Retail Contrarian

The 2011 holiday outlook for specialty stores

With Black Friday just fifty-nine days away, it's time to take a look at this year's holiday predictions. Here are some recent headlines about the upcoming holiday.

Joyless Holiday Retail Forecast  Wall Street Journal - Sep 21, 2011

Moderately healthy holiday sales forecast  Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Sep 22, 2011

Holiday season may be a bah-humbug for retailers  The Associated Press - Sep 21, 2011

Retailers Expect More Sales, Fewer Shoppers During Holidays  KBOI - Sep 22, 2011

Forecasts point to modest holiday growth  BusinessWeek - Sep 22, 2011

Holiday Apparel Sales Will Increase Despite Lower Foot Traffic  Sporting Goods Intelligence - Sep 23, 2011

That cleared things up, right?  What's funny is that these headlines are all based upon two different holiday predictions that have fairly similar outlooks.

And there's the key word: Outlook.  I believe your holiday success will be determined more by your outlook than any national predictions.  With a zero national market share, you have the ability to influence your results more than the outside influences driving the national predictions.

Here are three reasons I believe some specialty retailers will have a terrific holiday:

1. Deal fatigue and the experiential purchases.  Although deal-of-the-day sites like Groupon and online shopping sites including Amazon have saved consumers a lot of money, they've also added a new level of stress to shopping.  Of course shoppers want a deal, but they also want to enjoy shopping.

Most consumers will be looking for deals this holiday, but these same consumers also set aside part of their budget to shop with stores that deliver a stress- and deal-free memorable holiday experience. I 'll write more on this topic as we get closer to the holiday season, but as every year I'll be challenging you to create a unique and memorable in-store experience that differentiates you from the competition. This customer is going to appreciate it even more this year.

2. Focus on events.  Almost every holiday report is predicting a decrease in store traffic.  I'd say that's a pretty safe prediction, since that's already happening in most stores.  Specialty retailers that can successfully use events to create incremental visits from their customer base won't be as affected by this trend.  Even more important, these events are exactly the type of feel good holiday experiences at which consumers will make incremental purchases.

3. The staff's ability to deliver a great experience and create a sale.  Ultimately, the stores with the right product and the best staff will be successful.  WOWing customers while at the same time focusing on conversion and average sale will be essential to success.  Frankly, most stores can't or won't do this.  Now is the time to work with your staff so they're ready to maximize every customer opportunity this holiday season.

One of my favorite sayings is, "Optimists are right.  So are pessimists.  It's your choice." Forget the national predictions...let's make our own.

Here's my headline prediction:

Select specialty stores to have a very successful holiday  Retail Contrarian - Sep 27, 2011

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Doug Fleener is a proven retail and customer experience expert that helps companies dramatically improve their customer experience and their results. Visit our website or call Doug at 866-535-6331 to discuss how he can help you create extraordinary results.

The 3 P's of the Engagement

One of the differences between average and extraordinary specialty retail associates is the ability to comfortably and effectively engage the customer. No, I'm not talking about the person who walks up and asks how they can help someone.   I'm talking about the associate who can create an immediate and effective relationship with a customer.

These are the three P's of Customer Engagement that extraordinary associates execute so well:

1. They are Personable - They're comfortable approaching and addressing customers.  It doesn't matter if the associate's personal style is energetic or laid back; they're friendly, outgoing, and good conversationalists.  

I've never forgotten the time I realized I'd made a mistake in hiring someone. When, after this woman been with us for about two months, I pulled her aside to discuss her performance she told me that she hated talking to people. When I asked her why she worked in retail she said that even though she hated it, it paid well. Needless to say, she did not remain our employ very long after this conversation.  Extraordinary associates like talking with people.

One thing I hear from time to time is that associates don't believe they can "be themselves" when asked to work within a structured approach to engaging the customer. I don't agree.  I see a structured approach as critical to a specialty retailer's success. To me, such an approach is a roadmap. Not a script. It guides the associate through the expected customer experience outcomes, but he/she is still at the wheel.  Structure should have no bearing on how personable someone is with a customer.

2. They make it Personal - Unlike associates who approach all customers the same way, extraordinary associates relate individually to each customer. They are truly interested in the person they are engaging.  They know that the more personal the experience, the more productive their time spent with the customer will be.  Even that is not quite enough, though.  Extraordinary associates seem to enjoy that personal connection as much as the customer does. They create a relationship.  It's no wonder that these are the same employees customers come back and ask for time and time again.

3. They engage with Purpose - Every conversation with a customer should be undertaken with purpose and a desired result in mind. Consider the initial small talk when a customer first enters the store. That initial non-sales related conversation helps breaks down barriers that naturally exist between customers and retail associates. It's almost like a verbal decompression that needs to happen before the customer and associate relationship to form. Many retail associates skip this small but important step and as a result they struggle to initially engage the customer.

Extraordinary associates use the initial small talk to begin learning about the customer.  They can discover if it is the first time the person has been in the store, what they might already own, the occasion that brings them out shopping, their name, and on and on.  If a sale takes one hundred steps, they're ten steps closer after that initial conversation. (By the way, that's a metaphor and not an endorsement for 100 steps to a sale.)

Every question is asked for a reason. Every answer from the customer is used to determine either another question or a comment.  It's also used to determine which product or products to show the customer.  It's almost like a chess game - except both the customer and the employee are on the same team.

As you work with customers ask yourself if you are nailing the three Ps - being Personable, Personal, and Purposeful.  If you are, you're sure to add another two Ps - Productive and Profitable!

 

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Doug Fleener is a proven retail and customer experience expert that helps companies dramatically improve their customer experience and their results. Visit our website or call Doug at 866-535-6331 to discuss how he can help you create extraordinary results.

How to build a more effective team

The quality of your employee's work experience has a direct impact on the quality of your customer's experience.  Give me five minutes shopping in a store and I can usually tell you how the staff feels about working there.

One of the key drivers of the employee experience is how the staff feels about their colleagues. That's why teamwork at the store level is such a vital component of a store's success.  When a staff works well together and feels proud to be part of the team, and is lead by a customer-focused leader, the quality of both the employee and customer experience is superior to that of a weaker team.

The key to effective teamwork is leadership.  It's leadership that makes teamwork an expectation.  It's leadership that holds people accountable to contribute to the betterment of the team.  It's leadership that is able to take a group of individuals and make them one.

To that end, here are four actions that will create a more effective team.  You'll see that the list doesn't include a ropes course, walking over hot coals, or any other popular "team building" activities.  It's the day-to-day actions we take that truly determine a team's success.

1. Stop drama in its place.  Nothing tears apart a team more quickly - or more quietly - than drama. If people are complaining about someone, address it immediately. If two people aren't getting along, sit them down together and put a stop to it.  I find two words are very effective for dealing with drama: STOP IT.

2. Regularly communicate your assessment of your team's teamwork.  Share what you see are the strengths and areas of improvement needed in teamwork.  The more you talk about your teamwork, the better it will be.

3. Don't enable poor performance and unacceptable behavior.  Teams begin to splinter when the majority feels that one or more individuals aren't contributing to the team.  Most employees can look past someone who is struggling in their role.  What they can't accept is when those employees are allowed to continue to underperform, or act in a way that negatively impacts the others.

Of course you obviously can't discuss how you're working with/coaching one employee with the rest of the team, the team should be able to see that you're working with that person to create a stronger and more effective team.

4. Recognize and celebrate effective teamwork, behaviors, and results.  It's important to not only encourage teamwork from your staff, but to recognize and celebrate it when you see it.  Just as we coach individuals, be sure to call out the behaviors and actions you saw and heard that created the effective teamwork. Sometimes leaders label a successful day as "good teamwork" without being specific about why the teamwork was good, but the more we recognize positive behaviors and actions the more likely they are to be repeated.

So let me ask, how are you doing in building a more effective team?

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Doug Fleener is a proven retail and customer experience expert that helps companies dramatically improve their customer experience and their results. Visit our website or call Doug at 866-535-6331 to discuss how he can help you create extraordinary results.

Why adding-on may be costing you sales

Most specialty retailers whose staff is sales-focused emphasize add-ons.  When done well, this approach can slightly increase a store's average sale, but I believe it also reduces how well a staff can maximize sales opportunities.

In some stores, an add-on is an inexpensive item suggested to the customer at checkout.  In other stores, it's a suggested product that complements a product a customer is buying. Both approaches are better than just ringing up the sale without any suggestions for an additional purchase, but the best salespeople go far beyond adding-on. They SELL-ON.

Selling on is the act of continuing to show and recommend products and services the customer may want to purchase.  This may sound like semantics, but it's a completely different mindset and approach.

The most successful retail salespeople never stop the sale.  They continue to sell on until the customer says he/she is done.  They assume a customer is there to buy multiple products.

Of course the first recommendation will be for a product that naturally complements the item the customer is buying.  They'll show a wallet with a handbag, or an equipment bag with a baseball or softball bat.

Top salespeople don't stop there.  If the customer says "no" to the complementary product, they transition to additional products.  If you focus on add-ons the customer's "no" means that the sale is over and it's time to check-out.  When you focus on selling-on, "no" just means "no" to that product.

Do yourself a favor and reread that last paragraph.  I'll wait.

Ready?  

The salesperson that sells-on then moves to the next product and keeps showing and suggesting products until the customer says he/she is done.  The customer might say no two or three times, but there's also a good chance there will be another one or perhaps two "yes" responses.

Compare that to the add-on approach of one "no" and you're done.

So let me ask, why limit your sales and not give your customers the opportunity to own even more of your wonderful products?  The secret is to quit adding-on and begin selling on.

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Doug Fleener is a proven retail and customer experience expert that helps companies dramatically improve their customer experience and their results. Visit our website or call Doug at 866-535-6331 to discuss how he can help you create extraordinary results.