As consumers we have all had experiences, ALL OVER THE MAP… Terrible to sublime. I contend that for specialty retailers, it is always appropriate to strive to deliver the sublime “just WOW” experience for each and every consumer, every time. Sure it feels good when that consumer calls back or stops by with that big smile on his face to say thank you for installing such a great remote starter, pasting on some terrific tint or delivering some mind-bending hi-fi. BUT, what is most important about the smile that you put on the consumer’s face by providing the sublime “just WOW” experience is how often your consumer transfers that feeling about you to his friends and acquaintances along the way.
That kind of “word of mouth” is the most important growth tool for brick & mortar specialty retailers; and yet, of the growth tools available to most specialty retailers, it is the one which comes with the least cost and is the easiest to manage. You just gotta do it.
Please take a moment to reflect on that time as a consumer when you had an experience where you just felt like running out and telling other people how terrific you felt about your purchase and the place where you made that purchase. Next, think about the last time a consumer had such an experience in your store. The guy came back, stuck his head in the door and delivered a sincere thank you. Now review the circumstances that lead up to each of these occurrences. You might even try shutting the door, closing your eyes and really reliving the feelings you had on each of these occasions. Write the sequence of lead-up events down on a piece of paper.
Identify the events over which you had no control, the consumer hit the lottery that day… Forget ‘em. Identify the events over which you can exercise control, you qualified the consumer perfectly and learned his real reason for wanting to buy, you put forward your best effort to apply the new film cutting technique and it worked, your salesman went that small but important extra step to insure the consumer could have no objection to the purchase, whatever…
Summon up the guts to articulate these feelings that you re-experienced and the lead-up events under your control. Call an immediate (while those feelings are fresh) mandatory store meeting. Explain, with conviction the events and resulting feelings. Make sure to drive the following three points to each person in your company, regardless of their relationship with your consumers…
- 1.Every consumer, every time deserves your full efforts to deliver such a “just WOW” experience.
- 2.No person in the company is authorized to do less.
- 3.“As the owner/manager I promise to lead this endeavor by example.”
I promise… IF; you take this exercise seriously… Hold the meeting… Deliver the message… Cause the message to be received... Then lead by example… Your consumers will feel it.
At your service,
Ray Windsor Facebook: GermanMAESTRO Germany
President Twitter: raywindsorlsc
