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Category: Customer Service

Avoiding the Discount Mentality

Everyone wants a discount. Everyone wants a deal. Everyone wants a coupon. Or so you might be led to believe.

One of my employees went to a fast food restaurant and said, “I’d like a three-piece strips, a biscuit, and a small drink.”

The employee answered, “The drink isn’t included with that.”

She responded, “That’s okay, I want a three-piece strips, a biscuit, and a small drink.”

He replied, “But the drink isn’t included.”

She said, “I don’t care if it is included or not, I want a three-piece strips, a biscuit, and a small drink.”

He replied, “But the drink isn’t included. You’ll have to pay extra for the drink.”

This went on for several more exchanges until the clerk finally got her what she wanted. He had no concept of how to take care of a customer if it didn’t fit into his special value meal buttons.

Unfortunately, his actions aren’t far from his experiences. There are many customers out there who would have not gotten the drink because it wasn’t part of the bargain. They would have ended with the strips and biscuit or chosen something else that included a drink.

That is the Discount Mentality that has taken over much of America. And it is reinforced and fueled by retailers all across the country who only offer customers the bundles, deals and specials. 

Don’t be that store.

There are also a large swath of shoppers who are more like my employee, who know exactly what they want and how they want it. They are willing to pay extra for the drink, because to get it any other way is to not get what they want.

While the rest of the world caters to the Discount Mentality…

  • You need to find and hire employees who don’t think that way. 
  • You need to train your team to first give the customer exactly what she wants (and then worry about any specials or deals). 
  • You need to create a store where falling in love with the product is more important than fitting a budget or a price. 

You do that and you’ll have plenty of customers willingly paying extra for the drink. They’re thirsty for a store that gives them exactly what they want and how they want it.

Be that store.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS For those of you who have read Dr. Ross Honeywill’s book One Hundred Thirteen Million Markets of One, you’ll know that I am talking about selling to NEO’s. I’ll show you how to get customers to fall in love with your products in the next post.

The One Loyalty Program You Need to Grow Your Business

Your brain has a gatekeeper. His name is Broca. He protects your brain from all the boring, mundane and predictable in the world.

Roy H. Williams, aka, The Wizard of Ads, was the first person to introduce me to Broca. Most advertisements fail because Broca saw them coming a mile away. But it isn’t just ads that Broca blocks.

Tell me all the mundane things you did yesterday. Bet you can’t remember them all.

Tell me all the surprising things that happened yesterday. Bet you nailed that list.

According to Roy, “Surprise is the foundation of delight.”

If you want to delight your customers, you have to do something surprising. If you want to make your customers’ experience memorable, you can’t be boring, mundane or predictable.

Strativity Group Inc. in a new survey, found that people who had been “delighted” by their favorite brand were more than twice as likely to be brand-loyal than those who weren’t delighted.

Another Royism… “If a person expected something to happen, and it happened, there can be no delight.”

  • If you give your customer less than she expects, she’s going to shred you.
  • If you give a customer exactly what she expects, at least she won’t shred you, but she won’t be loyal, either.
  • If you surprise a customer with more than what she expects, you’ll be memorable and she’ll be loyal.

Go ahead and surprise her. That’s the loyalty program you really should be offering.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The easiest way to surprise and delight her is to evaluate all the interaction points a customer has with your store from the front door to the checkout and figure out exactly what she expects during each encounter. Then figure out what you can do that is a little bit more than she expects. It is far cheaper to you and more effective on her than any discount you might offer her.

PPS Need a head start on evaluating what she expects? Download the FREE e-book – Customer Service: From Weak to WOW!

Would You Ever Admit You Weren’t the Best?

Avis did.

Avis ran a whole ad campaign for several years based on the fact that they were NOT the number one company in their industry.

We’re number two. We try harder.

They stood naked to the world. We are not number one. That admission was enough to garner a whole lot of trust. Any company willing to admit something like that so boldly shows that they have nothing to hide.

The Currency they were spending was Reputation and Prestige. They put their reputation and prestige on the line, told everyone their warts, and used it to their advantage. End result? Their market share rose from 10% to 35%!!

Admitting your flaws or shortcomings may seem counter intuitive to getting people to trust you, but in reality, it can be one of your most powerful tools to earning that trust. They say honesty is the best policy, right?

Being honest about your flaws is simply the right thing to do. Admitting when you made a mistake wins the heart of the customer. They know you made a mistake. You know you made a mistake. Trying to cover it up or ignore it only builds distrust and resentment.

Everything and everybody and every business has flaws. No one and nothing is perfect. When you try to show that you are perfect to everyone, they see right through you. They know there is a downside. They will be looking for the downside whether you tell them or not. So go first. Tell them the downside to doing business with you before they start looking. Tell them the downside to the product you’re trying to sell them. The upside of telling them the downside is that they are more willing to trust everything else you say.

  1. Admit your mistakes and shortcomings.
  2. Tell them the downside.

Building trust doesn’t cost as much as you think. You just have to spend the right currencies.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Patagonia is another example Tom Wanek used in his book. They were a multi-million dollar company when the owner realized his company wasn’t lined up with his own personal values of being environmentally conscious. He totally revamped the company and lost a lot of business in the process. But he gained a lot of trust, too. That trust is what led him back from the brink. His customer base basically said, “Anyone willing to take so much heat and so many financial losses to run his company in a way he could be proud is someone I can trust to do what he says he’ll do.”

PPS You don’t need business examples to know this is true. The media and celebrity world give you all the examples you’ll ever need. Admit the scandal and people forgive you. Deny the scandal and the storm never blows over.

We Trust the Non-Sellers More

Late night infomercials have done more to harm the trust relationship between retailers and customers than almost anything else out there.

You’ve seen the shows where the person claims to be the expert on something, but you have a hard time believing them because they are also trying to sell you something. You doubt the veracity of their claims. You question their motive. No matter how much of an expert they prove to be, you just don’t trust them.

Yet, one of the Currencies that buy Credibility is the Time & Energy you invest in educating your customer base and showing off your expertise.

So how do you invest your Time & Energy in a way that builds trust instead of breaking it down?

BEFORE THE SALE – DROP THE SALES PITCH

The key to educating your customer base in a way that builds trust is to remove any sales pitch from the process. The sales pitch is what undermines trust, so drop it.

In Tom Wanek’s book, he mentions the REI website that is chock full of educational articles. Those articles are extremely useful and helpful to anyone thinking about camping and outdoor recreation. More importantly, they don’t try to sell you on one brand or another. They give you suggestions about the types of products you need, but stop short of pushing any particular product.

They have shown the customer that they are willing to invest their time and energy to make sure you know everything you need to know – even if they don’t get the sale! That’s the sacrifice they will make to build trust.

We do similar types of classes here – purely informational. Whether it is about toys or baby products, I take the approach of teaching the customers everything they need to know to make smarter choices without telling them what to choose. Yes, they can take that information and go shop elsewhere with confidence. At the same time, because I am building trust, I am winning them over to shop with me. I am training them to look at toys or baby products the same way I look at those items.

I know my customers are going to go to other stores. I know my customers are going to go online. I also know that at the end of the day they are going to buy from the store they trust the most. By dropping the sales pitch, I win the sale.

AFTER THE SALE – SERVICE THE CUSTOMER

Apple has a different approach. They invest their Time & Energy after the sale. They call it the Genius Bar. The Genius Bar tells customers…

“We understand our products have a learning curve. We so strongly believe you will enjoy our products that we will invest the Time and Energy to make sure you know how to use them properly.”

The power of Apple’s approach is that their willingness to help you out after the fact gives you trust and confidence in the purchase, and they reinforce the purchase decision by making sure you use the product to the best of its abilities, which creates loyalty.

You are an expert on your products and your industry. You can build trust by investing the Time & Energy to share that expertise with your customer base. Just drop the sales pitch. We trust the non-sellers more.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The Internet has changed one thing about information – the expectation that information should be free. The gatekeepers of information are gone, replaced by a flood of information greater than anything Noah ever faced. With so much information out there, the information that is most trusted is the information that isn’t trying to sell you anything. Make sure your company is the source of that information and you’ll garner enough trust to not have to make a sales pitch at all.

How Far Behind Your Products do you Stand?

Everyone claims they stand behind their products. The question is, how far back do you stand? Far enough to distance yourself when something goes wrong? Or right there to take care of even the most minor of problems?

One of the most powerful currencies you can spend to buy credibility and gain trust from your customers is to “put your money where your mouth is”.

Yes, I’m talking about a guarantee. A money-back, no-questions-asked, we-really-do-stand-behind-our-products guarantee. Something like what Nordstrom’s and LL Bean offer.

Here is what it says on the LL Bean website…

Our products are guaranteed to give 100% satisfaction in every way. Return anything purchased from us at any time if it proves otherwise. We do not want you to have anything from L.L.Bean that is not completely satisfactory. (emphasis mine)

Here is what they are really saying…
We believe in our products so much that we will pay you back for anything that doesn’t live up to our lofty standards, and more importantly, your lofty standards. We will gladly take a moentary hit on anything that you don’t like just to make sure you are satisfied.
More importantly, here is what they are doing…
They are proving to you that your satisfaction is greater than their monetary gain. That builds trust.
We sold a board game to a customer recently who brought it back because they didn’t like it. Yes, we took it back. Why? Because we knew she would turn around and buy something else. We steered her away from the games with a similar play as the one she didn’t like and she ended up spending another $150 that night. She’ll be back to spend more money on more games later. Why? Because she trusts us.
Did I lose money on the return? A little. I more than made it up with the rest of her sales. Plus I put the board game into our demo library for future game nights. Plus I learned about a board game that wasn’t getting favorable reviews. Plus I can donate the game and take a write-off if I just want to get rid of it.
Most importantly, I showed through my actions that I believe so strongly in my products that I will stand behind every sale fully and completely. That sends a message of confidence and builds a level of trust that keeps customers coming back time and time again.
-Phil Wrzesinski
PS Yes there are some people who will try to take advantage of you. Yes, there are some exceptions to the rule. We had a customer who brought back 14 puzzles one year, all missing a piece. Of the one million puzzle pieces we sell each year, her 14 pieces were the only ones missing that year. I pulled her aside after #14 and politely told her that she was welcome to continue buying puzzles from us, but I couldn’t take any more puzzles back from her. She still buys her puzzles from us. Partly, I think, because I handled it with politeness and kindness. Partly, I think, because she knew what she was doing. Partly, I think, because she trusts us

You Have to Pay for Trust

She doesn’t trust you. She has been burned by many retailers before you. If you want her to trust you, you better be ready to pay for that trust. You better be ready to show her what you are willing to sacrifice to earn her trust.

Are you willing to give up money to earn her trust?

Are you willing to give up power and control to earn her trust?

Are you willing to give up time and energy to earn her trust?

Are you willing to give up opportunities to earn her trust?

Are you willing to put your reputation and prestige on the line to earn her trust?

Are you willing to risk safety and well-being to earn her trust?

These are the six Currencies that buy Credibility as outlined by Tom Wanek in his book of the same name. If you want her to trust you, she needs to know that you are willing to pay one (or more) of these prices.

If you are willing to pay the price, you will not only earn her trust, you’ll earn her loyalty. You will not only earn her business, you will earn access to her network. When your customers trust you, you have built a recession-proof, competition-proof business. 

Just remember that trust is fragile and easily broken. And actions speak louder than words.

We’ll explore all six of these prices to pay in upcoming posts.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Tom’s book has some great examples. I plan to add a few examples of my own. Some of these, you are already doing (but might not realize it). Some of these are things you would do if asked. Some of these are things you would do if you knew what a difference it would make. Some of these are things you’ll say No Way!  That’s okay. Just remember that the more you’re willing to sacrifice for the customer, the more she will trust you.

The Four Worst Words in Retail

You know them. You’ve probably even said them. More than likely you started cringing even as the words were floating across the ether.

Can I help you?

You say those words and the response is automatic.

No thanks, I’m just looking.

Here is why those words are so bad.

First, the knee-jerk reaction, even from someone who actually wants your help, is to say NO. The last word you want your customer to say is NO. NO puts up a wall between you and your customer. NO ends the conversation and makes you feel bad, too.

Second, you just got your customer to say out loud that she is Not. There. To. Buy. She told you she was just looking. She told herself that she was just looking. Once she says it, she starts to believe it. It becomes her reality.

Third, about three-fourths of your customers are scared to be approached by your staff in the first place. In part it has to do with how we communicate – especially the guys.


MEN AND WOMEN COMMUNICATE DIFFERENTLY

I’m going to share a secret with you. Men and women communicate differently. Yes, I said it. Crucify me now if you want. I speak the truth.

Men speak vertically. Did what I say make you think higher of me or lower of me? This is why guys don’t like to ask directions. To ask is to imply that I don’t know. To ask is to make someone think lower of me. Sorry, I’m just not comfortable doing that.

Women, however, speak horizontally. Did what I say draw me in closer or push me further away? Women love to ask for help. It draws them into the inner circle.

For men, when the sales staff approaches and asks to help them, they immediately go into a shell. They put up the wall of defense. They say “I’m just looking,” sometimes before you even say a word. In reality, they are just looking. They are looking for a sign to tell them the information they need so that they don’t have to ask anyone. If you want to assist a man who is shopping, you have to say things that empower him and make him feel important and smart.

For women, understand that even though they like to ask, about half of them need time to formulate the proper question before they will ask. Those are your introverts. They will engage, but only after they have figured out exactly how they want to engage. You have to bring them into the inner circle on their terms. Get too close too soon and up goes the wall.


A BETTER APPROACH

Rather than bombard your customers with a barrage of “Can I help you’s?”, Try a different approach. Say “Thank you for coming in,” with a genuine smile and appreciation. After all, they didn’t have to come to your store. With all the options out there, they chose you. Be thankful. The guys will feel empowered. The gals will feel like they are invited into the inner circle. The introverts won’t feel threatened. The wall won’t get built.

Then you have a chance to do what you’re really supposed to do with your customers – build a relationship that leads to trust.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Building a relationship that leads to trust isn’t as hard as it sounds. If you were paying attention, the last three posts were about the parking lot, the front door, and the greeting. Building the relationship is next.

I Want a New Front Door

Our front doors suck.

Okay, they could be worse. They could be something other than glass, heavier than hell, and hard to hold open. At least you can see through them into and out of the store, and most of the kids can push them to get in.

There used to be a store downtown that kept their heavy front door propped open almost all year long. They had heavenly scents wafting out onto the sidewalk. You had to stop and enjoy the smells when you walked by, even if the inviting doorway didn’t draw you in.

About the only thing our doors do is slow you down to a crawl when you have a head of steam built up from the trek across the parking lot. If you have a stroller, wheelchair or walker, heaven help you.

For our store, the front door is our Bad Table. It is our Achilles heel. Along with our 1967-built bathrooms, it is one of the few design flaws of our store.

For that reason, I have instructed every single member of our staff to always keep one eye out the window. Sure, they need to focus mostly on who is in the store, but keep that one eye out for someone crossing the parking lot who might need help with the door. Keep one eye out for strollers, walkers, wheelchairs, and young kids.

Yes, we rush over and open the door for our customers all day long. Coming and going. It takes a little more work. It takes a little more hustle on the part of the staff. It also takes one of the negatives of our store off the table.

Average stores that cater to average customers don’t even think about their front doors. They figure every store has a front door and every customer is versed on how to use one. And they are right. But not every front door is the same. Not every front door sends the same message to the customer. Amazing stores have amazing front doors because they know it is the first impression the customer has of their business.

One day I will have an amazing front door. For now, we hustle to make sure it is at least above average. Helpful is one of our Core Values.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The Coat Check is another one of my plans for making the front door more amazing. What can you do to your front door to at least make sure it isn’t a barrier to business? My grandfather wanted to build a carousel that kids could ride into the store. Now that would be an amazing front door!

I Hate Slush

Winter weather has finally arrived in Jackson, Michigan. Snow, ice, wind chills below zero, the whole nine yards. Every trip to the bank means sloshing through the slush that accumulates at the curb. My shoes and boots are a mess.

I hate slush.

I can deal with the snow and the cold. I just don’t like the slush.

I also have a big parking lot – 58 spaces. That’s the potential for a lot of slush. But not if I can help it. We go through tons of bags of salt and multiple shovelings to try to keep the lot as clean as possible. My snowplow guy knows I want it plowed at any sniff of snow, far less snow than his other clients. He charges me a little more, but it is worth it.

It isn’t just my hatred of slush that causes this behavior. It is my love of my customers. I figure I am not the only one who hates slush. I want to send a strong signal to those people that we will keep our parking lot as slush-free as possible.

You don’t think that matters? People make decisions daily on where to go and what to do based on tiny little factors like this. Your attention to details (or lack thereof) is sending signals to potential customers Every. Single. Day.

My customers might not even be consciously aware of why they like going to my store in the winter. But I am certainly going to make sure I eliminate as many possible things they don’t like.

When you are trying to give your customer the best possible Experience, it starts when they park the car. If you can control that Experience, you need to control that Experience. These things do matter and do make a difference.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Ask yourself this question… Which costs more? A dozen bags of salt or a lost customer?

PPS One other benefit is that we rarely have that situation where our carpets are soaked from all the slush dragged in. Don’t those blowers you see at the big box stores just make you feel dirty?

Here is a Year-End Evaluation Most Retailers Won’t Do

Try to describe in as complete detail as possible the typical experience your customer has in your store. Be as specific as you can from her parking spot through the front door all the way through checkout.

Take your time. This is an important exercise. You can even do this with your staff. Write down all the touch points, all the interactions she has with your business, your displays, your products, and your staff.

Once you get it all down, take a close look at each touch point.

  • Which ones are remarkable? 
  • Which ones are experiences she will not get at any of your competitors? 
  • Which ones are above and beyond even her lofty expectations? 
  • Which ones surprise and delight her? 
  • Which ones are simply average, similar to what everyone else is doing? 
  • Which ones are worse than your competitors?

In today’s high-tech economy where shopping online has a better selection, is more convenient, and often has better prices, the primary way indie brick & mortar stores are going to compete and grow and win the hearts of customers is through the experience you offer them.

Shopping is still a contact sport. Shopping is still a touch & feel activity. Shopping is still a multi-sensory Experience with a capital E.

To win the customer, her Experience has to be remarkable. Her Experience has to surprise and delight her. Her Experience has to go above and beyond her lofty expectations. It cannot be at or even near the same levels as your competitors. By all means, it cannot be average.

Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Interactions all have to shine together.

Most retailers this time of year look at your numbers, look at your product selection, look at your local economy, look at your marketing for reasons why your business did what it did. Few will take a critical eye to each touch point of the customer’s Experience. Yet that is where your success will be.

I’ve read all the predictions for 2015 about mobile shopping, online and big data, For big companies with average products and average services, all that data is important for them to compete in their race to the bottom.

You are not average. You are not going after average customers by selling average products. If you want to win the race to the top, make sure your customers’ Experiences are so far above average that they don’t think of it as shopping so much as an outing or an event. I predict that will be the biggest key to your success this coming year.

The Red Hat Ladies Having Fun at Toy House

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS If you need some ideas on how to look at all the touch points in your store and raise the bar of Experience, download my FREE eBook Customer Service: From Weak to WOW!