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Category: Customer Service

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.

Pick One

My wife was on the phone calling to get some info about a project we wanted done.

The guy on the phone said, “Hold on a second.”

She could hear some rustling around, heard him call another person’s name. He finally came back with an answer that she wasn’t sure was directed at her or somebody else. She asked for clarification and he said, “Sorry about that, I’m doing three things at once.”

Ummm… Pick one.

Pick one, do it well, do it completely. Don’t answer the phone if you cannot give that person your full attention.

My guess is that he didn’t upset one customer. He probably upset all three.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS If you have to answer the phone because you don’t have an answering service, first ask permission from the current customer. “Excuse me, may I answer this call?” If the customer gives you permission, then answer it, get the info and promise to call them back when you’re done with the current customer. A little courtesy goes a long way.

We Need More Rock Stars

Not just any Rock Stars – we need Retail Rock Stars. You know the stores I’m talking about. The ones you would be most disappointed if they closed. The ones who always seem to have traffic and buzz and excitement. The ones you think should probably be in a book or something because of how they merchandise the store, how they treat the customer, how they participate in the community.

Retail Rock Stars change the landscape of a community. They become the focal point of the shopping center, whether downtown, in a strip or in a mall. Retail Rock Stars attract customers, but they also attract other retailers. People want to be around winners.

The best way to grow your business is to decide right now that you are going to be a Retail Rock Star in your community. You are going to be the retailer everyone wants to be like, to locate next to, to build a community around.

How? Decide what a Retail Rock Star store looks like and do it.

Merchandising? Yes! Displays that are fresh and ever changing and new and eye-catching.
Staffing? Yes! A friendly, helpful staff that will bend over backwards to delight your customers. And I mean BEND OVER BACKWARDS.
Products? Yes! The latest products, the newest innovations, the fresh-hot-off-the-presses stuff.

The Retail Rock Star does not have peeling paint on the side of the building, an old sign, a tired window display. The RRS does not have old lighting, faded carpets, and a tired, boring staff. The RRS does not have merchandise older than the store’s pet dog.

The RRS is a learning store, learning new techniques for marketing and merchandising and training. The RRS is a trying store, trying new things, measuring and tweaking.

These are the kinds of retailers I want to help build. These are the kinds of retailers this economy needs to get out of the current funk. These are the kinds of retailers your community needs to grow and attract people and business. Yes, your community needs you to become an RRS!

That is the goal of the new and improved Jackson Retail Success Academy.



A HISTORY OF THE JACKSON RETAIL SUCCESS ACADEMY

Six years ago Scott Fleming, then director of The Enterprise Group in Jackson County challenged a full alphabet of organizations with the task of supporting and keeping indie retailers in town. From that meeting the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce (GJCC), South Central Michigan Works (SCMW), Jackson DDA, Jackson Local First (JLF), Midtown Association of Jackson, Small Business Technology & Development Center (SBTDC), City of Jackson Economic Development, and The Enterprise Group developed the Jackson Retail Success Academy (JRSA).

JRSA was designed to help start-ups and new retailers with less than five years under their belt get the tools they needed for retail success. For the last five years we have been doing exactly that. Well, kinda…
A number of retailers that took the class closed. They found out while doing the math that their business model was flawed from the get-go and there wasn’t enough market in Jackson to make it. Others were just too deep in trouble to dig out of it. A handful of class members took it to the next level, but for some, the next level was to merely go from struggling to surviving.

Most importantly, we weren’t accomplishing the real goal – to turn Jackson into an indie retail haven, a place where indie retailers would not just survive but thrive. We kept looking for struggling retailers to take the class, super small retailers, the minnows in our pond. We were hoping to grow them into fish.

We were focused on the wrong crowd. Winners attract winners. We needed to spend more time trying to grow whales, not fish. We needed to create more Rock Stars.

Time to refocus.

The new and improved JRSA is starting over with a new focus. We are looking for the whales, the established indie retailers who want to go from surviving to thriving. The curriculum is pared down to the essentials of Rock Stardom. The instruction is updated to include thriving in this most challenging new era of retail where all the rules you knew before have changed.

This is not to say that start-ups and newbies are not welcome. They are. Gladly. The information is only as good as the effort you put toward using it.Anyone willing to put forth the effort will get the results they want. But my focus for JRSA will be to go whale-hunting.

The bait is pretty good.

-Phil Wrzesinskiwww.PhilsForum.com

PS The beauty of the new and improved JRSA is that it is easier to take on the road.  If you have a handful of retailers in your town that are on the verge of Rock Staardom, but just need that push to get over the edge, get in touch. I can cram all 20 hours of instruction into two days that, if your head doesn’t explode, will rock your world.

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?

Is Word-of-Mouth Advertising or Customer Service?

I recently did a workshop in Jacksonville, Florida for PRO on Customer Service. We started with a 45 minute presentation on Generating Word-of-Mouth.

Most people think of Word-of-Mouth as a form of Advertising & Marketing, not Customer Service. They would be correct.

But…

The easiest way to get Word-of-Mouth is to offer over-the-top, OMG, I-gotta-tell-someone Customer Service. Do something so unexpectedly nice for your customer that she has to tell other people about her experience. Do something so unexpectedly generous and helpful that it is the first story she tells her friends. Do something so unexpectedly wonderful and delightful that she wants to talk about it on Yelp and Facebook and TripAdvisor.

Yeah, Word-of-Mouth is about Customer Service, too.

So where should I put the new free eBook on Generating Word-of-Mouth? On my Freebies page under Great Marketing or under Great Customer Service?

Hmmm….

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The key phrase in there is unexpectedly. If she expects it and gets in, you get a thanks in return. If she expects it and doesn’t get it, you get a whole different kind of word-of-mouth. You have to do something unexpected to get her to talk. Then, after you do it enough, it becomes expected and you have to raise the bar even higher. That’s okay. I know you’re up to that challenge..

1949 Retail Wisdom

I found this old typed memo from my grandfather who founded Toy House in 1949 while sorting through the archives. It was stapled to the top of some mimeographed sheets (remember the mimeograph and it’s purple ink?) of a business plan outline.

I think this alone could be the blueprint of a business plan for many retailers.

For those of you who can’t read the picture above, it says:

Dominance of the trading area is to be achieved. 

Sales are the results of poor buying. 

Never inflate the markup. 

Never stretch the truth. 

No giveaways. 

Stress realism — no Santa Claus with a false beard. 

Further legends only in a truthful manner. 

Never hesitate in refund or credit transactions so as to give the impression of questioning the integrity. 

Tell the story of tools versus novelties.

Although I disagree with the giveaways, there is a lot of sage wisdom in the remaining statements. I especially like the second to last one.

If you want to create a positive lasting impression, don’t question the integrity of your customers. Sure, there will be one or two that try to screw you. But in the end, those will be far and away offset by all the customers delighted by your treatment of them.

Powerful stuff indeed.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS I also love how he started with Dominance of the trading area. Never shy about his goals, my grandfather always said “Plan for success.” What is your plan for success?

Own Your Mistakes

You will make mistakes. In business. In relationships. In parenting. In life. Own them. Admit you did them and learn from them. The worst thing we can do is try to find someone else to blame or be in denial about it.

This applies to guys like Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez who cheated with drugs in baseball. It also applies to you and I when a customer has a complaint. If you look for it, you can usually find something you could have done differently that would have kept the situation from ever happening.

I’m owning my mistakes. I recently received my evaluations from a couple talks I did for the toy industry last month. I got shredded. My friends and fellow store owners were nice to my face, but the anonymous comments from the surveys were brutal.

They were dead on, too.

I bit off more than I could chew with those two workshops. I tried to do more than the time would allow. I cut out things that would have been helpful to try to squeeze in a couple worksheets that just didn’t work in a big room format. I spent too much time on the worksheets and not enough on the instruction behind the worksheets. I didn’t make all the points I was supposed to make as well as I could have made them.

I blew it. And I apologize for anyone who attended those sessions. Not my best hour(s) on stage.

Here is the cool thing. By owning up to my mistakes, I can learn far more than if I were to deny them or find someone or something else to blame. The next time I am asked to present on either of those topics, I now have a far better idea of what to do and what not to do. I know where to put the emphasis and where to beef up the examples.

When you have a customer complain, that is an opportunity for you to learn. Why is she complaining? What could you have done proactively to make sure she would have no reason to complain? What changes to policy and procedure can you make to keep this from happening again?

When you make a mistake with an employee you can learn better ways to handle that issue in the future. Screw up in the training? Admit it, fix it, and move forward. Screw up in communication? Admit it, fix it, and move forward.

Own your mistakes and you can learn from them.
Own your mistakes and you can grow from them.
Own your mistakes and you will find your customers and employees far more willing to forgive you.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Negative criticism is tough to handle. I know. I have always had a big issue with it. What changed was when I looked at it as a chance to improve. Then the criticism became an opportunity. As soon as I was able to say, “Yes, I did that,” I was able to learn from it and move on. I’ve already tweaked those presentations, learned my limits and found better ways to get the idea across. The audience last weekend agreed. As hard as it was to own up, it was well worth it!

Toy Store or Summer Camp?

Over the past several months my staff has been looking at all the parallels between our store and summer camp.

Summer camps are built around a theme (i..e. space and science camp) and a set of core values (i.e. YMCA camps). Our store is built around the theme of toys and baby products with core values of Fun, Helpful, Educational, and Nostalgic.

Summer camps have core activities that are the whole reason you are there (canoeing, horseback riding, writing, etc). We have products that are the whole reason you are here.

Summer camps have Rituals, time-honored traditions that are unique and special. They have rituals that only those who attend will know, making the campers feel like insiders. We have rituals, too, such as the birthday bell, Saturday flag raising ceremonies, story times, game nights, etc. that make our customers feel like insiders.

Summer camps have special events and activities like playing Capture the Flag, doing a swamp stomp, or star gazing on a moonless night. We have special events like play days and author book signings.

Summer camps have all kinds of kids in the cabin that require skilled counselors to work with them. There is the homesick kid, the bully, the know-it-all and the natural leader. We have all kinds of different customers who require skilled employees to work with them in different ways, too. Just knowing and acknowledging those differences makes the cabin and the store a whole lot better.

Summer camps know a few other things we should copy. When is the best time to get a kid signed up for next year’s camp? On the last day of this year’s camp, when the memories and emotions are at their strongest. When is the best time to create a happy customer? At the moment of checkout by praising her purchasing decisions, helping her complete the sale by making sure she has everything she needs, and giving her some tips for how to use her new items.

Summer camp is a powerful metaphor for how you should run your retail store. Watch how summer camps do everything from hiring and training their staff to planning their activities to marketing their programs to making sure the memories last. The best camps do things you should be doing, too.

Anyone who has been to summer camp has memories etched forever in their minds. Do what the summer camps do and you can etch similar memories in the minds of your customers.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS There are other industries from which we can learn to be better retailers. Look at amusement parks. You can ride their coattails (pun fully intended) to lots of great lessons and ideas.

What Can You Get for $99?

What kind of return would you get if you learned one new technique that cost you nothing, but delighted customers even more than you do today? How would that impact your business for the remainder of the year?

What kind of return would you get if someone revealed to you the secret to consistently getting Word-of-Mouth referrals? How would that impact your bottom line?

What kind of return would you get if you replaced your worst employee with a clone of your best employee? How would that affect your profit & loss?

What if you did all three?

Put a number on it. Guess if you have to. How much more would your business make this year?

One thousand dollars? Five thousand dollars? Fifteen thousand dollars?

What if someone offered you five thousand dollars in return for ninety-nine dollars? Oh, and four hours of your time? Would you jump at that chance?

You can!

In two weeks (Thursday, July 11) I will be offering a Summer Business Boot Camp on Shareworthy Customer Service (thanks, Tim, for that wonderfully apt word). 

In the class you will learn the truth behind what makes customers talk about your business. You will create two Word-of-Mouth techniques that you can use the very next day. You will learn how to step up your levels of customer service beyond what the customer expects and learn how to delight her at many different points in the transaction. You will learn how to hire and train employees that fit your culture and delight your customers all the time.

It only costs you $99 and four hours of your time. I’ll even throw in a free lunch.

All you have to do is call the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce (517) 782-8221 to sign up.

Only four steps to get an incredible Return on Investment.

  1. Pick up the phone. 
  2. Invest your $99. 
  3. Do what you learn. 
  4. Reap the benefits. 

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS I’ll be doing another one in August specifically on Marketing and Advertising. The two together will rock your business regardless of whether you are a retailer or service provider. Make the call. Invest your time and money and I’ll make sure it is worth your while.

Herds, Flocks and Gaggles

When a lioness approaches a herd of zebras, she searches for the stragglers, the loners, the ones who have strayed too far away. She isn’t attacking the whole herd. There is safety in numbers and the zebras know it.

When a flock of birds flies in formation, they can fly farther than a solitary bird alone. There is strength in numbers. Predators do not disrupt their formation.

When a gaggle of geese starts honking, the message is clear. Stay away. Stay far away. Maybe they are protecting some goslings. Maybe they are just protecting themselves. There is strength in numbers. The predators would much rather go after a solitary goose than attack the gaggle.

Herd of zebras, flock of birds, gaggle of geese, crash of rhinoceros (one of my favorite group names), obstinacy of buffalo (my new favorite). All animals know there is safety in numbers. Stay in the group and you’re safe. Stray from the group and you may be attacked.

What do you call a group of sales clerks? 

A clucker of clerks? A chattering of clerks? A confusion of clerks? Or my other favorite group term (works with every type of animal), a “whole mess of” clerks?

By any name, the rules still apply. There is safety in numbers.

Stay close to the group and you won’t have any customers attacking you looking for help. You won’t have the boss singling you out for a project. You won’t be under the glare and spotlight.

You’ll be safe in the group.

Or will you?

We aren’t talking about a lioness hiding in the tall grass looking for the weakest member. We’re talking about a customer needing assistance. We’re talking about projects needing to be done. We’re talking about the work your clucker is supposed to be doing.

The point is that you aren’t the prey. You are the pride of lions, who only rest and play after the kill. You hunt alone. You are not the Leap of Leopards, just the lone Jaguar ready to pounce at the chance to accomplish and do more than expected. You are not the convocation of eagles, just the single eagle ready to take flight and soar.

In other words, watch how you congregate. That chattering could be costly.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Here are some of my other favorite Animal Group Names…
Congregation of Alligators
Shrewdness of Apes
Quiver of Cobras
Cast of Falcons
Implausibility of Gnus
Scourge of Mosquitoes
Gaze of Raccoons
Rhumba of Rattlesnakes
Congress of Salamanders
Ambush of Tigers
Wisdom of Wombats