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Category: Trust

Can You Call in Favors?

Could you call a media person right now and cash in a favor?

Maybe ask a reporter or photographer to cover an event you’re hosting?

Maybe get a little live air-time with the local morning-drive DJ?

Maybe get a quote in the paper?

Maybe get an article on the op-ed page?

Maybe get some air-time on the morning news show?

Maybe guest-host a local TV show?


No???

You have to give to receive. Start giving now. You never know when you might want to ask for that favor.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS What to give? Your time. Your expertise. Your praise. Your support. Your money. Your information. Spend a little time getting to know your local reporters, your local DJ’s, and your local news anchors. Praise them for the work they do. Offer them information that makes them look good/smart (and doesn’t promote you). Build trust by being reliable. Give them scoops. Do it without expectation of anything in return. You’ll cash in later.

The Signals You Unwittingly Send to Your Customers

While we’re on the topic of Signals you send your customers, here are few more to think about…

The weeds growing in the bushes next to your store. Gee, they must not be into taking care of their environment. I wonder what else they don’t take care of.

The old, faded, peeling window clings from companies you no longer carry. Gee, I guess they don’t have any of the new stuff I just saw online.

The sloppy, unorganized displays with no rhyme, reason, or order. Gee, I hope I don’t have to ask them to find something. That could take all day.

The gum-chewing sales clerk leaning over the counter. Gee, I hope I don’t have to ask her any questions. I doubt she knows anything.

The misspelled signs. Gee, doesn’t anyone proofread anymore. They certainly aren’t the brightest bulbs in the socket.

Everything you do (or don’t do) sends a signal, one way or another. Make sure you are sending out the right message.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The best signal is one that is consistent with your Character Diamond. When you make sure that every single signal matches your Core Values, magic is bound to happen.

You Wouldn’t do THAT to Your Customer, Would You?

Would you treat your customer with kindness right up until the end and then kick them in the face after they gave you their money?

No, of course you wouldn’t. Yet you do.

Would you tell your customers – Don’t come around here… We don’t want you… We’re all about ourselves, not you… – but let them in and treat them kindly if they by some miracle showed up anyway?

No, of course you wouldn’t. Yet you do.

If you have a really tight, restrictive return policy, you are doing that to your customers All. The. Time.

If you are generous to a fault, bending over backwards to give the best possible customer service, making sure all the customer’s questions are answered and all her fears assuaged, going over-the-top to do more than she expected, then you are offering the kind of customer service that specialty stores should be giving.

But all that good can be undone the moment she runs into your return policy and it is just over 30 days from purchase, or she took it out of the box only to discover it wasn’t what she thought, or she got duplicates as gifts, or she lost her receipt, or she has a defective/missing part, or, or, or. If she runs into a hassle trying to return an item, it may be the last time she visits your store.

You may have won the sale, but you lost the war.

Or let’s say you are upfront about your restrictive, me-first, return policy. You might as well shout to the customer that her concerns are secondary to yours. You might as well tell her that she takes a backseat to you. That you have your own back, not hers.

You think it is fine because no one complains about your return policy. They aren’t complaining because they aren’t even showing up. You gave them the reason not to shop with you in the first place, so they never got to see your wonderfully trained staff, how fabulously you’ve merchandised the store, or the way you meticulously curated your selection to only have the finest stuff.

Here are two concepts you should wrap your head around regarding your return policy.

First, if you’ve done all the heavy lifting – making sure you met the customers needs by finding her the perfect solution to her problem and made her feel great about her purchase – then you aren’t likely to have many returns to worry about in the first place. And when you do get that return, you get another chance to turn a customer into an evangelist for your store.

Second, if you have a really liberal return policy and someone actually does try to take advantage of you time and time again, you can fire that one customer without pissing off all the rest.

Return policies are really about the Signal you send your customer. Make a liberal return policy and you are telling your customer two really powerful things.

  1. We believe strongly in the merchandise we sell. So much so that we promise to take it back for whatever reason.
  2. We believe strongly in taking the utmost care of you. So much so that we’ll do anything to make you happy.

It really won’t cost you any more in the long run. In fact, I’m willing to bet it will make you more in the long run. Just ask Nordstrom’s and L.L. Bean.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The best thing to do is to look at all of your customer policies and decide who they favor – you or your customer. If they favor you, change them. Change them now before you scare away another customer or kick her in the face.

Team Building and Business Building – The Principles are the Same

There is an article floating around about Team Building Gone Bad.

As a business owner, you’ve heard about Team Building – doing activities to help bring the team closer together and increase communication, cooperation, and trust. You’ve probably thought about doing something with your own staff.

Before you do, do me (and your staff) a favor. Write down a clear goal of what you hope to accomplish with your efforts. Then, when you go to sign up for an activity under the guise of team building, if the facilitator doesn’t ask to see that goal, run away. They don’t know a thing about team building.

I do. I used to be a facilitator. I used to train facilitators. When I read the article above, it got me thinking about how team building really depends on the skill of the facilitator more than the activity chosen.

I wrote this on a friend’s FB page when he linked to the article…

A good facilitator knows [that there are five stages of development in a group] and would never let any group do the stuff that was talked about in this article without a lot of prep work and other activities done first.

A good facilitator would know clearly the goals of the team building and plan activities to specifically address those goals.

A good facilitator would stop an activity before it got out of control, knowing that the activity is secondary to the lesson to be learned.

A good facilitator would make safety the number one priority (and number two and number three) because without a certain level of emotional and physical safety guaranteed, no one will take any perceived risks.

A good facilitator would follow up because team dynamics are always changing. Just kick-starting a new culture does not mean that the changes will hold.

It got me to thinking that the same exact principles apply to Business Building. Let’s replace facilitator with manager and team building/group with business building/business.


A good manager knows that there are five stages of development in a business (Tim Mile’s First Order of Business) and would never let any business do the stuff that was talked about in this article without a lot of prep work and other activities done first.

A good manager would know clearly the goals of the business and plan activities to specifically address those goals.

A good manager would stop an activity before it got out of control, knowing that the activity is secondary to the lesson to be learned (and sales to be made).

A good manager would make safety the number one priority (and number two and number three) because without a certain level of emotional and physical safety guaranteed, no one will take any perceived risks (this applies to customers and employees).

A good manager would follow up because business dynamics are always changing. Just kick-starting a new culture does not mean that the changes will hold.

Make sure you hire a good facilitator before you embark on any Team Building. Make sure you hire a good manager before you embark on any Business Building.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS I dusted off an old paper I wrote on Team Building and am getting it ready for the Freebies section of my website. If you’re interested in seeing a copy before I get the site updated, send me an email.

Seven Reasons Why You Should Accept American Express Cards

I’ve heard the arguments against accepting American Express in your store. They charge too much. They don’t deposit as fast as other cc’s. Everyone has another form of payment. I’ve never lost a sale…

All valid (kinda).

Here are seven reasons why you should still accept it.

  1. The average Amex transaction is three times higher than the average Visa transaction. Yes, Amex users spend more. You need those big-spenders.
  2. Your competitors take it. Why would you give them that unnecessary advantage?
  3. Not accepting it makes you look cheap. If you would cut corners and inconvenience customers just to save pennies there, your customers are wondering where else are you cutting corners?
  4. American Express focuses on more affluent customers. Amex is already reaching your preferred customer. Fish where the fish are.
  5. Penny-wise, pound-foolish. The real difference between the costs to you for a Visa Rewards card and an Amex card is a lot less than you think. Do the math and you will see it isn’t costing you much more than the cards you already take.
  6. You look unprofessional. To attract the big fish, you have to look like you know what you’re doing. Exclusions and customer-unfriendly policies scare the big fish away. 
  7. Saying No turns customers off. Sure, they might have another card and you still won the transaction. But customers like these speak mostly with their feet. Saying No to something as simple as taking their money might be all it takes for them to not come back. You won the transaction but lost the war.

Your goal is to delight your customers, to become the expert they trust, to win their hearts. Although you can do those things without taking Amex cards, you make it that much harder and you exclude a huge group of high-spending, affluent people in the process.

Is that worth the pennies?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS I do not work for or get any cut for promoting American Express.I only write this because of my deep desire to help you make MORE money. Yes, you will make MORE money by accepting Amex. How would your business change if you had higher transactions, more affluent customers, more delighted customers, and a greater feeling of trust between you and your customer? How much would you pay to get that?

Take More Risks with Your Advertising

(Warning: this blog post contains math – lots of math. Proceed at your own risk)

Your traffic comes from three sources…

  • Repeat Customers
  • Referral Customers
  • Ad-Driven Customers

I was asked once to write down the percentage of customers I believe are Repeat Customers. I wrote down 60%. I guessed 25% for Referral Customers. That left only 15% of my traffic being Ad-Driven.

With such a small percentage of our business being driven by our ads, if I want to move the needle through advertising, I have to take some big risks.

Here is the math…

Assuming you have 10,000 customers a year and your percentages are similar to mine you have the following:

  • Repeat Customers = 6,000
  • Referral Customers = 2,500
  • Ad-Driven Customers = 1,500

A 10% increase in effectiveness of your ads would only net you an additional 150 customers, a modest 1.5% increase in your overall traffic.

If you want your advertising to make a difference you can see, you need a 100% increase in the effectiveness of your ads. Anything less and you would be better off spending that money on Customer Service training.

But since you’re going to advertise anyway, you might as well climb way out on the limb where the fruit is.

To be effective, your ad campaign needs to drive another 1,500 new customers into your store. 1,500 new people. What can you say that will convince 1,500 people to take an action they haven’t yet taken? You have to say something fascinating and interesting. You have to say something emotional and heartfelt. You have to say something memorable.

You have to craft a message so powerful that it moves the needle for 1,500 people. That takes some risk. Are you willing to risk insulting someone who most likely wouldn’t be your customer anyway? Are you willing to say something that doesn’t sound like anything else in any other ad anywhere? Are you willing to be open and honest about your shortcomings as well as your strengths?

The good news is that the math also works in your favor. If your ad campaign backfires or falls flat, you still have that 85% of Customer Service-driven traffic to keep you afloat. And 1,500 people is a mere pittance in a trade area of 150,000 people. You just need to convince 1% more of the population to shop with you to get 15% growth.

Say something powerful and the math will all work out.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS You got the math. Here is the science… Download my free eBook Making Your Ads Memorable to learn four techniques that raise the power level of your ads.

Self Service is NOT Customer Service

The email read…

Hi Phil,

I noticed you missed our free webinar on Wednesday, How to Make Your Customers Fall in Love With Self-Service. No worries — I know how busy this time of year can be!

Gee, sorry I missed that. NOT.
Why would I want to make my customers fall in love with self-service? Why would I want to train my customers to love what my competitors are already doing and have far deeper pockets to do it? Why would I want my customers to love NOT interacting with my highly-trained sales staff?
No one has ever gone out and bragged to their friends about how wonderful the self-service is at XYZ store. No one has ever said, “Boy, I can’t wait to go back to that store. They have the best self-service.”
You cannot create word-of-mouth advertising with self-service. You cannot win customer loyalty with self-service. You cannot grow your business through self-service. At its best, self-service is neutral. At its worst, a deterrent to sales.
So with all that said, if you really want to grow, sink some serious time and money into creating the best Full-Service shop you can. Take it two or three steps above the gum-chewing clerks at Wally-World. Take it to the Nordstrom’s and Ritz-Carlton level. Do things that surprise and delight your customers. Go above and beyond their expectations.
Making your customers love Full-Service is a heck of a lot easier, more profitable, and more fun than trying to get them to love self-service.
-Phil Wrzesinski
PS Yes, there are times when self-service is good. But usually only when you’re in a big discount store buying cheap commodity goods and don’t want to wait for that the-world-sucks-and-I’m-underpaid-too-much-to-care cashier to ring you up. That’s not your store, not your market. You don’t even want to consider playing in that sandbox.

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.

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.

Teach What You Can Teach

Question number one: What can you teach?

Make a list right now. Jot it down on a napkin. Tell it to Siri. What topic(s) do you know enough about that you feel you could teach it to someone who knows nothing?

Write. Down. Everything.

I can teach…

  • How to tie a shoe
  • How to squash a bug with a tissue
  • How to giftwrap a package
  • How to calculate the area of a square
  • How to buy the right toy
  • How to…

Question number two: What are you teaching?

You’re qualified. Go ahead and teach. You don’t need some fancy degree. You don’t need someone’s approval. You don’t need permission from some authority. The only permission you need is from the student. You are an expert. You need to share that expertise with anyone who will listen.

Expertise garners trust. Trust builds relationships. Relationships create sales.

Go ahead and teach what you can teach. Teach it to your staff. Teach it to your customers. Teach what you can teach to anyone who wants to learn. Believe me, there are a lot of learners out there who would love to know what you know.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS About half the population of shoppers is looking for an expert they can trust. When you become that expert that your customers trust, you win their loyalty. Half the population. That’s a lot of people looking for you.