Education

Lead with your Heart

January 5, 2004 | By: deaneparkes

How do you differentiate your business when the same or similar products are sold everywhere? How do you maintain ‘some’ profit while discounted prices are being offered everywhere? How do you decide where to advertise with countless newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations? How does your advertising stand out when everywhere you look there seems to be an ad attached, heck companies are buying space on human beings to place a logo tattoo…yikes!!! How do you get consumer attention when the ‘average’ person is exposed to 3000 advertising messages a day?  I even read that unless you have $5 million to advertise you will not even make a blip on the consumer radar screen.

These questions are at the heart of most businesses as they continue to sell in a world of sameness and shrinking margins.

I recently read a very powerful book ‘Follow This Path’ by Coffman and Molina. It is based on research of over 10 million customers, 3 million employees and 200,000 managers……it is based on ‘real world’ experience. The first paragraph sets the tone

“Great organizations achieve sustainable growth and profits because they do what other organizations don’t: They maximize the innate, individual talents of their employees to connect with customers. They know that tapping the resources of humans is the only remaining area where significant improvements can-and do-lead to an unlimited source of competitive advantages’.

The key to building a strong foundation for your store is to have strong emotionally ‘charged’ relationships with your customers. An emotionally engaged customer will keep coming back and recommend your business to their friends. The research shows that an estimated 25% of your current customers can become ‘emotionally engaged’ and by focusing on creating this relationship you can increase your profits dramatically.

Just imagine, each of us is a consumer, do you not prefer shopping in a store where they actually care? How many stores do you shop at where there actually seems to be a feeling of appreciation and care for you being a customer? I would bet there are few and gives strength to the fact that consumers will go anywhere to shop as service is really not an emotionally ‘charged’ experience.

REMEMBER: ‘75% of health decisions are made by women and women want a relationship with people not just a transaction to take place’ Faith Popcorn – ‘Evelution’

The REAL KEY to creating ‘emotionally engaged’ customers is to FIRST have ‘emotionally engaged’ employees. The way the staff ‘feel’ about their work will reflect in the way your customers ‘feel’ about shopping in your store…..PERIOD.

According to the research in ‘Follow This Path’ there are 12 key areas for store owners/managers to focus on to develop an‘emotionally engaged’ staff/team/spirit.

These are what every staff member wants yet rarely receives.

1. Focus me – Make sure I am trained and know what is expected of me.
2. Equip me – Make sure I have the tools to do my job. Like a price gun that works.
3. Know me – I am not just a cashier, I have dreams, hobbies, fears.
4. Help me see my value – I have latent talents that I may not recognize.
5. Care about me – I live life….I have my problems too.
6. Help me grow – I want to continually learn and be stretched.
7. Hear me – I have ideas that can improve the way you are doing business and increase sales, customer service and ultimately profits.
8. Help me see my importance – Acknowledge the job I am doing.
9. Help me feel proud – Celebrate the job I am doing.
10. Help me build mutual trust – Treat me fairly and consistently.
11. Help me review my contribution – Let me know what I am doing well and what needs improving. Show me how to be a winner.
12. Challenge me – Have me do work I am hesitant to do, help me grow to a new level.

The natural health store is a vital part of every community. Every day you are changing lives. Yet unless you really connect with your customers they can shop anywhere for those life changing products. Why should they care about you if you do not care about them?

I suggest you take some time and do an ‘emotional survey’ of your store. Get staff involved, get customers involved, and most of all get yourself involved. The way customer feel about your store may be the only point of difference between the countless places consumers can choose to shop. Make sure large doses of laughter and fun are involved.

I realize Walmart may not bring up positive emotions for everyone however they did not become the largest retailer in the world by chance.

Sam Walton loved people, spent his whole life [even after becoming a billionaire] traveling to his stores to spend time with the staff and customers. This quote says it all ‘There is only one boss. The Customer. And she can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending her money somewhere else’. Sam Walton