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The Kind of Reviews You Want Your Customers to Write

Yesterday’s blog was an example of what not to do. Today is the kind of review you get when the front line staff knows how to make an experience wonderful…

“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 Ruby’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!”   -Jen, Dec 2, 2013 (Toy House Facebook Page)

Every customer, no matter how big or small, deserves your utmost attention. When you learn to treat everyone as though they are world’s best customer, you will find you have a lot more of the world’s best customers in your store.
Your customers will get better when you do.
-Phil Wrzesinski
PS Work with your staff on this idea… How would you treat the next customer if you knew she had a credit card with no limit and eleven siblings? 

Your Front Line Staff is Selling You Short

I got this story from a fellow toy store owner who took her son to a different toy store and gave me permission to share her experience…

“My son had a doctor appointment yesterday that was really hard for him. I told him that we passed a toy store along the way and if he braved it, we would go there afterwards and pick up ANYTHING HE WANTED. Little sister could get a little something too, if she cheered him on and helped make him feel better.

After lots of tears and pain, I took him to the toy store as I promised. The one staff person working was very nice and greeted us. No other shoppers in the store. We had her full attention. I told her why we were there and what I had promised. Anything son wanted and “a little something” for daughter. When little sister kept bouncing a Crocodile Creek small ball, I suggested to her that maybe that could be her little something. The employee kindly interjected that it’s $9, basically wanting me to know that it’s not cheap. I told her that it was just fine. Then little sister went to a Melissa & Doug watering can and the employee said, “That one is 12.99.” The employee kept asking me and my son what we were looking for as well. The thing is we weren’t looking for anything. What we wanted was a magical/nice experience after a traumatic hard event, which is a very common reason for people to come to a toy store. I dropped 60 bucks but I really wasn’t paying attention to money. I would have spent more but I feel like the employee was trying to save me money. That was nice but not so for the storeowner/business — and it also did a disservice to me, in terms of the experience I wanted to provide my child.”

How often do you think your own front line staff is selling from their own pocket book and making decisions about what a customer may or may not be able to afford?

How often do you think your own front line staff is more interested in getting the transaction over instead of making the trip magical and helping it last forever?

Here are some of the lessons in her own words that my friend is taking away for her own staff…

  1. “Little” means a lot of different things to different customers. When unsure, ask the customer what something little means when they say that.
  2. Customers aren’t always “looking for something”. Switch gears when they say they are not and LISTEN to why they are there.
  3. Get down to the level of the child when caregiver says “anything they want” and start showing them some cool stuff. Interact with them. You know what I wanted for my traumatized son? I wanted that experience like Julia Roberts got in “Pretty Woman” when Richard Gere brought her to the clothing store. I wanted to be able to remind him about that time he got to go to the toy store after the Doctor visit for the next time we have to do something really hard. 
  4. Join the team. “Hooray you did that brave thing. I’m so happy for you.” “Wow did you really conquer that potty?”
Those are some mighty powerful lessons. I know her staff is going to rock it! Thanks, Katherine, for sharing.
-Phil Wrzesinski
PS You need to repeat this over and over and over to your front line people… ALWAYS assume your customer can afford anything she wants, until she tells you otherwise. Show her the Filet Mignon first.

Creating a Shareworthy Customer Service Culture

We all know Customer Service is our calling card. It is our path to success. It is the one thing where we can excel far greater than our competitors and kick their asses to the curb.

But how do you change the culture of your store to make Shareworthy Customer Service an every day event?

Tim Miles has a good starting point over on his blog. Make note of the Shareworthy events when they happen then try to deconstruct and learn from those events.

I want to take it a step further.

What gets measured and rewarded, improves.

Our Customer Service goal is smiley, happy people. Our marketing tag is, “We’re here to make you smile!”

At every meeting we start with what I call the Smile Stories – the Shareworthy Customer Service events. By sharing those moments with each other and making a big deal of them, we make a point of reinforcing what is important to the business.

You can even take it a step further and offer fun prizes such as gift cards to local restaurants and gas cards to the staff who has the best story. Not only will you get more stories each month, you’ll get a friendly competition of the staff each trying to out-shareworthy the other.

My staff keep notes for their smile stories. Some even keep notes for each other’s smile stories and remind each other of stories they may have forgotten. The culture is all about smiles – making them and sharing them.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS There is another huge benefit to starting your meeting off like that. Sharing your triumphs and victories first puts the staff into a much better frame of mind – less defensive and shutdown, much more open and listening – than the typical public flogging that most managers use to open meetings.

Features and Benefits Don’t Close the Sale

If you’re in sales, you’ve been taught Features and Benefits over and over. Show them the Feature and explain the Benefit they get from that feature.

It does this (feature)… so that you get this (benefit)…

Show them the F&B and you’ll close the sale… Or not.

Probably not.

As Bob Phibbs, aka The Retail Doc, shows in this video, all F&B does is keep the customer in Analytical mode, gathering data before making a decision. You have to get past that mode if you want to close the sale. You have to get the customer into the frame of mind where she already sees herself as having made the purchase, where she already envisions herself using the product.

Roy H. Williams, aka The Wizard of Ads, teaches us in his book Wizard of Ads that people only do that which they have already seen themselves doing in their own mind. 

Assumptive selling is one way to get the picture into the customer’s mind. Real estate agents use this all the time. “You said you like to entertain. Can you picture your friends sitting around the fireplace in this wonderful family room?”

A fellow baby store owner uses it in his sales pitch for convertible cribs. “Most people will buy two extra items to go with their crib – the toddler rail and the conversion kit. You’ll need the conversion kit down the road when you create the full size bed. The toddler rail is optional but offers some great peace of mind. Would you like to buy both right now or just the conversion kit?”

You see how they have given the customer a choice? Not a buy/don’t buy choice, but a buy-this-or-buy-that because we assume you’re going to buy at least one thing. Their close rate on those conversion kits is through the roof.

In both examples you have the customer already envisioning buying and using the product. You’ve gone beyond analysis and into wonder. The 60-second training is to teach your staff to simply ask, “How do you plan on using this?” Get them envisioning the product in use and you’re almost home.

Don’t get me wrong. F&B are great. You still need to know them. Chances are, however, in this digital age your customers already know all the F&B before they get to the store. Your real job is to get past the data gathering and into envisioning the product in their possession. Do that and you’ll close a lot more sales.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Your conversion rate goes up if you have first built a solid rapport and relationship with the customer. I have been working on that with my staff this year. You can read more about it in the post The Sales Process Broken Down.

I Have a Money Tree

I have a Money Tree sitting on my desk. It promises me that if I give it sunlight, water it, and praise it, I will get money as if it grew on trees.

I don’t know.

I have twelve other “Money Trees” in the store. They are named Ruth, Erica, Lakisha, Kristina, Kathy, Elaine, Amy, Jesse, Richard, Nate, Ken, and Missy.

I do know that if I give them Autonomy (sunlight – the trust that they can do their jobs without my constant hands-on supervision), Mastery (water – the training to improve and grow), and Purpose (praise – the reason we’re here –  to make you smile), then they will get money in far greater quantities than any desk-sized tree.

You really should read Daniel H. Pink’s book Drive. It made is making a world of difference for me.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS That is not an affiliate link for that book. I don’t make money by promoting other people’s books. If I make a recommendation, it is because I believe in the product. Pure and simple.

PPS I do like my Money Tree, though. It reminds me to go out and get some sunlight every now and then.

PPPS You buy plants that want to grow. Hire people who want to grow, too.

Don’t Disturb the Bus Driver! (A Lesson from a High School Field Trip)

I went on a field trip with my son put on by his band teacher.

We saw the Detroit Symphony Orchestra do a Bugs Bunny show – they played the music while the cartoons played on the screen. (Kill the wabbit!!). Took me back to the Saturday mornings of my childhood.

We went to lunch at a fun restaurant in the ever-growing Midtown Detroit area where the city is beginning to rise from the ashes. The place was huge! The place was packed! (not even counting our group) The food was great!

We went to Hitsville, USA, the Motown Museum. I got to sing My Girl in the exact same studio where it was first recorded!

We went to the Detroit Institute of Art. I saw art from all the biggies – Van Goh, Rembrandt, Cezanne, Ruben, Picasso, Degas, Monet and more. Fascinating stuff!

We topped it off with a Detroit Red Wings game! Now that’s a field trip!

Among the many rules handed down to the students and chaperones, the one rule emphasized quite regularly was, “Don’t disturb the bus driver!”

The bus driver was not our tour guide. He was not our ticket dispenser. He was not our party planner. He was not there to answer questions or give advice. His job was to drive the bus, and drive it well. Period. End of story.

I know that I am guilty in my store of expecting all the staff to do all the jobs. But not all the jobs require the same skills. My office manager needs to be highly organized, neat, good at math, able to problem solve, with good follow-up and follow-through skills. Friendly? Yeah, that’s helpful, but not required. Able to sell? Only in a pinch.

I could try to find someone who had those latter skills, but I might have to compromise on the skills I really want. Never do that. Never compromise on the perfect skills for the job.

First. you’ll get both jobs done better. Second, a better job means the customers will be delighted more. With all deference to the Hokey Pokey, that’s what it’s all about.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The best thing to do is to take each job in your business and write up a list of the most desirable skills for that job. Prioritize those skills, too. That way you know what you’re looking for when you plan to hire someone to do the job. When you find someone who fits the values of your team and has those skills, move whatever mountain you need to hire him or her.

You are in the Job of Persuasion

Your job is simple – to persuade.

Persuade the best people to work for you.
Persuade those people to do more for you than they thought possible.
Persuade your vendors to give you good terms for the best products.
Persuade your customers to visit you in droves.
Persuade them to part with their hard-earned dollars.
Persuade them to bring their friends back.
Persuade your banker to give you a loan.
Persuade your local media to give you a plug.
Persuade your city council to pass laws and ordinances in your favor.

My friend, and one of the most amazingly persuasive writers I know, Jeff Sexton, posted this video that he got from another friend, Tim Miles (who you all know coined the term Shareworthy and is the smartest man I’ve ever met when it comes to Customer Service.)

This will be 11 minutes and 50 seconds you will start and stop often to take notes and watch over and over again. You’ll probably be using this at your next sales staff meeting (I am).

A couple million of your friends, colleagues and competitors have already seen it. You should, too.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS See if you can tell me which of the 6 techniques I attempted to use to persuade you to watch the above video. Yes, this applies to Sales & Customer Service. It also applies to Marketing & Advertising. It also applies to Hiring & Training. It also applies to Word of Mouth. You’re always persuading. You might as well get good at it.

The Sales Process Broken Down

This year I am leading my sales staff to water. Fortunately, they are not horses. They are drinking it up.

At our monthly team meeting I am breaking down the sales process into small, drinkable chunks.

In February we talked about Being Accessible. Customers don’t like to approach a crowd of employees, especially ones engaged in chatter. We talked about positioning, where to stand to be most approachable, how not to congregate. We walked around the store with a clipboard in hand. Customers would rather approach a sales associate who seems engaged in other activities, than one who seems poised to pounce. The goal for the staff was to practice being more accessible.

In March we Listened. Too many people listen, not to hear, but to find a moment to break into the conversation. We did activities centered around Listening skills including repeating back what the other person said. The staff separated into pairs and shared with each other their favorite reasons for working here. Then the other person had to repeat it back to them and present it to the group. (Note: this is also a great way to boost morale. I have twelve team members and each one had someone else tell the group why they like working here.) Our customers do not come in for a product so much as for a solution. If you don’t listen to the whole problem, you might sell them a product, but not the best solution. The goal for the month was to practice repeating back to the customer what she said.

Tomorrow we go inside Our Customer’s Mind. We’ll be exploring all the thoughts that may be going through a customer’s mind while she is in our store. Empathy is one of the strongest tools for creating long-term relationships. The purpose is to get an understanding of where she is so that we can relate to her on her terms. Each customer is unique and is coming from a unique point of view. Knowing this helps my staff understand the importance of Listening even more, and helps them fashion better questions. Our goal will be to empathize more with our customers and continue improving our listening (and questioning) skills.

I’m already working on May (Suggestive Selling) and June (Closing the Sale), too.

Too many companies look at training as a One-and-Done thing. Train the new person. Send them out. They’re good to go. I think we have to constantly be training. We have to constantly be trying to learn and improve. And we don’t have to be in a hurry. One step at at time.

Roy H. Williams once told me that what successful individuals and companies have in common is a long horizon. They look well beyond this week, month or even year. Not only am I planning out the training for this year, I’m already formulating my thoughts for next year’s theme.

If you’re in this for the long run, you need to make sure you’re planning out your training for the long run, too.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Send me an email and I’d be happy to share the activities we are doing to get these lessons across. If you want to plan your own meetings, I suggest you read Staff Meetings Everyone Wants to Attend (free download) and use the Staff Meetings Worksheet.

Listening Your Way to Better Sales

“The fool speaks, the wise [business]man listens.” -African Proverb

Here is one tip to increase your business this year. Are you listening?

Be a better listener.

What your customer is saying is extremely important. Over-the-top important. It is the center of her universe and the whole reason she is in your store trying to give you money.

But she won’t give you that money if she doesn’t think you’re listening.

Be a better listener.

“It is better to listen in order to understand than to listen in order to reply.” -Anonymous

Here is a simple little game that I did with my staff to help them focus on listening…

Have your staff pair up in twos. Have the first person tell the second person what he or she likes most about working for your store. The person listening must repeat back what the first person said. If the second person gets it right, then the second person can share what he or she likes most about working for your store with the first person repeating it back. Then each pair must stand and tell the entire group why the other person likes working here so much.

The repeating it back is the key. To be able to do that, you have to listen to understand, not simply listen to reply. The goal for each staff member is to repeat back every question or important comment the customer makes this month. The more they do it, the more they get into the habit of doing it.

Repeating back to the customer what she just said might seem annoying, but it actually serves three distinct purposes.

  • It helps to clarify the customer’s concerns and make sure you got it right.
  • It gives you an extra moment to think about your response
  • It helps the customer trust that you are paying attention, are in the moment, and have her best interests at heart.

It is a simple acknowledgment that goes a long way in building the long-term relationship you want with your customers. Now, repeat this all back to me. (Paraphrase if you’d like. That is perfectly acceptable.)

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS There is another benefit to the training I did with my staff. I had each staff member verbalize why they like working for me. Then it was verbalized two more times, reinforcing it even more. Plus, by verbalizing it to the entire group, everyone got reinforcement for why this is such a great place to work. Oh, and if someone cannot come up with a good reason for why they like working with you – fire them!

People Do Business With People

A friend of mine is going through a change with her business. She opted out of a franchise agreement and is now going independent.

She had a momentary bout of panic when the franchise webpage listed her store as “closed”. She wasn’t closed. She was open. Just doing business under a different name. How were people going to find her?

After we discussed all the steps for getting the new name out (press releases, ads, new website, owning her Google Place, contacting her networks to update her info with them, emails, Facebook, Twitter, etc), I reminded her of one simple thing:

She was the same person doing the same business in the same location with the same Core Values and the same vision and mission.

None of that had changed. And by her own estimate, 90% of her customers did business with her, not the name on the sign. All the extra advertising and on-the-pavement sales she had planned for the transition would help her pick up that other 10% in no time at all. In fact, based on what we discussed, I expect she’ll be at 110% within a couple months.

People do business with people.

You can do all the advertising you want, but if your people aren’t performing, your business will suffer. Likewise, if your people are outstanding, you can overcome almost anything. It is your people that get customers to come back and bring their friends.

Put your money into your people and no matter what curve balls come your way, you’ll knock ’em out of the park.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Put more emphasis on hiring the right people to begin with. That makes the training easier. Yes, training. If your business relies on repeat and referral traffic, your training budget should far exceed your advertising budget.