Retail Contrarian

Store traffic perspectives

One day I was catching up with two friends over coffee when the conversation turned to how bad the traffic had been recently.

One friend told us how it was killing his productivity. He's an outside rep and the traffic kept him from seeing all of the accounts he planned to see.

The other friend is also a rep, but in a different field. The traffic also kept him from seeing all of his clients, but in the end he had a terrific sales week.

He had decided that he would use the time sitting in traffic to phone accounts he doesn't normally get to call on. As a result, he picked up a couple of additional orders he wouldn't have gotten without sitting in traffic.

Two people. Same traffic. Different results. 

One person had better results because he had a different perspective. Instead of seeing the traffic only as an impediment, he took advantage of the challenge. 

Here are three traffic perspectives store leaders will do well to remember.

1. Maximize every customer opportunity. I once had a store outside of Chicago that had to deal with terrible traffic but still produced amazing results. Their center simply didn't attract much attention, so the store leadership and staff quickly learned that every customer mattered. You don't have to be a slow store to apply that lesson.

2. No labeling customers. One word I never allowed my staff to use was "looker." The minute we label a customer a looker, we're really saying they aren't going to buy anything. It's funny how that is proven over and over.

One manager who recently took my coaching class had her staff stop using the word. Guess what? Yep, conversion went up. Our perspective has a huge impact on our results. 

3. Own it. If you’ve heard me speak you’ve heard me say that when you own something, you have the power to change it. One of my coffee friends owned the bad traffic last week. He didn't sit in his car and fume or complain. He took action. 

Traffic is a real challenge for most stores. No way to sugarcoat it. At the same time we have no alternative but to own it. We have to take responsibility for driving existing clients and new customers into the store.

Make sure the entire staff is using downtime to reach out to customers. Plan small events. Set appointments for your top customers to come in and see the newest products. Refuse to let lack of traffic keep you from obtaining your goals. Own it!

Got too much traffic? First, thank your lucky stars. Then, have the staff practice working with multiple customers and group selling. Whatever your traffic... own it!

So let me ask, how is your traffic perspective?

How to use this article

Discuss your leadership group's traffic perspective with your managers. Which perspectives could benefit from a change?  Identify three actions they’ll take to get an even better perspective.

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About Doug: Doug Fleener, the former director of retail for Bose Corporation, is a speaker and consultant known for bring fresh approaches and powerful actionable ideas to clients and audiences around the world. Learn more at DougFleener.com.

Eight tips for producing highly effective thank you cards

Thank you cards are still one of the most effective, and most affordable, marketing tools you have. They stand out even more with so most marketing materials going digital.

Think about it. How many emails did you get in the last two weeks? Okay, and how many handwritten thank you cards did you get? Point made!

The fact is nothing does a better job of creating a future visit than demonstrating your appreciation for your customer’s last visit. 

Unfortunately, thank you cards are also one of those activities that seem to fall off the radar when things get busy or the staff gets distracted.

Which is too bad, because every thank you card is an investment in creating a future sale. I know one retailer who believes each thank you card will create $120 in future sales. That's worth writing for!

Here are some tips for creating productive thank you cards that make a positive impact.

1. Give yourself a daily target of thank you cards to do. If you wrote just two a day and worked four days a week, you would send out 368 thank you cards over the course of a year. (I'm not including the holiday season in this count.)

If you use the thank you card value of $120, that could create $44,160 in additional annual sales. Of course, your number could be higher or lower, but any way you look at it, more thank you cards results in more sales.

2. Write legibly. The card doesn't have any value if the customer can't read your handwriting. Those with less than stellar handwriting will want to write more slowly and focus on making the card readable.

3. Put the date in the upper right hand corner. This demonstrates that you are sending the card in response to a recent purchase or visit.

4. Use the proper salutation. Keep them formal (Dear Mrs. Johnson) unless you have known the customer for a long time, and are already on first name basis with him/her.

5. Start with your appreciation. The first words of the first sentence should convey the message of the note. Thank you for... or I appreciate ...

6. Personalize each note. Don't generically thank the customer for his/her purchase or visit. Be specific about what he/she purchased, or the exact dates of when they visited.

7. Set up the next visit. Tell your customer you look forward to serving her again on her next visit. You might even reference showing her something that will go with the item she purchased. Make this brief so you don't overshadow the core message of thank you.

8. End with a second thank you. This way the start and the finish express your thanks. Thank you again....

So let me ask, how well is your store effectively using thank you cards? What will you do to increase and/or improve your customer thank you cards? Remember, each one is an investment in keeping your customers and creating future sales.

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About Doug Fleener

Doug Fleener, a proven business and customer service experience expert, helps companies achieve performance that exceeds customer and employee expectations resulting in more sales, profits, and customers.

Learn more about our services at Sixth Star Consulting, or call Doug at 844-861-7803 to discuss how he can help you achieve higher levels of performance and results. Learn about Doug's keynotes and workshops at DougFleener.com. Sample a Sixth Star University online training program at SixthStarU.com.

Work backwards to improve your sales and service experience

When I was nine or ten years old, someone told me about a great way to sneak in to the movies. At least I thought it was a great idea. I was told that all I had to do was walk backwards into the movie theater when everyone else was leaving. 

One day my friends and I decided to try it at the Lincoln Theater. (I grew up in Illinois so everything had Lincoln's name on it.) As soon as the movie was over and the crowd started streaming out, we started walking backwards towards the exit doors. 

Okay, so it wasn't such a great idea. We ran in to all kinds of people, got called all kinds of names, and then backed right into the propped-open doors. Either I was not a very smart kid or I was incredibly gullible, but you had to respect my willingness to try new things.

Walking backwards may not be such a great idea, but what does work is to work backwards in designing your sales and experience strategies.

In most companies the executives, buyers, home office team, and/or owners work from their perspective, not the customer's. They first determine what they want to achieve and how they're going to do it. The goal might be increasing sales, traffic, or sell-through of particular products. The solution seems to always be a training, which may or may not be the answer.

There is a better way.  Start with the customer and work (not walk) backwards to the office.

Let's say you want to increase sell through of green widgets by 15%. What has to happen on the floor to get customers to buy 15% more widgets? 

I've learned to start looking for the answer on the sales floor itself, asking frontline employees how they think we can create success. Then I spend time observing both customers and employees to identify other potential opportunities.

Working backwards, identify what you want the customer to think and do that will increase widget sales. Then, what behaviors and actions does the staff need to start, stop, do more or less of to enable the customer to think and do those things?  That's a big piece that is frequently missing in sales and service experience strategies.

From there you do the work you've always done, but do it backwards. Identify what tools and processes need to be adapted, added, or changed. What merchandising and in-store messaging need to happen? Once you've answered those questions you can start to determine the training, communications, and in-house support plan. Continue to work backwards to the marketing strategy.

The difference between the two approaches is that by working backwards, you start where success has to happen: on the floor with the customer and the staff. None of the rest matters if you miss there.

You'll always be more successful if you work backwards. Maybe I was just ahead of my time that day at the Lincoln Theater.

So let me ask, how well are you working backwards to find the right opportunities and solutions to improving your sales and service experience?

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About Doug Fleener

Doug Fleener, a proven business and customer service experience expert, helps companies achieve performance that exceeds customer and employee expectations resulting in more sales, profits, and customers.

Learn more about our services at Sixth Star Consulting, or call Doug at 844-861-7803 to discuss how he can help you achieve higher levels of performance and results. Learn about Doug's keynotes and workshops at DougFleener.com. Sample a Sixth Star University online training program at SixthStarU.com.

How to find and hire amazing people

With low unemployment and so many companies in need of help, the competition for top candidates is definitely on the rise. I can personally attest to this from consulting with a client who is working overtime to find good people.

Here are some tips and ideas for filling open positions with amazing people.

1. Cast a wider net. I believe in attracting as many candidates as possible. I recommend stop requiring people to have retail or sales experience. I’d rather wade through a bunch of nos to find an unexpected amazing yes, than hope I can attract that one yes that just so happens to be looking to change companies.

2. Compensate your staff for recruiting. Your best recruiters already work for you. I'd rather pay my staff a referral bonus than spend that money on advertising, but there's a good chance I'll have to do both.

3. Advertise where job seekers are looking. I know that sounds completely obvious, but I continue to meet people who are still using classified ads - with no luck. I've had the most success with Craigslist and Indeed, marginal success with Zip Recruiter and LinkedIn, and the least amount of success with Monster (unless it is for a high level position). Your results may vary.

Also, contact all of your local colleges. Especially with kids starting back up. I’m okay if I lose them for the summer. I’ll take an amazing employee for nine months over an average person that I don’t have to replace.

4. It's all in the headline. I've been doing extensive testing of what sort of headlines work best, and I've learned that the least effective headline is what perhaps 95% of retailers do - use the job title as the headline.

The most effective ad headlines focus on the quality of the work environment. Sample headlines I've tested successfully:

* Work Where You're Appreciated and Make a Difference.

* Join Our Amazing Team

* Work With Fabulous People and Products

* We’re the Company You’ve Been Looking For

5. Post on your own social media.Just make sure you position it as hiring additional or seasonal help. You never want to inadvertently give the impression that your store is understaffed. Again, it's all in the headline.

6. Start with a phone interview. Phone interviews are a quick and easy way to screen your applicants. It also allows me to interview more applicants I've attracted with my wider net. I usually know within 10 minutes if this is someone I want to get to know better. If it is, I schedule an in-person interview. If not, I thank the person for his/her time and wish them the best of luck.

7. Have them work the floor as part of the interview. Anyway can say they’re a “people person.” Show me! I’m not just talking about roleplaying. I have the applicants welcome and engage customers. I always ask managerial applicants to work the floor for a few minutes. I want to see how they handle pressure. I know this has kept me from a couple poor hires.

My most amazing hires were people who were just okay in the interview, and then came alive when working with customers. Not surprising since that’s a situation they’re use to.

So let me ask, what else can you do to find and hire amazing people?

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About Doug Fleener

Doug Fleener, a proven business and customer service experience expert, helps companies achieve performance that exceeds customer and employee expectations resulting in more sales, profits, and customers.

Learn more about our services at Sixth Star Consulting, or call Doug at 844-861-7803 to discuss how he can help you achieve higher levels of performance and results. Learn about Doug's keynotes and workshops at DougFleener.com. Sample a Sixth Star University online training program at SixthStarU.com.

--------------

About Doug Fleener

Doug Fleener, a proven business and customer service experience expert, helps companies achieve performance that exceeds customer and employee expectations resulting in more sales, profits, and customers.

Learn more about our services at Sixth Star Consulting, or call Doug at 844-861-7803 to discuss how he can help you achieve higher levels of performance and results. Learn about Doug's keynotes and workshops at DougFleener.com. Sample a Sixth Star University online training program at SixthStarU.com.

The One Thing

Simplicity is a competitive advantage. Most leaders and companies over complicate things, and when they do they lose their effectiveness. I believe in the KISS model, and no, there’s nothing stupid about simplicity.  It’s about learning to Keep It Successfully Simple.

Here is a Keep It Successfully Simple approach that I guarantee will improve your business if you put it into practice for the next thirty days.

After a speaking engagement I spent some time visiting with a business owner and his manager. During the course of our conversation I asked them, "What one thing will you and your team do this week to be more successful than last week?"

The owner started listing a number of actions they could take, and then the manager picked right up and started sharing some of her ideas, too. When they finally came up for air, I asked the same question, "What one thing will you and your team do this week to be more successful than last week?"

They couldn't answer. They came up with a lot they could do, and they had many good ideas, but they couldn't tell me what one thing they would do. And in that one action is their opportunity. 

Most leaders have plenty of ideas and plans but they don't always turn those ideas into action. Even when they do take action, they're usually trying to do so many different things at once that they don't do any of them particularly well.

Focus is an amazingly effective tool for creating success. Focusing the entire team on one action increases the likelihood of success. That's why I love to ask, "What one thing will you and your team do this week to be more successful than last week?"

I've recently seen one retailer turn his business around by having every employee call or email five customers every single day. That's his one thing.

Another retailer had a goal of getting every customer to try-on, or at least hold, one product. As a result, the conversation rate is up. That's her one thing.

One business I worked with just had every employee who was on the phone with a customer ask, “Did you know that we also sell _________?” Some customers said no thanks. Some customers said they didn’t but weren’t interested. But a number of customers asked for more information. Guess what? Sales of that item went up.  

Of course you’re going to be working on many things during this time, but those will be the other things in addition to the one thing everyone is doing.

As a leader, you have a lot going on. Sometimes the more we have going on the less we actually do. That's why I recommend you begin a day or a week by asking yourself, "What one thing will we do this week to be more successful than last week?" Then do it. You’ll be amazed at the difference when you keep things successfully simple.

So let me ask, what is your team's one thing this week?

- Doug

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

5x4 tips in fewer than 140 characters each

Here are five sets of four tips each in Twitter length . Simply putting one or two into action could have a big impact on your sales and customer experience.

Four ways to improve your personal productivity:

1. Commit to delegating at least one to two things a day.

2. Finish whatever you have to get done as soon as possible. Now you’re ready for whatever else comes your way.

3. Ask yourself before doing something, “Is this the best use of my time? Should I be doing this, or can or should someone else take care of it?”

4. Pick up the phone and call people. It’s often faster than ten emails back and forth.

 

Four tips to sell more today:

1. Stop asking customers, “Will there be anything else?” When you change this you’ll change your sales results.

2. Get the product in the customer’s hands or on them. The likelihood to purchase goes up exponentially, even more if they look in the mirror.

3. Don’t add-on. Great service is showing and selling additional products until the customer says she’s done.

4. Call four good customers you haven’t seen in a few months. Invite them in to see something new that might interest them.  Do it today, everyday.

 

Four ways to be a better leader:

1. Never miss the chance to say thank you or praise an employee. Both fuel the soul.

2. Tell your staff what you need and expect from them. As simple as it sounds, many leaders don’t do this.

3. Never, ever, miss a chance to demonstrate what you expect of your staff.

4. Help every employee be better. Not just the underperformer or newbie.

 

Four actions you really should be taking:

1. Sending thank you cards. It is by far the most effective and underutilized marketing tool there is. Gratitude connects with people.

2. Track everything that is important to your business. If you don’t, chances are those things won’t happen as needed.

3. Capturing customer contact information is definitely one thing you want to measure and track. Goal should be 75% or higher.

4. Be able to identify one or two ways you coached your staff to deliver an even better and more productive customer experience.

 

Four things to ask the sales reps that call on your store:

1. Ask them to share two to three things they think your store/staff does well, and two to three they think you can do better.

2. Ask them to demonstrate for the staff (with real customers) how to sell their products. The good ones will teach a lot this way.

3. Ask them to schedule their visit. This allows you to be prepared to give them your full attention. 

4. Ask them to monetize any investment. It’s easy to tell you to buy a rack or display, but I want to hear the financial reasons.

 

Have a great week! (Said in only 18 characters.) Also, join me on Twitter each day at www.twitter.com/dougfleener

Did you know that I offer retailers an intensive one-day store visit? As a result of our spending the day together you’ll have an extensive number of ideas and strategies to grow your sales, staff, and improve your merchandising, marketing, and productivity. Reply to this email to discuss having me visit your store.

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

Musings on leadership, ADS and more

Here are a few random thoughts about leading a retail and service team. Some I’ve posted on Twitter, some have been on my mind recently.

* I’m the first to say that a positive work environment is important for delivering a great customer experience. At the same time, a leader has to be more than just a cheerleader. Cheering is nice, but good coaching and well-executed plays win the game. Then you’ll really have something to cheer about!

* Love this quote. It’s so true. "For most leaders, the great challenge is not understanding the practice of leadership: It is practicing their understanding of leadership."  - Marshall Goldsmith

* Every interview should include the applicant spending time on the floor. It's one thing for an applicant to tell you he/she can engage customers, but it is another to show you. If an applicant can engage a customer without really knowing your store or products, that employee will probably be pretty good. I like to give the applicant a small gift for the time.

* Never blame staff or customers for sales results. Figure out what needs to be different. Leadership actions change the course of results.

* When was the last time you took your management team on a walk (or road trip) to look at other stores? Not just direct competitors, but other types of stores, too, to inspire ideas on merchandising, service, selling, etc. Here’s the trick to doing that effectively. We often shop other stores to validate what we are doing right. That’s fine, but we don’t learn much. Instead, visit stores to identify what they are doing well, and then figure out how to apply that in your store.

*  While we’re on the subject of visiting stores, I was in Columbus over the weekend and had a chance to see Aeropostale’s new concept store, Aero Studio. This store absolutely looks like their customers designed it. That, to me, is one of the biggest compliments you can give a store, especially a retailer who targets teens. The graphic and lifestyle messages were spot on. Here’s an article and picture of the store from the Columbus Dispatch.

* Whenever you’re in Columbus you have to eat Ginny’s ice cream. Great ice cream and a great staff. Well worth the wait in line.

* Never underestimate the impact you can have on your staff, and your staff’s impact on results. A participant in my Four Week to Higher ADS program set a goal to grow her average sale from $70 to $77. Her team exceeded the goal every day, and averaged $111 over the weekend. The best part is that the staff is feeling energized and excited about their results, and that itself creates an even better store experience. 

* Speaking of ADS, if your staff is a key part of the sales experience, you absolutely have to measure individual performance. You don’t have to have to report on it if you don’t want, but you have to measure and address the gap in performance.

For example, here’s a client’s July individual staff ADS (average daily sale) for one store.

Employee A    $82

Employee B    $77

Employee C    $75

Employee D    $66

Employee E    $61

This is fairly typical range you’d see in most stores.

Now let’s look deeper. The store’s ADS for July is $72. Employee E’s average sale is 15% below the store average, and 26% lower than the top performer. Yikes!

Say every employee completed 250 transactions in July. That means that Employee A did $20,500 in sales, and Employee E only did $15,250. A difference of $5,250. Annualize that and add up impressively! Over $60,000.

While Employee E may not ever be as good as Employee A, as a leader you need to coach Employee E up to at least the store average. Employee E can most likely rise to the store average, but they won’t if they’re not coached or required to do so.

So let me ask, what will you do this week and weekend to be a great place to work and shop.

- Doug

Did you know that I offer retailers an intensive one-day store visit? As a result of our spending the day together you’ll have an extensive number of ideas and strategies to grow your sales, staff, and improve your merchandising, marketing, and productivity. Reply to this email to discuss having me visit your store.

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

4 tips for leading lasting change that lead to higher sales

My new Four Weeks to Substantially Higher Average Sales program is now in its third week. The group has discovered an impressive number of opportunities to immediately improve their sales.

I think what has surprised most participants is how easy it has been to identify their ADS opportunities once they matched up what their staff does with how their customers shop and make purchases.

The challenge lies in getting the staff to take the actions necessary to maximize those opportunities. They’ve been doing things a certain way for a long time, and simply telling them they need to do something different doesn’t work.

The key to change, and it’s not always so simple, is to create new positive habits.  As a matter of fact, most retailers and services businesses will try but fail to make the necessary changes, and it’s only a matter of time before the staff goes back to doing what they’ve always done.

Here are four tips for driving those lasting changes that result in higher performance.

* Focus on what to do versus not what to do. Sounds like mere semantics, but the difference in how receptive employees are to changing is huge.

* Stop telling. Start teaching, leading, and coaching your team to new behaviors and actions. Frontline leadership is the bridge between old and new positive habits.

* Coach three times more.  Training seems to be the default answer for everything. I don’t agree. Yes, we need to train on what to do (which I call teaching) but performance only improves with coaching and feedback. I recommend a minimum coaching ratio of 3-1. Meaning that for every hour of training the staff receives there is a minimum of three hours of coaching. Yes, that’s a lot of coaching. Yes, that’s how you create positive change.

* Stick with it. It takes between twenty-one and twenty-eight days to create new positive habits. Anything short of three-weeks, and odds are high that the staff will slide back into their old ways.

So let me ask, what is your greatest sales growth opportunity? Which of these tips will you incorporate into creating new positive habits?

- Doug

Note: Because the first Four Weeks to Substantially Higher Average Sales program sold out, I have a new group starting on Wednesday, July 30.  Program participants learn how to identify the best ADS growth opportunity in their store, and then launch the change initiative in their store. The tentative call dates are July 30, August 6, 13, and 20. Learn more and reserve your spot here.

I’ve also had a request to run another of my Four Weeks To Becoming A Next Level Coach And Developing A Winning Retail Team program. Now in its third year, this action program has helped many, many owners, managers, and assistant managers to become much more effecting at coaching and giving feedback. As this is an action program, the participants immediately apply what they’ve learned, and as a result see an immediate impact on their staff and sales results. Learn more and reserve your spot here.

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

Planning for a successful day - or not

After a 45-6 loss, former University of Massachusetts football coach Charley Molnar was quoted as saying, "I don't prepare a talk or speech for after a defeat - all I prepare in my mind as I go through the week is what I'm going to say after a win."

Love it. Of course, after a 45-6 loss coach Molnar might have wanted to invest a little more time in getting his team ready to play, especially since they had lost their previous game 37-0. But I digress. I do like that the coach was only planning for success.

It's easy to plan for success when you're winning or, in our case, when business is good. It takes a stronger leader to plan for success when things aren’t going so well.

Owners and managers can inadvertently fall in the trap of the planning to NOT be successful. Traffic is off. We don't have the right products. Customers aren't buying like they used to - or at least that's what we start telling ourselves. The weather is too hot. The weather is too cold. Before you know it, you're mentally deciding why you won't succeed that day even before the doors are open.

Remember, pessimists are right just as often as are optimists. With that being said, here are some tips to plan for a successful day no matter how good business is (or isn't).

1. Set sales goals and review them with your team. While most readers post the day's sales goal for the store, I believe that planning for success means setting other goals and focusing on them throughout the day.

a. Store sales goal.  Example: $3,500

b. ADS goal. (Average Daily Sale)  Example: $100

c. Number of transactions.  Example: 35 (Note that this is sales goal divided by ADS.)

d. Individual sales goal (if you set them).  Example: $875

2. Identify what actions YOU are taking to create a successful day. This is what truly separates those who plan for success and those who don't. There should be one action you take every day to help your team be successful.

Ask yourself:

* What should I provide my team during the Take Five meeting to help them achieve their goals and develop in their roles?

* Is there a particular product or sales/experience element the staff should focus on?

* Can I provide a quick training, and/or practice roleplaying?

* Should I do a contest or game?

* When should I listen in and coach the staff?

Planning for success requires action!

3. Identify what else will the staff do to create a successful day. Of course they'll be engaging the customer, delivering a great experience, recommending products, and helping their customers to make a purchase. And when they're not doing that they might be stocking, straightening, and cleaning

Yes, that's a lot, but planning for success means doing even more to ensure success. Will they each show two extra products? Call a couple customers? Take three extra items to the dress room? Maybe send five instead of three thank you cards? Create a same-day event. Those little extras are often the difference between success or not.

4. When the day isn't shaping up as planned, take action. It's inaction when things aren't going well that leads to a bad day. We have to believe that we can turn any day around with our own actions. If we don't, it's impossible to plan for a successful day.

Review your business every few hours. Don't wait until the end of the day to figure out if you're successful or not. Keep on top of your business and adjust your actions as you go. What are you and your team going to do if the average daily sale is falling short? What actions will you take if the transaction goal is off? How will you get an employee back on track?

So let me ask, do you plan for a successful day or not?

- Doug

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

Problem or solution?

I used to work on an executive team that invariably divided into two camps whenever there was an issue in the stores.

One group always believed that the store staff was the problem. Whether it was how they received product, used the POS, or worked with customers, this group always went immediately to "the staff is doing something wrong."

The other group almost always believed that the process was the problem. There was something wrong with the way we asked the stores to receive product, ring sales, or work with customers.

I look back now and see that we wasted way too much time and energy debating the problem, instead of focusing on the solution. I'm sure we believed that the conversation was leading us to a solution, but in reality it kept us stuck in the problem.

From time to time I see the same thing happen in companies with whom I consult. Here are a few tips to keep from spending too much time on a problem, instead of the solution.

1. Focus on facts, not feelings. Solutions come from what from what we learn and know, not what we think or feel. When you work with facts, the problem is rarely as big as it might seem when feelings and emotions get in the way.

For example, say employees are only allowed to use black pens. If 5% of your stores are using a red pen, it's probably a people problem. If personnel in 50% of your stores are using a red pen, you probably have a process problem. At the very least, the staff doesn't know or understand the expectations.

2. Get agreement on the problem. Our group used to debate different problems without even realizing what we were doing. That is, until one person would stop everyone and ask, "What problem are we trying to solve?" You'll be amazed how this simple question accelerates problem solving.

3. Get involvement from those the problem is impacting. Including frontline employees in a call or meeting brings a perspective others don't have. Using the red pen example, I might include a store from both the red and black pen groups.

4. Focus your time and conversation on the future solution. Why do you care what people or departments are to blame for the problem? The problem needs to be solved so the organization or store can move forward.

Returning to our pen example, the goal should be to have 100% of stores using black pens by May 1. What steps must the team take in order to do that? Do stores need to be told to destroy the red pens? Is it a change to the order form? Does there need to be a memo or training sent out?

5. Scale your solution to the problem. If one person, or just a handful of stores, is the problem, address that one person or handful of stores. If the majority of the staff or stores are having a problem, then provide a store or company-wide solution. But don't keep addressing or training stores who are doing things right just because another group isn't.

The above can work at all levels of the company. It’s also a great way to identify solutions to slow traffic, improve ADS, or anything else you want to move from issue or problem to solution.

So let me ask, how well are you and your team driving solutions?

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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 extraordinary results.