Habits and Hindrances
Cinda Baxter -- Gifts and Dec, 5/20/2011 3:00:56 AM
CINDA BAXTER is a retail expert and consultant.
Get out of the way of your own success.
Recently, a gate agent at the Minneapolis airport reminded me how stubborn habits can be. When I inquired about moving to an open seat available through my Medallion status, his response was an abrupt "No." Not a word of explanation or apology, just "No." When I asked why, aware the seat had yet to be filled (and that it could only be assigned at the gate), his answer was just as abrupt: "Because that's not how I do things."
Upon boarding the plane, I asked the flight attendant about moving to the empty seat. "Of course, Ms. Baxter - the gate agent should have taken care of this for you." No kidding.
So how does this apply to life in a retail store? Simple. So simple you may not even see it.
Welcome. Sort of...
Everyone has patterns they follow, routines that are familiar. They apply to customers, to workflow and to employees, stemming from familiarity (habit), stubbornness (hindrances), and sometimes, because we're simply too distracted or tired to think things through (brain freeze).
Sadly, one of the most common patterns out there surfaces the moment someone enters the store. "Hi Jan. I'm on the phone with a rep, let me know if you need something." Yeah. Right. Jan's going to feel about as welcome as a tax assessor, based on that brush-off greeting. But with retailers wearing half a dozen hats these days, it's not hard to see how simultaneously negotiating a mis-shipped order and playing Welcome Wagon falls into the (unfortunate) category of "multi-tasking."
Solution: Each time a customer walks in the door, regardless of whether they're new or familiar, consciously set whatever is in your hands down, look them in the eye, give them your best smile and say hello. Yes, this sounds inconvenient, but isn't a potential sale worth ten seconds of inconvenience? Heaven forbid they need more than ten seconds ... it might just result in a purchase. (Gasp!)
If you have to make that phone call, do it in the back room. There alone? Call before or after store hours. It only takes a brief moment to welcome customers with intent ... but even less time to lose them forever.
Reboot Your Brain
Yes, customers do, on occasion, push the limits. It happens to everyone, but do you and your staff respond to inconvenient customer requests?
Do you think of creative ways to accommodate them, or immediately jump to a tired script about why this isn't your policy, why it can't, or won't, be done? Are you slamming the door on your own toes?
Solution: Turn this into a back room contest for employees. Each week, post a hypothetical scenario that doesn't have an obvious or simple solution. Make it crazy; make it tough. Give them the week to ponder, then turn in their best idea about how to please the customer without "hurting" the store. When their solutions begin to approach the insane, take a breath, then open your mind up to the possibility that sometimes, insane solutions create lifelong bonds. Reward each week's winner by entering them in a quarterly drawing for something wonderful - free dinner for two at a nearby restaurant, gift certificates to a spa, a paid day off. You might be amazed at how fast creative juices begin flowing ... and how many solutions you begin finding.
Let's face reality. Before they even walk through the door, most consumers know exactly what they want and exactly what they expect, just as I did that day on the plane. As the person they step up to, you have a choice: Become a hero who makes things work, or be a small business owner who sends them to the Big Box store and to the Internet to make their purchases.
Unless you have a frequent flier program that virtually ties them to your store, well ... it's time to don the red cape and begin saving the day.
Cinda Baxter is a retail coach (Always Upward) and founder of both The 3/50 Project and RetailSpeaks.com - organizations that support independent retailers. She can be reached at get_info@alwaysupward.com.
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