure what is important to you.

Notice that I didn’t say, “instead of.” I said, “as much as.” You need to measure both.

You need a method of keeping track of how many times you say, “No we don’t.” to a customer request. I have a friend who has a “No List” she keeps by the cash register just for that purpose. Every time a customer asks for something they don’t have, the staff has to write it down. She figures if a lot of customers come in believing she might have a certain item, then it would be in her best interest to look into carrying that item.

You need a method of tracking how many customers are repeat and referral customers. Only customers who get their needs met and feel good about it will come back and bring their friends. If those numbers are rising, your customer service is succeeding.

Inventory levels, cash flow, profit margin, and sales are all important and need to be tracked, but they are as much a result of the first two numbers as anything else. The more your customers think of your business as a success, the better those other numbers will be.

If you have a lot of items on your No List then you need to figure out why your customers have such a different view of your business than you do. If you have a lot of new customers not referred by a friend, then either you’re a tourist destination, your advertising is stellar, or you need to up your game on taking care of your customers.

When your customers come in, get what they need, and leave feeling good, that’s the singing, acting, and dancing that gets you the standing ovation.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Speaking of measuring the right things, here is the survey that the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA) uses for the presentations at their Academy.

Here are the averages of the survey responses from your presentation, “Cash is King & You are the Advisor:”

1—Unsatisfied  4—Completely Satisfied

Did the presentation meet your expectations based on the session description? Were you satisfied with the speaker(s) level of knowledge on the topic? Rate your overall satisfaction with this session:
3.9 4 3.9

Those of you who have followed this blog a long time know that the three things I stress the most about Customer Service are:

  1. You have to meet your customer’s expectations. (Question #1)
  2. You have to build trust. (Question #2)
  3. You have to leave them feeling good about the transaction. (Question #3)

Did the audience come in, get what they needed, and feel good about it? Those results were my standing ovation.

Retail is More Like Football

I am a Detroit Lions fan. There, I said it. That’s the first step to healing, right? I got to watch my Lions play yesterday. Owning a toy store was probably the best thing for this Detroit Lions fan. I never got too invested in their season because I knew I’d be too busy on Sundays in November and December to pay attention to the team. The let down each year wasn’t as bad because of that.

Related imageLast year’s record-setting eight come-from-behind-in-the-fourth-quarter victories was quite exciting, followed by another season-ending debacle all too familiar to die-hard Lions fans. Lots of people want to blame the coach. Others want to blame the now highest paid player in the league, quarterback Matthew Stafford. Some want to blame the organization as a whole. I’m in the latter category.

Although teamwork is important in all of the major team sports, it is at its highest in football. A great goalie in hockey or a mega-star in basketball can change the tide in those respective sports. Baseball is a team sport built almost exclusively around individual actions and talent. But football is truly about eleven guys doing their prescribed job in sync with each other. And even that isn’t enough.

Success in football only happens when the entire organization is in sync and performing at peak. Success happens when the front office brings in the right kind of talent and personality to fit the values of the coaching staff. Success happens when the scouts figure out the best schemes to combat the opponent’s tendencies that also fit with the talent available. Success happens when the coaches are able to teach the players the right schemes and the players are able to execute those schemes.

Individual talent is important, but not the only thing. The Lions had Barry Sanders, arguably the best running back in the history of the game, and still managed to miss the playoffs almost every year.

Retail is far closer to football than the other sports. To be successful you have to have a game plan that not only fits the talent on your team, but also takes into account the talent and tendencies of your competitors. To be successful you need more than just a mega-star, you need a team working together. You might have the best salesperson on the planet, but all her hard work can be undone by an unskilled cashier or dirty restroom. She might not even get to use her skills if your website fails to deliver or the person answering your phones hasn’t been trained.

You can limp through retail with a bunch of mediocre 8-8 seasons, and even earn a living doing it. For some, that is enough. For those of you reading this blog, that isn’t enough. You want to taste the champagne.

So let me ask you …

  • Are you putting in the same kind of effort a football team puts into the scouting of new talent?
  • Are you studying your competition to help you create game plans for how you will beat them?
  • Are you hiring coaches (managers) who can teach your game plan to your team?
  • Are you evaluating your game plan on a regular basis?
  • Are you evaluating your talent and their ability to execute your game plan on a regular basis?

All football teams do this. The ones that do it best win divisions, win playoff games, win Super Bowls. Your competitors are doing this. When people talk about working “on” your business instead of “in” your business, those bullet points are the place for you to start.

Huddle up. Your season is upon you.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS In the coming weeks I will give you concrete actions you can do for all five of those bullet points. In the meantime, start figuring out what you need to do to give you more time on than in. You’re going to need it (and it will definitely pay off).

The Table Ad That Will Make You Cry

The salesman said something that has stuck in my head for over two decades. “Most people only buy one dining room set in their lifetime. If you buy it right, you have something that is passed down through the generations.”

He was right.

My aunt is still using the table my grandparents bought when she was young. I played cards at my cousin’s house at a table with initials carved in it from family members who were gone long before I was born. My own dining room table is twenty three years old and counting.

True Value created an ad that captures that sentiment perfectly. Watch it here. (Go ahead. I’ll wait.)

Here is the transcript from that ad …

During the depression my grandfather went hungry around this table.
Before leaving for Vietnam my uncle ate one of his last meals in America around this table.
This table has played host to everything from Christmas dinners to Grandma’s bridge tournaments to arguments about politics and sports.
This table has had fists pounded on it, pumpkins carved on it, and babies spit up on it.
Four generations of children have had to sit at this table until they ate all their vegetables, one of them just last week.
This table has a story. This table is a story. And the story doesn’t end any time soon.

This ad hits all the emotions of a dining room table perfectly. This ad is written for the Nostalgia crowd. That’s one of my core values which is why this ad resonates with me. It also fits most of the principles of a powerful ad.

This ad 1) tells a story, 2) speaks to the heart, 3) doesn’t look or sound like any other hardware store ad out there, 4) makes only one point – that we are the store for people who want to restore keepsakes and memories. 5) It speaks to the nostalgia crowd and the do-it-yourself tribe. 6) It covers enough universal memories that it could very well be your own table.

About the only thing it doesn’t do is connect you solidly back to the brand.

By itself, this is a highly emotional ad that makes you think about your own table and all the memories it holds. But it doesn’t make you think about True Value. To do that it needs to be a series of ads with a similar feel that over time will begin to resonate because it will tell an even larger story about the brand.

The important takeaway is that one great ad won’t necessarily move the needle. It is when you craft a series of ads, a campaign with the same style and flair that people come to recognize as you the instant the music or voice or image opens, then the magic begins to happen.

If True Value were to do a series of ads like this over a period of time, they would begin to own the hearts of the Nostalgia crowd. They would get the top of mind awareness for the people who share that sentiment and believe what they believe. They would establish themselves as the brand for those who want to restore and refinish and value the old-style craftsmanship. One ad won’t do that. One ad will make you think of tables. A series of ads gets you to think about the brand.

My favorite compliment about my advertising for Toy House was not about any individual ad. It was when people said they couldn’t wait to hear the next ad. It is the series of ads that truly speaks about your brand and tells your customers what you believe.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The ad copy is poetry. All great ad copy reads and sounds like poetry. Then again, the poet’s job has always been to take something you already knew, reframe your perspective, and make you feel something. Oh, and the ad-writer’s job is to take something your customers already know, reframe their perspective, and make them feel something. But you already know that.

We All Get a Little Rusty

Last Saturday at The Poison Frog Brewery I got to accompany Steve Tucker with my harmonica . It was the first time in a while I got to really blow some blues as we did an entire set together. I have jammed with Steve a few times before. He’s an amazing musical talent and knows how to make those who play with him sound better. All the drunks at the bar agreed I sounded pretty good.

The truth is, I knew better. I wasn’t at my best. It took me the whole first song just to find a groove, and I was totally winded at several points, which is hard to do considering you play harmonica by breathing in and out.

I was a little rusty.

That’s me on the left checking off the bucket list.

I’ve been playing harp for over 34 years. I play in my car driving down the road (one hand always on the wheel). I play when I’m playing guitar at The Poison Frog. I have played with the bands at several trade show parties. I even played on stage at The House of Blues in Chicago (bucket list!!)

But I hadn’t played in over a week when Steve asked if I had any harps on me (which, of course, I did, as most harmonica players always do).

I was a little rusty. If you only heard the opening of the first song, you wouldn’t have been impressed. If you stayed for the entire set, it got much better.

Here’s the lesson in all of this. I was prepared to play harp. I brought three different harps in different keys to the brew pub where a guy I have played with before was performing. Yet, because I hadn’t been practicing, the start was a little rough.

If you want to be at your peak, you have to practice. If you want to be the best sales person to every customer, you have to be practicing. You can’t just toss out the first customer as a “warm-up”. You have to be ready to perform at peak every morning when you turn the key on the front door.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice. How do you get to the top of the business game? Practice. How do you make sure every single customer gets your best? Practice. We all get a little rusty. We all need to practice.

Next time Steve Tucker plays, not only will I have the harps in my pocket, I’ll be blowing the blues in the car on my way to the bar (one hand always on the wheel).

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. There is the long-term preparation (training programs) and there is the short-term preparation (shaking off the rust before the first customer walks through the door).

If you need caffeine to start your day, have a plan and maybe even a back-up plan. Lack of coffee is a poor excuse for bad customer service.

If you need to free your mind a little before you greet the customer, then start your day a little earlier so that you have time for meditation or spiritual rejuvenation.

If you need to meet with your staff for five minutes before you open shop, then schedule them to start 20 minutes before you open so that they all make it on time and you don’t have to rush.

Breaking Down the Typical Car Ad

My son wrote an amazing car ad right off the top of his head. He did it in response to the boring-to-downright-excruciatingly-bad car ads we were seeing while watching football over the weekend.

You know the kind of car ad I’m talking about.

  1. It starts with a close up of the curves and shiny paint job of some new car while a voice talks in hushed tones about beauty or design or craftsmanship.
  2. Then you see the full vehicle driving on a winding road through the mountains or doing donuts on the salt flats of Utah or cruising through some generic downtown while the words “professional driver on a closed circuit” flash briefly at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Then the vehicle is parked. If it is an SUV it is on top of a mountain with a panoramic view. If it is a sedan or sports car then it is shot from above looking down on the car with a city landscape in the background. (Or in Buick’s case – both!)
  4. Then big numbers flash on the screen with a bunch of small print, and a voice telling you in rapid-fire, small-print kind of speech that if you work for the company you can get some amazing deal on a lease or something like that.

Outside of the testimonial ads*, isn’t that pretty much 80-90% of the car ads out there?

Let’s break down what these ads are telling you.

Scene 1, the opening shot, is supposed to subliminally suggest sex. The hushed tones, the close-ups, the reveal-a-little-but-not-the-whole-thing. Yeah, that’s the tease to get you interested. The problem is that most of the vehicles tend to be morphing into each other to the point you can’t tell them apart without their logo. Right now Mazda is running an ad where the vehicle is completely covered on the outside while people test drive it and then they reveal the logo at the end to the driver’s surprise. If you can’t tell a Mazda from a BMW by the shape of the car, does design really matter that much? For years now Buick has been running ads about how people can’t even recognize that the car is a Buick. So much for design branding.

Scene 2, the driving sequence, shows the car going through its paces, not your paces. You won’t ever get to do donuts on the salt flats or go speeding around traffic-free, hairpin turns in the mountains. You’d like to do that. But you won’t. You aren’t a “professional driver on a closed circuit”. How does it handle stop-and-go traffic during rush hour? How tight is the turning radius for pulling into the parking lot at Costco? How bad are the blind spots when you’re backing up out of the drive? For 99% of the buyers, that’s more relevant than mountain driving, anyway.

Scene 3, the parked vehicle, is the glamour shot. They all finish with the glamour shot. Supposedly this is so you can recognize their car from all the other similar looking cars when you finally go out to buy one. The shot signifies that we are nearing the end of the ad. This wouldn’t be bad if there had been some kind of story coming to an end. This wouldn’t be so bad if it actually was the end. But it isn’t.

The glamour shot is simply the background to Scene 4, the offer. Big, bold numbers and a bunch of fine print showing up telling you that if you work for the company and are approved you can get some version of this vehicle “right now” for only $999 down and $230 a month. This part of the ad drives me crazy.

First, the deal they are offering comes with pages of fine print, the first being you have to be an employee to get this deal. Really? You’re paying millions for this commercial to tell the 209,000 people of GM about a sale just for them? Why not send them an email and save a few million? Otherwise, you’re just telling the 317 million people who don’t work for GM that they will have to pay more.

Second, no one actually gets that deal. No one. The car has too many extra features or you aren’t fully approved with an 850 credit score.

Third, the deal takes away from any of the feelings the ad may have stirred (granted not many feelings, but still …). The ad goes from one about how sleek, sexy, powerful, luxurious, rugged, adventurous, green, and quiet the vehicle is to, “Hey, it’s on sale!!!!” The person looking for a deal doesn’t care about all those other adjectives. The person who cares about those adjectives is less concerned about the deal. The offer waters down the message for both groups.

No matter how you slice it, these ads don’t speak to your heart. They don’t tell you a compelling story. They try to make more points than anyone could remember. They look and sound like everyone else. Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep, Lexus, Nissan, even Kia are all spending millions without moving the needle.

When you go to create your ads for your business, do me one favor. Don’t fall into the trap of, “Well, the big companies do this so it must be right,” kind of thinking. I’ve just shown you how really big companies can do things incredibly wrong.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS *Even the Chevy ads with “real” people showing off their awards and using testimonials aren’t nearly as effective as they think. One study shows that more people find these kinds of ads less believable than find them more believable.

PPS Sorry. I just made it impossible for you to watch any more car ads without thinking about this post. Hopefully you’ll laugh more than cry about the absurdity of them all. Me? I die a little inside each time.

PPPS I went back and looked at the car ads from the UM football game. Lexus swaps out driving in the mountains with driving in a black gigantic showroom of some kind. Nissan shows cars driving on a football field. Like either of those is going to happen in real life.

This is the Ad We Wish They Would Write

I spent the weekend watching college football. I went to my first game at age seven to watch the University of Michigan whomp on the Navy. I was hooked. I became the third generation of my family to graduate from Jackson High and get a degree from UM. (My oldest son is working on becoming the fourth generation.) I only applied to one school and only applied for one reason—it was the easiest way to get football tickets! (Mom says the reason I stayed a fifth year was to keep those tickets one more season. She was right!)

Image result for college footballI love watching college football games on TV, too. Except for one thing—the horrible TV ads! Even my younger son rolls his eyes and scoffs at the lousy ads we see. We wonder who in their right mind listened to the pitches for these ads and green-lighted them.

“Okay, we’ll have this hamster because hamsters are furry and fun and sell almost as well as teddy bears. But this one will be in a hospital, wearing a diaper. And, get this … he’ll make a daring escape from the hospital to action-packed music, running faster than anyone expected, zooming around the hospital employees. Just before he leaps off the top of the hospital to freedom, he’ll grab a green blanket to use as a parachute and glide perfectly through the sunroof of our car—also driven by hamsters, because everyone knows that if hamsters will break out of human hospitals to be in our cars, humans will want to break out of hospitals to buy them, too.”

Really, Kia? That’s moving the needle for you?

My younger son is in high school, but after watching the hamster ad for the umpteenth time, he wrote a car ad in twenty seconds with only two words that will move you to tears and send you to the dealership.

Here it is …

Scene 1: Daddy gives his young daughter her own pony.

Scene 2: A montage of the girl and the pony growing up together, learning to ride, riding like the wind, winning ribbons and medals, becoming a team.

Scene 3: The girl, now sixteen, is riding her pony across a huge open field when they spot a herd of 299 horses in the distance. The pony stops and looks back at the girl. A tear forms on the girl’s cheek. She slides off her pony, removes the saddle and bridle, and sends the pony to go join the herd, slapping it on the rear while choking out the words … “It’s time.” 

Scene 4: The pony runs off to join the herd of horses which then meld into a brand new 300-horsepower Mustang.

Scene 5: The girl climbs behind the wheel of her new Mustang still feeling a little nostalgic and sad. She hears a noise and smiles as she looks up to see her horse’s bridle hanging from the rearview mirror.

Scene 6: The girl drives her Mustang off into the sunset. The tagline at the bottom reads, “When it’s time …”

Fade out … (None of those cheesy tags on the end to ruin it with prices that mean nothing when you’re actually on the showroom floor picking out your model)

Ford, you can make the check out to Ian.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The beauty of this ad is that without Ian having read my new book Most Ads Suck (But Yours Won’t), he crafted an ad in mere seconds that 1) Told a Story that relates to buying a car, 2) Spoke to the Heart about a rite of passage—getting your first car, 3) Made only One Point that we grow up and replace our childhood items with adult items, 4) Spoke to the tribe of women who owned or wanted to own a pony, and 5) Doesn’t look or sound like any other car ad out there. That’s five of the six principles in the book!

My son is planning to go to college to study computers, but if you are an advertising agency, you might want to snatch him up before the digital world gets him. I watched a lot of football and a lot of commercials this weekend. You could use him.

PPS If you don’t have a daughter, wouldn’t ever give your daughter a pony, or can’t stand Ford vehicles on principle, this ad won’t speak to you. Choose who to lose. But every guy who ever gave his daughter a pony will be watching, as will every woman who ever wanted a pony, whether she got one or not. That’s still a pretty big audience.

PPPS The best thing every car ad in America could do right now that would make their ads significantly better would be to drop those end tags about how much down, how much a month, because those prices are NEVER what anyone actually pays (even if you are a “fully qualified GM employee”). Those tags take away from the rest of the ad and turn what might have been a solid branding message into a transactional ad with a message that belies trust instead of building it. Just sayin’ …

A Trip That Pays For Itself

Ever have one of those amazing meals you just have to tell everyone about? I’ve been blessed to have had several. One took place in New York City.

I was there for Toy Fair several years ago when a sales rep invited me to dinner. It was a Danny Meyer restaurant, legendary for amazing customer service. Being a customer service junkie, I had read a lot about Mr. Meyer and his restaurants. Needless to say, I was excited.

Image result for gramercy tavernEver have one of those moments where the hype was so high, no one could possibly live up to it?

This was NOT one of those moments. The service was spectacular!! Our waitress anticipated everything we could ever need and was there before we asked. At the end of the meal she came by our table with small goodie bags for each of us. There had been a private party earlier and there were a bunch of leftover truffles that she had, “hand-selected based on what you ordered for dinner and dessert.” Nailed it!

If I owned a restaurant in NYC, I would pay for my wait-staff to regularly eat at a restaurant like that. It would be the best training money could buy. Let them see what awesome service is supposed to look like so that they can offer it when they work, too.

That’s one of the biggest problems with customer service in retail right now. There are so many examples of bad service your staff experience every day that they rarely ever see the level of service you want them to provide. Every day your staff go out into the marketplace and interact with stores that have poor customer service. It is poor to you, the customer service junkie, but to your staff it is the norm. It is all they see.

If you want to make an impact on them in a lasting way, take your marketing budget for this quarter and instead blow it on a weekend retreat for your staff to a Ritz-Carlton with a shopping spree to Nordstrom’s (and if you’re near Seattle, make a side trip to Pike’s Place Fish Market). Show them what true top-notch service looks like. Let them experience it. Then sit down and talk about it.

Ask them what was different. Ask them what made it special. Ask them how it made them feel. Ask them if they would like to be treated this way all the time. Ask them how their life would be different if this was the norm instead of Walmart. Ask them what your store needs to do to be spoken in the same breath as these places.

Your Return on Investment may be the best staff training money you’ve ever spent.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS This post came about from a recent restaurant trip where the waitress was so bad, we wondered if she had ever eaten out herself and had any concept of what a waitress should do. If all your staff has ever experienced is Walmart and Target, they have no understanding when you speak to them about customer service. Help them live a little.

PPS Maybe the Ritz and Nordstrom’s aren’t in your budget. Next best thing to do is give them all a gift certificate to the one place in your town known for legendary customer service, be it restaurant, retail, or other. It will pay off. (Note: if you are that place with the legendary service, keep up the good work!)

PPPS Wonder how Danny Meyer got his team to the pinnacle? Read this article about how he takes care of his team and his customers. It tells you all you need to know.

A Fresh Set of Eyes Sees What You’re Missing

Get in a circle of store owners and say the words “Mystery Shopper” and watch the eyes begin to roll. We all hate them or, if that’s too strong a word, think quite low of them.

The problem? Mystery shoppers tend to only take a snapshot of a single moment in your store with no regards to what is going on around them. They evaluate your entire operation based on one interaction, one done-under-false-pretenses-just-to-see-how-you-react interaction at the most inopportune time with the least talented member of your team.

Not fair.

The biggest problem with the Mystery Shopper concept is that most business owners are quick to dismiss the findings as being only a snapshot in time and not a true reflection of your business.

Then again, a new customer walking through your doors will only get a snapshot of a single moment in your store with no regards to what is going on around them. The only difference is that this customer won’t offer you any feedback to help you improve.

You need a fresh set of eyes. You need someone else to help you see the flaws that have blended into the landscape. You need someone to:

  • Look at the appearance of the store from the front. Is it clean? Is it inviting?
  • Walk through the door and give you an honest first impression. Does it smell funny? Is it inviting?
  • Look at the little details like signage and order and cleanliness and lighting and decor. Does the store look or feel worn and dated? Does the store feel dark and dirty or bright and happy? Do the signs even apply anymore? Does the merchandising draw you in?
  • Get a first impression of the staff. Are they welcoming or huddled for safety and comfort?

A fresh set of eyes can identify the subtle turn-offs you stopped seeing years ago. A fresh set of eyes can show you what you look like at your worst, which is far more important than what you look like at your best.

Before listing my house I had a few fresh sets of eyes look it over. We found a door that needed painting. We found a roof area that needed cleaning. We found some rooms that needed re-decorating. We found an outlet cover that was broken. We found paint peeling on the outdoor furniture. We found a mess of cobwebs in the light at the end of the driveway. We found bushes and tree branches and vines that needed trimming. We found a tree that needed to be cut down. We found thirty two cans of paint that needed to be removed.

Individually those are all minor in the grand scheme of life. Collectively, however, they create a perception different from the one I want the people looking at my house to feel. It took more than one fresh set of eyes to find it all.

Get a few friends, preferably ones who do not regularly shop in your store (I know you have them—we all have them). Give them a list of things you want them to notice (the above list is a good start). Then invite them all over to your house for pizza and beer and sharing. You’ll be amazed at what they see, and if you’re honest enough to listen to them without getting defensive, you’ll make sure the “worst” experience anyone has in your store is better than the best at your competitors.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Don’t think you aren’t blind to seeing things right under your nose. We all are. When I closed Toy House, we found almost $10,000 worth of “missing” merchandise that had been written out of stock over the years. Most of it was in places we looked almost every day. We found signs that should have been taken down years ago. Get some fresh eyes in your store now before the holiday rush starts creeping up on you. That’s worth a few pizzas and beer, right?

Visualization Makes the Sale

Today I signed the papers to list my house for sale. I did this a little over a year ago, had the house listed for a year without a single offer. I took it off the market at the end of July, put in a lot of work on little things like painting more rooms, upgrading some appliances, landscaping, etc. I also took some time to stage the rooms better, take new photos, and write a new description. We’re doing things differently this time. Today it goes back on the market. I’ll keep you posted on what happens.

Ask any real estate agent the true key to getting a house sold and they will tell you it is getting the buyer to visualize already being in the home. The agent asks you questions like …

  • “How will you lay out your furniture in the family room?”
  • “Which bedrooms will your kids want?”
  • “What do you see yourself doing in this space?”

While facts and data are important in the buying process, visualization is what seals the deal.

I can tell you that the house has 4 spacious bedroom, 2.5 bathrooms, a downstairs office, first-floor laundry, and a three-car attached garage. You’ll analyze that data and process that information. But as long as you are in analytical mode, you’re not in buying mode. You’re gathering data and will continue to gather data.

I have to get you beyond the facts and get you to see yourself doing the behavior I want.

  • “The beauty of this southern-facing driveway is that on light snow days you will be sleeping in while your neighbors are out shoveling because you know it will melt quickly once the sun comes out out in the afternoon.”
  • “With bedrooms this large, when you say, ‘Go to your room!’ your kids will think it is a positive, not a punishment.”
  • “This no outlet road is exactly a quarter mile long. Two loops and you and your dog will have your mile in without any annoying traffic.”

The same is true in all retail. You have to get customers beyond the facts of the item you’re trying to sell and get them to visualize using it.

  • “The battery life of this drill is three times longer. Have you ever been working on a project and run out of battery at the worst possible time? Remember that frustration? Won’t happen with this unit.”
  • “You’ll love this feature of your stroller. You know how annoying the wheels squeak after you’ve used it for a while? These wheels pop off so easily it will only take you seconds to clean them and hit the road running smoothly and quietly again.”
  • “Think of the best picture you ever took with your phone. Now imagine that same picture with twice the clarity and detail. You won’t have to recolor it digitally, either, since this camera picks up twice the color, too. You’ll have more ‘favorite photos’ than you have wall space to hang them all.”

Or simply …

  • “How do you plan to use this?”

Facts have a place. But facts don’t close the sale as quickly and efficiently as visualization. Get your customers to see themselves using the product and you’ll close the sale more often.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Here is the new “ad copy” for the listing of the house (1000 character limit). The listing already has the facts so I go lighter on those. The ad-copy adds visualization to why those facts are important.

There is a lot to love about this house. The first thing you’ll fall in love with is the space. Plenty of room for big gatherings and a perfect layout for when you want some time to yourself.

You’ll love your mornings in the sun-filled kitchen, your views from the office, and your sunsets streaming through the trees.

You’ll love the neighborhood—quiet and secure, yet only half a mile from grocery and restaurants.

You’ll love the size of the bedrooms and closet space big enough for everything you own, organized and easy to find.

The huge full basement, first-floor laundry, and easy-entry 3-car attached garage are just icing on the cake. And the sun-drenched southern driveway is like chocolate sprinkles on top!

With a new roof and fairly new appliances, this house has everything you need. The kitchen is dated—but completely functional—and will serve you well until you decide to build the kitchen of your dreams and turn this house into the home you’ve always wanted.

Take a tour today!

PPS Notice how I used the one downside in the copy? The one complaint we received over and over from the first listing was that the kitchen is dated. Sure it is. But it is fully functional with solid cherry cabinets, fairly new appliances, and high quality drawers. I let you know up front that you’ll want to change the kitchen soon so that you’ll walk in knowing that in advance. Now, instead of a negative, it is an expectation and gets you thinking of how you will remake the kitchen of your dreams. Visualization.