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What Audience Segment are You Targeting?

I subscribe to a free service called Help A Reporter Out. Three times each weekday I get an email with requests from multiple sources needing quotes for articles, blogs and books.

One question recently peaked my interest. Below is the question, my answer, and some follow-up questions & answers.

Are retailers doing enough to attract new customer segments or are they putting all their eggs into one audience segment basket?

Most retailers are putting too many eggs into one basket, and usually it’s the wrong basket. The biggest mistake most retailers make is in how they define their audience. Too often they use outdated and inaccurate tools such as demographics or average customers. Defining your customer based on age, gender, income and education doesn’t work in today’s world. Customers are too diverse to be summed up neatly in one little box.

Describe some common mistakes retailers make in their outreach efforts.

The two biggest mistakes most retailers make in their outreach efforts is:

  1. Going after the wrong model of people (see answer above)
  2. Not making the Outreach consistent with the Experience.

Too many times the marketing message is at odds with the in-store experience. A classic example of this a couple years ago was Wal-Mart trying to get into fashion. The marketing talked about upscale fashion, but the store screamed ugly, dirty and cheap. When they dropped that campaign and went back to advertising really low prices their numbers improved greatly.

There is a big disconnect between how customers perceive certain stores and how those stores advertise and market themselves. Thus, those advertising messages are seen immediately as false hype and are discounted or ignored. The best marketing & advertising campaigns are those that consistently match the actual experience in the store. If you advertise excellent customer service, you better have over-the-top customer service in the store. If you advertise low prices, they better be extremely low. If you advertise friendly, helpful staff, you can’t have lots of fine print clauses in all your policies.

With new media tools added to existing traditional outlets like print, radio and direct marketing, how do they select the most effective tools?

All forms of advertising CAN work. The key is in knowing how each form works differently and then using them in the correct way. You can’t do the same thing on Facebook that you do in a newspaper. They don’t work the same. The key to selecting the right tool is to first identify the objective with clear and measurable goals. Then evaluate all the options to determine which tool most effectively can reach that goal. For instance, we use Facebook primarily as a way to fan the flames of our most loyal customers by making them feel like insiders. It is not used for reaching new people. I use radio for that purpose.

Can you offer 3-5 tips on improving their marketing messages?

First, identify the true Core Values of your business. What are the unwavering principles that guide every decision?

Second, evaluate every single aspect of the business to make sure it aligns perfectly with those core values. And I mean everything! From the message on your answering machine to the odor in your bathroom, you have to be consistent enough that any customer walking through the door knows exactly who you are and what is important to you.

Third, align your marketing message with your core values. If your store is about teaching the customer how to shop, use your marketing to teach. If your store is about whimsy and surprise, make your ads about whimsy and surprise. If your store is about efficiency and accuracy, make your ads about efficiency and accuracy.

When you follow those three steps you’ll immediately start attracting new customers to your store, customers who align their values with your values. That is the most important segment of the audience to own.

Merry Christmas!

-Phil

Doing December Differently

(Note: I know it’s already December 6th. For some of you it might seem like too little too late. But the advice is good and I didn’t want to wait 11 months before sharing it.)

Today’s sermon from Pastor Dr. James Hegedus at the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson was about “Doing December Differently.” Would it surprise you to learn that pastors take the same approach to December as retailers?

As Pastor Jim put it, “I turned the page on the calendar and sucked all the oxygen out of the room.”

Yes, big, deep sighs as we brace ourselves for the onslaught of the busy season.

Pastor Jim went on to talk about how he is preparing his way for the Lord differently this year. As retailers we need to think about how we prepare, too. Here are three things I encourage you to do differently this December.

  1. Schedule some white space
  2. Empower your staff
  3. Focus on one customer at a time

The hardest thing we face in December is the way everything seems to grow and speed up exponentially. The fires to put out, the to-do lists, and the pace of business whirl around faster and faster until we are sucked into the stress and craziness of the season. Soon we aren’t eating or sleeping well, we’re losing our patience faster and we become a different person than we were the other 11 months of the year. I know. Been there, done that.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t have to take a deep sigh as though holding your breath while you plunge into the icy waters of December. You just have to do things a little differently.

Do these three things and it will make a huge difference in how well you feel (and how well you do) at the end of December.

Schedule some white space. Just as the white space in a newsprint ad makes the message stand out more powerfully, white space in your life makes you more powerful. Schedule at least 30 minutes per day for quiet time. Use it to read, write or reflect, but don’t use it for anything relating to your business. It will recharge your batteries and give you a fresh outlook on your life and your business.

Empower your people. Teach your employees how to do what you do and let them do it. Reward and praise them when they do it right. If they do it wrong, first support them, then show them how to do it right. Soon they will be doing more so that you can do less. Will they do it as well as you? Probably not at first. But if you’re rewarding their behavior, they’ll do it well enough to make a difference. And you’ll immediately have more time on your plate.

Focus on one customer at a time. As the boss it is hard not to look and listen to everything happening around you. But the more you can learn to focus on one customer at a time, the more the world slows down for you and the bigger impact you can have on that one customer. Give her your full attention and win her over as a fan. She deserves nothing but your best. And don’t worry about those waiting customers. When they see you giving your all to one customer, they’ll want some of that kind of service, too.

Do things a little differently this December. Give yourself a break. Empower your staff. And take it one customer at a time. You’ll see the results before the champagne pops New Year’s Eve.

Merry Christmas!

-Phil

What Chris Brogan Can Teach You About Retail

Chris Brogan, author and power blogger, just posted a blog about a horrible shopping experience titled What Timberland Taught Me About Retail.

There are many lessons in there for independent retailers. I’m going to talk about two of them.

The gist of the story – he saw a Timberland boot advertised on TV and went to a few brick & mortar stores to find it, make his purchase and move on. Unfortunately, the stores were ill-prepared for his visit. Some didn’t even know about the product. Others knew the product but didn’t have it. Others had it but not in the color or size he needed. Overall, he was frustrated that he could not find anyone with credible information – let alone the actual item – about a product he saw advertised on TV by a major vendor.

This happens all the time in retail. Customer sees product in advertisement, customer wants product, customer goes to store, store doesn’t know product, customer goes away frustrated.

But it doesn’t have to happen in your store as long as you are proactive about the situation. To do that you have to know the answer to two questions.

The first question is whether or not the company ever gave such information to all the retailers or whether this was an exclusive channel distribution product.

The best retailers know not only the products they sell, but also the products they don’t sell (and why). Do you have major vendors that also sell exclusives to big-box stores and Internet sellers? Have you asked them for info on the exclusives you can’t get?

If you want to be the product knowledge king, that is information you need. And don’t wait for your reps to give it to you. Ask them right up front to get that info. Start with your top vendors and work down until at least you have a working list of products customers might request that you don’t have. (And know why you don’t have it – by your choice or the vendor’s choice.)

If you choose not to carry an item available to you, there is a reason you didn’t buy it. Does your staff know that reason?

Just imagine the different type of experience Chris would have had if an associate said, “I know the boot you saw. We chose not to carry it because we like model x better. It has… which means you’ll…”

Or if you couldn’t get the product… “I know the boot you saw. We don’t have that style, it is only available online, but let me show you this one. It is similar because…”

Can you see the difference between either of those scenarios and, “Nope, never heard of ’em,“?

The second question is whether or not the sales staff even cared about knowing that information.

Maybe the information did come down the pike. What did you do with that info? What did your staff do?

This is a training issue.

The best retailers are motivating their staff to know more about the products than the customers. In this day of endless information on the web, it is vital that your staff are constantly researching product info. Yes, the customers are already coming in armed with more info than ever before. But now it is your job to sort that info for them and give it relevance. Tell them why a certain feature is included and what it will do for them (benefits). Let them know why one item costs more than another and help them figure out if the extra expense is worth it.

How much product knowledge training have you offered to your staff? How much time do you spend on teaching the benefits of every product you sell? How much time is devoted to continually updating that info? If you’re not doing this, you’re letting customers like Chris get away.

Chris Brogan just told a few hundred thousand people not to go shopping in brick & mortars because they were basically clueless. The only way we can combat messages like that is to constantly give our customers the kind of service that would have made Chris a loyal follower.

Can you do that in your business?

-Phil

Don’t Make Your Customers Mad

Why would I want to make my customers mad? Apparently some retailers think it’s okay to piss off a few people.

This Thursday the fliers hit the door with all the early bird doorbuster specials for Black Friday, and some of them are going to make customers mad.

Look at the fine print in these ads and you’ll see what I mean.

Some of the best deals say “minimum 2 per store” meaning that stores in smaller communities (like Jackson) may only have 2 of those great items they’re using to draw a big crowd. If you’re standing in that line at 5am you gotta ask yourself… Will you be one of the lucky two? Or will you be one of the mad?

Some of those deals aren’t deals at all. Read the model numbers and compare them to what the stores currently sell. Some of those doorbusters are what we call derivatives or one-offs. They look the same as the original, but some features have been stripped out to make it cheaper. Will you be one of the shoppers who did the research and is happy with what you gave up? Or will you be one of the mad?

Some of you will give up sleep, fight crowds, and wait in long lines. Some of you will find that fun. Some of you will be mad. (If you ever wondered why some people love Black Friday and others hate it, click here.)

And think about the staff. They had to give up spending time with their families. They got too little sleep. They’re overworked (and underpaid). They’re on the front lines having to deal with all these unhappy customers. Some of them aren’t all that happy now either.

I’ve never quite figured out why these stores go through all this hassle knowing the outcome is that they will anger as many customers as they please, and not make many friends with their staff, either.

If you’re offering any Black Friday specials, do your customers, your store, and your staff a favor.

  • Make sure you have ample supply of anything you advertise.
  • Be honest about the deal. If it’s a derivative or one-off, let people know up front.
  • Train your staff to learn how to show empathy with unhappy customers and empower them with tools to solve problems and make the customers happy.

This Black Friday most every major retail chain will make a whole bunch of their customers mad by design.

You don’t have to play that game, too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

-Phil

The Three People to Solve the Problem

If you’re in retail, at some point you will have a customer with a problem. And your success will depend on how well you solve that problem in the customer’s eye.

The key is knowing the three people who can solve the problem. Those people are (in no particular order):

  • The person Most Capable of solving the problem
  • The person Closest to the problem
  • The person Least Busy at the time of the problem

The problem for most businesses is the order in which we prioritize that list. From a business owner’s standpoint the ideal priority would be:

  1. Most Capable
  2. Least Busy
  3. Closest

From a customer’s point of view, however, the order would be:

  1. Closest
  2. Least Busy

Notice that I left off “Most Capable”. The customer expects that everyone will be Most Capable. And that’s where the smart retailers succeed. They equip their front line staff with the tools to solve problems so that customers get satisfaction right from the start.

There is nothing more frustrating to a customer who already walked through the door loaded for bear than having to wait around while incompetent fools run off in search of an already over-worked manager to approve a return or refund or some other simple issue.

Conversely, there is nothing so satisfying as a customer than having the first person who greets you being able to fully take care of your problem.

The best thing you can do for your staff is walk them through the basic problems that arise in your business. Show them your thought process and the criteria you use to make decisions. Then empower them to make those same decisions for the customers.

Sure, they might make a mistake or two. Sit down with them when they do and talk through their decision-making to see their process. Use that time to show them (again) how you would handle it. The good ones on your staff will get it quickly. Plus, they’ll feel more ownership for the satisfaction of the customers in the first place.

There will still be a time when the person closest to the situation can’t solve the problem. But the more often they can, the better your customers will feel about you and your business.

And isn’t that the whole point?

-Phil

The Christmas Tree Lesson

My son gave me the coolest gift for my birthday – a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

Now some of you might wonder why I think that is so cool. I mean, it’s a lonely, bare tree that represents the ultimate failure of a blockhead child. Charlie was laughed out of the auditorium when he presented it to the Peanuts Gang.
Yet, there are lessons in that tree that all independent retailers can learn.
Think about what happened next to Charlie’s tree. (I know you’ve all seen the Charlie Brown Christmas Special at least a dozen times – this should be a simple exercise.)
Linus wrapped his blanket around it to give it support.
What have you wrapped around the foundation of your business to give it support?
Have you secured your financing? Have you bolstered your training program to make sure your staff is fully trained and ready to deliver excellent customer service? Have you checked to make sure your inventory includes an ample supply of the “must have” items – the stuff you can never be out-of-stock?
These are the foundations that give your business support, no matter how simple or bare your business might be.
Back to the tree… After Charlie Brown left, the other kids gathered around and decorated the tree with stuff from Snoopy’s dog house. The finished product looked as good as any tree ever did. But it wasn’t the decorations that made the tree special, it was the love they poured into it.
You don’t need the budget of Nordstrom’s to dress up your store to look its best.
You only need to add in some Love. Pour some love into your business. Show your customers how much you love what you do, and you’ll look more special than any overspent, over designed, cold, heartless big box store. Show passion in your design, passion in your policies that serve, and passion in your interactions with the customers and you’ll be the best tree on the block.
Even a simple tree like Charlie Brown’s can become something special. So, too, can your business.
Merry Christmas (and Happy Birthday to me:-)
-Phil

What Are You Tracking?

You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Here are two numbers you should be measuring this holiday season.

Traffic Count: How many sales do you have per day (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…)? Per day part (morning, afternoon, evening)?

Knowing this can help you schedule your staff to better meet the peaks and valleys of your daily & weekly sales. It also helps you measure the success of your marketing and your customer service. If traffic counts are up, you’re doing something right. If they are down, you better figure out why (and it isn’t just the economy).

Average Ticket: How much is the average transaction or sale? Which employees have higher or lower averages (if applicable)?

This number helps you measure the effectiveness of your sales staff and promotions. It also helps you understand your merchandise better. Are you getting the add-on sales? If not it could be that you don’t have the right products to complete a customer’s purchase. If you sell dolls, you better sell doll stands. If you sell electronics, you better sell batteries.

Measure these two numbers. They have a lot to say about your success.

-Phil

Yes They are Price Shopping With Their Phone – It’s Okay

The new applications on iPhones allow your customers to scan a bar code on a product on your shelf and get all kinds of information online including the price others are charging for the very same item.

Oh no! Oh, yes. Customers can more easily price shop you than ever before. What are you going to do?

Some stores are banning customers who do this. Don’t be one of them.

Allow your customers to use this new app. Embrace the technology. As Bob Phibbs pointed out so well, use it as a means of connection with your customer. Ask them what they found. See if the info is accurate. Chances are, you’ll be able to add info to what they find, or at the very least be able to make that info relevant by explaining to the customer what it means.

By all means, however, treat these customers with ultimate kindness and respect.

Sure, many of them are price shoppers, transactional customers, who won’t ever be loyal or profitable for your business. But that is no excuse not to kill ’em with kindness.

One thing we know about transactional customers is that they are always big on word of mouth. They love to talk about their shopping experiences.

And when they leave your store, they could be saying, “Wow, what a bunch of overpriced jerks!”

Wouldn’t you rather they said, “What a friendly knowledgeable store – expensive – but they really know their stuff,”?

Embrace the new iPhone apps and other programs that allow customers to price shop and get other info on your products. And then recognize that they came to you first. Now give them a reason to buy.

-Phil

Breaking Trust the AT&T Way

Two letters have undone all trust I ever had with AT&T. For 60 years we have used AT&T in one form or another for our store. That’s a lot of trust built up.

The first letter came on August 24th saying that my account with them was about to expire. With 16 phones, 8 business lines, and a business open 7 days a week, you can believe I called them right away. After jumping through a bunch of online menu hoops I got a guy who informed me that my account was not about to expire, but that he had some great offers of other products I might want to buy.

Yeah, the letter was a total scam to get me to call so they might sell me some services I didn’t want. Apparently the hundred plus phone calls from sales reps that I had blown off wasn’t enough for them to get the message that I was completely happy with my current level of service and didn’t want anything more.

Trust meter down 50%.

The second letter came today. It informed me of the “new services you have requested” and that my new bill would be $106.35 more for the new services.

What!!?

Apparently, even after explaining that I was happy with my current services and didn’t want anything more, AT&T thought I should have Caller ID for my 8 lines (two which are purely modems, not even used for receiving calls). And somewhere over the past month, they decided to add that to my account for an extra $106.35 a month.

Yeah, I got back on the phone. Only this time it took 5 calls and umpteen hoops before I found a live person. Unfortunately, the phone number led me to a live person that had no clue how to help me with my problem. Yes, she finally transferred me to someone knowledgeable on the subject, but even then, he couldn’t help me. (What’s the point of giving out a phone number if the people answering that phone can’t deal with the issues for which the number was given?)

Bottom line? They changed my account because they changed program I was on. It wasn’t anything I had actually requested. I just wanted to stay on the old plan, but the old plan now had Caller ID bundled in it and I was getting Caller ID even though I don’t need it, don’t want it, can’t use it. No option. It was now in the plan, and I had to pay for it.

I suppose AT&T’s idea was, if you can’t get someone to buy your products, just bundle them in and tell them they have no choice but to pay for them.

Trust meter down 100%.

On Monday I’ll be calling their competitors.

There are so many lessons in this, I don’t think one post could cover them all. Here’s the one I want you to remember…

Trust takes time to build, but only seconds to shatter. We have used AT&T in our business for over 60 years. We have never had any issues with our phone service. Yet it all was destroyed in 39 days, and now I’m shopping around.

Trust is precious. The trust you have built with your customers is gold. Remember how hard it was to get that trust, and then do everything in your power to keep that trust. Make sure all your policies, procedures and ventures are designed to build trust, not break it.

-Phil

PS If you sell phone services, call me Monday.

Uncover the Diamonds in Your Hiring Process By Eliminating the Biggest Hiring Mistake

You’ve hired and fired enough people to know what makes a good employee and what doesn’t. Yet, your track record of finding diamonds in the rough doesn’t seem to change. I know. I’ve been there. It took me years to learn this logical approach, but now I have a proven process that eliminates the biggest mistake in hiring and helps me find diamonds at every turn.

The biggest mistake we make in the hiring process is to look for experience instead of character traits.

There is a simple process for identifying the right raw ingredients for the job.

  • Make a Master List of all the traits of the perfect candidate.
  • Separate the Master List into two columns – Teachable and Non-Teachable traits.
  • Develop interview questions to identify the Non-Teachable traits.

If you are looking for a top notch salesperson, you need someone who is friendly, approachable, outgoing, honest, caring, and empathetic. Yet, what is the first thing you usually check? Sales Experience.

All the experience in the world will not make someone more caring, approachable, or empathetic. Years and years on the sales floor does not equate to honesty or friendliness. Experience cannot teach the non-teachable traits.

Just as the potter can’t make fine China with coarse clay, you can’t have a great employee if you don’t start with the right raw ingredients. Every job has certain skills or traits necessary for success. Many of these traits are teachable. Some are not.

Three simple logical steps. Follow them in your hiring process and your hiring will improve immediately. You will more quickly identify the people who already possess the innate skills needed to do the job. If they have all the Non-Teachable traits and Experience, all the better. But without the right traits first, they’ll never shine under pressure.

You need coal to make a diamond. You need certain non-teachable traits to make a diamond employee. Experience does not guarantee success. The candidate who possesses the non-teachable traits from your master list has the best chance to be successful for your business. And once you know this, you’ll be finding diamonds at every turn.

And as for those teachable traits in the other column? There is your training program, your chance to polish those diamonds to make them shine. Here’s a form to use for separating the traits for each job.

It’s simple, it’s easy, and the method is free for anyone to use. If you agree, send this to everyone you know who hires and fires.

If you don’t agree, leave a comment. I’d love to hear your take on the matter.

-Phil