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Category: Leadership

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.

Call Me Farmer Phil

A toy store in December. Time to harvest the crops. Time to gather the rewards from a long year of planning and preparing for this moment.

Yet here we are still planting seeds.

Check out this FB post from a customer…

We’re always impressed with customer service at the Toy House, but yesterday was over the top. Our family was there because our son was picking out a gift for our daughter’s birthday. He asked me about a ride-along horse which I told him was fine, and he raced off, I assumed, to tell my husband. The next thing I knew a Toy House employee was asking me if I was XXXX’s mom. I said, yes, and she said that my son was asking if they could wrap the toy for his sister’s birthday. She wanted to know if it was okay, and they would go ahead, remove the tag, and wrap it for him, and we could pay when we were ready to go. I appreciated them taking the time to interact with my son (and tracking me down) instead of just brushing off his desires to get something for his sister. Thanks again, Toy House, for the continued hard work and great customer service!”

Planting the seeds for the next generation of Toy House shoppers.

If you are in a retail business like mine, where your primary target outgrows you, you have to always be farming, always be planting seeds for the next harvest.

I have to grow a new crop pretty much every year, so I am always in planting mode. You should be, too. Here are some ways to plant seeds.

Treat everyone in your store the same wonderful way, regardless of how much money they spend. Today’s small spender might be on a tight budget, but might know some friends and relatives who are not. She might also find her luck has changed next year.

Treat everyone in your store the same wonderful way, regardless of how they behave. You don’t know the journey they are on or the troubles they are facing. Have compassion and kindness. Understand that this is just today. Tomorrow will come and tomorrow will be different. It always is.

Pay attention to the memories and feelings you are creating. We are emotional beings. We remember feelings long after we forget the facts. Design your policies, choose your staff, and build your store around the feelings you want people to associate with your business.

Call me Farmer Phil. I’m off to go plant some more seeds.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Here is a seed worth watering… If you are a retailer in the Jackson area and you want to take your business to the next level, check out www.JacksonRetailSuccessAcademy.com. A new class is starting in January.

If You’re Not Happy, Don’t Settle

I finished the stage, well at least the main part of it. We still have some decorations to complete, but the stage was up, the curtain was in place, people were using it.

Something didn’t look quite right to my eye.

This morning my wife made a suggestion. She was absolutely right. I had put the curtain in the wrong spot. The easy solution was to just live with it. Was it horrible? No. Was it workable? Yes.

The bigger question was what would it take to fix it?

The answer was one hour and one band aid.

Before – with the curtain at the front edge of the platform.
After – with the curtain moved back.

Now the stage fits my eye better. Now the stage has a space in front of the curtain for storytellers, performers, maybe even a visit from Santa. Now the performers can be seen from a wider angle. Now the stage looks more like a stage and less like a curtained room.

The lesson? Before you settle for something not quite perfect, ask yourself these two questions.

  1. Can I fix it?
  2. Can I live with it? 

If you can answer yes to the first question, fix it. Period. If you answer no to the first, but you can answer yes to the second, keep it as is. If you answer no to both, scrap it and start over.

Yes, this applies to just about everything. Just be sure to ask the questions in the right order.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Don’t settle. Make the effort to fix the things you can fix. It pays off in the long run. You are in this for the long run, right?

Head Cheerleader

Who is the head cheerleader for your business?

Who is the one that puts the smile on everyone’s face and the determination in their hearts? Who picks people up when they are down, finds the silver lining in the cloud, points out the positives?

Who raises the energy level up when it starts to lag? Who gets everyone on board when something new happens? Who makes sure the projects get done right and on time and with a good attitude?

Right now you’re expecting me to say this is your job.

It isn’t.

You need an influencer on your staff. You need a high-energy, positive-attitude, get-it-done person on your staff. You need a head cheerleader on your staff. Someone that isn’t you. You probably already have this person on the team.

Can you identify that person right now? She is the most important person on your team, regardless of her position. She has your back. She makes things go. She infects everyone with her approach.

Seth Godin calls her the linchpin.

You can call her anything you want. Just be sure to appreciate what she does for your business and make sure you do what you have to do to keep her. And if you don’t have one, go out a find one. She is worth far more than you’ll ever pay her.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Yes, you can have more than one on your staff. In fact, try to have a full team of cheerleader/linchpins if you can. Makes your job a lot easier.

How do you find them? You identify the traits you want them to have, write an ad that spells out who they are, set up an interview process that identifies those traits, and put in place a program that rewards them and keeps them happy. Sounds simple and intuitive, but you would be surprised how many retailers (including big chains) have no such system in place.

One Very Important Person

You have an opportunity. A true VIP is coming to your door. Someone with a lot of influence. Friends in high places. Someone who makes the who’s who list every time, everywhere.

You know you need to step up your game. You know you need to pull out all the stops for this one person. You don’t want to give away the store. No deep discounts. That won’t impress this person. Plus, you don’t want to set a precedent that all of this person’s followers will want a discount, too.

You just have to make the kind of impression that gets this person to talk about you, to sing your praises, to spread the good word.

What are you going to do differently?

Ask that question of your staff at your next staff meeting. Put out a notice 24 hours in advance that you’re going to talk about a VIP visiting your store soon and what you need to do. Then lay out the scenario above.

What are you going to do differently?

Then ask this question… How could we practice this so that when the VIP arrives, we get it right?

You know the answers they are going to give. We could role play with each other. We could rehearse. We could try it out on some of the other customers already coming in the store. Ding, ding, ding! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Practice it on every single customer that comes in today. Then evaluate what worked and what didn’t. Practice it again with the upgrades on everyone tomorrow. Evaluate and repeat.

Then ask this final question… How will you know the VIP when he or she arrives?

You know the answer to that one.

You’ll never really know how many followers on Pinterest will see the picture she just took of a product in your store. You’ll never really know how many readers of her blog will share the article she wrote about the way you greeted her and followed her around the store. You’ll never really know how many friends the woman who just walked quickly through without saying a word is meeting for lunch to talk about the group gift they are planning to buy. You’ll never really know how many people that gal who said she’s “just looking” is going to invite to the shower.

But if you get the staff to start practicing their VIP treatment on everyone, they’re going to nail it when that VIP truly arrives.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS If you ask the staff, “What are you going to do differently?” and they say, “Not a damn thing!” either you have an extremely well-trained staff who is already kicking butt or one that doesn’t have a clue. Either way, you have to fire the whole team and start over (the first group doesn’t want to do anything differently, the second doesn’t know how to do anything differently). For your sake, I hope they have some suggestions.

PPS For those who like me to spell out the obvious… Treat the very next customer like a VIP. Make her feel special. Then the next, then the next, then the next. Do it one customer at a time. Do it until you cannot treat the customer any other way. Every single customer is a VIP in her own way. Treat her like that and she will bring her network to you.

But Why Would I Need That?

You can lead a horse to water…

My friend, Rick, is a successful dentist with a wonderful practice. He has learned some principles along the way that he shares with other dentists. Good stuff, too, that makes a difference in their practices.

My friend, Chris, is an amazing visual artist. He is responsible for making my powerpoint slides much more impactful and meaningful. He has interesting insights on being an artist in a digital age. He makes a difference for starving artists.

My friend, Joel, put both of my books together. Did the covers, the layout, prepped them for printing. He does that for anyone who wants to self-publish. And he’s darn good at it.

I teach classes for independent retailers wanting to take it to the next level. Eye-popping and jaw-dropping revelations on what it takes to be successful in this business climate.

We are all out there to help others succeed. And we all hear the same thing from people we know we could help.

But why would I need that?

Why would a dentist need to learn about marketing?
Why would an artist need to learn about communication?
Why would someone smart enough to write a book need an editor or designer or professional layout?
Why would an independent retailer who already opened a shop need help on running a retail business?

Rick is a dentist. Rick invests time learning about best marketing practices for dentists, learning new ways to serve customers, learning new ways to attract patients, learning new ways to communicate.

Chris is an artist. Chris invests time learning new ways to market his art, learning new ways to make his communications more effective, learning new ways to be successful in this age.

Joel is an author. Joel invests time learning how to self-publish books, learning new ways to build platforms, learning new ways to create websites, use social media, and design professional looking books.

I am a retailer. I invest time learning how to advertise my store, learning how to manage my inventory, learning how to hire and train, learning how to understand the financial side of retail.

All these guys are successful. They never asked the question… Why would I need that? Instead, they invested the time to learn.

You can lead a horse to water…  …and if you can get him to float on his back and paddle, then you’ve got something.

You are a ___________. How are you investing your time?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS If your answer is, “I don’t have any time to invest,” might I suggest that if you start investing now, you’ll find the time?

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.

Leading from the Conductor’s Podium

The conductor of a symphony orchestra has the best seat in the house. All the music is focused right at him. From the podium he hears and sees everything that is going on. He sees things in the back row of brass that the violinists in the front row can’t. He hears things from the clarinetists that the timpani players can’t. He gets all the information from the podium.

That information is what he uses to guide his orchestra to create a beautiful sound.

The leader of a team has the best seat on the team. He gets all the feedback from all the different members of the team. He gets all the different perspectives and is able to plot them against the big picture. From his position of leadership he sees and hears things that the individual members of the team cannot always see and hear.

That information is what he uses to guide his team to achieve more.

But what about the view from the other side?

The podium, while offering a clear view, also puts the conductor in a position of power. Everything he says or does is amplified. Every word, movement, gesture is larger than life. Conductors who use grandiose gestures and sweeping movements are fun to watch. But they take the focus off the music and put it on themselves. They use their power to control. The musicians soon learn that it it is not about them, but about the conductor.

An experienced conductor, however, knows that the true power of an orchestra comes from the musicians, not from him. He uses his movements sparingly, knowing the podium amplifies everything he does. It doesn’t take much movement of the wrist to move the baton. His job is to put the focus on the orchestra, to direct their power.

The leader of a team needs to realize that his leadership is like a podium. Every word and action is amplified. He can go yelling and screaming and put all the focus on him, or he can use subtle movements that put the focus on the team and direct their power.

The podium is the best seat in the house. But you better know how to handle it.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Every word is amplified, too. Choose your words carefully, constructively. Your team is looking to you for direction. They will follow what they see and hear you do, including those casual, flippant remarks you thought were harmless. Read this from Bob Phibbs to see more of what I mean.

Motivating Your Employees

This Friday I am doing a talk here in Jackson on motivating your employees. The talk is part of the Small Business Summit put on by OSB Community Bank and takes place at the Grand River Marketplace from 11:30am to 2pm. (Warning: the content of this presentation will make lesser minds explode).

You’re invited.

I am debating whether to put together another Freebie for you. I can certainly write up what I am going to say. My hesitation is that it will end up mostly being a book review. Well, two book reviews.

Much of my leadership style and much of how I motivate my team come from two books.

Drive by Daniel H. Pink
Maestro by Roger Nierenberg

Would you like to learn how to motivate your staff to their highest level of achievement and creativity? Read Drive.

Would you like to learn how to lead a team of high-achieving creatives? Read Maestro.

Would you like me to summarize my thoughts on the two books including how I use their approaches in real life in a new Freebie later this fall? Leave me a comment below (or on Facebook or Google+ or by email).

Hope to see you Friday.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Would you like me to give this presentation to your group? Send me an email. This presentation will knock the argyles right out of those wingtips.

Are You Planning or Learning?

Five years ago, how many of you predicted that Amazon would be the retail power that it is today? How many of you accurately predicted the housing market collapse? How about the Great Recession? Did you nail that one, too?

None of us did.

Any Five-Year Plans that were made in the beginning of 2008 would not be producing fruit in today’s market. The market changed in ways no one was expecting.

Do you think the plans you’ve made this year have any chance of accurately predicting what will be happening in 2018?

“We cannot plan our way into the future. We must learn our way into the future.” -Jeff De Cagna

The one thing you can plan on with certainty is unforeseen events, seismic market shifts, new threats, new challenges, and a marketplace no one in today’s world would recognize.

The one thing you can do to prepare for that is to learn more. Read more blogs that challenge your views of the world. Take more classes that stimulate your mind. Attend more events that change your perspective.

The more you learn, the more likely you will be on the leading edge of those changes. The more you learn, the more likely you’ll be able to implement the strategies that will succeed in the new market. The more you learn, the more likely your current plans will be able to adjust to the new challenges.

I’m not saying that planning is bad. But strict five-year plans that do not take into account the fast-moving changes in today’s business climate have little chance of succeeding. Learning organizations will always have the leg up on planning organizations, because they will be nimble and smart enough to make the necessary changes to succeed.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Plans change. Values do not. Know the difference. Regardless of the products and services, we’ll always be here to make you smile.