Retail Contrarian

Ringing the bell and the customer experience

One of our clients owns a successful bread store.  I noticed on a recent visit that there is a bell next to the oven.  When I asked the owner what it is used for he replied, “We used to ring the bell when a loaf of bread came out of the oven, or when celebrating a new customer, or when someone had earned a free loaf of bread.”

I thought that was pretty cool. I also heard the “we used to.” It's too bad they stopped, because I think ringing a bell is a great point of differentiation, and creates a unique and memorable customer experience.  They don’t ring a bell at Panera.  They don’t celebrate customers at the grocery store.

I get how easy it is to get away from ringing the bell. It happens all the time. People (and companies) slowly drift away from doing those little things that make their store or business different. It is rarely ever a conscious decision. It just happens over time.

There’s the clothing store that has chalkboard on the dressing room doors, but quit writing the customer’s name on the door. Too bad. It was a great way to personalize the experience.

Or the store associates who used to send five thank you cards a day, but haven’t sent any since they ran out of stamps. It’s a shame. I think the handwritten thank you card is even more effective in this digital age.

Sometimes it’s even smaller things.  A staff stops exchanging names with the customer, or offering to carry out a purchase no matter how big or small.  It’s easy to drift away, or stop ringing the bell.

It’s not ultimately about the bell, or the sign, or the thank you card. It’s the meaning and thought behind it.  It’s that focus on the customer and how your store is different from the competition. What your competitor is doing isn’t nearly as important as what YOU are doing for your customers.  Or what you used to do. 

What’s your bell? What are one or two elements of your customer experience that maybe you’ve stopped doing? Or is there something you’ve talked about doing with/for your customers, but have yet to implement?

I’m happy to say that out client’s team is back to ringing the bell.  It’s brought a new energy to the staff.  Okay, to most of the staff, but more important, they’re back to doing one of the little things that made their customer experience memorable and unique. Believe me, the little things make a huge difference in retail. Especially when it’s about the customer.

So let me ask, what bell can you and your staff ring – or start ringing again – this week?

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Doug Fleener, a proven retail and customer experience expert and consultant, helps companies dramatically improve their customer experience and their results. Visit the Dynamic Experiences Group website, or call Doug at 866-535-6331 to discuss how he can help you create an extraordinary experience and results.

Customer birthdays

Since I've just spent two days last week celebrating family birthdays, let me share with you some birthday thoughts and business building tips.

I recommend that just about every specialty retailer and other customer-focused service business should try to capture his/her customers' birthday. Whether it is part of a loyalty program or through clienteling, the opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate in a customer's birthday is a great way to build a stronger connection with the customer, and when done right can create incremental visits and sales.

Some sales associates might feel awkward asking customers for their birthdate. The best way to ask is to state the benefit first before asking the birthdate question. "We love to celebrate our customer's birthdays, and if you'll share yours we'll be sure to do something special. What is your birthdate?"

Here are some specific ways you can celebrate customer birthdays.

1. Send a card signed by your entire staff. One of the first birthday cards I get every year is from Southwest airlines, signed by their executive team. Obviously, the cards aren't hand signed, but it is still a nice touch. It is especially effective because it arrives every year; this is probably the tenth year I've received a card from them. I highly recommend that you send a hand signed birthday card to at least your VIPs.

2. Send a birthday email. Not as personal as the card, but it is still a nice way to connect with your customer on their special day. I got a nice note from my insurance agent and several businesses with which I've done business.

3. Send the customer a special birthday offer. I got a number of birthday specials last week including ones from MLB.com, JetBlue, and a few others. Most were 10% or 15% off a purchase, which, frankly, wasn't enough to motivate me.

My favorite thing to do is to send the customer a $10 or $20 gift card in the mail or something via email that can be printed. That, to me, is a real gift. The retailers I know who do this tell me they always make money on these sales.

4. Have the customer come to the store for a birthday gift. I like this idea as it creates an incremental visit.  The staff can have on hand a number of pre-made gift bags containing small treats and a small gift. Including a gift card is also a nice way to prime the sales pump.

5. Call your customers and wish them a happy birthday. I know some stores that call their best customers and sing happy birthday to them. If you heard me sing you wouldn't think that was such a treat, but it is a great way to stand out to your VIPs.

6. Host a monthly birthday party. Invite your customers into the store to celebrate birthdays on, say, the last Wednesday of the month. Serve cake and drinks, and consider giving a small goodie bag away. Of course, you'll invite all of your customers who come in that day to join in the celebration, which if anything creates a fun atmosphere during an often-slow time of the week.

So let me ask, are you leveraging your customers' birthdays to make a stronger connection, and drive incremental sales and visits?

Have a great week!

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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 an extraordinary experience and results.

One of thousands, or thousands of ones

The best customer service/experience happens when I feel respected and/or appreciated, and my expectations are met or exceeded.  My expectations can be anything - good food, good service, a knowledgeable salesperson, a fast check-in, open registers, I’m not kept waiting, a product in stock, etc., etc., etc.

While many elements make up a great customer experience, there is one common theme: Me.  As a customer, I’m the one that determines whether I’ve had a good experience or not.

I’m sure most, if not all, of the companies I do business with have a defined service approach and training for their employees, but there’s a big miss by virtually every one of them.  Me.  Companies talk about customers as if they’re all the same; as if each person who walks in the door is just another version of the person before.

If thousands of people walk in over the course of a week I’m one of thousands but in reality, customers are thousands of ones.

That is why delivering a personalized experience is such a great differentiator and the key to both winning customers and maximizing the sales opportunity.

Every specialty retailer should have a defined sales experience approach. It’s an important roadmap for the staff to add value to the customer’s visit and not simply clerk the sale. It’s also important that the staff be taught, and expected to, deliver the experience uniquely to each customer. 

You’ve probably defined how to do this.  The difference is in the details and the quality of the execution.

Saying “hello” is one of thousands.  Welcoming and acknowledging each individual is thousands of ones.

Talking to a customer is one of thousands.  Having a conversation with someone whose name you know and about whom you know something is thousands of ones.

Showing a product is one of thousands.  Recommending products based on the answers to questions you’ve asked is thousands of ones.

Giving good service is one of thousands.  Making sure your customer has the best possible experience is thousands of ones.

This starts with how the company/store leadership sees and engages their team.  A staff can be one of many or many ones. When we teach and coach each individual person to learn how to deliver a more unique and memorable experience, we are well on our way to succeeding one customer at a time.

So let me ask, is your experience delivered to one of thousands or to thousands of ones?

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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 an extraordinary experience and results.

When a customer freaks out

While waiting for a flight the other day I watched a very stressed passenger freak out on an airline representative.  The passenger’s behavior was embarrassing and completely unacceptable, and of course I couldn’t help but watch to see how the agent handled it.

Overall she did a great job, but at the same time I saw things she could have done better.  I know you don’t have people freak out on you very often (thank goodness) but here are a few tips to remember when it does happen.

1. Remain calm.  Okay, as calm as you can.  It is easier said than done, but getting aggravated just doubles the drama and pretty much guarantees things will get worse.

Don’t take it personally.  The passenger was screaming that she was going to get the agent fired, but the real issue was that she missed her check-in time and her seat was given away to another passenger.  If whatever situation hadn’t happened, you wouldn’t even be involved.

2. Don’t blame the customer. The goal is to calm the customer and address the issue. When we inadvertently blame a customer for what happened they become more defensive.  The customer might have messed up, or doesn’t want to follow the policies, but making it about them will only make matters worse.

3. Say you’re sorry.  As I’ve written and said many times, saying you’re sorry doesn’t mean that you or anyone in your store have done anything wrong.  You’re simply expressing regret that the customer is upset.  That’s something I didn’t see the agent do, which only made the passenger freak out even more.

4. Keep the focus on finding a resolution.  As obvious as that sounds, it doesn’t always happen.  Extremely upset people have a tendency to keep going back to the issue and reiterating how much they’re upset. When the passenger screamed for the fiftieth time how upset she was I expected everyone at the gate to yell out, “We know!”  One thing the agent did very well was that every time the passenger did that she responded, “I understand that. Now let’s work on getting you to your destination.”

5. Bring in another person if it gets too personal.  This poor agent wasn’t going to do anything to escape the customer’s wrath. When she finally realized that, she had another agent step to handle the situation.  At that moment the passenger completely stopped freaking out.  It was like someone had unplugged her.  There might just be times when an owner or manager needs to ask an assistant or associate to work with the customer.  I know that some owners/managers may not agree with that approach, but I’ve personally used it twice to bring resolution for a very unhappy customer.

6. Last but not least, don’t accept unacceptable behavior.  I thought the agent showed great restraint with the customer who was freaking out, but she was probably pretty close to calling the airport police. If the customer crosses a line into unacceptable behavior then you owe it to your staff, the other customers, and yourself to remove the customer.  Of course if we do the first five thing listed here that probably won’t have to happen.

Let’s hope you never have to apply any of these tips, but if you do have a customer who freaks out I hope you’re able to remember to apply them.

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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 an extraordinary experience and results.

Reading and exceeding the customer's expectations

One of the keys to meeting and, we hope, exceeding a customer's expectations is to first determine what they are.  How do you know if you've met or exceeded expectations unless you know what they are?

Unfortunately, many retailers and sales people take a "one size fits all" approach.

They assume a customer wants to be left alone. That may or may not be true.

They assume a customer wants to chat and look at lots of products. That may or may not be true.

They assume a customer is in a hurry or not in a hurry.  That may or may not be true.

They assume a customer is interested in features.  That may or may not be true.

I could go on and on, but you get my point.  What is important to one customer doesn't mean a thing to another.

How do you know what someone is expecting from you and your store?  The easiest way to find out would be to ask your customer when he/she walks in the door.  Although some people could easily answer that question, many (most?) would struggle to verbalize it.

And there's our answer.  Almost every customer will give us non-verbal clues about how we're doing towards meeting or achieving their expectations

Some are very clear, like the customer who is in a hurry.  Others aren't as easy to read, like the customer who is more interested in fashion than features.

What's the key to reading body language?  Be observant.

Where is your customer looking when you're talking to him?  If he's looking away, then something else is important to him.

Is your customer smiling?  I have enough retail experience to know that not every customer smiles...but I do know that when someone is smiling, they're having a good experience.

Does your customer's smile look forced or fake?  If it does, you're clearly missing your mark. Experts say you can tell a forced or fake smile because the eyes don't change as they do with a real smile

Is your customer shuffling her feet, or leaning back and forth between the left and right foot?  Usually, but not always, this means she wants to get moving on to something else.

Is your customer reaching out for the product, or are you having to hand things to her?  If someone reaches for the product first it's a clear sign she's interested and is a potential buyer. Well, that or maybe a shoplifter, so stay close either way.

Is your customer answering in short abrupt sentences?  That's right, it means he doesn't want to talk.  That may seem obvious, but I have seen retail salespeople run customers off by talking too much to someone who simply didn't want to hear it.

You may not be able to read or understand all of a customer's non-verbal cues, but I guarantee that if you work at this you'll deliver a better experience and sell more products.

So let me ask, are you meeting or exceeding the customer's stated and unstated expectations?

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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 an extraordinary experience and results.

Give them more of that human touch

In all of the talk about online sales and technology dominating the future of retail, people are missing what Bruce Springsteen sang about in 1992.

I just want someone to talk to

And a little of that human touch

Just a little of that human touch.

Most people like experiences that are enhanced by the people. It doesn't mean they don't also buy online, but when given the opportunity they are more likely to do business with companies with which they feel a connection. The human touch, if you will.

Before disagreeing and citing your own shopping experiences, break down the difference between a store that employs people and one that delivers great customer experience enhanced by the human touch.

Here's an example. An independent bookstore can hire wonderful people, but if those wonderful people don't proactively engage customers and add value to their shopping experience, there is little, if any, human connection. In some cases, installation of a self-checkout counter would guarantee zero human touch. You'd probably only need one checkout machine since most customers would be using smartphones or tablets to buy their books online while they're in the store.

Compare that to the store that warmly welcomes customers. Staffers know regular customers by name. An employee is always roaming the store making recommendations, offering the customer a drink, entertaining the children, and creating a wonderful experience for each and every customer.

Those retail associates call customers to tell them that the new book by their favorite author is in. They host events and customer parties. While their prices are competitive they definitely are more expensive than Amazon, but their customers are okay with that. They appreciate and value the human touch.

Not every customer wants that human touch, and that's okay. Not every person is going to be your customer. But what you can't do is to move further away from the human touch. That's what differentiates you from everybody else.

Yes, technology gives the customer more options, but our future as retailers is dependent on the quality of our human touch.

Today your personal success is dependent on giving even more of that human touch. Some people will want to blow you off, or even use your store to shop online. They undoubtedly either don't know how much value you add to their shopping/buying experience, or they don't appreciate it, but either way you have nothing to lose by reaching out to them.

What you most certainly can't afford to do is to let that person influence what you do with the next customer and the next. Give them someone to talk to, and give them more of that human touch. It's what you do, and when you do it well you will succeed.

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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 an extraordinary experience and results.

Follow-up for success

A few years ago I presented a seminar to around one hundred retailers. These people run stores whose products have a fairly high price point; they often offer delivery and sometimes installation of the products they sell. 

So I was shocked when I discovered that maybe 5% of these retailers make a habit of following-up with their customers after the sale is completed.  No follow-up phone call.  No thank you card.  No customer survey.  But then again I don't know why I'm shocked because I see this lack of follow-up with retailers in just about every category.

Think about all of the benefits of following up with customer. You're able to demonstrate your appreciation to the customer again. That's a good reason. You can find out if there are problems or issues and possibly save the sale.  That's a good reason.  You might make another sale.  That's a great reason.  You might so impress the customer that he/she tells friends and family all about your wonderful store. That's another great reason.

These are a few reasons people don't follow-up with customers.

1. They don't want to bother customers.  Remember, these are paying customers and you're just following up to make sure all is well.  Who is going to be upset if you want to make sure your customer is happy?

2. There isn't enough time or resources. If following up with customer can save a sale, make a sale, and help create new customers, why wouldn't you make the time to do it?  If you're that busy hire someone to work from home and call customers.

3.  It's not a high enough priority.  I've met a lot of retailers who used to send thank you cards, and a few even called customers.  But they stopped.  They don't really know why. They clearly don't realize the benefits.  The greatest opportunities in marketing come from marketing to your current customers, and they don't get much more current than the customer who just made a purchase!

4. Laziness.  It takes time and energy to call customers and send thank you cards.  I don't think laziness is the case with most retailers, although I have personally had people work for me who chose not to do what they were asked.  Of course that was followed by them looking for a new place to work.

If you are sending out thank your cards or calling your customers, congratulations.  You have an advantage over the competition and they probably don't even know it.

If you don't follow-up with your customers, you really should start.  No more thinking about it or planning to start one of these days.  When I ask retailers who do make a practice of following up with their customers if would they ever consider stopping, every single person answers "no way."  Start today.  Set the expectation with your staff, build it into the daily routine, and then hold everyone accountable for getting it done.  Most important, hold yourself accountable.

So let me ask, how can your organization or store better follow-up for success?

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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 an extraordinary experience and results.

A simple surprise

One of the easiest and most effective ways to win your customers is to surprise them.  No, not by jumping out from behind a fixture and yelling, "Boo!"  That does surprise them, but it also might give one of them a heart attack.  That's bad for business.

I'm talking about surprising your customer by doing something nice that they didn't expect. Since the customer has zero expectations the surprise is a huge WOW that makes a lasting impression. That's good for business.

Some employees are very good at surprising their customer, but the best companies make it part of their overall experience/service strategy. It's also part of the job expectations.

Wouldn't it be great if an associate had both a sales goal and a surprise/wow goal?  Now the staff would be looking much harder for ways to surprise their customers.

What are some ways the staff can surprise a customer? I'm sure you see plenty examples from your staff every day. Things like:

* Offering the customer a drink or something to eat.

* Entertaining a customer's children.

* Getting a chair so your customer can sit down.

* Calling a competitor's store to see if they have a product in stock.

* Offering to call the customer when something comes in.

* Asking if he/she can carry a purchase to the customer's car.

* Sending a thank you card.

* Walking from behind the counter to hand the customer their purchase.

You're probably thinking that the items on this list aren't a big deal.   You might be wondering if these actions really do surprise your customer. I think they do.  Remember, the staff at most stores don't take many of these actions that you do for your customers every day.  They are a simple but pleasant surprise for shoppers when they encounter them in your business.

But don't stop there.  There are opportunities to raise the bar and find even more distinct and personalized ways to surprise your customers.  A few examples I've seen include:

* Offering to pay a customer's parking or add money to their meter.

* Leaving the store to purchase a customer's favorite drink.

* Sending a follow-up card or note card based on something the customer said.

* Clearing snow off customer cars in the parking lot.

This list is just a starting place.  If - and only if - the company makes it a priority, a dynamic and customer-focused team will find many more special and fun ways to surprise their customers and exceed their expectations.

So let me ask, is your team using simple surprises to win customers and maximize opportunities?

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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 an extraordinary experience and results.

Don't ask permission

I have a question: Is your customer's experience better when someone on your staff is involved in their experience than when you're not? 

Of course it is. You and your team have the knowledge, experience, and information that benefit your customer. You can help them find the right products(s) that meet their needs and wants.

If they're in a hurry, you can get them out the door faster. If they're not, you make their shopping experience much more enjoyable.

So if we add value to the customer's experience, why do we ask permission? Shouldn't we just do it?

We ask for permission more often than we know.

"How may help you?" That's asking permission.

"What can I help you find?" That's adding value.

 

"Can I answer any questions?" That's asking permission.

"That's a very popular widget." That's adding value.

 

"Would you like help carrying your purchase out?" That's asking permission.

"Let me get someone to carry your purchase to your car." That's adding value.

 

"Would like to see the matching wallet?" That's asking permission.

"Here's the wallet that goes with that bag." That's adding value.

 

That's why we don't ask for permission.

Even if a customer says "no" to our offer, we've at least demonstrated that we add value to his/her experience. That's something many of our competitors never do.

The same holds true for exceeding your customer's expectations. Don't ask for permission.

 

"Can I get you a bottle of water?" That's asking permission.

"Here's a drink for you to enjoy while shopping." That's exceeding the customer's expectations.

 

"I can call the other store to see if they have them in stock." That's asking permission.

"I'll call the other store to see if they have them in stock." That's exceeding your customer's expectations.

 

"I can call you a few week's before your wife's birthday." That's asking permission.

"Hello, Mr. Jones. I'm calling to see if I can help you pick out a couple of gifts for your wife's birthday." That's exceeding a customer's expectations.

 

Even if your customer declines your offer, you have still demonstrated your point of differentiation and your desire to WOW them. That's what makes you special.

So let me ask, are you asking for permission to deliver an extraordinary customer experience? 

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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.

Your 2012 resolutions

I know how busy for the last few weeks, so I've taken the liberty of putting together some potential resolutions for you and your team in 2012.

This is a fairly extensive list, and you're probably already very good at most of these things. Even so, there might be one or two areas where improvement will have a positive impact on your business.

If you will, let me know which of these are right for you, and tell me about any of your resolutions that I've missed.

1. Taking your customer experience to the next level. Your store/company's customer experience is good, but deep down you know it could be so much better.  

2. Improve your staff's sales abilities. Your staff is really nice and delivers a very good customer experience. Now you aim to translate that to higher conversion and average sales.

3. Better clienteling. As online sales continue to grow and outpace traditional retail, in some segments the personal relationship between the customers and staff will become vital to keeping and maximizing customers.

4. More relevant marketing. The good news is you've got your Facebook page up and you're posting on a fairly regular basis. The bad news is you have no idea the impact it's having on your business. That probably means it isn't having much.

5. Increase accountability within your store/company. This could be in all sorts of different areas. Maybe it's expecting more from your frontline employees. It might also be holding managers and district managers more accountable for each store's sales performance.

6. Move the underperformers up or out. If you're tired of talking about the same underperformers over and over, maybe 2012 is when you finally improve their performance or promote them to customer. Yes, this goes hand in hand with #5.

7. Challenge and grow your top performers. The worst thing you can do is to not continue to develop your top people. It might be time to either create a new program for high-potential employees or, at the very least, figure out a way to better leverage their talents.

8. Invest more time and focus on developing your people. Unless you're competing on price you're probably competing with your people and the service/experience they deliver. Are you spending the appropriate time and energy on them?

9. Be more comfortable giving people the direct feedback they need to be successful. One of the managers I work with recently said to me, "I can't believe I coach without thinking about it! It feels natural now to give feedback at anytime, to anyone, and not worry about how it will be taken. We all "get it" that it is just information we need to get the results we want!" That's how we all need to think.

10. Improve your hiring process. This could be interpreted to be about improving the quality of the people you hire, but I don't want anyone to think that you haven't hired good people. You just need to get better at your process so you can do that more consistently. 

11. Standardize your training and development. Chances are you and your stores/staff are good at training new people. The challenge is that no two new hire trainings are the same.

12. Work more strategically. Some people say you should work smarter but not harder. I think if you've survived the economy we've had for the last few years you're pretty smart. A lot of people they just need to work from a better-defined plan and then work the plan. 

13. Delegate more. I hesitated about putting this on the list since most of the time delegation isn't the real issue. It's usually either that people can't give up control or they don't have the quality of staff to delegate to. Whatever the reason, you probably need to do less.

14. Become a better merchant. Whether it's buying, visual presentation, or financial management, you know that if you improve in this area you'll see an improvement to the top and bottom lines. Frankly, I put this at the bottom of the list since I know that most of you I know are stronger at these things that the above items. But hey, they're your resolutions.

15. Be more action oriented. Your list of things you were going to do or wanted to do is probably longer than what you did. Don't feel bad, that's true for most of us. But did you do what you know you needed to do to be more successful? The road to mediocrity is paved with good intentions.

So let me ask, what will your resolution be for 2012?

 

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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.