With all the demands of retail including longer hours, employees calling in sick or quitting, returns, etc it is easy to throw up your hands and become the Grinch. This year, if you let that comfortable old “grinchy” feeling in, you are especially likely to have, as the media loves to tell it, “The Worst [...]
Does all of this sound too familiar? It should – its an easy story to tell every year at this time of the year. That won’t stop any number of news sources from touting the “aggressive discounts needed to lure customers this holiday season.”
Is it all just people looking for opportunity? And if so, is there a greater need? I think so. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in capitalism but we’re being yanked here folks. If you have a practice of looking the other way when it comes to salespeople discounting, here’s my advice: High volume didn’t cover a wealth of sins in the 80’s and it doesn’t in 2008.
Then came 9/11 – thank goodness we didn’t have plasmas. People came to the coffeehouse to talk, share and connect, not be frightened further in 20-minute cycles. It is up to you, the retailer to lift our spirits. Americans don’t need much encouragement; we just need less Red Bull and more Prozac from everyone.
As a retailer, once you market to the people who know you, do you try to understand why others don’t shop with you? Perhaps you should. Maybe it is the way your store is arranged – it doesn’t seem welcoming. Maybe your employees give an off-putting air to shoppers. Maybe your product offerings are seen as lacking or inferior. You won’t know until you try to engage them. And once you do, you might find some easy ways to address their needs that results in higher sales.
It’s like 50% off was the new 20% off. At that point, why don’t you just say, “Can you get this crap out of here for us?”
Did you see the Dodge truck sale on TV during September? 40% off. They will never be able to establish value of $35,000 when we’ve seen them all go down to $20,000.
Don’t stoop to the level of pettiness like the RNC now or like Radio Shack did two years ago when they fired people by email. Or the big box who called their senior managers into a conference room telling them a few people would be let go by receiving a text during the meeting.
If you are the boss, it is up to you to continually connect with your employees first as a person, and then as an employee. That means respecting their abilities and going out of your way to encourage dialogue without shutting them down. While a boss can do the job of two people, they can’t BE two people. You need conflicting ideas to be able to find new ways of doing things.
Regulars will look past the dirt, the pieces of leftover Valentine’s decorations, yellowing tape on the windows, broken or cracked counters, etc. and wait for your employee to wait on them. But new customers will take notice. After all, they were attracted by something – your clever ads, your mailers, your sponsorship of the local charity, etc.
(This post is not meant to pick on any one candidate or party but illustrate a business point.) They are already talking about an Obama victory and outlining his strategy: Obama kept one message. His team met each day to brainstorm how else they could drive home the message “the change we need.” McCain [...]
