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The Mortar Between Your Bricks

They call us Brick & Mortar stores. Physical locations where you go to pick out and pick up your goods.

But many stores are simply Brick stores – no mortar. Those are the stores being Showroomed.

Bricks are the products. Bricks are the items you choose to put into your store. Bricks are the items you buy, hoping to sell for a profit. Bricks are the reason you believe customers will beat a path to your door.

Oh, but you would be wrong on that last one.

Sure, you better have some nice bricks. But everyone knows that just stacking a bunch of bricks will not build a sustainable structure. Anyone can come by and knock it down.

Mortar is the glue that holds the bricks together. You need a good mortar.

Mortar is the staff you hire and train. Hire the right people and train them well. Give them autonomy to do the job they are capable of doing, mastery to do it better each successive time, and a purpose greater than themselves that will motivate them to do their best.

Mortar is the way you service and take care of your customers. Build policies around your Values. Build policies around the Feelings you hope to give your customers. Build policies around Delight, around going above and beyond what your customers expect.

Mortar is the way you invest in your community. Mortar is the charities you support, the issues you champion, the involvement and commitment you make to the greater good.

Mortar is the special touches you offer. Mortar is turning off the overhead music when an autistic child enters your store because you know it bothers him. Mortar is carrying the heavy item out to the car – even though it is parked hundreds of feet away – so that mom can manage the stroller and the toddler who wants to walk. Mortar is calling that customer who really wanted your sold-out, discontinued science set because somebody returned one the next day. Mortar is saying Yes! when everyone else says No.

The stronger your mortar, the stronger your store, regardless of which bricks you use.

Bricks are everywhere. The bricks that make up your store can be found online, in hundreds of other stores, all over the place. They can be found right in your customer’s pocket, one click away. If you want to make it in this retail climate, you need some incredibly good mortar.

Tell me what is your mortar?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Mortar is also your financial strength, your ability to manage your inventory and cash flow, your ability to manage your expenses and cost of goods. The best retailers find ways to strengthen their mortar everywhere they can. If you are in the Jackson area and want to strengthen the mortar in your store, sign up for the Jackson Retail Success Academy class starting in January.

Call Me Farmer Phil

A toy store in December. Time to harvest the crops. Time to gather the rewards from a long year of planning and preparing for this moment.

Yet here we are still planting seeds.

Check out this FB post from a customer…

We’re always impressed with customer service at the Toy House, but yesterday was over the top. Our family was there because our son was picking out a gift for our daughter’s birthday. He asked me about a ride-along horse which I told him was fine, and he raced off, I assumed, to tell my husband. The next thing I knew a Toy House employee was asking me if I was XXXX’s mom. I said, yes, and she said that my son was asking if they could wrap the toy for his sister’s birthday. She wanted to know if it was okay, and they would go ahead, remove the tag, and wrap it for him, and we could pay when we were ready to go. I appreciated them taking the time to interact with my son (and tracking me down) instead of just brushing off his desires to get something for his sister. Thanks again, Toy House, for the continued hard work and great customer service!”

Planting the seeds for the next generation of Toy House shoppers.

If you are in a retail business like mine, where your primary target outgrows you, you have to always be farming, always be planting seeds for the next harvest.

I have to grow a new crop pretty much every year, so I am always in planting mode. You should be, too. Here are some ways to plant seeds.

Treat everyone in your store the same wonderful way, regardless of how much money they spend. Today’s small spender might be on a tight budget, but might know some friends and relatives who are not. She might also find her luck has changed next year.

Treat everyone in your store the same wonderful way, regardless of how they behave. You don’t know the journey they are on or the troubles they are facing. Have compassion and kindness. Understand that this is just today. Tomorrow will come and tomorrow will be different. It always is.

Pay attention to the memories and feelings you are creating. We are emotional beings. We remember feelings long after we forget the facts. Design your policies, choose your staff, and build your store around the feelings you want people to associate with your business.

Call me Farmer Phil. I’m off to go plant some more seeds.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Here is a seed worth watering… If you are a retailer in the Jackson area and you want to take your business to the next level, check out www.JacksonRetailSuccessAcademy.com. A new class is starting in January.

Redefining the Terms

You don’t sell products. You sell feelings.

The jeweler doesn’t sell diamond rings. The jeweler sells the look on her face when he opens the box and asks, “Will you marry me?”

The shoe salesman doesn’t sell shoes. The shoe salesman sells the bounce in your step and the self-confidence you have when your feet feel good.

The toy store doesn’t sell toys. The toy store sells play value and imagination and creativity.

You and I get this. Our customers don’t.

Not because they can’t, but because the big chains won’t let them. Especially the discounters. They are trying to commoditize everything you sell. Make it all about the price. It isn’t about which toys you buy, but how many. The big chains know you can outperform them on getting the right items. They want to make sure the customers don’t even think about that. They’re winning, too, because we allow them to control the conversation.

They talk about the products. We talk about the products. We’re speaking their language. We need to instead talk about the feelings.

We need to talk less about the products we sell and more about how our products make the customer feel. We need to talk about the emotions behind the products, the emotions behind the purchases, the feelings we create.

We need to bring the importance of the purchase, the reason for the purchase back to the forefront.

When you write your ad copy, whether for print, broadcast or social media, ask yourself two questions.

  1. Is this copy about the product or the feeling?
  2. How can I make it more about the feeling?

The more you do that, the more you change the conversation back to one you will win.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS For example, here are two radio ads I have run this fall to change the conversation. These are the left-brained, logical ads. The more emotional ads run next month.

We Sell Play Value
Over the next couple months a bunch of stores will start advertising to you about toys. They’re talking about the wrong thing. You don’t buy toys. You buy Play Value. You don’t buy toys; you buy creativity and imagination. You don’t buy toys, you buy engagement and fun. You can forgive them for not knowing this. They only sell toys part time. We sell Play Value all year long. That’s why you shop at Toy House and Baby Too in downtown Jackson. We’re here to make you smile.

Made Up Lists
Fortunately, you guys are smart. You know all those Hot Toy Lists are fake, phony, decided in some backroom meeting months ago. Designed to get you to buy what they want to sell. As if your kids were sheep and only happy if they got one of the “hot” toys.  That’s not you. That’s not us. We aren’t going to hype you into buying what we want to sell. We’re going to help you find what works best for you. Over twice the selection of the big chains, ten times the play value, and none of the hype. Toy House in downtown Jackson. We’re here to make you smile.

Your Store is an Extension of You

I’ve been preaching this point for a number of years. 

What is important to you is what you will focus on in your store.
We have always been a prompt store. We close at 6:00pm, but we turn out half the lights at 5:55pm and start the process of closing down cash registers while customers are still in the store. We often have the doors locked and are clearing out before the last car has left the parking lot.
Yeah, deep down I know that we are not giving our best customer service at this time because the appearance is that we are in a hurry to leave. Yet, we’ve always done it this way.
Then it dawned on me.
My mom is all about being on time. She still gives me grief for being born a day late. Says I’ve been late ever since. Promptness is one of her Core Values. She lives the Shakespeare quote, “Better three hours too early than one minute too late.” She got this trait from her mom, who with my grandpa founded Toy House.
For forty-four years prior to my arrival, this was one of the dominating traits of the people in charge and it became our method of operation. We open on time (or early) and we close on time. 
Period. Unquestioned. Customer Service be damned.
Your store is an extension of you and what you believe. It is an extension of your values. Your policies and your procedures reflect what you hold dear. Whether you do it consciously or subconsciously.
All I ask is that you do it consciously.
-Phil Wrzesinski
PS I work hard to push the idea that the last customer of the day gets the same wonderful service as the first customer of the day. But perception is reality. We could very well be undoing all the good we did servicing the customer by being in such a hurry to close up.

Are You Planning or Learning?

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

None of us did.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

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

What Do You Sell?

I don’t sell toys. I sell Play Value.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

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

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

Inspiration and Creativity

“Where do you get your inspiration for the ads you run on the radio?”
“Where do you get the creativity for the ads you run on the radio?”

I doubt a week goes by where I am not asked at least one of those questions.

My stock response is that’s the fun part of my job. Here is the real answer…


INSPIRATION

I love quotes. They inspire me. I type words into ThinkExist.com and just start reading. Sometimes a great quote is all I need to spark the engine.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” -Pablo Picasso

I love to read. Fiction and non-fiction. Children’s books and adult books. I wrote an entire book on hiring because of this line in the children’s book Taran Wanderer (book #4 of The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander.)

“Before you learn the craft, you must first learn the clay.” -Annlaw Clay-Shaper

I listen. To music. To talk-radio. To interviews and podcasts. To comedians (I love comedians). I wrote a song after hearing a comedian’s routine about road signs when he said…

“I saw a sign along the highway that said ‘Gas Food’ and decided I was no longer hungry. Glad I didn’t stop. The next exit had a sign for a Gas Food Hospital.” (-unknown)


CREATIVITY

Is creativity something you’re born with, or something you learn? I think both. I think some people (like my sister) pop out of the womb with a talent that cannot be denied. I think the rest of us can learn creativity by learning to not be afraid of criticism and failure. I am bolstered by this quote…

“I haven’t failed. I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” -Thomas Edison

I am also bolstered in my ad writing by this little exercise Roy H. Williams, aka The Wizard of Ads made me do…

Quick, write down the percentage of your traffic that is repeat business. Customers who come in time and time again. Now write down how much of your traffic is referral business. Customers who are in because one of your repeat business customers told them to stop by. What is left?

When I did this, I wrote down 60% for the repeat, and 25% for the referral. That left only 15% of my traffic that is location/advertising driven. When your advertising only accounts for 15% of your traffic, you can take some more risks and be a little more crazy.

Creativity for most of us is like a muscle. The more you work it, the stronger it becomes. Writing this blog is like doing a dozen push-ups. Writing emails and Facebook posts is like taking a half-mile jog. Writing songs and books is like taking a spinning class or six. Writing a thirty-second ad that is interesting, tells a story, makes only one point, and connects emotionally is like doing 60-second planks ten times a day.

“I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.” -Blaise Pascal

And one last quote…

“Now you know the rest of the story.” -Paul Harvey

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS One of my goals is to write a short story all from famous quotes by other people. That would sure take some creativity.

PPS I don’t know if my percentages of repeat and referral business are accurate. They probably aren’t. That’s quite okay by me. I got what I needed out of the exercise – to take more risks with my advertising. Consider it just one of those 10,000 ideas Edison learned from.

Pump Up the Values

We took a look at our Core Values of Having Fun, Helpful, Educational and Nostalgic to see where we might be lacking. If you’ve read Understanding Your Brand then you know the importance of making sure your business shows your core values in everything you do.

Having Fun: We have toys out for demo all throughout the store. I lost count well north of fifty different items out for people to try. We have Story Time, Game Night and special events throughout the year. Yes, we are having fun.

Helpful: Free Giftwrapping, Free Layaway, Delivery & Assembly, Car Seat Installation, Personal Shoppers… Yeah, we have helpful covered, too.

Educational: Free classes on how to buy toys and baby products? Check. Signs throughout the store to educate customers on how to buy different types of toys? Check. Brochures on smart toy shopping? Check. Toys that are educational by nature? Check.

Nostalgic: Hmm… We have been in business since 1949, but just saying that doesn’t necessarily evoke feelings of nostalgia. At Christmas when we have the lights and decorations up, we get that warm, fuzzy nostalgic feeling, but what about the rest of the year? We celebrate birthdays by ringing a thirty-two pound brass bell. That is good, but we can do more.

Nostalgia is defined as a sentimental yearning of a past period. I am working on three new projects to add more Nostalgia into the store.

The first is a photo gallery of our old store along with some old toys produced locally (on loan from the local museum). The second is a milepost sign with directional arrows pointing toward real and fictional places that will take you back to fond memories. The third is a take on the Before I Die campaign that Candy Chang started in New Orleans. We will have chalkboards with the Before I die… statement as Candy did, along with chalkboards of My favorite toy was…

Sentimental yearnings of past periods.

Your business has Core Values. You have to play up those values in everything you do. Everything. Not only you will make your brand stand out in the crowd, you will attract a better breed of customers, customers who share your values.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Don’t know your Core Values? Do this worksheet. Figure out who you are and what you do to show those values. Then pump up the volume on the values not being shown as much. It might not make a difference today, but it will tomorrow. You are in business for tomorrow, aren’t you?

Business Boot Camp This Thursday

This Thursday, August 8, 2013, I will be holding a four-hour Business Boot Camp on Marketing and Advertising.

Four hours of world-class information on Branding and how to make yours stand out in the crowd.

Four hours of deconstructing the myths of Advertising, unlearning all those things uninformed advertising sales weasels people tried to teach you.

Four hours of unveiling the mistakes that even the big boys with billion-dollar budgets make every single day.

Four hours of clarifying how ads work, why ads work, where ads work and what you should do make yours work, too.

Four hours of making your ads more memorable, powerful, and effective without spending a penny more on your budget.

Four hours of getting you to think, laugh, and maybe even cry.

Four hours to turn your advertising around and make sure it performs to its best so that you can perform to your best.

Are you in?

Call the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce at (517) 782-8221 to sign up. Cost is only $99.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Yes, you get all that for $99. It should be $2000. At that price you would think there must be something to the class. You wouldn’t sign up – not in your budget – but you’d think the class was more valuable. Isn’t it funny how we give value to information based on what it costs?

If it makes you feel any better, what you will learn cost me thousands of dollars to learn. Plus, I have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars testing it to know that it works. The Chamber and I are only charging a small fee because we want to see this spread.

Showing Your Values

I am digging through old archives of our store. One of the Core Values of our business is Nostalgia. We are putting together a display of old pictures and old advertisements from the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Tim Miles wrote a great post on whether or not you should use how long you’ve been in business as part of your advertising. You know, phrases like “serving your family since 1979.”

My answer to that is… only if your start date has something to do with the Core Values of your store. What happened in 1979 that got you to start serving families? Why do you serve families? Why does 34 years of history mean anything?

Nostalgia is part of our culture. We sell toys and baby products, so we get customers for the birth, the birthdays, and Christmas. We’ve been selling toys for over 60 years so we have multiple generations of customers. Not a week goes by without at least one customer telling me about visiting the old store (we moved to our current location in 1967).

There are better ways to show Nostalgia than simply saying when we opened.

For instance, here is a radio ad we ran back in 2006 about an event that happened in 1965…

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

True story? Check.
Speaks to the heart? Check.
Consistent with our Core Value of Nostalgia? Check.
Lets people know we’ve been in business a really long time without just saying the date? Check.

Roy H. Williams said branding is every single interaction a customer has with your business plus how she feels about it. Control the interactions, build them around your Core Values, and you control the feelings.

Are you showing your Core Values both in the store and in your ads? You should. It works.
-Phil Wrzesinski
PS Nostalgia is a powerful emotion. We tend to get a far stronger response from our Nostalgic ads and Nostalgic posts on Facebook than anything else we do. Of all your Core Values, you need to find the one that resonates most deeply with your customers, then build your message from that value. One way to find out is to post messages and pictures to your Facebook page showing different values and see what gets the best response.