What's happening at your front door?

Home

Click Here to Register
for Blog Alerts and
Discussion Forum

When a shopper enters your store there is a flashing moment of truth that will affect the outcome of the visit. All of the immediate visual stimuli are part of it to be sure, but the real affect that will matter most is the energy emmanating from you people. That's right - the energy or lack of it can be felt by people just as well as the visual and other sensory inputs they process in those first few seconds. Don't think that there aren't consequences to bad energy. There are also consequences to good energy, and these consequences floow from your people to your customers.

Some people call this Karma, but whatever it is, it's real. What are you doing to keep positive energy flowing outward from your people to your customers? There's a vibrant discussion going on among furniture peole on LinkedIn regarding what retailers should be doing in this recession. After a lot of thought, I agree with those people who say that taking care of your people is your primary area of concentration, and taking care of your customers is next - not first.

In any one-to-one selling culture where every dollar of revenue passes through a salesperson, those salespeople are everything to you. Salespeople are firmly rooted in the "customer" business. Managers and owners have to be firmly rooted in the "salesperson" business.

So, my message is that the purpose of all the many fiscal, financial, marketing, and merchandising actions you're taking should be to provide your salespeople, your point of contact with your customers, a positive, supportive, and inspiring foundation from which to greet the next customer.

Focus on messages in advertising that draw customers in for more than just your new low price. Focus also on how they can live better, less stressful lives as the result of buying from your store. Train, train, train your people to make sure they have all the customer engagement tools they need to touch people in the right ways. Training in these tough times puts emphasis on your people, and they will respond by maintaining a high level of energy - provided you coach in the game.

Put your sales manager on the floor - or go there yourself. Interact with as many shoppers as you can, put back the high energy you had in the best of times by acting and interacting the way you want your people to do it. Lead by example.