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Retailing thoughts as you watch television and experience life

There are lessons about business everywhere

Like many retailers, this life-long retailer experienced a difficulty in not only getting away from the store, but getting the store out of my thoughts when I was away from the store.

There have been many times when I am somewhere with my wife that she sees me looking around and deep in thought. Her comment is always something to the effect of, “You can’t turn it off, can you?”

While my answer could be a simple, “no”, it is instead my commentary about what I am seeing and the lesson I am learning from the observation or experience that could be applicable to a store. Uniquely, this writer has found that the best ideas for a retailer come from another retailer whose product offering is entirely different!

The same could be said when you observe a service business. As an example, when you visit the dentist or doctor, they make a point to schedule you for the next visit. You can tell they have a lot of business booked when they respond with only a couple of available times some six months from the day you are in their office.

What about a shop that sells sewing machines and a customer brings in a machine for service. Do you recommend an annual servicing for sewing machines? Then, learning from the doctor and dentist, what if you were to schedule the annual servicing for next year when the customer is picking up the machine? A follow-up postcard reminder could help prevent the customer taking their business elsewhere.

Watching western movies, I frequently see a scene with someone sitting on a porch. The “good guy”, always wearing the white hat, rides up and asks if the person on the porch has seen the strangers riding buy.  The response is, “they went that away.”

So, how many times have you walked into a store and asked an employee where a particular item is? They either tell you the aisle number or point to the appropriate direction; much like the person on the porch in the western movie.

The benefit of taking customers to an item instead of pointing? When you take them to the item and put the item in their hand, the chances of your making the sale increase by 15%. And while you are at it, if you say, “Is one OK or would two be better?”, you can see a similar increase in the chances of making the additional sale.

When I was a kid, I would sit by the television on a Saturday afternoon and watch wrestling. It was always a good guy versus a bad guy. The story line seemed repetitive. The bad guy is winning, and it is looking not so well for the good guy.

However, at some point, the good guy is able to summon up the strength and bounces the bad guy into the ropes. The bad guy bounces toward the good guy and with one quick punch the bad guy goes down. As the crowd cheers, the good guy repeats the process. And after the second round of cheering the good guy goes for a third try.

However, the bad guy figures it out and traps the good guy. The bottom line is the bad guy wins the match and we come back for next week.

The lesson I learned from this relates to sales and inventory. Too often retailers want to make sure they never miss a sale. They have an initial order and then reorder. Sometimes they over order. Either case can often lead to a clearance sale. What happens to the overall profit margin with a clearance sale? How long will it take you to get rid of that excess inventory when you reorder or order too much?

The more a store tries to have everything for everybody, the lower the inventory turn rate will be. And a lower inventory turn rate means less profit. It is OK to say to a customer, “I am sorry, but we are sold out for the season.”

The television show, “Cheers” has a good example. One of the lines in the opening theme song is, “Where everybody knows your name.” It prompts me to think about stores with rewards or loyalty programs. A store gets various bits of personal information but does little with it. Why is the store marketing to everyone in the same manner? Your store may be in various social media components, but why is the person in the loyalty program finding out about your store in the same way that the general public is?
When Internet retail first started, there was a toys.com (not the current version of toys.com which is Toys R Us) that was trying to do with toys what Amazon was doing with books; they failed. When the assets of the company were sold off, it was the contact information of customers that garnered the most money. Not the domain name or inventory, but just to know the names and contact information of customers!  
 
I think there is something to be learned from this. The average person in your community does not spend any money with your store. Those that do, and have become members of your loyalty program deserve more than just a discount on their next purchase.

I received an email one day from a person whose email was, Susiesellsinsurance@xxxx.com. It is easy to see what it is that Susie thinks she does for a living. But no one wants to buy insurance; what you want to buy is what insurance does for you. It gives you peace of mind and security in knowing that you and your family are safe from life’s unexpected challenges.

With life insurance, you are making sure there is money for someone after you are gone. But Susie thinks she is selling insurance; you want to buy security and peace of mind. The same is true with your store. You may see merchandise and supplies. The customer sees a quilt that will be beautiful, comfortable and warm. The quilt will be something the next generation is going to appreciate and enjoy. In our home, there is a story that goes with each quilt.

And when someone notices a quilt and comments about it being beautiful, we have an opportunity to tell the story of the quilt. That is what customers are buying, or are you still selling fabric, thread, needles, and other quilting supplies?

A last lesson learned from television comes from the commercial with Smokey the bear. Smokey’s closing statement is always, “Remember, only you can prevent forest fires.”

In a recent experience, the owner has told me something will be ready for me by 4pm on a Thursday afternoon. I have low expectations that this is going to go as planned because I have observed this owner for several years. Their office is a mess, and they spend more time trying to find various things. I am not the only one who is disappointed with missed deadlines; even the employees are having to wait for unmet deadlines.

In this recent experience, my wife was with me. As we left she commented that this business owner was always putting out fires. “Only you can put out forest fires,” was her comment as we left.


Perhaps she is joining the ranks of those who find retailing examples in many aspects of life.

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This article is copyrighted by Tom Shay and Profits Plus Solutions, who can be reached at: PO Box 128, Dardanelle, AR. 72834. Phone 727-823-7205. It may be printed for an individual to read, but not duplicated or distributed without expressed written consent of the copyright owner.