Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from Retail Contrarian, the blog of the Dynamic Experiences Group.
A while back, my friend and client Donny said something quite interesting. Actually, Donny is usually saying something interesting, but this one in particular stuck with me.
In a conversation about taking the actions that make a specialty retailer successful, Donny said, "Don’t underestimate what we in the stores take for granted."
Bingo! It’s easy to forget that giving someone a bottle of water, holding the door, asking a customer her name, asking the person on the phone if we can put him on hold, carrying a purchase around the counter and presenting to the customer is something special — something they don’t get most places.
That’s because after a while those things are no longer fresh … to us. Our customers never tell us they’re bored with or don’t appreciate them. No, we take it for granted and sometimes slowly drift away from what makes us special.
So how do you keep things fresh in a store? Here are a few ideas.
1. Lead: Leaders need to keep championing the things that differentiate a store or company. If we keep reminding people why we do what we do and the impact those actions have on customers, it won’t be taken for granted. So it starts with us.
2. Aspire to improve: Keep improving what you do. Change and innovation not only helps us remain competitive, but those incremental improvements freshen up the routine tasks of retail.
3. Continually differentiate: Push your team to discover new ways to differentiate and improve your experience. Somewhere along the line, you or someone in your company came up with an interesting or unique way to improve your customer experience. You, or someone in your company, can do it again. Driving continuous innovation at all levels of the organization keeps things fresh and keeps the focus on the customer. You never know where that next great point of differentiation will come from.
So let me ask, are you keeping it fresh?
BrainTrust
Discussion Questions
How can retail teams avoid becoming dulled by the routine tasks of retail? What other conventional and unconventional steps could owners/managers consider outside those mentioned in the article to keep the job fresh?
Poll
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I think we’ve all got the same problem. We forget to pay attention to the customer. ASK her what she’d like, both product and service-wise. I suppose this is easier for the independent—there’s not such a long flag pole to run a new idea up—but a savvy large retailer will leave room for new ideas too. Ideas that come straight from the customer.
I also think you can never go wrong providing excellent customer service. Stay close on price, and always, always, always focus on the customer. If you REALLY do that, you’ll find they’re all interesting in their own way. And that will keep you engaged,
If you want to stay current, pay attention to the customer—they change all the time. Continual differentiation for its own sake isn’t always a good idea.
A conversation about continuous improvement, the encouragement to innovate, and rewards for success create an attitude of innovation that fosters attention on what can be done. Recriminations lead to fear of failure which stifles innovation. Lack of appreciation or recognition leads to complacency. Management style can make a huge difference.
High standards enforced by engaged leadership is the only way to keep customer service cues from being dropped by the associates. Many companies spend a lot of time and money creating elaborate customer service manuals that detail every engagement.
It is well documented that it’s the little things that customers remember and makes their experience memorable in a good way. The trouble is once they’re introduced, usually with great fanfare, they are placed on top of a bookshelf or filing cabinet and collect dust.
It takes time and effort to do the little things that customers remember and bring them back over and over. If they are not trained, coached, and enforced on a regular basis by management, associates will not comply. And why should they? If management can’t be bothered, why should they?
Sometimes, as industry experts, we make things more complicated than need be. Innovating ideas that will keep customers happy and loyal begins with taking off our “expert” hat and putting on our “customer” hat. After all, we are retail customers, too.
What would make our shopping journey easier? What would make it more enjoyable? What would make it faster? What would make it more affordable? The answers to those questions will be different for everyone, but knowing what questions to ask is an important first step and a step that, as customers ourselves, we are well-positioned to identify. From there, it’s about talking…really talking…to our customers and asking them those very same questions. The customer must be at the center of everything we do!
Listen. Listen to customers on an ongoing basis and make sure to be attentive to their needs. Change and innovate based on what they tell you. Listen to your employees when they make suggestions—not all of them will be gold but one just might! And never forget that every experience with a customer just might be the first (or last) experience you have with them, so make it count!
Doug describes a strategy that will keep retailers in touch with their own ability to maintain a great relationship with customers. The next step for those who wish to follow Doug’s strategic guidance is to fill in the tactics.
Doug tells us to lead, aspire to improve and continually differentiate. How we do that, i.e. the tactics, has to be customized to fit the retailer. Each month retailers with their staff should examine how those tactics are working. In that discussion they modify or set the next goals. The effort will never be routine. More importantly, the opportunity to stay the course and increase effectiveness will bring fresh and successful results.
Whatever our daily jobs, it’s often hard to keep it fresh. In retail, there is often a focus on doing things by the book versus going the extra mile.
Just today, I was in a 7-Eleven and an employee actually cut in front of me to get a fountain soda, so I waited in line behind her while she went through the process. Where were the rest of the staff? Behind the counter, with all their attention on another green employee who was having register issues. Granted, it was 7-Eleven, so I don’t expect high service levels, but managers need to take a look around and watch how their employees act and not just train them by the book.
Like some comments have eluded to, why not just encourage shopper engagement? You get so many insights from shoppers that they can actually be the catalysts for innovation. Do you run a food store? How about holding cooking classes on the sales floor? Do you run an apparel store? Why not hold ad hoc fashion shows on the sales floor? All it takes is some imagination, and ideas from your shoppers.
There are a lot of excellent, hifalutin’, kumbaya theories expressed here to help store employees (including executives) maintain some freshness in their responsibilities. (And while the customer is always the main focus, some of the comments strayed over into keeping customer service fresh rather than keeping store folks fresh.)
Here’s a hard-edged, real method for keeping employees fresh that I’ve seen actually work: Cross training. In both office jobs and store-level jobs, I’ve witnessed superb success with programs that immerse employees in jobs outside their main responsibilities. In supermarkets, on a predetermined schedule, have the ad manager put on the meat buyer’s hat as a temporary “intern.” In the store, schedule a bakery clerk for duty in the produce depart for a short period of time. Allow store-level deli clerks to train in the deli manager’s office at headquarters for a week or so. In other retail channels, cross-train clerks with buyers and vice versa. Cross training works to keep retail careers fresh.
While there are the routine tasks of retail, as you call them, there are many not so routine opportunities, and they all lie with the customer. Hire the right type of people who like engaging with other people and the interactions the employees have with customers will keep the job from being mundane. Employees should interact, engage, help, support, communicate and ultimately sell. And if they do all but the last (sell), the customer will probably want to buy anyway. There is nothing routine about dealing with customers.
I think this has a lot to do with management style. One of the things that can be done is to create a task force within each store who would be responsible for carrying out/doing something differently for the customer. Carry this out for a month and then do something else. I believe this needs a lot of experimentation as well as a “project approach” towards innovation to keep it going.