Easy tips to make your store window memorable!

By guest blogger, Linda Cahan

People notice window displays. Very simply, they are a form of street art and entertainment. When a person walks or drives by a store and the windows are bright and graphic, their heads will swivel, and they’ll pay attention. Whether they stop and shop at that moment depends on many variables. If they notice your windows, they will remember your store when they have the time, money, inclination or need to shop for what you’re selling. If your windows change (at least - monthly), they will continue to look your way to see what’s new. They will come to see your store as a part of their daily lives. The more often you change your windows, the more often people will look in your direction and note your existence. Once your store is part of their routine, they will shop you when the need or desire arrives.

Window display is a very immediate form of advertising and exists to inspire people to come in and buy.

So, what are your windows saying?

Who are trying to attract?

If you say everyone, your immense challenge is to create windows that appeal to all socio-economic groups. A woman who will buy a Chanel suit may not be inspired by windows that are designed to attract people interested in a $89.95 suit unless she wants to go incognito. Depending upon your neighborhood and surrounding area, you should know what vendors and merchandise mix will work for your customer base. Trying to attract people who will never be interested in your selection, price point or style is a waste of time. Know your customers and gear your windows to attract them.

More stuff = less Money.

The more you jam into a window, the less expensive the merchandise looks. The perception is that lots of merchandise equals low prices. While getting a lot into a window may make sense to you, if your price points are higher, you’ll potentially turn off the people who can afford your lines. Of course, if you’re a discount store, a busy window may work well for you.

If your prices are at full retail, your windows should reflect those price points. If you display more expensive things, just a few pieces in the window will tell people that this selection is upscale and exclusive. Space = Cost. At another time you may want to show a great line of matching pieces all under $100. Then, you can put a more extensive grouping in the window.

Ella Ross, San Francisco. Bright paper flowers draw the eyes of passersby on Filmore Street.
The flowers are above the parked cars so people can see them from across the street as well.

Color sells!

The three things people notice most in a window (or interior) display are color, angles and movement. Colors that people notice from the street tend to be warm: reds, pinks, yellows, oranges and lime green. Colors that make people feel relaxed are those that recede: browns, tan, beige, gray, blues, soft or dark greens and darker shades of purple.

If you have a dark see-through into your store (when you look at your store from the street the interior looks almost black) – you need large graphic pieces in light and bright colors to attract attention. If your see-through is bright and light, you can get away with darker or more recessive colors in the windows. Black merchandise in a dark window is invisible.

When you pull together merchandise for a window display your priority is to find pieces that work together color-wise. I consulted for a clothing shop that I thought, based on their windows, was a consignment shop. It was full-priced, nice women’s clothing but nothing in the window worked together. There were mannequins with heads, headless and some with arms, some without plus old dressmaker forms. The clothing was whatever came in that week and nothing matched. I suggested she just use matching forms/mannequins in the window and use an odd number – three or five. Odd numbers are more interesting than even ones. Then, I told her to only use clothing in the window that makes sense together. Ideally, a customer should be able to mix and match pieces to create several looks from what is seen in the window.

Use angles to create movement.

Angles lead the eye from place to place. Our eyes move quickly down an angle and angles makes a window display look and feel more exciting. Whenever you use angles, make sure the primary angle leads the customer to your front door – not away from it!

Too many angles can cause visual confusion. A large triangular form made up of props, forms and merchandise in a window generally looks great, creates angles and a focal area without looking disorganized.

Repetitive images are memorable.

Our minds are a little like computers, we can take in just so much information before we have to stop and process what we’ve seen. The simple geometry of lining up similar or the same pieces of merchandise is (almost) always effective.

Imagine five mannequins or forms lined up, spaced equally apart in the window. They are wearing pieces that work together to form a color story. Over the heads of each form is a paper umbrella. The last mannequin or form has the umbrella in a different position – perhaps popping out of a tote bag. When everything is lined up and matching there has to be an element of surprise to keep people interested.

Make it easy to do great displays.

Hang a grid in your window perpendicular to the floor. Have it installed professionally so you can hang from it almost anything. Once your grid is installed you can start getting creative and have some fun with props. Grid is available from many display companies. Check out a display/fixture company in your area.

Light it up!

Lighting makes all the difference between an effective window and one that’s virtually ignored. I know it’s expensive to install lighting, but the cost is well worth the results. Consider it part of your advertising budget.

For window lighting to be most effective, it has to be mounted on the window wall – not on the ceiling. The purpose is to light up the front of the merchandise, not the top. It can always be done. You may need to suspend it from the ceiling on a track and use window film applied to the inside window in a long, 8” stripe to hide it from the street. You may need to attach it to the metal mullions on the sides of the windows or put the lights on the window floor (least favorite alternative). But, whatever you do, add lights!! Make sure they are commercial grade rather than some cheap ones from Home Depot or Lowes.

Pick a theme and stick with it.

Once you decide on your window theme, don’t stick new arrivals in the window. If you have new arrivals that you are excited about, either create a new arrivals area in the front of the store in a prime focal area or, do a new window display. Don’t pollute your existing display.

Tilde, Portland, OR. Simple but super sweet! Polar bears are cut out from foamcore and placed on a foamcore buildup. The merchandise at Tilde is small gifts, accessories and jewelry. The windows are huge. Their use of large visuals attracts attention and then the smaller items get noticed and appreciated.

Plan, purchase and present with purpose and style.

Figure out in advance what you want to do every 2 weeks to 1.5 months in your windows. Think about the time of year, what’s happening in your advertising, holidays and what’s coming in from vendors. Plan your props accordingly. Leave enough time to do a window from start to finish in one day. If you don’t have the time – and most store owners don’t – hire someone who has the talent, interest, skill and perseverance to do a great job.

Your windows are your on-street advertising. They are your image and represent your brand. They tell people whether they belong in your store or not.

Give them the attention they deserve, and you will be rewarded with old and new customers inspired to come in to see and buy.

Linda Cahan

Linda Cahan of Cahan & Company, West Linn, OR is an internationally recognized expert in visual merchandising and store design. She helps stores look better to sell more. Linda has consulted and worked with independent and corporate retailers since 1972. Along with consulting, Linda gives seminars and workshops, trains retailers and writes for several retail magazines. Author of "Feng Shui for Retailers" and "100 Displays Under $100." Lindacahan.com, lindacahan@gmail.com

CASE STUDIES
How properly analyzing metrics helped improve business

New client vs. repeat clients
A beauty salon client did not track their new vs. existing clients or client retention KPI. Once they began tracking and analyzing their numbers, it was clear they were getting plenty of new clients, they just weren’t retaining them. By understanding they had a client retention issue, we were able to implement a two-fold strategy that included customer service training for the stylists to insure greater satisfaction as well as a new customer welcome program that offered new clients discounts for pre-booking their next appointment.

Sales by employee
One clothing store’s sales had been steadily declining over a year’s time. The owner was frequently absent and left the store in the hands of her manager who was also the primary salesperson. In researching the sales decline, she pulled the sales-by-employee report.  Her manager’s sales had gone down 47 percent year-over-year! Frighteningly, the owner didn’t know this. Clearly the manager had become complacent and lost interest. The owner was able to fix the situation by better motivating and training her manager, giving her goals and incentives to sell more and keeping a closer eye on her. The manager’s sales rose 25 percent in just 90 days.  

Sales by category
A pancake house offered an extensive breakfast menu. They knew that pancakes were, by far, their most profitable item; meats generated the least profit. They had never pulled an itemized sales report and upon doing so, made an amazing discovery. Guess what they sold least? Pancakes! The most? Meats! That made it easy for us to create pancake-focused promotions and samplings. We also raised prices on sides of bacon, sausage and ham to keep in line with escalating costs. In no time at all, pancake sales were soaring – as was net profitability.

A clothing store’s sales declined by over 40 percent. The owner had never pulled a sales- by- category report and when she did, it revealed most of the decline was in sales of dresses.  It was like a lightning bolt hit! She had dropped two dress lines the previous quarter and never checked to see how that impacted her sales.

Sales by time of day and day of week
A pizza restaurant was offering a daily lunch discount on weekdays. Upon analyzing the numbers, we found that Thursday and Friday lunches were triple the volume of Monday through Wednesday. There was no need to offer the discount on those days. By eliminating discounts on Thursday and Friday, sales stayed the same but the owner realized increased profitability.

A clothing store, upon tracking sales by time of day, realized the restaurant next door was throwing off great after-dinner traffic. They began opening later to avoid labor costs during virtually non-productive morning hours and staying open later to benefit from restaurant traffic. Sales, of course, went up.

By knowing exactly what and when you’re selling – or not selling – you can create strategies to improve business during non-peak times, know when to run promotions and when to schedule employees – resulting in better service, better profitability and potentially decreased labor costs.

Until next time remember,
You can do this!

Three ways to measure employee performance

Retail sales is just that, sales! Your employees aren’t paid to simply check people out or stock the shelves. Their job is to sell! Same for restaurant servers. So, it’s important to monitor their sales performance.

There’s a bit of controversy about measuring sales by employee. How to you fairly track part time vs. full time and compare with those who work prime shifts vs. off peak times? The point is to benchmark each employee and monitor performance on a regular basis, even if you’re only comparing against themselves.

There are 3 ways to do this effectively. Use the method that best works for your business.

Sales by employee
Average sale by employee
Sales by employee per hour

Start by tracking total sales per employee. Look for dips and peaks in performance and by month-to-month comparisons. But to really drill deep and have an effective comparison, track the following.

Average sale by employee
To calculate, simply divide the total sales for an employee by the total number of transactions. So, for example, if John sold $4000 in merchandise for the week with a total number of transactions of 150, his average sale would be $26.26. We’ll put this into context in a bit.

Sales by hour
Just divide the total number of sales by the total numbers of hours worked. Using $4000 per week in sales and divided by 40 hours, the sales per hour are $100.

So, let’s look at how this might help in a business. Let’s say there are 3 employees, A full time manager and 2-part timers and here are their weekly sales analysis.

Weekly                                 Manager              Part timer # 1     Part timer #2
Total Sales                          $4,000                   $2,500                   $1,000
Average sale                      $26.66                   $16.66                   $12.50
Avg. sales per hour          $100                       $125                       $66.66

Here’s what we learned from this analysis.
Part timer #1, who works 20 hours per week, had a higher average sale per hour than the manager, although at $16.66, his average sale was substantially lower than the manager’s $26.66. These figures tell us that part-timer #1 is most likely an attentive salesperson but not as good as the manager at upselling. With some training, we can help him increase his average sale.

It’s not unusual that a manager’s sales metrics is not as high as a good salesperson working prime shifts because often, managers are distracted by administrative or other management tasks.

Finally, let’s talk about Part timer # 2’s stats. She works on Saturday and Sunday, one peak and one-off peak day. Nonetheless her sales do not stack up to her colleague’s and she needs training to improve these numbers or be replaced.

No matter which benchmark you use the important thing to remember is to track and monitor so you can see if someone’s performance is improving, staying the same or declining. If there isn’t regular improvement, you’ll want to intervene with additional training or, if warranted, replacement.

Until next time remember,
You can do this!

8 ways to romance your customers on Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day can be a gold mine for retail and restaurants.  While traditional fine dining and romantic gifts still rank high, there are opportunities to generate sales for every type of business.  Plan now to get your fair share.

1.  Valentine’s Day bonus or contest
Put together a bundle of products or services with your shopping center neighbors. It could be dinner, movie tickets, a massage and flowers. You can all offer the same bundle at a discount or create a lead generating contest and award the package to one lucky winner.

2.  Love yourself
Eleven percent of Valentine’s consumers are showing love by buying something special for themselves. Market directly to this segment with a “show yourself some love” promotion that encourages them to gift themselves this Valentine’s.

3.  Show your customers  love and appreciation
Valentine’s Day is a great time to express your love and appreciation for your customers. Consider a special party or discount for VIP customers. Perhaps a free drink or champagne toast during Valentine’s week – no strings attached.  Or a box of candy as a gift with purchase.

4.  Galentine’s Day

The official date of this unofficial holiday is February 13th and the intent is for women to celebrate their female friendships. Every type of business can host a Galentine’s day party! Group makeovers at a salons, cooking classes at restaurants, girls workout event or even a “how-to” event at a craft store. Encourage women to bring their friends and provide special touches they can enjoy. Be sure to stock up on the rose’

5.  Just say no
For as many people who love Valentine’s Day, there’s a group that pretty much hates the holiday and everything it stands for. Have fun with this market segment by hosting an anti-Valentine’s party could include everything from black balloons, a free viewing of the movie Love Stinks and cookies with anti-love sentiments written on them. Restaurants can offer a “fries before guys” special along with a signature Stupid Cupid cocktail. While this may seem a little dour, it can be great fun and will be appreciated by many.

6.  Pets
No matter what a person’s relationship status, their love of pets is a constant and powerful force in life. People do buy their pets presents on Valentine’s

On Valentine's Day, those ages 25 to 34 are expected to spend $12.70 each on pet presents! Just because you don’t own a pet store doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the benefits of pet love. Host a “love your pet” event that can include anything from a photo station for people/pet photos, a pet adoption event or even a pet/owner look alike contest.  Consider giving a portion of all proceeds raised during the event to a pet adoption organization as an added attraction.

7.  Social Media

Invite your social media followers to post their love stories or a photo of them and their significant others. The post with the most likes wins a romantic prize.

8.  Think red
February is also Heart Health Month and offers a great tie-in for Valentine’s.  You can do something as simple as offering a donation to the American Heart Association for everyone who wears red to your business on a certain day or posts of photo of themselves in red on your social media with a specific hash tag. It’s an easy way to get people engaged and make a contribution to the awareness of heart health.

Whichever promotion you choose, be sure to promote in-store, via email and social media and on your website. Decorate your store or restaurant and provide those extra décor touches that express your intention to show the love!

Until next time remember,
You can do this!

The four B’s of Social Media

Be Authentic
Let your personality shine on social media. If you’re quick witted or clever, caring and nurturing, a born teacher or a social activist, use that personality to engage your social media audience.

Be Present
Post on a consistent schedule. You can’t be in one day and out the next. Your fans and followers need to know you’re as committed to the platform as they are. You also need to be responsive. Thank new followers. Ask them questions. Reward their dedication.

Be Prepared: The Potential Backlash

People are free to post whatever they like.  Usually it’s a question, a comment or a compliment. Sometimes, it’s not so nice. A disgruntled customer can really set your universe on its ear – even if the negative comments are unfounded. Understand that at some point, this is going to happen to you and it won’t be fun.

Have a policy prepared as to how you are going to handle this type of disruption. Address the problem quickly – and publicly – online. If the customer still isn’t satisfied, try to take the conversation off line via private messaging, phone or email. The objective isn’t to be right; it’s to let your followers know you’re aware of the issue. If the vitriol spreads and encourages multiple negative comments, you need to examine the legitimacy of the problem, resolve it on your end and make a public announcement as to how you solved it. Act quickly and decisively. 

Be Creative

Consider your social media posting as entertainment, it’s not all about selling. Delight your fans and followers with interesting posts and photos that make them think, make them feel good, make them laugh or teach them something new.  Solicit their opinion. By doing this, you make them appreciate your brand even more.

Until next time remember,
You can do this!

4 Questions for Business Clarity

What do you really want from your business?

To feed your family?
Leave a legacy?
Start an empire?
Work less?

According to Bloomberg, eight of our 10 businesses fail within the first 18 months. In retail, there’s a 53 percent failure rate in 4 years. For restaurants the failure rate is even more unforgiving.

So whether you’re in the middle of writing your very first businesses plan or celebrating your 20th business anniversary, take a step back to get crystal clear. Because clarity is the power play. It provides the framework for decision making. It takes the stress out of your daily operations. In short, clarity = confidence.

Start your journey to clarity by answering these four questions. Jot the answers on a sticky pad and keep it where you can see the answers daily.

1.   What makes your business unique, different or special?

I was watching Fleabag on Amazon Video and heard a phrase that resonated with me. The main character was describing her old boyfriend as a person of insidious, overwhelming mediocrity. It made me laugh but it really hit home because so many of the businesses I visit are at best, boring. And boring is a one-way ticket to bankruptcy these days.

If there are stores or restaurants similar to yours in the immediate area, how can you possibly differentiate yourself to potential customers? Do you see the same clothes as a boutique down the street? Are you serving the same burgers as five other restaurants in your area? Can a customer get your products cheaper online or at Costco?

Whether it’s your product selection, level of service, pricing or delivery channel, how do you differentiate your store or restaurant from the rest of the pack?

2   Who is your target audience? Be very specific.

A successful concept starts by filling a need or void for a very specific targeted audience. To put it another way, it’s not about what you want, it’s about the customer you serve. And the wider the net you cast, the more generic your concept and the bigger the opportunity for failure.

A concept looks something like this: My business solves (this problem) for (these people) by (doing this).
By completing this concept statement, you should be able to better define your target audience.

3. What is the life you’d like to lead as a business owner?

I love this question because it’s not one we often take the time to ask ourselves.  I know for a fact the most retailers are definitely not living the life they want. They feel tired, unappreciated and underpaid – and often scared. It really isn’t good for the soul or the wallet!

So what does a better life look like? Working less? Expansion? Saving for retirement? Flexible hours and duties? What do you want?

4.  What do you need to know more about to make that life happen?

This is a biggie and I’ll tell you why. So many owners I work with seem to put a hard stop on learning once they’re up and running. They open the doors of their store but shut them on learning new things.  You have to keep up with new ideas, methods, opportunities. New competition. New technology.  The world is turning fast and you need to, at minimum, stay with flow, get ahead of it or find your own detour that works. Digging your heels in the sands of the past will find you with an unfavorable balance sheet very quickly.

It you’d like a copy of the 4 Questions for Business Clarity Worksheet, click here.

One of the most powerful and effective management tools is the debrief. It is an important way to end a particular program or sales cycle by analyzing performance and brainstorming opportunities to improve.

As you end the Christmas sales season, this is the perfect time to debrief about while it’s still fresh in your mind. In the future, you may want to schedule debrief sessions monthly or as often as once a week, depending on the type of business you run.

Gather your staff together for an undisturbed hour or so and review the different aspects of your business over the holiday season, i.e. customer service, product mix, customer satisfaction, sales goals, marketing effectiveness, etc.

Ask the basic questions about each area:

What did we do right?
What could we have done better?

In the debrief process, there is no “wrong.” The key is for everyone feel safe enough to be honest about their perspectives and learn from the experience.

Here are some of the questions for discussion:

Did we meet our goal If so, what elements of our plan helped us get there? If not, what prevented us from hitting those numbers?

Was our marketing effective? Did we see an increase in customers, sales, foot traffic, average sale?

Did we properly track and monitor these efforts? Which programs worked best?  Whichever programs we decide to keep, how will we modify and or improve them next year? Are there any new programs we to add to the mix next year?

Did we have the right product? The right price? Did customers seem put off by any particular items or category of items? Suggestions for purchasing next year? What do we need more of? Less?

Did everyone meet their sales goals? For those who did, what do you think were the reasons behind that achievement? For those who didn’t, what obstacles prevented you from reaching the goal? What can we do to better train or help the staff to meet and exceed goals in 2020?

The purpose of the debrief is not punitive. It is to get honest input, to gather information from everyone’s perspective to help you make better/improved decisions next year.

The key to a successful debrief is for everyone to get as specific as possible with their feedback. They can’t just say “We didn’t reach our goal because there wasn’t enough traffic.” If they think there wasn’t enough traffic, encourage everyone to dig deeper. For example, did our marketing efforts drive traffic? If not, what could we do better? Was our conversion rate up?  If average sale was down, is that an opportunity to adjust your pricing strategy.

Be sure to write everything down in detail so you can revisit the suggestions as you plan for 2020.

Commit to the debrief process to gain feedback that will improve performance not just next holiday season but year round.

Until next time remember,
You can do this!

Angel

5 ideas to make Small Business Saturday your day!

Locally owned businesses are hot! Thanks to a decade of shop small messages, consumers are better understanding the positive impact shopping small can have on their community.  

You can capitalize on the momentum by actively participating in Small Business Saturday. 

According to the 2018 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, produced by American Express and NFIB, 104 million shoppers spent a record high of $17.8 billion on Small Business Saturday last year. But there’s an even more important reason than one days sales for making this “holiday” your own. According to a survey by Reliant Funding, a staggering 83 percent of customers say that Small Business Saturday encourages them to support a local business year-round.

So if you’re a locally owned retail or restaurant, stay out of the Black Friday fray and go all in on November 30th on the holiday designed just for you!

1.  Start here
Go to the American Express website to claim your free collateral and business listing. https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/shop-small/studio?intlink=us-mer-sbrc-sbs-studio

2.  Create special offers designed to bring customer in – and return.
Deep discounts aren’t always in the best interest of small businesses so create innovative opportunities designed to get customers in for the event AND bring them back again on a later date.

• For every $100 you spend get a $20 gift certificate to use later.

• Triple rewards points to your loyalty members (and anyone who signs on)
  on Small Business Saturday.

• Restaurant -purchase a meal and receive a gift certificate for use on your next visit.

• Salon/spa - Pre-book your December appointment and get a free blowout or mini massage in January.

• A free gift with purchase.

• Make a charitable donation for every purchase

• Free service with purchase (for example, if a customers buys $250 in
  clothing, they can make an appointment to come back in for a free styling session.

If you do want to discount, think about limiting sales to certain items or category or items or certain day parts. Remember, you don’t have to put your entire store on sale or compete with Walmart to be successful. Create offers that resonate with your customers and make your store stand out!

3.  Make it a special day

Make Small Business Saturday and festive and fun experience. Offer hourly raffles or deals, entertainment, and refreshments. Hide a toy or small gifts inside your store for visitors to find. Show off your personality and your store far beyond the price tags.

4.  Promote

Promote big and promote often!  Post your event on your website, send multiple emails to your database and post on social media. Change your Facebook header to a Small Business Saturday message. Create a Facebook event so people can show interest. Use plenty of in-store signage. Let people know your store or restaurant is THE place to be on Small Business Saturday.

And most importantly, deliver your personal backstory. Let people know more about you, your commitment to the community and why you love what you do. It helps customers feel good about buying from you.

5.  Collaborate and co-promote
If your center has a number of locally-owned businesses, pull them together to make a bigger impact by cross-promoting the entire group of small businesses ready, willing and able to service customers on Small Business Saturday.

November 30th is your opportunity to bring your small business front and center as an important part of the community and one people can feel good about patronizing!

Until next time, remember…
You can do this!

Angel

How to get your staff into the spirit of selling more this holiday!

Looking for ways to get your staff pumped this holiday season?  I know one surefire way to light a fire under them….and that’s pay them!

Even if money is tight, there are ways to incentivize your staff to sell more without it being a drain on cashflow or margins.

Even if you don’t ordinarily have a bonus program, there’s no reason not to implement one this holiday season.

Most retailers earn 20-30 percent- or more- of their annual revenue during the holidays.  This is the time of year you want to maximize every single sales opportunity! And incentives are a great way to motivate staff.

Here are some DO’S and DONT’S for setting up a successful bonus program.

DO
Understand what motivates your staff. What makes them drool? Depending on their age and tenure, it might be time off or perks like gifts or gift certificates. It doesn’t always have to be money.  

DON’T
Just offer a reward on a blanket sales goal.  A bonus program needs to work on both sides. That means your employees get incentivized for meeting their goals – and yours!

Let’s say for example, last year your sales were $100,000 during the holiday season and your goal is to increase that number by 20 percent this year to $120k. Your staff incentives would be based on achieving or exceeding this year’s goal. That way any additional commission or bonus you’re awarding is coming out of new revenue.

DO
Consider segmenting. Let’s say you’d like to grow sales for a new line or service. Perhaps you’d like to increase average sale. You can create a bonus program around any specific segment of business or goal you’d like!

DO
Tier the bonus structure. Add an even more delicious opportunity for your staff after they’ve hit the goal. Using the example above with a goal of $120k, add an additional incentive if you reach $130k. In sales, we call that a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal.) You’d be amazed at the enthusiasm you can generate around a big, fat opportunity.

DO
Train. Train. Train.
Just implementing a program isn’t enough. You need to host regular training to you’re your staff achieve their goals.

DON’T
Be afraid to instill a little competition among your staff. Most owners I work with are afraid that competition is divisive but it can create a ton of energy and ultimately, great results!

DO
Make sure your goals are reasonable and achievable. Goals should be a stretch but not so stratospheric that they can’t possibly be met. If your goals are excessive, it will have the opposite effect of motivating your staff…it will discourage them.

Good luck in putting together your bonus program! If you have any questions, email me at success@angelcicerone.com

Until next time remember,
You can do this!
Angel

Is BOPIS right for your store?

Buy Online Pick Up In Store, also known as Click- to- Collect, is gaining traction with consumers and it’s easy to figure out why. They can purchase their desired products online 24/7 and be assured it will be at the store when they get there. It saves time, shipping costs and the customer can return it instantly if it doesn’t fit or meet their expectations.

BOPIS provides a frictionless experience for those who demand both the convenience of online shopping and the instant gratification of in-store shopping. It eliminates friction and importantly, the disappointment of finding the product isn’t available after driving to the store.

It’s a great benefit to the customer but perhaps, an even a bigger boon to retailers because 67 percent of BOPIS customers make additional purchases in store.* BOPIS gives you a competitive advantage by offering customers options for purchase and truly leverages your physical presence.  Plus, it’s important to get on the bandwagon now because according to Retail Touchpoints, 90 percent of all retailers will be offering BPOIS by 2021.

But I don’t sell online!

You don’t have to have a full ecommerce program to enjoy the benefits of BOPIS. Consider offering only best sellers for sale on your website or create a simple Facebook or Shopify store. Create a curated mix of best sellers, special offers or exclusives as part of your BOPIS program. By utilizing today’s easy- to- use and inexpensive online platforms, you can enjoy the benefits of omni-channel retailing without the expense of a full online store.

Best practices
Here are a few tips to make your BOPIS program effective.

Service
Provide a high level of service to customers who come in to pick up their purchases. Don’t just hand off the package. Train your staff to review the purchase with the customer to insure satisfaction and use the interaction to begin discussions about upsell and future purchase opportunities.  

Incentives to increase sales
There’s a good chance the customer will make an additional purchase while picking up their order, but if you want to create an additional incentive to do so, offer a bounceback during the pick up transaction valid for additional purchases only on the day of pick up.

Promote
As with any new service, promote it like crazy. Use all your digital assets, including website and social media, emails plus in-store signage and flyers with purchase to advise customers of the new opportunity.

Test before and during the holidays

If you decide to offer BOPIS this holiday season, be sure to take your systems for a test drive before the roll out. Who will be responsible for monitoring orders? Pulling and packaging items? Staff training? Marketing? Be sure your logistics and in-store experience is fine tuned to delight the customers and leave them wanting more!

*International Council of Shopping Centers, 2019

Creating a Signature Holiday Promotion People Will Talk About

There’s a German restaurant in NYC named Rolf’s that’s been a neighborhood staple for over 40 years. During most months, the establishment attracts a small, local crowd. But in the fall and winter, people line up around the block for hours just for the opportunity to warm up over a drink while taking in one of the most elaborate Christmas displays imaginable.

You see, every year Rolf’s transforms from a rather unassuming restaurant into a winter wonderland. Virtually every inch of every surface in the restaurant is decorated.   What used to be a holiday business booster has expanded to an annual event that draws interested locals and tourists for nearly half the year.  Rolf’s has grown its signature promotion to such an elevated level that it has become a “must see” in NYC.

As you plan for this holiday, why not think about creating your own signature promotion?. This is about much more than stringing some lights or offering free gift wrap. This is the type of promotion you can build on year after year and resonates with your community.

As you start planning here are some basic tips to creating a true signature promotion:

It becomes synonymous with your brand
It can build in importance and/or scale over time
    It is unique or at least better executed than others like it
    It is buzz worthy
    It draws new customers and is responsible for an increase in business.

You’ll need to consider the size of your store, target audience, nuances of your community, your personal talents and passions as you develop this idea.

Here a few ideas to start getting you inspired.

Add a service

Create a “send us your list” service through which you pull appropriate gift items and have them ready for review during a scheduled private shopping appointment.

This is personal shopping at the highest level!

Give them a reason to come in-store

Create a video station where customers can create video cards to send to friends and family. Go all out with props and décor. If you live in a military town, they can send the videos to their loved ones and you can show them in-store to honor those in service.

Align with a charity

Make it meaningful. If you’re going to raise money for a local animal rescue, be sure showcase adoptable dogs regularly and even dress them for the holidays. 

Whether you’re raising money/awareness for vets, children, animals or hospitals, be sure to include those who are affected to bring humanity to the effort.

Consider putting a cash value on loyalty points and allow customers to donate those points to a charity of their choice.

Everyone collects food and toys for charity during the holidays. Your job is to make an impact.

Exclusive offerings

Create a mini-gallery, showcasing local artists/artisans throughout the season.  Make sure the objects are exclusive to your store. Have visitors vote on their favorites and award prizes to the winners.

Remember, your signature promotion doesn’t have to be about the holidays but something you do to mark the season. Notoriety doesn’t happen overnight. But if you start thinking about this as a long term project and invest the time and effort, perhaps one day you’ll have a line out the door as well.

www.rolfsnyc.com

More isn’t More. What you can learn from Costco and Trader Joe’s.

I’ve been obsessed with reading about Trader Joe’s and Costco lately. We can learn a lot from these stellar companies, especially the way they so thoughtfully manage their product selection.  The key to their success  (and it’s not rocket science) is they offer what customers want to buy or at the very least, what customers think they want to buy (no one really needs a 25-pound tub of peanuts, right?)

The average Costco warehouse stocks only about 3700 SKU’s in a 144,000 square foot store. Just to give you an example of an extreme “more is more” mentality, I worked with a 3,000 square foot. toy store that stocked 4200 SKU’s! Visitors were so confused they just turned around and walked out.

Most examples of “more is more” aren’t this extreme but I see it all the time with my clients. An addition of a line here, a few new menu items there and none of it pays off in the end! The reason?

People don’t want more choices. They just want what they want!

Barry Schwartz, author of the Paradox of Choice, says too many choices can lead to decision-making paralysis, anxiety, and stress. By proudly offering a smartly curated collection of items that target your ideal customer avatar, Schwartz say you are claiming, “You can’t have everything but everything we’ve got is worth having.”

Are you guilty of the “more is more” mentality? If so, it probably a sign that either don’t know your customer as well as you should or don’t have confidence in your ability to purchase on their behalf.

But with a little research and a bit of confidence, you can get past this. And you really should. After all, your ability to purchase properly for your customer is the key to improved sales!

Here are a few tips to get started.

Pull POS reports of your top 20% sellers
Analyze them for 3-6 months. What do these items have in common

Were they in the same price range?
Were the majority sold to your best customers?
    Regular customers?
Were they all displayed in the same area or the same way?
Are the similar in nature or pricing?
Were they mostly sold by the same person?

You get the idea. Do a forensic deep dive into what’s selling to whom, when and why.
Yes, it takes a little effort but this is your business!

Now take a look at your bottom sellers
Can you find commonality in the items that always end up on the sale rack or rarely move?

 Put those bottom sellers on sale or take them off your menu! You don’t need them. They’re messing with cash flow and making your business less exciting. Going back to the toy store example, a sale- by- item report revealed only 1800 SKU’s had sold more than one in 6 months. That means more than half his stock never moved! His overbuying was killing his business.

Ask people what they want
I love the idea of doing short, in person surveys with customers and visitors. Just a few questions will get you a lot of information. Find out what types of items they like. The price points. How often they buy. How they use your products. Retail stores and restaurants are mini research labs. Every person that walks in can give you valuable feedback that will help you fine tune your selection to the point

Search for the unicorn
Once you’ve done the research and are more intimately connected with your customer avatar, look for one or two items that scream, “I know you and I know what you want.” In today’s retail environment, you have to find ways to distinguish yourself and the way to do that that is finding a few things that are exclusive to you and resonate beautifully with your tribe.

Take the time to go through the process. And don’t be afraid to offer less, especially when less can translate to improved sales and more loyal and emotionally connected customers. The last thing anybody needs is more stuff. They can go to Amazon for that!

Until next time remember….
You can do this!
Angel

Read more about Costco and Trader Joe’s.

https://www.businessinsider.com/trader-joes-how-gets-you-spend-money-psychologist-2019-1

https://thehustle.co/costco-membership-economics/amp/

Download my Customer Avatar Worksheet

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Take a hot minute to figure out why you don't have enough time!

Warning! This blog contains tough love.

When you tell me “I don’t have time,” I get a little nuts.

  I don’t have time to implement new ideas.

I don’t have time to study my POS reports.

I don’t have time to map out a social media strategy.  

I don’t have time to run my business correctly!

WTH?

I’m not completely insensitive. I get that you’re busy. And overwhelmed. And perhaps confused about which step to take first.  So here are my best pieces of advice to help you dig out of the time spiral.  

1.  Put on your CEO hat.

Remember, you are the only one with the power – and the responsibility – to turn your business into everything you want it to be.

If you’re inundated with details and non-revenue producing tasks, it’s time to recalibrate.  Your job is to steer the high level thinking that produce maximum sales results. This is a non-negotiable.

2.  Stop.

Now, take a hot minute and figure out how you are spending your time. Keep a running daily calendar of tasks for about a week.  How much time are you on the sales floor? Doing administrative work? Ordering? Paying bills? Scheduling? Training? What is eating up your time? (BTW, serving your customers shouldn’t be considered a time suck. That’s kind of why you’re in business, isn’t it?)

3.  Figure out what you like doing.

What made you want to get into business in the first place?  You are, after all the CEO of your company and running it shouldn’t be torture. You should be able to do the things you like and enjoy — and are good at!

4.  Get creative about finding help.

How can you offload operational tasks and the duties you hate or aren’t great at when you can’t afford extra help?

Utilize current employees.
Most stores and restaurants have slow times and you can schedule certain tasks during those hours. Get your employees on board with a list of operational duties. Just 30 minutes per employee can make a huge difference! They can do everything from prepare weekly schedules to taking photos for social media posts to merchandising and reviewing POS reports for trends and opportunities.

If you need more help and can’t afford it, start small.
For example, maybe you can’t afford a social media consultant or visual designer, but you can afford to give one of your employees an extra two hours on the schedule each week to free up your time to do this. Use the time to attend a networking breakfast plan your marketing for the next quarter or create your social media posts. That’s certain worth an extra $20 or $30!

Hire a virtual assistant
For about $25 and hour, you can have a remote assistant a couple of hours per week to handle routine and recurring tasks. 

Even if money is tight, don’t let a $50 or $100 investment get in the way of y moving your business forward. You have to shake the tree a bit to create change.

Small expenditures can have a domino effect – to help increase sales and then, in turn, afford additional help.

5.  Calendar essential tasks

Now that you’re paying for some help, take full advantage of that extra time.  Paying an employee an extra two hours? Be sure to calendar those hours for yourself. Use them to work on the CEO tasks you’ve identified. Make that commitment so you don’t get sucked into the menial again, defeating the purpose.

6. Commit to making the short term sacrifices.

If your business is failing or flailing, you have to work right now, this minute, to improve it. There is no time to waste or complain about not having time! Doing the same thing over and over again isn’t going to affect change!

Make that full court press to improve business…and make it quickly. It may take a few sleepless nights or some really busy weeks but the results will be worth it.  Not prepared to make the sacrifice? Well, then you should probably reevaluate being a business owner because there will always be cycles of ups and downs that will make extraordinary demands on you.  It’s the nature of the beast.

7.  Ask yourself every day, “ What did I do today to move my business forward?”

When you look at your daily ”to do” list, start with the items that have the potential to improve your business. It’s that simple. At the end of the day, as long as you’ve done something that builds on your business potential, you’re good!

Owning a business is hard work.  So now you have two choices. The first is to make the time to dig in and get it done. The second choice is far less appealing.  

Until next time, remember…
You can do this!
Angel

How to Create an Easy and Effective Community Donation Strategy for Your Store or Restaurant

You’ve probably been approached hundreds of times to participate with local charities and asked to do everything from donate merchandise for silent auctions to springing for sponsorship dollars, organizing walking teams and buying tables at banquets.

Before you spend another dollar, take a minute to think about how you give your money, merchandise and time.

There are two ways to approach charitable giving. The first is altruistic. If you have a cause or passion in which you want to participate because it’s meaningful to you, by all means, do so. This is not a business decision, it’s one that comes from the heart.

The second is using charitable involvement as a business builder. For the purposes of this discussion, we’ll talk about the latter.

Let’s start with merchandise and gift card donations.

I highly recommend creating an annual budget and formal process for giving donations. This allows you to handle your giving gracefully and without creating bad feelings. You certainly don’t want to offend representatives of local organizations by having them think you are snubbing them or don’t take your community participation seriously. After all, they may be potential customers.

To avoid an uncomfortable situation, create a charitable donation request form for the organization to complete including their charity name, contact person, reason for the donation (i.e. silent auction, raffle, etc.), purpose of the charity, how long in business and their 501(c)3 number which a legitimate nonprofit must have and finally, what type of recognition you will receive for your donation, i.e. logo on all event marketing, signage at event, etc.

Explain to them:

•      As a small business, you have an annual budget for charitable giving

•      All requests must be submitted in writing

•      You evaluate all requests monthly, make your choices and will notify them of your decision at that time.

Be sure to review these forms on a regular predetermined timetable and notify all applicants of your decision.

The formal process will help mitigate bad feelings from the rejected parties and help you make the most of your charitable contributions.

Get Creative

There’s no law that says you need to give money or merchandise to support your local non-profits.  Think about:

Volunteering

Can your staff help at an event or fundraiser?

Creating an experience
How about a free wardrobe styling or haircut?  A cupcake baking or pizza making lesson? These experiences have great perceived value and help to build a one-on-one relationship with the potential customer.

After the giving

Keep the momentum going by continuing to yourself and your selected charities. Post signage in your store about upcoming events that your involved in. Promote them on your website and social media as well. At the end of the year, compile a list of your selected charities and encourage customers to include them in their charitable giving.

Bottom line

Take a few minutes to create a process and through in a couple of creative ideas. It will save time, make your store or restaurant stand out from the fray of ordinary gift cards givers and establish your business as a valuable member of your community

If you’d like a free copy of the Charitable Donation Form Template, go to https://www.angelcicerone.com/charitable-donation

Until next time remember, you can do this!
Angel

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9 Deadly Retail Customer Service Sins

Personalized service and attention is the hallmark of small business and customer satisfaction is the key to retention. Is your staff doing its part to promote loyalty? Keep a careful eye out for these transgressions in your store or restaurant.

9 Deadly Customer Service Sins

1. Making a customer wait to pay
    Whether it's a line at the cashwrap or waiting for the check in a restaurant, 
    making a customer wait to pay leaves a very bad last impression and 
    spoils an otherwise pleasant experience.

2. Associates chatting on cell phones or texting
    It's not just enough to have a no cell phone rule. You need to enforce it! 

3. Not having a customer's best interest at heart
    People are intuitive and know if you're efforts are insincere. Service and hospitality 
    come from the heart. Hire only those who care about an excellent outcome 
    for every customer.

4. No suggesting alternatives/upselling
    Visitors truly want to find the perfect item or service. Not making recommendations on 
    how you can potentially fill their desires is a disservice to them.

5. Ignoring a customer
    Pretty much says it all.

6. Not resolving complaints quickly and to the customer's satisfaction
    Would you rather be right or keep a customer? The choice is yours.

7. Sales associates don't have product knowledge
    One of the big reasons people patronize independently owned businesses is for depth 
    of product knowledge not found in impersonal, larger stores.

8. Not validating a customer's purchase
    A customer should be congratulated for every purchase in your establishment. 
    "You're going to love this."  "I know you'll be happy with this."  
    In other words, you've made the right decision shopping with us!

9. Pre-judging the customer's desire or ability to buy
    We don't judge in sales. We assume everyone is a potential customer and work 
    towards that inevitability. Even those visitors who seem difficult or distracted may be 
    back another day ....if treated well.

The best way to insure great customer service is to make it the cornerstone of your store's experience and consistently train staff in the skills and attitude necessary to provide an exceptional experience.

Until next time remember,
You can do this!
Angel

How does your store make money?

One of the most common mistakes I see with small retailers is the failure to analyze sales revenue.  They may know top line sales and bottom line profits, but don’t take the time to understand the exact composition of sales.  Are you selling to new or existing customers?  Do you sell more of item A or Item Z or items A and Z together?  What is the average sale or sale per employee?

Ask the typical small store owner if they track Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s-see list below) and they answer, “It’s all in my head.”  With this tracking method, they’re probably missing out on some extremely important -and easy- ways to increase revenue.

KPI’s provide POWERFUL insight that can help determine targeted marketing solutions, pricing strategies, hiring needs, new revenue opportunities and a host of other strategies that can result in increased revenue and decreased expenses.

KPI’s are easy to track with point of sale software by simply inputting correct and detailed information for each customer and learning to pull the appropriate reports daily, weekly and monthly. I find many retailers don’t take the time to learn the capabilities of these systems. For those retailers that don’t have a POS system, I recommend tracking sales manually to get a grasp on the when/what of sales.  It takes some effort but can pay off big in the long run.

How can KPI’s help grow business? Here are just a few examples:

Average Sale/Sale by Category 
I worked with a coffee shop that needed to increase revenues by 10 percent which represented an increase in sales of about $2000 per month. She was going to invest $6000 in advertising to increase traffic to achieve her revenue goal. By knowing her average sale, which was $3.95, we were able to bundle two items as a special at $ 4.75. Just by upselling her regular customers, she was able to increase revenues without spending a dime or giving up any profitability.

Sales by Day of Week/Daypart
By knowing when you are selling (or not selling) you can create a strategy to improve business during peak and non-peak times.  For example, a pizza restaurant offered a daily lunch discount each weekday  Upon  analyzing his day/daypart numbers, we found that Thursday and Friday lunches were triple the volume of Monday through Wednesday. Since business was so good later inthe week, there was no need to continue offering a discount on those days. The owner was able to increase profits during the peak sales days and offer steeper discounts to lure customers during the off days.

New vs. existing clients
A beauty salon client did not track new vs. existing clients or client retention. Once they analyzed their numbers, it was clear they were getting plenty of new clients; they just weren’t retaining them. By understanding that, they were able to implement a two-fold strategy that included customer service training for the stylists to insure greater customer satisfaction- and ultimately their return -as well as a new customer welcome program that offered new clients discounts for pre-booking their next appointment.

Customer profile/demos
Take the simplest customer demo – the zip code. I recently worked with a franchisee for whom the franchisor did a quarterly mailing. In comparing the zip codes of the mailing to the actual client zip codes, we saw that the franchisor mailing list did not match the current client base. Armed with this information,  the client was able to inform the franchisor so they could create a more geographically accurate mailing list and thus, better results from the marketing dollars spent.

These are just a few examples of how understanding the nuances of revenue can help a small business owner create better – and sometimes very easy – strategies to grow business.

Key Performance Indicators
While not all are applicable to each business, here’s a list: 
                Sales per employee
                New clients per week vs. repeat clients
                Sales per square foot
                Average check
                Sales by category
                Merchandise vs. service
                Lead sources
                Sales by day of week/day part
                Sales conversion rates
                Customer profile

Which work for you? Start tracking them today. Learning how you make your money is the first step to making more!

Until next time remember,
You can do this!
Angel

Asking for a bad review

You know how positive online reviews build credibility and trust with prospects. Hopefully you’ve trained your staff to remind customers to post words of praise on the review site of their choice.

But what about bad reviews? What do you do about the slightly or extremely disgruntled customer? Do you just let them walk and hope they don’t spew venom online?  

Here’s a better strategy for controlling negative reviews: ask for them!

If you sense a customer is having an issue, ask them to tell you about it. Solve the problem privately before it becomes public. But in the event the disappointment comes later (at delivery, for example) use one of these clever tactics to steer the negative feedback away from the review sites and directly to you!

Here are two great examples of this strategy.

Greek Eats Restaurant

This restaurant attaches a card to each order, asking for “notes” about your order. It’s a polite and subtle suggestion to voice your opinion and they make it easy for the customer to contact them directly should they have a problem.

Modani Furniture

This company sends an email after purchase (in fact, they send it out multiple times). It’s a much bolder approach that asks, “Would you recommend us?” then offers two links. The first leads to Google reviews. The second asks point blank, “Your experience not so great?” with a link to contact them directly. It’s a brilliant way to steer customers to privately voice their concerns.

Of course, if someone sends you negative feedback directly, be sure to resolve the problem quickly so it doesn’t escalate into a public and negative review.

Don’t be afraid of criticism. Ask for it! It will help you create a better, more customer service- oriented business and keep issues private rather than on a public forum for all to see.

Until next time remember…
You can do this!
Angel

Want more information on how to better manage and use Yelp and other online review platforms? Click here to get instant access to my free cheatsheet, Yelp Help!

An easy way to light a flame under your holiday sales

U.S. retail sales of candles are estimate at $3.2 billion annually! That’s billion with a “b.” And that’s not including accessories!

Candles are universally loved, make great holiday gifts and are a relatively inexpensive way to add ambiance to any home. It should come as no surprise really, that 35% of all candle sales occur during the holiday season (and the majority are bought by women).

Candles can help increase average sale this year in just about any category of store, from clothing boutiques to restaurants, hardware stores to beauty salons. And they make gorgeous visual displays!

Here are 4 tips for creating candle cash this holiday season

Explore local makers on Etsy and other crafting sites to find interesting and possibly exclusive lines to carry. Look for themed and specialty candles like those created specifically for men.

Bundle candles at special prices with other items to make them irresistible.

Offer them as a gift with purchase.

Gift wrap a selection as a great grab and go gift option.

Until next time, remember….
You can do this!
Angel

Research from candles.com

Ignoring your Yelp rating can actually cost you money! A Harvard study says so!

Many restaurant owners discount the impact of Yelp. A study from the Harvard University Business School suggests that's not a great idea.

The study, Reviews, Reputation and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com. presents three findings about the impact of consumer reviews on the restaurant industry:

1. A one-star increase in Yelp rating leads to a 5-9 percent increase in revenue

2. This effect is driven by independent restaurants; ratings do not affect restaurants with chain affiliation

3. Chain restaurants have declined in market share as Yelp penetration has increased

This should be a powerful motivator for every independent restaurant owner! There is huge opportunity to meet and beat chain competition by providing exceptional food, service and quality AND carefully managing your online reputation!

Time to go get yourself another star!

Until next time remember, 
you can do this!

Angel

 

Want more information on how to better manage and use Yelp and other online review platforms? Get instant access to my free cheatsheet, Yelp Help! Click here

Are you making a great "last" impression?

So much is made of first impressions in business. But it's that all important last few minutes of a customer visit that can make all the difference!