The Expressive is the spark-plug to your crew. They are the one that adds color, excitement and fun. Is that a gay thing? No, Bob Phibbs says it is an Expressive personality thing.
Want to really standout gift stores? How about videoing your customers as they select the perfect gift in your store. Next, encourage them to video the recipient unwrapping the gift and emailing the video back to you. Then combine them to make a YouTube video for your website, email newsletter and FaceBook fan page. You will have captured the joy of finding the perfect gift and the joy of receiving the perfect gift at your store. Brilliant!
Instead of complaining about the state of the economy in general and retail in particular, go out on your sales floor and see the folly of your “customer service” program as employees text each other how bored they are.
I was on the Amtrak train from Hudson, near where I live in upstate New York bound for NYC yesterday afternoon. We’d left at 3:20 on time for a 5:55 arrival at Penn Station. At 4pm the conductor came back to Business Class and asked all of us to remove our earphones and bluetooth devices [...]
Once again I got in line behind a guy holding a shoe from the display and a lady holding two shoes. My turn finally came -I told the girl, “I want to return theses shoes for cash. ” She said, “OK” opened the drawer and handed me the money! I asked her if she was the only one working because once again it was pretty busy. She told me, “No, my manager is in the back stacking shoes!”
To change the dialogue after a missed sale, I would ask the salesperson if they think they could have done anything better. Many times, by asking this question they were able to focus on the harder work of taking responsiblity for the things they could change, not the easy way out of blame.
You want to survive in this doom & gloom economy? Get the pant stackers out of your business. Hire salespeople. Keep the Wal-Mart employees at Wal-Mart and find the salespeople for your business. It’s not easy but neither is closing your store.
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.
The setup: two well-respected economists give their facts and figures and talk about the upcoming holiday season. After twenty minutes of doom and gloom, it was the Retail Doc’s turn. Yes, there is a fire in the economy that is going to burn poor businesses but it doesn’t have to be you.
Why is it that such a rumor could devastate a major airline? People want to believe the worst. Reality shows have ramped up the hysteria about everything. Hysteria is the new calm.
