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Category: Independent Toy Stores

Two Specialty Retail Truths

If you’ve been a specialty retailer for several years you know these two things will happen every year. Every. Single. Year.

  1. A vendor who used to be exclusively sold only in specialty stores will start selling to a big box category killer (like Home Depot, Office Depot, Barnes & Noble, Toys R Us) or a major discounter (like Target, K-Mart or Wal-Mart.)
  2. A product you sell will be advertised nationally and sold somewhere (online, in a discount club store or flash site) below cost.

Write these down, my friends. They will happen. So far, they have happened every single year this century and will happen every single year for the foreseeable future.

Now you know. Now there is no reason to go postal when it happens. You saw it coming.

Yeah, it gets emotional. We indie retailer are a passionate bunch and hurts when we get betrayed. But the smart retailers are not only expecting it, they are dealing with it in a cold-hearted, calculating manner deciding whether to cut and run or ride out the storm based on sales and profits, not emotions and surprise.

CUT AND RUN

Cut and run when the vendor sells out completely and gives all their product and support to the big guys.

Cut and run when the product gets turned into a commodity sold everywhere, while you are trying to be the cutting edge leader in your field.

Cut and run when the traffic it brings in because of its popularity no longer justifies the lost margins.

Cut and run when you have another company offering you the same items but with better terms.

RIDE IT OUT

Ride it out when the product still sells at the price you set.

Ride it out when it is just a small sample, and you’re carrying the whole shooting match. You’ll get referrals and eventually the big box will move on. Cherry-picked lines don’t often last long in the chains.

Ride it out when your model is built on selling the most popular items, but with better service and experience than your competitors.

Vendors make decisions based on numbers. You should, too. Especially since you saw it coming.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Sure, sometimes it hurts your bottom line. Sometimes it helps. You can focus on the negative, which is usually out of your control, or focus on what you can do. I find that the latter usually helps keep me fired up and moving forward.

The Mortar Between Your Bricks

They call us Brick & Mortar stores. Physical locations where you go to pick out and pick up your goods.

But many stores are simply Brick stores – no mortar. Those are the stores being Showroomed.

Bricks are the products. Bricks are the items you choose to put into your store. Bricks are the items you buy, hoping to sell for a profit. Bricks are the reason you believe customers will beat a path to your door.

Oh, but you would be wrong on that last one.

Sure, you better have some nice bricks. But everyone knows that just stacking a bunch of bricks will not build a sustainable structure. Anyone can come by and knock it down.

Mortar is the glue that holds the bricks together. You need a good mortar.

Mortar is the staff you hire and train. Hire the right people and train them well. Give them autonomy to do the job they are capable of doing, mastery to do it better each successive time, and a purpose greater than themselves that will motivate them to do their best.

Mortar is the way you service and take care of your customers. Build policies around your Values. Build policies around the Feelings you hope to give your customers. Build policies around Delight, around going above and beyond what your customers expect.

Mortar is the way you invest in your community. Mortar is the charities you support, the issues you champion, the involvement and commitment you make to the greater good.

Mortar is the special touches you offer. Mortar is turning off the overhead music when an autistic child enters your store because you know it bothers him. Mortar is carrying the heavy item out to the car – even though it is parked hundreds of feet away – so that mom can manage the stroller and the toddler who wants to walk. Mortar is calling that customer who really wanted your sold-out, discontinued science set because somebody returned one the next day. Mortar is saying Yes! when everyone else says No.

The stronger your mortar, the stronger your store, regardless of which bricks you use.

Bricks are everywhere. The bricks that make up your store can be found online, in hundreds of other stores, all over the place. They can be found right in your customer’s pocket, one click away. If you want to make it in this retail climate, you need some incredibly good mortar.

Tell me what is your mortar?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Mortar is also your financial strength, your ability to manage your inventory and cash flow, your ability to manage your expenses and cost of goods. The best retailers find ways to strengthen their mortar everywhere they can. If you are in the Jackson area and want to strengthen the mortar in your store, sign up for the Jackson Retail Success Academy class starting in January.

Buying Word of Mouth Part 2

I bought people talking about my store for only $418.

This next project cost about the same – and I didn’t have to pay for it!!

Candy Chang started a project down in New Orleans by turning sheets of plywood into interactive works of art by asking people to finish this sentence – Before I die, I want to…

The interactive chalkboards have become a worldwide phenomenon.

I first learned about the project back in the spring and was kicking around the idea when a local artist approached me, wanting to use the side of our building for this project. She applied for a local grant of $500 and the board you see pictured is the result.

This picture was taken the day after the board was installed. You can see that it was already two-thirds full. The success of that board has prompted us to put up two more – My Favorite Toy… and the original Before I Die…

Now we have people talking and writing (and showing up)!

After the boards are up, we’ll install the webcam (for both novelty and security).

You can get word-of-mouth when you do over-the-top things in and around your store. Heck, you can duplicate this one quite easily.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS We used 1/4″ sanded plywood primed and painted with chalkboard paint. You could also use black flat paint if you’re on a tight budget. Doesn’t erase as well, but it still works. The borders are made with 1″x2″ poplar boards – the hardwood will last a little longer and hold up a little better. But just a simple piece of painted plywood will do the trick, too (but use a thicker plywood). The words are painted on (you can use a stencil or freehand it or even leave the board blank except for the header).The sidewalk chalk is in a 6″ cube acrylic box with a hinged lid.

The two other boards also have received funding through generous grants. See if there is money for art in your community.

Prepping the boards for mounting.

You can see the border – simple carpentry.

The chalk box.

Maggie, the artist behind the project and Dave, the carpenter.

Buying Word-of-Mouth

I bought Word-of-Mouth advertising.

Paid just over $400 for it.

There are four different ways you can consistently get people to talk about you.

  • Over-the-Top Design
  • Over-the-Top Service
  • Over-the-Top Generosity
  • Sharing Secrets

Roy H. Williams taught me the first three. The fourth I figured out on my own.

Yesterday during our Fourth Friday Game Night we decided to play Charades. It was an easy decision. We needed a game to christen our brand new stage.

Why would we take valuable retail space and build a stage?

  • Puppet Shows
  • Story Times
  • Guest Performers
  • Charades
  • Dress-up Clothes
  • Staged Productions
  • General Play (who doesn’t love getting up on a stage just for fun?)
  • Word-of-Mouth
  • Because it is consistent with our Core Value of Having Fun

I spent $75 on the wood for the platforms, another $128 for the carpet, $25 for the poles, and $190 for the curtains. Total cost = $418.

People will talk.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS We still have a few details to finish such as a header above the curtain and the backdrop. Every time someone takes a photo of their precious one “performing”, the Toy House name and logo will be visible.

We used 2″ x 8″ boards and 3/4″ plywood to build the platform in 3 sections.

The carpet is simply stapled down using a carpet stapling gun generously loaned to us by Christoff’s Carpet & Floor Covering.
The curtains are held up with 1″ PVC pipe anchored to 2 walls. The section to the right is a “backstage” area designed for when we do performances.

Anatomy of a Staff Meeting – Play Value

THE GOAL
Every staff meeting needs a goal. Not just any goal, but a big goal. Go big or go home.

This morning’s staff meeting goal was: This will be a successful meeting if we understand the importance of Play Value, how our toys offer Play Value and the special needs of Play Value.

THE TASK
After that, I needed an activity to get the points across. The first two parts of the goal were simply review. We talk about Play Value all the time. We talk about the three pillars of a great toy. We talk about the two different ways kids play – Directorial & Participatory – all the time.

Today’s meeting, however, was really about understanding the five different types of learning that toys offer kids of special needs. Cognitive, Communicative, Physical, Sensory, and Social/Emotional. I needed something big and memorable and visual that they could refer to later.

I came up with this.

I stood against the board and had a staff member trace my body. Then we talked about the five types as I drew shapes. Cognitive was a thought cloud coming up from the brain (yeah, okay, I wrote cognizant instead of cognitive – sue me). Communication was caption balloons coming from both sides of the mouth. Social/Emotional was a big heart in the chest. Sensory was two circles by each hand. Physical was trapezoids down by the legs.

The staff split into teams of two and went out to find a toy for each category. They presented their toys while I wrote each toy in the appropriate space. If there were any duplicates, that team had to go find a new toy. Pretty soon we had six toys for each category. And a huge visual. And a pattern of what kinds of toys fit each category. And a discussion of how to identify which category a customer’s request might fit in.

THE SURPRISE
Every meeting needs something unexpected. Since we already knew the first two parts of Play Value, I asked one person to get up and describe the three pillars. She nailed them and I gave her a $25 gas card. Two more questions, two more gas cards later, we had covered the basics. Not only did the gas cards delight the winners, it made the rest of the staff take notice that knowing this stuff was lucrative.

THE DEBRIEF
The discussion centered around recognizing the patterns of toys that fit each category of learning. We also discussed how to assess what a customer might want, what kinds of questions to ask. The visual of the big board with all the toys on it helped tremendously in the discussion.

THE ACTION PLAN
Since there were no assigned tasks with this meeting, I simply made a copy of the following picture for everyone to keep and put the big board in a prominent spot in our warehouse.

Is your staff having this much fun at your staff meetings?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS You don’t need to sell toys to have fun meetings. But you do need to plan fun things. Don’t know how? Start with Staff Meetings Everyone Wants to Attend. Then download the Staff Meetings Worksheet. Then send me a note if you need more ideas.

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.

Retail Math is Not So Scary

No one signed up for my June Business Boot Camp on Retail Math. (Well, okay, a couple people did, but not enough for the Chamber to make it a go.)

I think I know why.

Retail Math is scary. So many numbers and ratios and calculations. So much confusion over terminology. Is a credit a good thing, or is that a debit? (I still get those confused all the time.) Accountants and bankers don’t seem to help. They use words like equity and depreciation and accrued this or that.

We don’t like feeling dumb, so we don’t like going to classes and workshops and seminars where we know next to nothing. Yet that is exactly the kind of classes and workshops and seminars we need to be attending. Especially Retail Math.

If you want to be successful and pay yourself what you’re worth, you have to know the math.

Fortunately for you, I have struggled with this myself. So I attended the workshops and seminars, talked to the accountants, spent the time wrapping my head around all those 50-cent words and million dollar concepts, trying to find a way to put them into terms you and I and all the other indie retailers might understand.

I wrote them down in two simple, powerful Freebies

Both contain math. It is math you can do.
Both contain terminology. Explained in a way that will make sense to you.
Both contain ideas and thoughts on how you can use the math.

Retail Math is not so scary once you learn it.

Maybe I cannot lead you to a seminar or workshop, but I can lead you to this water. All you have to do is drink.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS For my toy store friends, I took the Financial Statements eBook a step farther. ASTRA contracted with me to write a definitive book on the Financials of an independent toy store called Financials You Can Understand (they wanted to call it Financials Made Easy, but even I knew that was stretching it a bit). The book is a combination of all the math in the two Freebies above along with an explanation of what a typical toy store’s numbers would be and what to do if your numbers don’t match. It isn’t free, but the information is so valuable that you will quickly recover the costs of the book many times over – even if you aren’t a toy retailer. My research has found that the numbers of a typical toy store are quite similar to any retail business that does most of its sales in the fourth quarter.

PPS Full disclosure: I do not get anything from the sales of that book. They already paid me to write it. You, however, will get plenty from it. The only thing scary is how much better you will understand the numbers in your business.

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.

A Customer Service Story You Gotta Read…

My friend, Cynthia Compton, owns 4 Kids Books and Toys near Indianapolis.  Her store, as many toy stores do, offers to host birthday parties.  The kids come in, do crafts and activities, have fun and (hopefully) spend some money in the store.  Yes, there is a fee the birthday family must pay.  But the true hope in a service like this is to get the kids (and their parents) into the store, a chance for them to try out the store’s products, and to make the kids and their families feel good about the store.

In another word – Branding.

“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.” -James D. Miles

But what do you do when the customer wants a birthday party not at your store, without all those benefits?

In Cynthia’s own words…

 Just got back from a “remote” birthday party. We offer on-site parties to our customers if they want us to do them. This family has two autistic kids, and the noise and stress level of our store is too much. So I did a party in their living room for the boys and 2 friends. I whispered for two hours. It was a very nice time…

…we had a rabbit party. I borrowed some rabbits from a kid who raises them for 4H. We spread a tarp on the floor, and I brought a bunch of cardboard boxes to make tunnels. I had two big fat white rabbits that were used to handling, and then a hutch full of little grey babies. The boys made salads for the bunnies, we rolled balls for them to chase, and we ate carrot cake cupcakes. Oh, and I had short white lab coats with their names embroidered over the pocket, and I borrowed some stethescopes so we listened for rabbit heartbeats. It was really fun. Something I couldn’t have done with a lot of kids, but 4 was perfect. One of the birthday guys is pretty hard to reach, but he let us put a rabbit in his lap, and hold one of the babies up to his cheek. Mom was pleased, the bunnies were good, and no one got bitten (which was my nightmare on Friday night.)

When Cynthia was asked how she came up with this idea, she replied…

I met the kid with the rabbits at the farmers market this summer, and so the bunnies have been on my mind. She brings them every week to her family’s stand (we get eggs from them) and usually has a different hutch of babies. I’ve been wanting to do something with them, and this opportunity just presented itself. The birthday boys don’t have any pets, and bunnies are quiet….. It just kind of came together. It was probably a huge business risk from a liability standpoint, but we all survived the day.

She didn’t get the kids into her store.  She didn’t get the kids’ friends and their families into her store.  She didn’t get to show off any of her products.  But tell me… Do you think that family will sing her praises and promote her store to everyone they know?  You bet!

That, my friends, is WOW Customer Service.  How far are you willing to go to make a customer’s day?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  I know Cynthia and, yes, she is simply that nice and helpful.