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Category: Customer Expectations

Yes, I Forgot

The first phone call this morning was a guy wanting to know more details about the play we were hosting this afternoon.

Play?  You sure you’re calling the right place?

He was.  A month or so ago I had agreed to allow the Michigan Shakespeare Festival’s Shakespeare for Kids program to do a performance of Snow White here at the store.  I wrote it down in my calendar but forgot all about it.  I never mentioned it to the staff.  I never put up flyers, sent out emails, posted it on Facebook.

I forgot.

At this point some store owners would panic.  Some would fret about the missed opportunities.  Some would beat themselves up over it.  Some would wallow in the mistake.

I’m not that kind of guy.

I went to the grocery store and stocked up on waters.  I printed a few quick and simple signs.  I got on Facebook.  My staff posted the signs around the store, made a special display of Shakespeare books, and made a stage and seating area for the performance.

Before too long, the phone was ringing off the hook.  By 1pm we had a few dozen children sitting on the floor, another couple dozen adults sitting in chairs, and three fabulous actors putting on a wonderful show.  The kids laughed, made bird sounds, became trees and a few even got recruited to be dwarfs.

Parent after parent came up to thank us for the event.  There was a line to sign our Guest Book.  And the kids had a ball!

Lesson?  Sometimes you make mistakes.  Sometimes you forget.  When you do, you can take two paths, one of woe or one of WOW.  Yes, we might have gotten a bigger crowd if I looked at my calendar more often.  More importantly, those customers who were in the crowd had an awesome time and never knew of the mistakes I had made.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  No matter what, never lament the customers that aren’t there.  Celebrate the ones who are and make it as special for them as you can.

PPS  And always look at your calendar at least a few days in advance.

Are Your Staff Experts?

Of course they are experts!  You trained them to be experts.  Here is an easy way to prove to your customers that your staff are experts.

I saw this at The Harvard Book Store.  Each staff member made a recommendation including a little card with a reason why they suggested that particular book.

Two things impressed me about this.

First, they have a lot of staff with a wide variety of backgrounds.  I knew just from looking at this display that I would most likely find someone that could help me.  Trust is a huge factor when you are going after the Relational Customer.

Second, the staff knew their stuff.  I only had a few minutes to spend in the store and I spent most of it reading their recommendations.  They had excellent reasons for each book, which only added to the trust factor for me.

Staff recommendations are a simple way to prove your mettle to your customers.  Just be sure to do it right.  Here are four things to do when setting up a staff recommendations section in your store.

  • Make sure everyone on the staff does it.  Go big or go home.
  • Make selections from a wide variety of departments.  Give every customer a reason to stop and see.
  • Give good reasons for each suggestion so that a customer will know instantly if that is the product for her. Explain who will benefit from the product and what those benefits will be.
  • Make sure the items are in stock.  Quick way to destroy trust is to get a customer sold on a product you don’t have.

You have spent hours training your staff to be experts.  Make sure your customers know how smart (and helpful) your staff can be.  Staff Recommendations are one easy way to do that.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The only downside to this display was that it was tucked out of the way.  I only found it because I was getting out of another customer’s way.   It was up front, right by the door, but tucked behind two big poster signs for new book releases.  Make sure yours is easily visible.

What You DID Build

There is a lot of furor over President Obama’s statement,

“If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.”

I know when I first read it, it made my blood boil.  Then I stopped, took a deep breath and went looking for the complete quote to see how it had to have been taken out of context.  Did you, too?  The next thing I did was look for all the usual rants and raves from all sides.  Predictable.

I think the best take on the whole matter was written by The Washington Examiner’s Senior Editorial Writer Philip Klein (great first name).  Enough said on that issue.

Instead of my own rants on the subject, I have two other thoughts.

First, we can argue until the cows come home about what he actually meant.  And that won’t accomplish a single thing.  Arguing won’t build a road or a business.  Businesses have to be built by someone who is willing to quit arguing and start doing.  You cannot argue or complain yourself to success. You should also get all the help you can. There are resources out there for you.  I like to remember what Harry S. Truman said,

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”.

So go out there and build.  Build what you can.  Build with your heart.  Build with your mind.  Build with passion.  Be proud of what you build.  Be amazed.  Be humble.  Yes, you took all the risks and did all the heavy lifting, and you got some help along the way.  As Sir Isaac Newton reminds us,

“If I have seen farther than others, it is because I am standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Second, although passion drove you to build your business, control your passion enough to let wisdom and patience guide you as well.  When a customer or sales rep or vendor (or President) says something that makes your blood boil, stop, take a deep breath and try to see the other side of the story.  You cannot control what other people say, only how you respond to them.

The one thing we all can build is goodwill towards others.  Build goodwill with your customers.  Build goodwill with your employees.  Build goodwill with your vendors.  You don’t need anyone’s help to do that. And no one can ever take that away.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  Hopefully you got that this post was more about how to deal with an unhappy, unruly, or unreasonable customer than it was about politics.

Thanks! It Works!

I have been teaching a class for new and expectant fathers through our local hospital for the past ten years.  Twice a month I sit these daddies-to-be around a table and teach them how to change a diaper, swaddle a baby, and take care of the mother.  Our two-hour time together is one of my favorite moments each month.

Today I got a Thank You Card in the mail from one of the dads along with a birth announcement.  It totally made my day.  In the card he told me which tip he found to be the most helpful (it was about keeping more than one diaper bag packed and being responsible for packing them daily, so that his wife could leave the house multiple times.)  It was easily my favorite moment of the day.

In fact, it changed the entire outlook of my day.  And today was a heck of a day.  Mistakes on the cash registers, money shortages, a visit from the police (no, I didn’t do anything wrong), employee issues, scheduling conflicts.  All that faded into the background because of this one note.

Yes, thank you cards can be that powerful.  Which reminds me that I need to write more of them.

I need to thank my top customers, my big spenders.  And I should also thank some of the medium spenders and see if I can turn them into big spenders.

I need to thank my best sales reps and let them know how much I appreciate the time they put into working with me.  They work long hours, spend a lot of time on the road, and have to put up with a lot of crap. Yet the best ones still have my best interests at heart.

I need to thank my vendors.  After all, without them I don’t have the largest selection of toys under one roof. They are not my suppliers, they are my partners.  Some of them bend over backwards to help me, sending samples for display and prizes for giveaways.  They deserve to be appreciated for inventing and producing the great toys that make me money.

If I can feel this good about getting a thank you in the mail, imagine how good your customers will feel about you when you write them a personal, hand-written note.  Imagine how much more your reps will want to help your account when you acknowledge all the hard work they do.  Imagine how pleasantly surprised your supplier will be when he receives a thank you in the mail. Yes, he will look at your account more favorably.

Frankly, I will admit that I am bad at writing these kinds of notes.  But today was a stark reminder to me how powerful they can be and why I need to write more.  And now I’ve reminded you, too.  If I could just find a pen…

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  A friend of mine keeps a stack of blank note cards and envelopes on her desk.  She starts out every morning by writing notes and getting them in the mail.  She says not only does it help her stay on top of the thank you’s she needs to write, it also puts her in a good mood to start the day by being grateful to all those who have helped her.  (I also imagine her desk is a lot less cluttered than mine – but it is a worthy goal to aspire.)

Make it More Fun

At a recent conference I attended, a statistic was thrown out from the National Retail Federation that 78% of customers say they would shop somewhere else that is more fun.  I couldn’t find the source for that stat.  But let’s just assume it is true that a large percentage of people will choose fun over loyalty.

Are you surprised?

For many customers, shopping is an event.  Shopping is a happening, something to which you invite your friends to join you.  On the other hand, for many customers shopping is a chore.  Shopping is drudgery, a time-consuming event that sucks all the energy out of your life.

Let me ask… Which of those two groups would be attracted to a more fun shopping option?

If you said both, move to the head of the class.  Now that statistic doesn’t seem so far-fetched.  Now your mission is much more clear.  Make your store the most fun option in your category.

Some of you think I have an unfair advantage of being fun because I sell toys.  But remember that because I am a toy store, the bar of expectations is quite high.  We’re supposed to be a fun place to shop.  Here are some things to remember about fun in retail…

  • It has to be inclusive.  Make sure your customers are part of the fun.  No one does this better than the famous Pike Place Fish Market that regularly includes the audience customers in their skits and routines.
  • It has to be family-friendly.  If there is the slightest chance children will be in the store, keep it PG or milder. (Note: tobacco shops and adult video stores can disregard that last statement.)
  • It has to be all the time.  Even if you or a member of your staff is having an off day, you have to be on for the customers.  They will notice when you don’t have the same level of energy.  Fake it if you have to.  

Fun could include…

  • Displays for customers to try before they buy.  
  • Acting a little goofy and silly.
  • Making a big deal over each and every customer, showing them appreciation and special attention.  (The same presentation said 70% of your customers who leave, do so because of lack of appreciation.)
  • Constantly re-merchandising your store to come up with cool new displays and excitingly creative windows.
  • Contests such as paint a poster of your favorite experience at our store, write our new radio ad, design our next t-shirt.
  • Smiling all the time and being friendly no matter what the circumstances

If the NRF is right, 78% of the customers out there are hoping you will be more fun!  Don’t disappoint them.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  The number one thing you can do is appreciate your customers.  Smile at them.  Greet them like family.  Treat them like royalty.  Thank them profusely.  Rick Segel says the best opening line – even better than “Hello” – is to say “Thanks for coming in.”  Your customers have so many other options, yet they chose you.  Create a culture of appreciation and your customers will think your store is the most fun place to shop.

PPS  If your current staff cannot make your store fun, you need to get a new staff.  Now!

Twenty Five Cents is Golden

What if I told you that for only 25 cents per customer who walks through your door tomorrow you can generate a thousand dollars worth of advertising?

What if I told you that a small gesture on your part will make a huge difference that sets you far apart from your competition?

What if I told you that a simple little thing will send one of the most powerful messages ever that will create loyal fans and evangelists?

What if I told you that if you give your customer something she can already get for free she will love you for it?

Would you think I am crazy?

What if I told you to go buy a couple cases of water, some ice and a cooler?

On these hot summer days you can stand out from the crowd by giving away bottles of ice cold water.  At a small cost to you it will have a huge effect on your customers in a number of ways…

Lagniappe

There is a French Cajun word that means “a little extra”.  Just giving away something for free creates a bond with your customer. It makes her smile, makes her feel special, makes her feel like an insider.  There are many ways to offer lagniappe in your store.  On a hot summer day this is an easy no-brainer way to do it.

You Don’t Have to Advertise It

Don’t go out on your Facebook page and advertise it.  Let your customers do it for you.  Put out the cooler and I bet by the end of the day at least one of your customers has taken a photo with her phone and posted it on her own site.  Plus, she will be telling her friends about it.  These are the kinds of moments your customers love to share.

They’ll Stay Longer

With a water in hand, she’ll feel more refreshed and more comfortable, which means she’ll shop longer (as long as you have a bathroom nearby:-).  Is it worth 25 cents to you to keep your customers in the store longer?

You Care

A simple little gesture like this also shows how much you care.  You recognize that it is hot.  You recognize the customer had to leave her air-conditioned house to visit you.  You recognize that she went out of her way, so you go out of your way to make her as comfortable as possible.  Believe me, she will know what you did.

Time for a grocery store run.

Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  It probably won’t even cost you that much.  Only about a third of our customers took a water.  But all of them saw it, all of them felt the caring, the generosity, and the comfort. And many of them talked about it.

PPS  Last night at the local grocery store I bought 72 waters (half-liter size) and a bag of ice for $12.73.  That comes down to just under 18 cents per bottle.  Figuring only one-third of the customers take one, we’re talking 6 cents per customer to reap those benefits.  Tell me where else you can get that kind of ROI.

Easier to Shoot Low

It is so much easier to lower expectations than it is to raise them.  So much easier to complain that Obamacare will cost too much, the Republicans will cut too much, the stock market will be too volatile, the economy isn’t growing fast enough, our local government is holding us back, the Internet is hurting us, the vendors don’t care about us, etc…

But what message does that send your customers?  Does it fire them up to want to shop with you when you complain all the time?  No.  It makes them hunker down in fear.
And what message does it send your staff? Does it motivate them to work harder and be more cheerful? No. It makes them polish off their resumes and start looking for someone who isn’t acting like they are about to go out of business.
Now, I’m not saying you need to go all Pollyanna on everyone.  You just need to raise your expectations.
What can you control?
Your attitude.
Your selection.
Your advertising.
Your merchandising.
Your level of customer service.
The experience your customers have in your store.
Raise the bar of expectation in all those areas.  Shoot high.  Really high.  Get excited about your ability to take all of those elements to the next level.  Get your staff excited about it, too.  Make it a game to see who can create a better endcap display.  Make it a contest to see who can come up with the next great event idea.  Make it a badge of honor to see who can create the most smiles in your store.
You might not hit your mark every time.  But just missing a really high mark is far better than easily hitting a really low mark.
Plus, when you aim high all those fears at the top disappear below you.  
-Phil Wrzesinski
PS  What prompted this post was an article where Citigroup was downgrading certain high-end retailers’ stock grades because of the volatility in the stock market.  Ummm… hasn’t the stock market always been volatile?  It is easier for an analyst to shoot low, because no one is mad if she’s wrong. You aren’t an analyst, though.  So shoot high.

Schedule to the Peak

I just received my Profit Survey back from the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA).  Every other year they have toy stores submit their financials to help us see what the Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss might be for a typical indie toy store.  It is a fascinating document full of amazing facts and percentages and one of my favorite benefits of belonging to ASTRA.

Going through all the numbers, it is fun to see how a store my size (the largest family-owned indie toy store in America) compares to other stores.  For instance, we buy from more than twice as many vendors as the typical toy store (540 versus 230).

The number that is always fun for me is the breakdown of payroll.  My payroll is much higher as a percentage of sales than my fellow toy stores.  It isn’t because I give myself a big bonus.  Owner payroll is significantly lower than other stores.  It is because I have a big staff.

Maybe too many people if you look at what other stores do.

But there is a purpose for that.  I like to schedule my staff to the peak.  In other words, when the peak moment of the day happens, I want enough staff here to handle it easily and smoothly without a single drop in levels of service.  The hard part is trying to guess when that peak will happen.  As you know in retail, there are no certainties on when the customers will show up.

So I schedule more than enough staff to handle the average moments, knowing that I will be able to give customers a great experience even when we’re “crazy busy”.  Sure, it drives up payroll costs.  But it helps me save it in other areas.  WOW Customer Service brings Word of Mouth, which saves on advertising.

Still not sure it is worth scheduling that way?

Think about it from a customer’s perspective.  If you don’t schedule to the peak, here is what your customer sees.  She doesn’t know what your peak looks like.  All she knows is that you don’t have enough staff to help her right now.  Your staff might tell her, “Sorry, we got really swamped.  We’ll be with you in a moment,” but what does that tell her?  Some of those customers will think, Wow, that is great that they are so busy.  Others will think, Wow, they didn’t expect to do much business. I wonder how things are going.

Schedule to the peak and when that busy moment happens, she might think, Wow, they expected to be busy.  This store is the happening place.

Just make sure when it isn’t the peak that you have plenty of projects to keep the staff occupied so that they always look like they are working.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  Make a checklist of everything that needs to get done for the day and give it to each person on the staff.  Challenge them to see who can do the most on the checklist without ignoring a customer.  Reward your winners.  You’ll get more people trying to accomplish more on those checklists every single day.

What Your Employees Really Want

Don’t you love it when the keynote speaker tells you to do three things and you’re already doing them?

I had that experience last Wednesday at the ASTRA Marketplace & Academy.

Our closing speaker was Barbara Glanz.  You might remember her from the YouTube inspirational customer service video Johnny the Bagger.  Barbara talked about a number of topics, mostly on the culture you create in your workplace.  I had three basic takeaways from her presentation…

Create a Positive Culture
Barbara recommended that you start every employee meeting with what went right rather than what went wrong.  Share the positives first because it puts the staff into a good, high-energy mood.

Yeah, we’re doing that.

Recognize Your Employees Have a Life
One of the number one things employees want from their bosses is to be recognized as being human beings and having a life outside of work.  How often do we neglect that, worrying only about what they can do for us instead of what we can do for them?

Because my staff work retail, they aren’t exactly giving the 1% a run for their money.  I’d like to pay them more, but with the limited resources there is only so much I can do.  To give back, I focus on two things.

First, much of our staff trainings are on life skills more than Toy House-specific skills.  I want them to walk away with more than they brought to the job.

Second, at the beginning of the year I offered each member of my staff some money towards a goal they have set for themselves.  It could be used for dance lessons, for computer training, for a gym membership, or some other personal goal.

Make Their Jobs Interesting
People want to work where jobs are fun, where work is interesting, where they get challenged to achieve, where they know they are making a difference.  I think this is an area where all indie retailers can improve.

  • We definitely have jobs that are fun.  
  • Most of our customer base comes to our store by choice, not necessity, which makes for a much more pleasant time.  
  • We sell fun and unique products not found in every discount warehouse.  
  • We have the ability responsibility to have meaningful interactions with customers.

Sometimes, however, we neglect to show our staff how we do all this and why it is important.  Two things you can do to remedy this…

  1. Share all your customer reviews with your staff.  Let them know when they make a difference.
  2. Give your staff important tasks and let them run with those tasks.  They’ll take ownership, be more invested in the outcome, and see firsthand what a difference they make.

Three for three.  Heck, even I’m impressed.  Thanks, Barbara!

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  Need help making the job more fun?  You can start by making your staff meetings more fun.  Culture takes time to build.  Make small changes and you will eventually see bigger results.

Raindrops Keep Falling on My (Son’s) Head

For the last 2 hours my 13-year-old son and I have been on a search of a raincoat.  We live in Michigan, one of the top ten states for # of rainy days per year.  All we wanted was a simple raincoat with a hood, size adult small.

We went to four department stores, no luck.  Only one even had a raincoat of any kind and only in L or XL.  One of the stores told me they sold them but only during the season.  What season?  April showers?  Last I checked we get rain in MI from January through December with the bulk of it from March to October.

We went to both sporting goods stores.  One had only ponchos.  Really?  The other had the same style and brand as the department store, oh yeah, and same sizes, too – L and XL.

We went to two mass market discounters.  400,000 square feet, zero raincoats.

With gas prices the way they are, I don’t see us driving 45 minutes to Lansing or Ann Arbor to the bigger sporting goods stores.  Hello Internet.

The Lesson In All This
Do you have seasonal items in your store ALL season long?  Do you have seasonal items even after the season is over?  Do you have hard-to-find items that the national chains just don’t think is worth carrying any more?  (Do you have a plain colored simple raincoat with a hood in an adult small?)

Are you advertising that knowledge like crazy?  You should.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  If you need a raincoat in Jackson, MI, don’t go to Target, Meijer’s, JC Penney, Sears, Elder Beerman, Kohl’s, Dunham Sports or MC Sports.