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Grandfather’s Wisdom

Back in 2008 I interviewed my grandfather, Phil Conley, who, along with my grandmother Esther, founded Toy House, Inc. back in 1949.  Check out this exchange about Customer Service and return policies…

Phil Wrzesinski: But, as far as the competition, did you give them [competitors] as much mind or did you say, “We’re going to do our own thing and let them worry about them and we’ll worry about us”?

Phil Conley: Well, I was worrying about us. I wasn’t worrying about them. I didn’t worry about them. They can do what they want, but we wanted to do what we want, the right way, and that is give service, give price, good selection. The other thing, at Hudson’s, they had a very liberal policy. You could take stuff back and get credit, but you might have to go up a floor or down a floor. I wanted to do it better and so I empowered [the staff], in the early days, and it always went, that if there was a complaint the salesperson could make an adjustment then. The adjustment could be “refund the money” or… whatever would satisfy them.

PW: They had the empowerment to do that.

PC: Yes. It would be easier to return something than it was to buy it, because what I know, at Hudson’s [doing a return], it took you an hour or a half hour to go to the other floor, that’s when you’re not going to be spending money. You’re going to be trying to get money. It should be easier to [make a return].

PW: Don’t waste your time. We want you shopping.  You’re here at the store. We want you to spend as much of it shopping.

PC: Yes. That’s right. That’s right. That’s right.

PW: Wonder how many of these stores get that today?

PC: Well, don’t you?

PW: Well, I think I do.  We do our returns right up front at the register. A lot of other stores you’ve got to go to the back. You have to go wait in line.

PC: Do you empower your people?

PW: Oh, yeah. They take care of it. I rarely have to deal with any returns.

PC: Well, it’s just common sense, for Christ’s sakes.  Somebody comes in your store and they’re unhappy, make them happy quick! Then get on to sell them some more. Isn’t that right?

Now you know where I got all my retail smarts.  Thanks, Gramps!

Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  Let me know if you would like more of Phil Conley’s wisdom.  He gave me a few good nuggets and a few interesting stories in our interview.

I Didn’t Do It

Last Saturday we celebrated National Train Day.

We had a face-painting booth.
We had a huge train cut-out for photos.
We had train-shaped cookies.
We had train whistles to give away.
We had a train coloring contest.
We had three train play tables out around the store.
We had train storytelling.
We had an electric train display.
We had a model railroading expert talking about train history.
We had a prize drawing for trains.
We had train stickers for the kids.
We even had railroad tracks made out of duct tape lining the floor and leading the kids to every station.

Not a single idea there was mine.  Oh, I am not saying I couldn’t have come up with those ideas (although I might not have had as many).  But I purposefully chose to let my staff run this event.  All I did was make signs as requested, send out an email and press releases, and post to Facebook.

The staff did all the rest.  

They found the cookie baker, the story teller, and the face painter.
They picked the coloring pages, the demos and the prizes.
They made the decorations, manned the stations and made the announcements.

All I had to do was walk around and snap photos, talk to customers and have fun.

The smiles on the customers’ faces was constant and beaming.  The smiles on my staff’s faces was brighter than ever.  But the smile on my face was biggest of all.  All of the team building, all of the staff trainings, all of the coaching was paying off.  They took ownership of the event and made it one of the best events of the year.

Today the staff is still buzzing about it.  More importantly, they have a higher sense of pride in the store and the experience of our customers.  They took ownership of the event and that has translated into ownership of the job they do here.

Would you like your staff to take ownership?  For a limited time, for only $1200 I can show you how to get them to buy-in and work in your store so that you can work on your store. (Plus you’ll get 60 signed copies of my book Hiring and the Potter’s Wheel: Turning Your Staff Into a Work of Art).

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The first step for a great staff is to hire the right people.  But you already knew that.  What you might not know is how to recognize those right people when you find them.  That’s why I wrote my book.  I found a way to find the right people consistently.

Same Song, Different Dance?

Let me tell you a cautionary tale, one you probably already know…

Your company has some burdens, costs of doing business where you live.  Could be property taxes, licenses, etc.  Mandated costs that you have a legal obligation to pay.  You price your product to make sure you cover those costs, but even then you don’t have full control over your prices.  There are still limits to the price for which you can realistically sell your product.

Then some business from out-of-state, one who has lower costs because of his geographical advantages and lack of obligations, comes in and wants to sell what you sell, but at a lower price.  Of course, he is only doing it to gain market share and hopefully put you out of business, nothing different than you would do.

Then only difference is that he has no skin in the game.  He pays nothing to your state.  He employs nobody in your area.  He doesn’t even have to follow all the same rules you have to follow.

As he takes away your market share, you don’t just lose profits.  You lose the ability to cover those fixed costs, those legal obligations.  You have to either find ways to charge more to your existing customers, or go out of business.  It is a lose-lose proposition.

And when you can no longer pay your obligation to the state, the local economy loses and more people are out of work, thus scrambling to find the lowest cost anything, regardless of the consequences.  It is a vicious downward spiral.  To top it all off, at the end of the day, there is no control over what this out-of-stater might do after you are gone.

Seem unfair?

Some of you might think I’m talking about the Main Street Fairness Act, sales tax, and Amazon.  Funny thing is that there is a parallel problem going on that also fits this story all too well.

Electricity.

The State of Michigan has regulations and burdens on the two utilities – Consumers Energy and DTE – including making them invest heavily in renewable energy – a worthy but expensive venture.  The state also requires them to have the ability to offer power to every potential customer in the state.  And the state controls the prices they can charge to their customers.  Currently the state allows a 10% cap on out-of-state electricity to be sold in MI.  Some people want to raise that cap to potentially near 40% – but without releasing our two utilities from their expensive burdens.  Sure, a few people would save money on electricity for a short period of time, but the ramifications to the economy would be felt far beyond the savings.

You would think that with all the discussion on the Main Street Fairness Act and what allowing Amazon to work without the same burdens as other businesses is doing to local economies everywhere, people would get the ramifications.  Instead we have to fight the same old fight one industry at a time.

The song remains the same.  Maybe we need to change the dance?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.Philsforum.com

PS  This is a departure from my usual types of posts.  I don’t like to get political, just want to point out that the same conversation we are having here in retail is happening in all kinds of industries.  Before anyone bashes me about free market, etc., I get the concepts of free market economies and competition and how at the end of the day the customer should be in control.  The two issues here are first, that the market isn’t free.  Different companies face different – legally mandated – burdens.  And second, the customer doesn’t understand the economic impacts beyond his or her own pocketbook.  Someone somewhere has to pay for lower prices.

I Can’t Find My Desk

Oh, I know my desk is there, buried under papers needing filing, orders that have been placed, reports that were read, catalogs that have come in.  I just don’t like spend my time putting that stuff away.

My wife and my employees agree that I need a secretary.  I am working towards that goal.  In the meantime, I let the piles grow and grow until I go on a cleaning binge and clear off my desk, my table and the floor of my office.

Don’t get me wrong.  I do a lot of organizing, mostly of thoughts and data.  It takes a mountain of data to keep a store like mine operating smoothly.  But the mundane task of filing away those reports, putting away all the catalogs, and hiding all the need-to-keep-it-just-in-case paperwork is such a low priority to me that I put it aside until the mountain threatens my safety.

Some of you are nodding in agreement.  Some of you are appalled.  I might even lose a follower who believes a stacker like me is a slacker, too.  I am okay with that.

The lesson here is that we all are different.  We all have different priorities.  We all choose where to put our energies based on our Core Values.

That is why I believe so strongly that one of the best things you can do for your business is identify your Core Values.  Once you consciously know your Core Values, you get to be them more openly… in every aspect of your business.

You might alienate a customer or two.  But you will also attract a whole bunch of new customers who resonate loudly with your values – once you share them more openly.

If you would like to uncover your Core Values, I have a couple methods of doing it.  First read my FREE eBook Understanding Your Brand.  Then download the FREE Worksheets that go with it.  (Then email me if you get stuck.)

It won’t help you find your desk, but it will help you find everything else you might need to run your business in a way that works for you.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  My Core Values are Having Fun, Helping Others, Education, and Nostalgia.  Now you know why I write this blog and give away all this info for free:-)

Buy the Book, I’ll Speak for FREE

(I know you know someone who could use this.  Please share it with that person.)

My book, Hiring and the Potter’s Wheel: Turning Your Staff Into a Work of Art comes packed 60 books to the carton.  What would you do if you had 60 of these books?  Do you know some businesses who could use help hiring and training a better staff?

60 books at $19.99 equals $1199.40.  I want to make you an offer.  Round it off to $1,200 even and I will throw in 4 FREE hours of me.

Yes, that’s right.  Buy one carton of books for $1200 and I will show up at your door anywhere in the continental USA and give you 4 hours of my business knowledge to use as you see fit.

If you are a Radio Station…
You will get 60 books to give to your clients that will help them hire and train a better workforce, thus ensuring they will be in business (and buying radio ads from you) for a long time.  If you think about it, that’s a far more memorable gift than the mug, candy or flowers you have been giving them.

Plus, you will get me teaching your sales staff how to sell your product more effectively, how to create killer campaigns for your clients, and how to craft powerful messages that drive serious traffic to their door.  Plus you can use me to help mentor your favorite clients, teaching them how to powerfully brand their business, and how to uncover their core message that will resonate strongest with your listening audience.

If you are a Chamber of Commerce, DDA, or Shop Local organization…
You will get 60 books to strengthen the quality of employees in your district, making your core businesses rock solid and recession-proof thus increasing your influence and the size of your district.

Plus, you get to choose from a vast array of training programs that will rock their worlds and make your businesses the envy of all the surrounding communities.  You can even ask me to show you how to plan Staff Meetings that people WANT to attend.

If you are a Trade Organization or Buying Group…
You get 60 books to help your members make hiring decisions and develop training programs that will turn them into the shining stars of your industry.  When they see how great your stores are doing, you will have other stores begging to join your proactive organization.

Plus, you get four hours of some of the best retail ideas on everything from Inventory Management to Customer Service to Pricing Strategies that put money in your members’ pockets (so that they can pay their dues on time.)

If you are an individual store…
You get 60 books to give away to all your business friends and family for Christmas.  You can even sell them in your store to get your money back if you want.

More importantly, you get four hours to pick my brain.  Use me to help train your staff on the kind of customer service that gets talked about.  Use me to help craft your marketing campaign into a traffic-driving force.  Use me to look over your financials and help you find lost profits and put them back in your pocket.  Use me to teach you how to make staff trainings fun again.

If you are a Nationally Syndicated Talk Show Host… (Stewart? Colbert? Kimmel? Dave? NPR?)
You get 60 business books that are soon to be the talk of the nation.  Heck, I’ll bring extra books so that you can hide one under every chair in the audience.

Plus, you will get a guest who is as comfortable behind a microphone as you are.  You get a savvy businessman who knows retail, has opinions, and is not afraid to share them.  Not only did I host my own radio show for three years, I have plenty of camera time sitting in the guest chair.  Plus, you will get top-notch ratings from the Jackson, Michigan market.

You buy 60 books and I’ll pay my own way to get there plus one night in a hotel*.  And you get to choose what business training you want for your purchase.

I have four full cartons of books ready and waiting to ship to the first four people/groups who contact me.  Send an email to phil@philsforum.com to set up your four hours of kick-ass, kick-starting presentations and trainings.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  If you want more than 60 books or more than 4 hours, I am more than willing to negotiate.  I will be happy to work with your schedule as much as possible.  Just remember that I have my own store to run, so we might both have to be flexible to schedule something.

*PPS This deal is good for USA travel only (unless you want to pay for the flight, too).

Shareworthy Customer Service by Tim Miles

I wrote an eBook called Customer Service: From Weak to WOW!.  You’ve probably downloaded it already (it is free).

Tim Miles wrote one too.  His eBook – Shareworthy Customer Service – is definitely shareworthy.  I have read through it twice and I’m working on a third time.  I am going to use it in my next staff training (and a few more trainings after that).

Yeah, it is that good.  

Go check it out.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  Tim and I think a lot alike.  If you have to choose between spending money on advertising or on raising the bar of your customer service, raise the bar every single time.  If you have enough money to do both, do the customer service first.

Monthly Chores

Today I…

  • Balanced the store’s checkbook
  • Ran Sales Reports by department
  • Measured GMROI by department
  • Ran current Balance Sheet
  • Ran Profit & Loss for the month and year-to-date
  • Sat down with my buyers to make sure we were on track
  • Monitored Cash Flow*

I’m not bragging.  I’m not even saying I liked doing any of those things.

I am more Big Picture than I am Data & Details.  But it takes Data & Details to draw the Big Picture.  So I spend a few hours on the first of each month drawing the Big Picture with all of that Data & Detail.

Keeps the Big Picture clear in my head.

You, too?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

*I actually do this daily, not monthly.


PS  The hyperlinks above take you to a couple really cool documents that help you understand those calculations.  Most people won’t bother to click on those links.  But then again, you are not most people.

A Teachable Moment

Two employees.  One a veteran of 24 years.  The other a relative newcomer starting her third year of employment.  Both thinkers.  Passionate to a fault.  Loyal beyond expectation.  Hard workers who more than earn their pay.

A manager’s dream, right?

Except when they butt heads.

The newcomer came to me because she was having run-ins with the veteran.  They didn’t see eye-to-eye on how to merchandise certain product lines.  The vet was strong in her opinions and not necessarily pleasant in the exchange.  One would assume that the newcomer should just do what the veteran says and accept that seniority rules.  Except the newcomer was the person I put in charge of merchandising those lines.

How should I respond?

For me, moments like these are precious.  They are the teachable moments where I have a chance to accomplish two things at once – turn a negative into a positive and help an employee grow.

My ultimate goal for this new employee is that I am grooming her to be a key person.  I need her to be able to make critical decisions and trust her own judgment.  I need her to make rational decisions and not allow emotions to dictate.

First we talked about her passion and her smarts and her training and her desire to do what I have taught her to do.  Then we talked about the similarities between her and the veteran.  This caught her a little off guard.  Then we talked about how to find the kernel of truth in what the veteran was saying.  No matter how confrontational the delivery, the veteran brings some amazing skills and wisdom to the table.  Finally, we came to the conclusion that once she found the nugget inside what the veteran was saying, she was then free to use her own judgment to make the final decision.

All at once she realized the veteran was her ally, not her adversary, and they really were far more alike than different.

Will they butt heads again?  Probably.  But now she is better equipped to handle those situations.  And she is better prepared for those head-butting moments from other parts of retail – a skill my key people need to have.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

Trying Something New

I tried something new and I learned two things.

First, you should try something new more often.  It becomes less scary the more you do it and is rarely as hard as it seems.
Second, you can cut a sixty-minute presentation down to twenty minutes and still get the crowd fired up.

Let me explain…

The phone rang at 11:10am .  “Hi Phil, I got your name from Mindy at the Chamber.  I need a speaker for our luncheon at noon and she thought you might be flexible enough to make it.  Can you help me out?”


Sure.  What would you like me to talk about and how long do you want me to talk?


“Anything you would like.  You get twenty minutes. Lunch starts at noon.”

Give me twenty-four hours and that is a speaker’s dream.  Give me twenty four minutes and my obvious option was to drag out an old tried-but-true performance, dust it off and call it good.

Or I could try something new.

This group has heard me speak about the Toy House and about the importance of shopping local.  They didn’t need to be sold on me.  They needed to be sold on themselves.  Service organizations like this one have much more competition for membership than ever before.

What if I could give them a tool that would not only help them individually and with their own businesses, but could also help them as an organization?  What if I could do that in twenty minutes or less?

Why not?

All I was getting was a free lunch.  All they were expecting was a last-second speaker to fill 20 minutes of time, hopefully well.

I had just read Tim Miles’ post about the 6 Basic Questions to Build a Speech and knew I could only make one point.  I have always dreamed about being a TED presenter – they only get 20 minutes – so I figured this would be good training.

I printed a few handouts from my one to two hour Understanding Your Brand Workshop and headed out.

Surprisingly, when you take out all the extra stuff, you can get a single point across quite well in a short period of time.  Was it as effective as the full length workshop?  No.  In the full length workshop we all get to the finish line together.  Yesterday many of the participants did not finish.  But they all got a map that leads them to the finish.  For some people that is all they need.  And for this group, that was enough.

In some ways it was far more than they expected – short notice or not.

Yeah, trying new things can be fun.  Even in retail.  Do me a favor.  Try something new this coming week.  Even if it is something simple.  You’ll see two things immediately.

First, it won’t be as hard as you originally thought.
Second, your staff will be fired up with a new enthusiasm.

Gee, those two outcomes alone are worth it, don’t ya think?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  That something new could be a new service, a new product category, a new way to merchandise, a new social media, a new way of designing your ads, a new blog for your store, a new method of organizing your expense accounts, a new way to track gift cards, a new event for the store, a new sign, a new splash of paint on the wall, a new place for employees to take a break, a new blog to follow, a new form for charitable donations, a new uniform, a new phone message…  What else can you think of?

We’re Here to Make You Smile

Every month at our staff meetings we have time carved out for “Smile Stories” – moments when you made the customer smile in a memorable way.  The staff keep notes throughout the month of their favorite stories just so they have something to share.  Some even take notes of the smile stories someone else on the staff created to make sure those do not get missed.

Most say it is one of their favorite parts of working here.

Can you guess how often Creating a Smile is on the top of my staff’s mind?

Always.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  Want some tips for how you can get your customers to smile more?  Download the free eBook Customer Service: From Weak to Wow.