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Category: Customer Service

Everyone Thinks They Have It

Every store thinks they have Great Customer Service. Even Wally World thinks a greeter at the door qualifies them for the customer service hall-of-fame. But unfortunately, most stores barely offer the basics.

And even then Great Customer Service isn’t enough to move the needle for customers these days. You need WOW Customer Service!

See where your business stacks up in this example of dealing with a Customer with a Problem…

Basic Customer Service: Go find a manager to deal with the problem.

Good Customer Service: Take the customer away from other customers and go find a manager.

Great Customer Service: First attempt to solve the problem before calling a manager.

WOW Customer Service: Own the problem from the start. Apologize and admit you made a mistake. Solve the problem to the satisfaction of the customer. Report your solution to the manager. Follow up with the customer later to make sure she is still satisfied.

It doesn’t take much to go from Basic to Great. But to get to WOW requires a dedicated and well-trained team. Ask yourself…

  • Does your management team allow for WOW to happen?

  • Is your staff capable of making WOW happen?

It takes WOW to get WOM (word-of-mouth). Give your customers the WOW treatment and your needle will move. Guaranteed!

Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS I’m working on a new eBook… “Customer Service: From Basics to WOW” I would love your feedback on what you consider to be WOW service that you’re currently using in your store. Any submissions used will get both credit in the eBook and a FREE copy of my book Hiring and the Potter’s Wheel: Turning Your Staff Into a Work of Art

If You’re Gonna Do It, Do It Better Than Everyone Else

Today at Toy House we launched our Birthday Club.

We looked into what our competitors were doing and figured out we could do a whole lot better.

Our biggest competitor offers a small gift certificate of $3.
So we offered $10.
Their gift certificate had a strict time limit.
Ours has (virtually) none.
Their program ends when the kid turns 10.
Ours has no limit. Yes, even adults can sign up!

Then, for fun, we installed a Birthday Bell in the store. When a Birthday Club member comes in, he or she gets to ring the Birthday Bell to let everyone in the store know he or she is celebrating.

Oh sure, we have some ulterior motives in all of this. All such programs do. Here are the benefits we hope to reap.

  • More traffic in store. You have to come in to sign up and you have to come in to redeem the gift certificate and ring the bell.

  • More information. You have to give us your mailing address and there is a place to opt-in to our email list, too.

  • More fun and excitement. Ringing the bell in the store adds to the in-store experience for everyone.

  • More memories. Will you remember a $3 gift? Heck, some of our Facebook friends said it wasn’t enough to even get them in that other store. A $10 gift certificate means you can get something of value. Add it in with other money they received and the gift becomes even more special.

  • More sales. Yes, we expect to reap some incremental sales from this. The kid with birthday cash can go anywhere. The kid with birthday cash and a Toy House gift certificate is coming to see us.

  • More exposure. Word of mouth? You bet! Plenty to talk about. The size of the gift certificate. The Birthday Bell. The fact that adults can join (and the added benefit of reminding people that we carry toys for all ages.)

We could have copied the other store. But that isn’t us. We’re bigger than that. We’re better than that. You are too!

Is your competitor doing something positive that you aren’t? See how you can do it better than them, and blow them out of the water.

Phil
www.PhilsForum.com

PS If you would like details of how we’re running this program, how we’re marketing it, or anything else regarding it, send me an email.

The Importance of Fun

Are your employees having fun?

Do they enjoy coming to work every day? Do they smile, laugh and play? Do they make the tedious jobs seem fun and exciting? Do they brighten up the entire store?

Or do they drag themselves to work at the last possible moment? Do they start each day with a bitch session about last night’s issues with the kids, or yesterday’s customers, or just life in general? Do they roll their eyes when you suggest something to keep them busy?

If you’re a retailer, you have to have a fun place to visit. There are too many options for customers to have to go to someplace they dread. And that fun attitude starts with your staff.

Here are some things you can do to foster fun amongst the staff:

  • Hire fun people. Seems obvious, but are you willing to fire the sourpusses and start over?

  • Encourage fun on the job. Have games for the staff to play. Get products out for the staff to demo. Help your staff become experts by making them use the products you sell. Do something unusually fun on the sales floor, maybe even out of character for your industry like a TV in a jewelry store.

  • Encourage fun in the training. Make meetings and trainings fun by finding fun ways to teach. Have surprises, pleasant surprises, at meetings and trainings such as prizes, guests, food, or just unexpected activities.

Yeah, for me it’s easy. I have a toy store. It’s supposed to be fun. But even in a toy store I have to foster that atmosphere of fun consciously. And the more I foster it, the more fun it becomes.

Make fun a priority in your store and your customers will respond. And that’s the most fun of all!

Phil
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Fun can work in any retail situation. What it would be like for the guys if the jewelry store had a TV showing sports channels and all the sales people were having a good time? How about a grocery store with tasting stations and experts on grilling techniques that had serious passion and a light-hearted good nature? Or a hardware store where you could swing a bunch of hammers to see how each one is different while the staff egged you on to hit harder?

Teaching Your Staff to Connect

Let’s plan a staff meeting together…

Every meeting needs to have a goal.

Our Goal:

This will be a successful meeting if… The staff learns a better way to create relationships with our customers.

Doug Fleener, the Retail Contrarian, believes you should find out three things about a customer before you try to sell them anything. That way you know more about the real needs of the customer, not just the surface needs they might readily ask.

Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor, teaches that the easiest way to make a connection is to find a point in common and share about yourself because you become more human and memorable. (“I see Johnny had a soccer game today. Did you win? You know, my son plays soccer, too. What league are you in?”)

I believe that customers enter stores like Toy House because they want solutions. Maybe it is a gift idea, maybe it is to solve an educational issue, maybe it is to complete a project, maybe it is to fulfill a desire. Our job is to help them define the problem before we can find the solution.

The Task:

So we need Tasks – activities that help us teach this skill of relating to customers. Let’s brainstorm…

Task Idea #1 – Show a Movie
Movies are fun. You could search the web and check other resources for movies that either teach
customer interaction, or show lousy interactions from which you can learn. (Google “lousy customer interaction videos” and you get 8.6 million choices)

Task Idea #2 – Lecture
Give a talk about the importance of interaction, how making connections makes you more real and trustworthy. Quote Mr. Phibbs, or Mr. Fleener, or George Whalin, or any host of other retail consultants on why making such connections are important. Give examples of good connections versus bad connections. Ask for critique of the bad ones, how they could have been done better.

Task Idea #3 – Play Games
Since the key to learning is asking questions, steal this game from the TV show Whose Line is it Anyway? One person starts by asking a question, but you can only respond with another question. Pair off your staff and have them see how long they can keep it going until someone goofs. Trade partners and do it all over again.

Another game is to have your staff try to find ten things they have in common with each other person on the staff.

Task Idea #4 – Role Play
Split up the staff into pairs to do simple role play. Make one person the customer. Give her a typical customer profile. Have her enter the store and have another staff person interact with her with the goal to find out three things about the customer before showing a product. After each role play talk about what was awkward, easy, could be done differently. Continue until everyone has played both roles at least once.

Task Idea #5 – Bring in an Outsider
Hire someone to come in and teach these skills. Sometimes an outside voice makes it stick better with the staff than hearing your same voice time and again. For a skill like this, a person who teaches Networking Skills is a good alternative to a retail consultant. In fact, maybe even a better alternative because the same principles of networking apply to meeting and relating to customers, and there are tons of people who teach Networking (contact your local Chamber).

That’s a pretty good list, five potential Tasks that could lead us to reach our Goal. With a little creative thought you might come up with a few more ideas. The more the merrier.

To pick one you have to ask three questions…

  1. What are my constraints? (Space, Time, Money, etc.) Eliminate any Tasks for which you do not have/cannot get the resources necessary.

  2. What will be the most effective Task? (Pick one)

  3. What will be the most fun Task for my staff? (Pick one)

So now you should have two Tasks from which to choose. Look closely at the Task you picked for question #3. Will it accomplish the goal? If yes, then run with it. If no, then go with the Task from question #2. (note: if the answer to #2 and #3 is the same, you’re golden:-)

The Plan:

You know what you want to accomplish (the goal) and how you’re going to accomplish it (the task). Start your planning. What else do you need? A date and time. A place. Any props necessary (a projector for a movie, a stage area for role play, rules to games, etc.). Collect everything you need to do your Task.

You also need questions. Questions that lead your staff from doing to learning. The technique I use is the What? So What? Now What? method.

  • What? These are the concrete questions. What did we do? What happened when…? How did that work?

  • So What? These are the abstract questions. What did we learn? What did this teach us? Why did we accomplish this?

  • Now What? These are the application questions. How do we apply that lesson to our situation? How does that compare to here? What can we do with this knowledge?

Write down two or three questions of each type appropriate to the task you have chosen.

Then post your plan. Put out the agenda. As much or as little info as you wish. Extroverts just need to know when and where. They’ll do their best thinking then. But Introverts need a little more. If you want feedback from them, you need to give them a topic so they have time to formulate thoughts prior to the meeting. Introverts do their best thinking beforehand.

The Surprise:

Have some unexpected element planned in your meeting that will be a pleasant surprise. Maybe a gift certificate to a local restaurant given to the staff person who does the best in the games. Maybe a special treat like a pizza party as soon as the meeting is over. Maybe a costume that you wear as part of the Role Play. Maybe lottery cards for everyone just because you thought it would be fun.

Surprises make meetings more memorable, and it is not just the surprise they remember. The surprise becomes the anchor which triggers memory of the meeting and its lessons.

The Summary:

Your meeting will be a success. You’ve pretty much guaranteed that in your planning. But to make that success long lasting you need to write up a summary. What did we do? What did we learn? Try to use quotes from the staff as much as possible. Pictures are good, too. If any further action steps are required, list them. If certain future tasks are assigned, list them.

Then post the summary where all can see it.

That’s all it takes to have a successful staff meeting.

Are you ready?

Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Yes, I go through this process for every staff meeting I plan. Believe me, it gets easier the more you do it. But for starters, here’s a worksheet I use for planning. It’s just one of the many Free eBooks I’ve written with your success in mind.

Convenience Versus Experience

A Convenience Store is always located on the easiest side of the road to pull in or pull out, no-hassle driving.

An Experience Store has you drooling with anticipation as you wait at the light to pull in.

A Convenience Store carries all the same merchandise you would expect to find anywhere, the most popular items, the most requested items.

An Experience Store is full of unique and wonderful treasures, amazing merchandise you haven’t seen.

A Convenience Store is open early and late, enough hours to be there exactly when you need it.

An Experience Store is open long enough for you to be able to take the time to explore all those treasures leisurely and when it fits in your schedule.

A Convenience Store has a staff that knows where everything is, and can get you through checkout in a hurry.

An Experience Store has a staff that also knows what everything is and how each product fits or doesn’t fit in your lifestyle, an can also get you through checkout in a hurry (because when the shopping is done, there’s no time to waste).

A Convenience Store wants your trips to be quick, painless, anonymous.

An Experience Store wants your trips to be comfortable, engaging, and relational.

A Convenience Store treats the customers as transactions, maximizing speed in the process.

An Experience Store treats the customers as people, maximizing comfort in the process.

A Convenience Store is measured by how little time you want to spend there.

An Experience Store is measured by how much time you want to spend there.

A Convenience Store is on the way to or from a Destination Store.

An Experience Store is a Destination Store.

Whichever you choose, now you know what is expected and what you need to do.

-Phil

The Emperor Has No Clothes

That’s where Roy H. Williams found himself in today’s Monday Morning Memo talking about Facebook & Twitter – as the boy in Hans Christian Andersen’s tale telling the truth nobody wanted to hear.

Facebook and Twitter are not the be-all-end-all fix to your marketing & advertising woes.

They are just the latest dazzling jewels being passed on as our next marketing saviours. But like many jewels that have blinded us before, Facebook and Twitter will not be your knight in shining armor. They will not lead you out of the dark. They will not transform your business into greatness.

Oh they might help a little bit. But alone they are as naked as Andersen’s Emperor. They need to be clothed with the right message.

Remember the message? Your message? The one relevant, salient, memorable point that speaks to the heart of your customer? The message that makes them feel not only a connection with you but a partnership? A loyalty?

If your business isn’t growing there are only two things to blame.

  1. Your market is shrinking. If you sell typewriters, sorry, dude, but the game is up.

  2. Your message isn’t connecting.

And not just the message you give through your advertising, but the message you give through the experience in your store. Do you echo your marketing in your services? In your attitude? Do you show the same heartfelt caring towards your customers in person as you do online (and vice versa?)

Figure out your message. Put all your time and energies into coming up with that one relevant, salient, memorable, heartfelt message. And once you have your message, make it sparkle in every single element of your business from the bathroom floor to the phone message to the way your employee says Hello.

Then it doesn’t matter which jewel you use. With the right message they all shine. Even Facebook & Twitter.

-Phil

Yeah, I like to call this “Branding”. And when you understand your brand, you have all the jewels you need.

Turning Nouns into Verbs

My friend, Rick Wilson DMD, is writing a novel.

The story features a wonderful brewery in England called Gack & Bacon Brewery, established in the 16th century, now fighting off its conglomerate rival, Slore’s. (Their motto? “It’s beer.”)

Gack & Bacon has an in-house pub called the Pig & Trebuchet. In a recent post (he’s sharing tidbits online with some of his friends), Rick shared with us a little of the magic of the Pig & Trebuchet – The Bad Table.

Every restaurant has one, that table by the kitchen or bathroom (or both) that has the built-in annoyances. No one wants to sit at the Bad Table. But the P&T leadership turned that negative into a positive by making the table special for all who sit there. Special menu, special visitors, special activities. Always some little surprise and delight.

And people come in asking to sit at the Bad Table. My favorite line from this part of the story reads…

…”I’ve been Bad Tabled,” was even local slang for being surprised by something excellent and unexpected…


How do you take a negative noun and turn it into a positive verb? The key is in the phrase surprised by something excellent and unexpected.

What are you doing to turn around a negative associated with your business with something excellent and unexpected?

  • If parking is an issue, do you offer a valet service?

  • If price is the driver of all purchases, do you have a lower priced item (from which you can upsell)?

  • If location is an issue do you have billboards or wall signs directing people where to go?

  • If convenience is an issue, do you go out of your way to make the experience memorable?

At this morning’s meeting my staff and I decided we are going to turn Toy House into a verb. To be Toy Housed is to be pleasantly surprised and delighted in such a way that you have to smile. We’ll accomplish that by first doing four things:

  1. Play More

  2. Listen More

  3. Ask More

  4. Know More

I’ll let you know when Merriam-Webster puts it in their dictionary.

-Phil

Built-in Advantages

Some businesses have built-in advantages.

The big box chain stores have the advantage of Price through buying power and a bully position to demand and extract better pricing out of their suppliers. Some have the advantage of Convenience, too. Great locations and one-stop shopping.

The Internet sites have the advantage of Convenience. Shopping in your pajamas from the comfort of your own home. Some have the advantage of Price through low overhead. Warehouse space is cheaper to build than retail space.

And those two channels are fighting big time for customers who value price and/or convenience.

Independent Retailers rarely have either of those advantages. We work on tighter margins to stay price competitive. We pay higher rents to try to be convenient. And although good to have those things, the one area where we do have the built-in advantage is Experience.

To be successful, we have to out-Experience the competition.

We can offer not just good customer service, but outstanding, bend-over-backwards customer service, the kind that gives people something to talk about.

  • Have a problem? We’ll fix it.

  • Have a special need? We’ll take care of it.

  • Have a desire? We’ll fill it.

We can know more about the products than even the most savvy Internet researcher. And it isn’t just important to have knowledge. We can know how to apply it.

  • Let me tell you why the folding mechanism on that stroller is better for you.

  • Did you know that this game teaches skills that will raise your child’s math scores?

  • The manufacturer recommends this age because younger children don’t have the hand-eye coordination to be successful.

We can WOW our customers every time they step through the door.

  • Yes, I’d be happy to carry that out for you.

  • I’d like to give you this free gift as a token for shopping with us today.

  • Of course we deliver.

If your store isn’t built around the concept of Experience, you’re missing out on the one built-in advantage you have that your big-box and Internet competitors don’t. And if you aren’t actively working every day to improve your Experience, you’re not only hurting yourself, but every other indie retailer in your town because you’re teaching customers that Experience isn’t that important.

It is. You can do it. So make it so.

-Phil

Are You Working ON Your Business or IN Your Business?

Morgan Freeman’s character “Red” said it in The Shawshank Redemption, “You either get busy living or get busy dying.” Never have more truer words been said about retail.

So what are you busy at right now?

Are you busy coming up with new ways to market your business?

Are you busy evaluating your inventory mix to make sure you have the right items, the right amount of items, the right prices?

Are you busy measuring your financials to make sure you have enough cash flow, are keeping expenses in line, and building profits for the future?

Are you busy training your staff, teaching them how to please your customers and make their experience both memorable and worthy of talking about?

If you want to get ahead, you have to spend just as much time working ON your business as you spend working IN your business. Maybe even more.

Here are some simple things you can do to find more time to work ON instead of IN.

  • Don’t waste your time stapling, folding, cutting or hole-punching. If you don’t have a staff person in need of a simple project, give it to your kids or grand kids. (And if that isn’t an option take it home with you and do it while you catch up on your favorite show).

  • Don’t micromanage. Train your staff how to do it. Then empower them to do it. Even encourage them to come up with their own ways to do it better.

  • Don’t ever say or think “it would be quicker for me to do it myself.” The first time, you’re right. But if you teach someone else how to do it, the first time will be your last time.

  • Hire somebody. Let them do all that day-to-day stuff that bogs you down. Not only does it free up your time, but it forces you to work ON your business just to find the money to pay them.

And if you aren’t sure where to begin working ON your business, think about it as a three-legged stool.

  • The seat of the stool is the products. Without the seat there is no need to prop it up.

  • The first leg, then, is the marketing. What are you doing to get people in to see your products?

  • The second leg is selling. How well trained is your staff? Do they know the benefits of the products?

  • The third leg is the financials. How is your cash flow? Profit? Inventory levels? Expenses?

Pick the wobbliest leg and get to work. (Let me know if I can help).

-Phil

The Price is Right (Where it is)

I don’t recall any time in the past 18 years where price has been such a driving issue for retail. Is it the economy? Is it the Internet? Is it the smart-phone barcode apps?

For whatever reason, all most retailers seem to be thinking about is where to set the price. How low do you go?

The easy answer is to set the price at what the customer perceives the product to be worth. Figure out what the average person would expect to pay and charge that amount. You’ll sell tons!

What about profit, you ask?

Well, for that, you’ll probably need to raise your prices.

But how?

Simple… Raise the Perceived Worth of the item in the mind of the customers. You do that three ways:

  1. Merchandise the product more effectively. Give it a special place on the shelf. Put a table cloth under it and a spotlight over it. Build a display that tells a story about the product. All of these things make the product appear more valuable to a customer.

  2. Make a sign for it. Put on the sign the story behind the product, the benefits of buying/using that product. Signs sell.

  3. Teach your staff everything on the sign and then some. Make sure they know what problems the product will solve so they can match customer to the product.

Quit worrying about price and instead focus on raising the customers’ perceptions and expectations. You’ll sell more and make more at the same time. Oh yeah, and you’ll have more fun doing it!

Happy Easter!
-Phil

PS For more on Pricing for Profit, download the FREE eBook.