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> Living on the Top Line - The Book > Joe's Blog > The Need to Change
The Need to ChangeI keep pushing the idea of bringing change to furniture retailing, and I've gotten a lot head nods from clients and friends in the business. But, when I get to the details - like "change what?" things are a little more tricky. So to clarify, here's a simple list of what I think we all need do as furniture retailers:
1. Improve our customer's experiences by a factor of 10, or 100. We need to make their shopping eperiences better - more exciting and interesting from the moment they log on to your website to the moment they're greeted in your store, through the closing of the sale and final delivery.
2. Improve and enhance your customer retention programs with far better communications and more helpful, less self-serving messages. You are in the world of e-communications whether you like it or not, or know about how to use these tools. Get help and make customer retention your top priority - or someone else will get them from you, and retain them as theirs.
3.Take control of the point of contact with your customers. Don't leave your salespeople out there alone in times like this, because they deserve more support and help than they have needed in the past. Make sure you understand what kinds of experiences your customers are looking for and make this happen for them. Sales managers need to push coaching much farther down the line toward the customer than ever before. Show people how to do things with customers that your selling strategy calls for. And, take some planning time to be sure these are the right thigns to be doing.
4. Get your hands around your real sales metrics. Put in whatever systems there are to completely understand everything you can measure about your business. This is not the time to be winging it - or dealing with guesswork.
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