“Without a doubt, networks yearn to be bigger and more inclusive. The challenge is to do that without losing what made them work.” -Seth Godin (read the whole post here)
As I was reading that statement from Seth, all I could think about was how this is probably the biggest mistake “networks” make – trying to be bigger and more inclusive at the same time. This may sound counter-intuitive, but one of the best ways to become bigger is to be less inclusive.
What??
Yes, be more exclusive. Exclude those people who don’t want something special, who only want to dicker and deal for a super low price. Treat your remaining customers as if they were your only customers. Treat them with the kind of special services you would give only to a select few. Treat them as though they were a celebrity, even royalty.
What does that look like? It might mean offering exclusive appointments. It might mean extending your hours for special sessions. It might mean hiring an extra sales person and training him or her in the art of royal treatment. It might mean having food and drinks available. It might mean a concierge service, a coat check, valet parking, white glove delivery. It might mean doing different things, unique things, stuff that no one else in your category does or would even do. It might mean treating each and every customer uniquely, in the way she wants to be treated. It definitely means doing things that make your customers say, “WOW!”
When you try to be more inclusive, you dumb it down and end up delighting no one. When you try to be more exclusive, you delight your customers to the point that they spend more and bring their friends back.
When you understand that, you’ll grow bigger. Just remember the last part of Seth’s quote – grow bigger without losing what got you there in the first place.
-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com
PS Can’t figure out what to do to be special? Start with this question… What would be the most crazy, over-the-top thing you could do to WOW your customer? Go there first and then dial it back until you get to something you think you can accomplish consistently that is above and beyond what she expected.
Category: Customer Service
Be the Best at One Thing
Quick, name the second place person in the MVP balloting. Any sport. Bet you can’t unless it was your favorite player who got snubbed.
When they give out the awards at the end of a sports season, the big winners are always the leader in at least one category. In fact, the short list of potential MVP’s always starts with the leader in each category.
Being pretty good in everything doesn’t get the same attention as being the best in one thing. It applies in sports and it applies in retail.
If you want attention for your business, you have to be the runaway category leader in one category. You have to be so far out in front that your competitors have already resigned themselves to a fight for second place. You have to be not the first but the only company that comes to mind in that category.
When you do that, you will get all the attention you desire deserve.
How do you figure out which category you should own?
- Make a list of everything you do better than your competition.
- For everything on that list, write down all the competitors who at least try to own that category.
- Figure out which category has the least amount of competition. (In other words, the one you own the most)
- Figure out how to do it even better than you already do. (In other words, widen the gap).
Spend all your time and energy growing your lead. You’ll win all the awards (customers) you deserve desire.
-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com
PS After you focus on your best trait, shore up your worst trait – the one that drives customers away. But always, always, always in that order. Best first. Worst second. No one remembers second place or an average business.
Listening Your Way to Better Sales
“The fool speaks, the wise [business]man listens.” -African Proverb
Here is one tip to increase your business this year. Are you listening?
Be a better listener.
What your customer is saying is extremely important. Over-the-top important. It is the center of her universe and the whole reason she is in your store trying to give you money.
But she won’t give you that money if she doesn’t think you’re listening.
Be a better listener.
“It is better to listen in order to understand than to listen in order to reply.” -Anonymous
Here is a simple little game that I did with my staff to help them focus on listening…
Have your staff pair up in twos. Have the first person tell the second person what he or she likes most about working for your store. The person listening must repeat back what the first person said. If the second person gets it right, then the second person can share what he or she likes most about working for your store with the first person repeating it back. Then each pair must stand and tell the entire group why the other person likes working here so much.
The repeating it back is the key. To be able to do that, you have to listen to understand, not simply listen to reply. The goal for each staff member is to repeat back every question or important comment the customer makes this month. The more they do it, the more they get into the habit of doing it.
Repeating back to the customer what she just said might seem annoying, but it actually serves three distinct purposes.
- It helps to clarify the customer’s concerns and make sure you got it right.
- It gives you an extra moment to think about your response
- It helps the customer trust that you are paying attention, are in the moment, and have her best interests at heart.
It is a simple acknowledgment that goes a long way in building the long-term relationship you want with your customers. Now, repeat this all back to me. (Paraphrase if you’d like. That is perfectly acceptable.)
-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com
PS There is another benefit to the training I did with my staff. I had each staff member verbalize why they like working for me. Then it was verbalized two more times, reinforcing it even more. Plus, by verbalizing it to the entire group, everyone got reinforcement for why this is such a great place to work. Oh, and if someone cannot come up with a good reason for why they like working with you – fire them!
Setting Yourself Apart From the Pack
I read a fascinating book called Built to Sell by John Warrillow. The book is a business parable about a guy who owns an advertising agency and wants to sell it. His mentor shows him how to transform his business to make it salable.
Most retailers would dismiss the book because on the surface it doesn’t seem to apply. The first step is to limit your focus to only that which you do better and more profitable than anyone else so that you can create a turnkey operation. That doesn’t translate well to indie retail.
But there is a lesson hid inside there that we all can use.
Maybe you cannot change your product mix to become the leader of the pack, but you certainly can change your services. In fact, you can change them so radically that you become a category of one (another good business book worth reading).
Simply decide which customer subset you want to cater to, and then cater to them at the exclusion of all others.
Roy H. Williams calls this “choose who to lose”.
For instance, you could decide you only want to cater to the uber-rich. You’ll probably want to change some of your product, but to truly capture that customer you’ll have to totally change your services. Hours by appointment only. Red carpet ready and waiting to be rolled. Soft sofas and chairs for seating. Food and drinks served. A personal shopper to bring the items to the customer. Private showings for her and her friends at her penthouse.
Or you might be a toy store that caters to the daddy crowd. That might mean beer and pizza and big-screen TV’s, pre-wrapped gifts, diaper changing service, plenty of activities to keep the kids occupied until the game is over.
Do something like that and instead of the kids clamoring to go to the toy store, dad will be suggesting it during breakfast.
While it is getting more and more difficult to separate yourself just on the products you carry, this age of self-serve checkouts leaves you a ton of room to separate yourself from the pack by the services you offer.
Who are you willing to lose to win the heart (and pocketbook) of someone else?
-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com
PS We started with the bargain hunter. I don’t match prices or run coupons or special deals just to entice people in the door. Yes, we have a clearance sale to move out the dogs, but that’s it. We instead focus on customers looking for trust. There are plenty of them out there.
People Do Business With People
A friend of mine is going through a change with her business. She opted out of a franchise agreement and is now going independent.
She had a momentary bout of panic when the franchise webpage listed her store as “closed”. She wasn’t closed. She was open. Just doing business under a different name. How were people going to find her?
After we discussed all the steps for getting the new name out (press releases, ads, new website, owning her Google Place, contacting her networks to update her info with them, emails, Facebook, Twitter, etc), I reminded her of one simple thing:
She was the same person doing the same business in the same location with the same Core Values and the same vision and mission.
None of that had changed. And by her own estimate, 90% of her customers did business with her, not the name on the sign. All the extra advertising and on-the-pavement sales she had planned for the transition would help her pick up that other 10% in no time at all. In fact, based on what we discussed, I expect she’ll be at 110% within a couple months.
People do business with people.
You can do all the advertising you want, but if your people aren’t performing, your business will suffer. Likewise, if your people are outstanding, you can overcome almost anything. It is your people that get customers to come back and bring their friends.
Put your money into your people and no matter what curve balls come your way, you’ll knock ’em out of the park.
-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com
PS Put more emphasis on hiring the right people to begin with. That makes the training easier. Yes, training. If your business relies on repeat and referral traffic, your training budget should far exceed your advertising budget.
Top Ten Blogs from 2013
A lot of people thought these blogs were interesting enough to tell others about it. Just in case no one shared these with you, here are the top ten most shared blogs from 2013.
Are You Open-to-Buy? Inventory Management is one of the most difficult and costly things to do in retail. Do it right and your cash flow and profits soar. Do it wrong and no matter what else you got right, you’re still out of business.
Sit in the Hot Seat for a Bit if You Want to Improve I made Ernie sit in the hot seat to find out how we could improve his business. We looked at each interaction, one-by-one, until we found the breakdown in customer service. Do the same for your business and you’ll know what to focus on for 2014.
Two Types of Customers (and Other Generalities) Everyone likes to have things broken down into simple lists and digestible analogies. This post does that for you.
Everything I Possibly Can Simple message: The best retailers are the best because they keep learning new ways to be better.
Great Minds Discuss Ideas My shortest blog of the year – based on a great quote by Eleanor Roosevelt.
I Did Some Showrooming Showrooming is a big deal that is hurting brick & mortar retailers all over the country. The real problem isn’t the smartphone or Amazon. The real problem is our own ability to close the sale.
I Tore Up My Office Yesterday If you want different results, you have to do something different. (I think this got a lot of love because everyone wanted to see my messy office.)
Peeing Before the Race The dog that does its business before the race will run the fastest. The business that does its business before the season will be the most successful.
Anatomy of a Staff Meetting – Play Value I’m on a crusade to make staff meetings more fun and memorable. Who’s with me?
The Mortar Between Your Bricks Bricks are the products you sell. Mortar is everything else. You need good bricks to build a good business. You need strong mortar if you want that business to last.
May the lessons of 2013 bring you great successes in 2014!
-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com
PS If you want more, here are the Top Ten Blog Posts of 2012.
Many Happy Returns
Returns are one simple way to set your store above the rest in terms of customer delight. The more you can do to make a customer happy while making a return, the better.
Here is what I reminded my staff regarding returns…
MANY HAPPY RETURNS
Actually, we hope we have very few returns, but we do know we will have some returns. I want all of them to be as happy as possibly. Here are some ways to make them Happy Returns.
Yes, we will take it back! Don’t worry about the customer’s motive, whether it is opened/damaged/re-sellable, etc. First and foremost make the customer happy by saying yes. Some items we can re-package to sell. Some we will get credit from the company. Some we can steal parts from to fix others. Some we can use as demos. Some we can donate to places that take used toys.
Yes, we will refund your money! If you have a receipt. Otherwise we will gladly give you a store credit good on anything at any time. This is one area where you might get someone demanding money back even without a receipt. If they are being really pushy about it, just give them cash back and send them on their Merry Way. (Get them out of the store as soon as possible.)
Apologize! Someone is bound to come in saying we ruined their Christmas because we sold them an obviously used/broken toy. Well, no, we didn’t. Not on purpose. But that doesn’t matter. Apologize. Say, “I’m really sorry that happened. What would you like us to do to fix this?”
Fix it! This can be tough. We might be out of what they need. It might be a part that needs to be ordered. But do whatever is in your power to fix it.
If we have the item in stock—swap it out for them, parts or the whole thing, whichever is easier.
If we do not have the item, you can offer to order replacement parts. Often we can order them directly through the company and have them shipped to the customer. You can check online or on the phone while the customer is right there.
If we cannot order the part or replace the product, offer them a store credit or a refund. But most of all apologize.
Remember this order…
- Make the customer happy.
- Tell me later what you did.
-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com
PS You might not make everyone happy. There are always unreasonable people and just plain rude people. If you have tried your best and nothing seems to be working, do whatever it takes to get them and their negativity out of the store as fast as possible before they infect anyone else. Take the loss if necessary. Handle it with professionalism, kindness and respect regardless of how they treat you. Remember that other customers are watching and judging you and your character. Show them what you got!
You’ve Ruined My Christmas!
“You’ve ruined my Christmas!”
We’ve all heard it. You can’t be a retailer with 4th quarter traffic without hearing that a few times. The problem is that we often let that statement ruin our own Christmas.
Why do we give it so much weight?
Why do we let one customer ruin our day, ruin our holiday, ruin our year? Chances are we weren’t even the responsible party.
Most often that statement is said when the customer had an unreal expectation of what you could provide. Or maybe your vendor let you down. Or maybe the customer was just bat-sh#t crazy. Or maybe you did make a mistake, but because your steps to rectify the mistake weren’t perfect, you ruined their Christmas.
Why let that get you down?
Unless you’re a real f#@k-up, you probably only hear this once every few years. And you’re a stand-up person, so you made it right to the best of your powers. Yet you can still remember the day that mom screamed at you in front of six other customers. The hairs on the back of your neck go up every time you see a brunette in a fur coat just like hers. It colors your whole perception of the season.
Why don’t we instead focus on the people for whom we made their Christmas?
Go count how many transactions you had between Thanksgiving and Christmas last year. Subtract from that all the ruinous statements. Now multiply the remaining number times ten. That’s how many Christmases you made last year. (Remember that people are in your shop not just for one person, plus, if you made their Christmas, you made the Christmas of those around them.)
Revel in those Christmases you made. Celebrate the Thank You’s. Exalt the I Love You Guys. Dance with the You Made My Day’s.
There are a lot more of those. Give them the weight they deserve. Pat yourself and your staff on the back. You all deserve that.
-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com
PS This goes doubly for the staff. They are going to make mistakes. You really can ruin your staff’s Christmas if you don’t handle those mistakes properly. I remind all my staff that I expect them to make mistakes, just not the same one twice, so when they make a mistake, I say to them with a smile, “Good, you got that mistake out of the way. What are we going to learn from it?”
Mandatory Breaks – This Means You, Too!
It is easy this time of year to work long hours without break. Easy. But not good.
Your staff needs to have scheduled breaks to keep them fresh. They don’t have the driving passion you do to refuel them when they hit the wall. They need breaks they can see coming. I’m not talking about okay-there-is-a-lull-go-take-a-break-quick kinds of breaks. I’m talking about, you go to lunch at 1pm and return at 2pm kind of breaks.
We have an employee lounge, a couch, table & chairs, etc where they can go. There is a fridge and microwave. But we also encourage them to leave the store. Take a break. Get away.
It does wonders for their sanity. They need that break so that when they are on the floor, they have the energy to give their all. Plus, if you schedule those breaks for them, they know you are looking out for you and they’ll work even harder for you when they are on.
You need to take a break, too.
Maybe yours won’t be as scheduled. But you need more than a go-hide-in-the-office-and-pretend-to-do-paperwork break. You need to leave for 45 minutes or an hour or more. You need to go to a restaurant and sit down and eat something healthy. You need to go home, change your socks, sit and play with the dog. You need to get a moment just for yourself.
No break for the elves and they get cranky. No break for you, and you and the elves get cranky. Cranky elves and cranky store owners are not maximizing sales.
Take a break. I give you full permission.
-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com
PS The store won’t crumble if you’re not there for an hour. Trust me.
Make the Guys Happy This Week
Starting today, the guys are hitting the stores. We are last-second shoppers by nature. Ladies shop fifty two weeks a year. The men? Ten days tops. Although I won’t speak for all guys, here are three things you should do to maximize their transactions.
- Limit their choices. Guys don’t want to make too many decisions. Bog them down with lots of options and choices from the get-go and you might not get them to go to the checkout. Show them the best in the category. If they balk at that option, find out why and show them one other option. Show them one option at a time until they buy. But always start with the best.
- Make them feel smart. Don’t question their judgment. Don’t use big words or insider terminology. Explain things in a simple, but not condescending way. Ask only the necessary questions. Let them do as much of the talking as possible. Reinforce their statements and beliefs. You will win their trust and their wallets.
- Offer them time-saving services. Do you giftwrap? Assemble? Deliver? Guys are willing to pay extra for time-saving services and conveniences. Tell them all that you can do for them. They won’t ask, but they will say yes when you offer. Guys are the reason the “convenience store” concept even exists. Anything to save a few steps, a few minutes, a few hassles.
Guys want their shopping trips to be smart, fast, and hassle-free. The best way to maximize these final days of the season is to be ready for the guys. They should start arriving this afternoon.
-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com
PS One more thing you can do to help the guys – refresh your signage. According to Paco Underhill’s book Why We Buy, guys are the number one reader of signs. According to Rick Segal, signs increase sales by 43%. According to Phil Wrzesinski, Introverts (50% of the population) are the #2 reader of signs.