Retail Contrarian

So Let Me Ask

I loved a recent Daily Retail Quote that came from Robert Half.  In case you missed it, here it is again: "Asking the right questions takes as much skill as giving the right answers."  True when you're working with customers and true when you're developing your staff.

When I first start managing people I thought I had to have all the answers. Over time I learned not only that it's impossible to have all the answers but also that it's not right way to lead people, anyway.  I've come to see that strong leaders balance the questions they ask with the answers they provide.

These are some of my favorite questions:

1. "What do you think?" and "What should you do?" When I was promoted to store manager at The Sharper Image I took over a store whose previous manager made every single decision.  I'm surprised he didn't tell his staff what to have for lunch.  As a result, the staff couldn't be proactive in taking care of customers, and the manager couldn't get anything done because he was so busy answering questions.

The only way to change that culture was to answer a question with a question.  It drove the staff nuts for a while but eventually they started bringing me solutions instead of questions.  Once they became more comfortable making decisions I was able to empower them so they didn't have to come to me with a solution.  They knew how to take care of an issue or an opportunity immediately.

2. "What would you do?"  This looks like the same question as the ones above but I use it differently.  With this question we're asking for people's opinion and insight but they don't and won't own the decision themselves.

I like to ask people what would they do if it were their name on the front the building.  By doing this you will not only will get some great ideas from your staff but it's also a terrific way to develop people's understanding of how business work.  Is someone tells you that if it was his company he would run more sales you have a perfect opportunity to teach how sales impact margins and the bottom line. 

3. "What did you do well and what could you have done better."  The best way to develop people is to teach them how to assess their own performance.  Try asking this question to an employee on the sales floor after he/she has worked with a customer.  When I did first begin doing this as a store manager, my staff knew that they had to be prepared to answer, so they learned to assess themselves after each customer interaction.

I then found it to be vital tool for managing people remotely.  I discovered that one of the toughest parts of being a multi-unit manager was not seeing my staff in person for weeks and months at a time.  By asking them to give me their assessment of their week or a particular event I was able to coach them. 

I also find this to be a great tool to use with my children.  I learned early that it doesn't work with my wife.  She just gave me The Look and said, "What do you think?" and that shows how these questions go full circle!

So let me ask, "How well do you ask questions, and what can you do to improve how you use them?

Building Advocacy Before the Purchase

Most companies and experts look at the relationship businesses have with their customers in three steps with seven stages. Known as the Customer Relationship Lifecycle. (CRL) the three steps and seven stages are:

Pre-Purchase
1. Awareness
2. Knowledge
3. Consideration

Purchase
4. Selection or trial

Post-Purchase
5. Satisfaction
6. Loyalty
7. Advocacy

Too bad so many companies take this approach because it has a fundamental flaw. What's wrong with it? Advocacy should be in the pre-purchase step.  Most companies think that only buyers can be advocates, but the fact is that some of your best advocates may not have made a purchase yet - and maybe they never will.

Smart retailers focus on building advocacy during the pre-purchase step for three reasons:

1. To potentially turn non-buyers into advocates.
2. To lead more buyers into becoming advocates.
3. To use the advocacy elements to influence the consideration stage and improve the purchase potential.

To focus on creating advocates in the pre-purchase stages, consider the following:

1. Teach your employees that some non-buyers actually create a lot more revenue than the average customer spends. As a matter of fact, some studies have shown that in some businesses the highest spending customers are not the most effective advocates.  This is why we like to teach all retail employees to never label a customer as "just a looker."

2. Make it a company goal to deliver an amazing and delightful experience to every single customer. I love the retailer who told me that her goal is to have every customer who leaves her store feels better than when they came in.

How the experience is delivered varies from retailer to retailer but what doesn't vary is that retailers who deliver a superior experience have identified the steps to delivering the experience. It's usually a combination of activities including a warm welcome, a drink or some other gesture, and may include a surprise that delights the customer. The easiest way to get customers to advocate your store is to give them something to tell others about. What happens in your store that your customer will most likely tell a friend or family member about?

3. Capture contact information for all visitors.  Retailers who only capture the contact information at the point of sale are losing revenue opportunities and potential advocacy by non-buyers. Give the customer a reason to give you the contact information in the pre-purchase phase and you'll increase the number of post-purchase people.

So let me ask, is building advocacy in your pre or post-purchase stage?

Are You Meeting YOUR Expectations?

We retailers spend a lot of time trying to figure out what makes our customers happy and how to keep them loyal to us. The answer isn't usually hard to find since it almost always lies within us. More often than not those of us in the industry have higher expectations of retailers than do most customers. Tell me you don't get really annoyed when a retailer does a poor job and that you don't get excited when a retailer exceeds your expectations.

To test this out I asked a retailer in my coaching and mentor program to write down three to five things she encounters as a shopper that make it more likely she will be a loyal customer.  She responded with these four:

1.  "I want to be acknowledged when I walk into a store.  Not pounced on but acknowledged. I might or might not want to be helped right away but if they're paying attention they should be able to tell."

2. "I know this sounds obvious but they got to have something I want to buy. There used to be this cute gift store in my town with really nice people working there but I never found a single thing I wanted to buy. I eventually quit going there."

3. "I want salespeople who really know their products. That's why I buy most of my clothes at a local store, not at department or chain stores. The women at that store always know exactly what will and won't work on me. So I guess that means they really have to know me as well as they know their products."

4. "I want to be appreciated.  This is a big one for me. I get so mad when stores act like they're doing me a favor taking my money."

Then I asked the big question.  How well do you and your staff meet these standards? Before she could answer I reminded her that there is a difference between hoping they do these things and knowing they do these things. "How would I know unless I'm at the store every minute of every day?" she asked.  My answer is that you know because making sure these actions are taken is ingrained in the organization and people do them without even thinking about it.

She thought about it and said, "I know we do the first one really well.  And I'm pretty sure we have the right products for our customers.  If we didn't our business wouldn't be growing every year. I also feel very confident that my people know their products inside and out.  I think we can do better at understanding our customer's needs but you and I are working on that."

Then the phone went quiet for a minute.  She continued, "I'm not sure we really show our customers how much we appreciate them. We tell people "thank you" when they buy something but I'm not sure we do much beyond that.  It's so important to me when I'm shopping but we're not doing it very well ourselves."

We talked a bit more and came up with several actions she can take. They include:

1. When thanking the customer the staff member will also tell the customer that they appreciate their business.

2. The owner and manger will each call a couple of customers a week to express their gratitude.

3. The staff will become more diligent about sending out thank-you cards.

So let me ask, how well are you and your store(s) executing what YOU expect as a customer? I would encourage you to go through the same exercise that we just did to learn of the opportunities that you might have to deliver an even more memorable and effective customer experience.

You're Never a Long Shot

Did you see the Kentucky Derby?  WOW!  It usually lives up to it's billing as the most exciting two minutes in sports but this year it was off the charts.

As you probably have already heard, 50-1 long shot Mine That Bird absolutely blew away the field.  A horse that was purchased for a mere $9,500 and was racing against animals valued at millions of dollars is not supposed to win.

But win he did.  Mine That Bird was dead last at the ¾ mile marker, in twelfth place at the mile marker, and by the time jockey Calvin Borel got him to the straightaway he had flown by the field to take the lead and win by over six lengths.  Love it!  For Borel in an emotional post-race interview to dedicate the race to his deceased parents was icing on the cake.

Obviously I couldn't help but think of all the lessons we could take away from Calvin and Mine That Bird.

1. You don't have to be the biggest or the richest to compete but you do have to be in the race to win.  Some of the horses that Mine That Bird beat were purchased as foals for over $3,000,000, are owned by very wealthy people and are trained by the most prominent and successful trainers in the business.  Mine That Bird's trainer is an unknown out of New Mexico.  While your competitors may have deeper pockets than you do, the one who executes the best will still win.

2. Seize the opportunity when it presents itself.  One of the keys to Mine That Bird's victory was the ability to not only get to the inside rail, but to get through two openings between horses to get to the lead.  Any hesitation by jockey Calvin Borel and Mine That Bird may well have been caught behind the pack, unable to break through.  We are presented with opportunities every day but they'll pass us by if we're not a) looking for them and b) willing to act quickly and decisively to maximize them.

3. Pedigrees and experience are great but never underestimate hard work and a big heart. Mine That Bird came into the race as, the Boston Globe said, "An extra in a 19-horse race of stake winners owned by bluebloods." Jockey Calvin Borel is described by Sports Illustrated as ". . .not often thought of in the first flight of today's top riders even though he has over 4,000 victories and a Derby win in 2007."  It reminded me that some of my best employees never went to college, or had no retail experience when I hired them.  Don't look at what people don't have on the outside, but look what they have inside them. The same holds true about yourself.

4. Last but not least, believe in yourself.  As Calvin was celebrating his victory while still atop Mine That Bird, he pointed toward his helmet and screamed, "It's all in your head." Think like a winner, believe you're a winner, and chances are you'll fly to victory just like Calvin Borel and Mine That Bird.

Remember this; people, horses, and companies are only long shots because someone wasn't smart enough to bet on them.