lazy sunday evening meets the retail drones
i really can’t stand just sitting around the house doing nothing. so sunday evening i begged my husband to take a trip into the great wide world with me. we targeted at target: razors were a necessity. then we proceeded to barnes & noble as i have no company loyalty anymore!
mike watched lola run around the children’s department like a crazy person (i hear they call them toddlers now…) and i picked out a couple new board books. when we were tired of chasing the toddler, we high-tailed it to the check out line where about 5 people stood in line. luckily, the line moved quickly and we heard the requisite “i can help the next customer in line here,” we approached the desk.
i placed the books on the counter and reached for my debit card. the bookseller – that’s the proper term! – said hello, told me my total, and asked if i had a member card. no. would you like to hear more about the member card. no. would you like to hear more about non-member email coupons. no. okay thanks have a nice day.
seriously?
this is how you’re going to woo me away from your competitors and amazon? i don’t think so. of course, this scenario isn’t isolated to mega-chain bookstores. each retail company has a gimmick, a script, a sure-fire-something-or-other to get you to “engage” their brand. who are these marketing people?? it doesn’t work. in fact, it makes me a bit nauseous.
a little deep rewiring
chris brogan just wrote a piece where he described employees as needing a shift in “deep wiring” and, if i understand him correctly, he means that this robotic retail speak isn’t going to cut it. whether it’s live and in person or tweeted from corporate headquarters. what does work is having company values drive every customer interaction, it means being invested in the brand & the products you sell, it means engaging customers around the brand not against it.
instead of facing a barrage of questions about services i don’t want, barnes & noble should teach their employees to have actual conversations with me about the products i’m purchasing, give recommendations, and then approach me about a service i might be interested in.
3 things you can learn from retail drones
- use short form social media (facebook, twitter, and the like) to help share your story and engage potential customers. offer insight into your creative process, your creative psyche, and your all-round creative life. provide information & address people’s problems, whether directly related to your business or not.
- use long form social media (your blog, email newsletters) to share how your personal story informs the products you create. the hard sell becomes a lot softer when your focus is on the back-and-forth of natural conversation over your brand.
- don’t be afraid to cut it short. sometimes you just need to shut up! sometimes, your customer is more interested in making a purchase than listening to your script. make sure that your blog, your twitter account, your facebook page, and any other web interface your customers might use gives them the opportunity to say, “i like what i see – here’s my credit card.”
what pet peeves do you have when you’re out in the retail world? what can you learn from it and how can you apply it to your own business?
need help engaging your customers & readers? no problem. you should definitely check out my ecourse, between the lines, where i’ll teach you to tell your story in a variety of ways! class starts may 1 and registration is limited!
{image credit: tucker reece}
I get so annoyed when retail stores ask me if I have a credit card with them then try to get me to sign up. I just tell them yes I have one so they back off. I know its not the employees fault, but it’s so annoying.
Tara,
A wonderfully written piece!
You well summarize Brogan’s sentiments. I agree that there has to be a depth and I like how you stress that you should give customers the option of whether to look into the details of you and your brand message, or to just whip out the credit card. In addition to my handmade business, I work PT at Trader Joe’s and I feel that they encourage employees to do exactly what you suggested. Other stores should follow suit!
Best,
Paula
Paula, I totally agree. There are several companies doing much better at this – or that were even founded on this principle!
On a side note… really wish there was a Trader Joe’s around here…
Tara, I really enjoyed this post and could relate to your experience. My pet peeve is somewhat along the lines with the “robotic” responses where you do ask someone a question about a product or where something is located and they give you a blank stare. I’ve often wondered if it’s rude of me to assume that the employee just might know about an item let alone where it would be located!
Tara, great post. I was just at White House Black Market the other day looking for dresses. They actually did something right. The sales clerk asked my name and introduced herself and called me by my name the entire time I was shopping. It was a small gesture, but made all the difference. I think this is a tip that we can all use in our businesses. It might seem obvious, but still powerful.
so interesting! i just had two opposite retail experiences two days in a row: 1. a friend was buying jeans and the girl behind the counter was lazily talking to us about nothing and i had to say (as politely as i could) “we’re under a bit of a time crunch, etc”. sometimes it seems like retail workers don’t realize that by the time you get to the check out, you’re DONE. you’ve picked out your stuff, you want to be leaving. whether or not i’m under a time crunch, i want the cashier to be efficient and expedient.
2. yesterday, i stopped to get some lotion over my lunch break. the girl working helped me find what i needed, listened to what i was looking for, and made recommendations on what i might like. then, she said, “are you under the gun for time, or would you like to sample some other things?” in a way that made me feel so at ease and fully free to say, “you know, i need to go, but thank you and i will be back!” then she quickly checked me out and i was on my way.
such different experiences, and which one am i more likely to want to repeat? duh. (slightly different than what you are talking about, but i think coming from the same place?)
Nicely written Tara. The best customer service I have received this year was actually at a new Lowe’s store. Everytime I walk in the door, I am greeted . The employees are actually knowledgeable and friendly. This is quite uunexpected for a ” chain store”. A little bit of service goes a long way.