KIZER and BENDER's Retail Adventures in the REAL World™ BLOG

Consumer Tips to Survive Shopping on Black Friday

2009-11-25T08:34:00.000-06:00

15 Tips to Survive Shopping on Black Friday

1. Do your pre-holiday homework. Visit each of the Black Friday websites that leak retailer ads in advance. Here are few to check out:

http://www.dealnews.com -- there is an iPhone app for this site, too.
http://www.blackfridayads.com
http://www.blackfriday.info

2. Follow your favorite retailers on Twitter and fan them on FaceBook. Smart retailers are offering inside deals, limited time offers and heads-up on sales to their on-line friends.

3. Buy all the local papers and devour the Black Friday ads. Make a list of the stores you plan to visit and determine which ones you need to visit first. You have a much better chance of getting the hot items you want if you have a plan of attack. You will also want to make a list of the things you want to buy so you can check them off as you go.

4. We know on Thanksgiving Day you’ll be busy cooking a big dinner and entertaining Aunt Mary and Uncle Jack, but you need to sneak away and do a spot check of your favorite retailers’ websites. Many retailers post coupons that are only available on-line. Print them and bring them with you on Friday for extra savings.

5. This year many retailers will be open on Thanksgiving Day. They're starting holiday shopping early by offering great Day Before Black Friday bargains. Check to see which stores in your community are open and get a jump on saving.

6. Watch for early, early shopping opportunities. As Thanksgiving turns into Black Friday some malls will be in full-on shopping mode. Last year malls across the country opened their doors at midnight for shopping, entertainment, raffles, food and more.

7. To take advantage of the Early Bird Specials you have to get there early! Aggressive retailers are opening their doors this year at 4:00 AM; lines start to form as early as 7:00 PM Thanksgiving evening. If you want that 42” HDTV for $29.99 you’d better be on of the first five people on line. On Black Friday, “limited quantities” generally means single digits.

8. If you don’t like crowds, visit your local, independent retailers. In addition to great deals, local retailers usually add extra special touches. What’s better than noshing on homemade cookies and cocoa at your favorite neighborhood boutique? Hint: many of these retailers will also wrap your purchases for free!

9. The items retailers want to make sure you’ll see will be displayed on tables in the aisles and on end caps – in other words, you won’t be able to miss them. You’ll also want to head to the back of the store. Here’s where you’re likely to find unadvertised specials. The trick is that you have to walk through tempting regular-priced items to get to the deals.

10. Shop midday to avoid crowds. Activity slows between 10 AM and noon and picks up again in the evening. This is when shoppers who had to work on Black Friday begin to arrive. Another plus, lots of retailers we know are doing the equvalient of Early Bird Specials all day long.

11. Dress appropriately, wear comfortable shoes and bring extra shopping bags. And throw a bottle of water and some snacks in your bag. You know you’re going to get hungry and you probably will be too busy shopping to stop for lunch.

12. Stop by the information desks in malls, shopping centers and stores and ask if they have special coupons, gift bags or other freebies.

13. Check each retailers return policy. A great deal isn’t such a great deal if your sister hates the sweater you bought her and she can’t exchange or return it.

14. Avoid the crowds altogether and shop at home. QVC is jumping into Black Friday this year with all kinds of deals and three Today’s Special Value items.

15. If you can’t find what you want or miss out on the Early Bird Specials, don’t forget that Cyber Monday (11/30) the day on-line retailers give their best deals.

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LIMITED TIME OFFER! 4th Quarter Retail Sales-Building Events & Promotions

2009-11-20T11:53:00.003-06:00

4th Quarter Retail Sales-Building Events & Promotions:
EVERYTHING You Need to Run In-Store Events that Build Sales and Traffic!
Limited Time Offer!

We're in the infamous 4th Quarter; the time of year that represents the largest percentage of total year retail sales. Miss the 4th Quarter and you miss the boat. But not this year! You are just a click away from being armed and ready to rock `n roll with traffic-building, door-spinning, no-cost, low-cost promotional events for the Golden Quarter and beyond!

For almost 20 years Rich KIZER & Georganne BENDER have personally collected, and retailer-tested, MAJOR and MINOR In-Store EVENTS & PROMOTIONS. This limited time offer includes complete how-to instructions, ad slicks, templates, store meeting notes and more -- that you can fully customize for your own store on your computer -- for each of the following in-store events:

-- Kid's Store Tour -- Customer Appreciation Sale --

-- Pet Costume Contest -- Ladies Night -- Holiday Ideas Open House --

-- 50 % Off Coupon Event -- Cash Register Receipt Auction --

-- Guy's Night Out Open House --
-- The 12 Days of Christmas -- Create Your Own Coupon Sale –

Get ready for some crowd control with KIZER & BENDER"s “Non-stop Traffic-Building, Profit-Producing, Attention-Grabbing, Sales-Generating, Competition-Miffing, Customer-Winning Retail Promotions you just can’t afford to miss!™”

Limited Time Offer just $19.99

Place your order no later than Monday, November 30, 2009
e-mail: info@kizerandbender.com to order your event templates now!

Psssssst: Watch for an ALL NEW retail events and promotions program from KIZER & BENDER at the 2010 CHA Winter Convention and Tradeshow, January 24 -- 27, 2010, Anaheim, California. Visit http://www.chashow.org to register now!

It's a Retail Revolution!

2009-11-17T15:06:00.005-06:00

Remember learning about the Industrial Revolution and how it changed the world? There’s a new revolution coming your way; we’re calling it the Retail Revolution. Everything is about to be changed, re-defined or eliminated.

Know what the Retail Revolution has changed? How about advertising, acquisition, strategies, blue laws, buyers, capital, census, chain stores, competition, consumers, department stores, discount stores, big boxes, independent retailers, retail employees and retail employment; marketing, social medias, the Internets, full price, sale pricing, promotional pricing, retail growth, income, manufacturers, suppliers, vendors, inventory, investment, labor force, market share, operations, payroll/sales ratio, outlet stores, population, profit margin, retail industry, retail strategies, retail events, urban locations, suburban locations, NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard), trends… We’re exhausted and we haven’t reached the tip of the iceberg. Or the depth of the revolution!

We’re so sure this revolution is coming we’re creating a new series of keynote presentations about what retailers must do differently to survive – no THRIVE – in this new hyper-competitive retail world. It’s a Retail Revolution!

Our new presentations will feature what the NEW Breed of Revolutionary Retailers are doing to thrive in this new economy. We’ll share REAL stories about REAL retailers doing incredible things that produce success. And we’ll share one of these revolutionary ideas with you each week on our blog. Here is a sample:

We attended a store meeting last month run by a revolutionary retailer who decided it was time to do a weekly evaluation of his store. During the meeting, the retailer reviewed the evaluations received during that week. But here’s the twist: the evaluations were not completed by customers (although the retailer does this, too); they were completed by the store’s associates. That’s right: the store associates appraise how the store is doing on a weekly basis.

At the end of the week, associates are given a questionnaire that’s titled: “So How Did We Do This Week?” The questionnaire always covers merchandising issues (“Did our new displays stop customers? Why?”), promotions, customer relations and associate involvement in the store. Everyone must answer and hand them in on their last day worked each week.

This meeting was a pleasure to attend! No single evaluation or associate was featured or singled out; the retailer synthesized the results and talked about pertinent points. Afterward we spoke with the associates. Here’s what they had to say about this important program:

“I’ve worked here for six years. Since we started the weekly store evaluations all of our attitudes have improved. It’s like we’re all responsible for the store’s performance now.”

“I have never worked anywhere where I was asked my opinions on how to make my life in the store better. But now I realize how good it feels to be really involved.”

“I love the fact that I can impact our store! I listen to customers everyday, weigh their comments, and answer the weekly evaluation questions honestly.”

“The best thing is that changes are made as a result of what we have to say. That’s gratifying. We’re important and our customers benefit, too.”

Yes folks, it’s a revolution! Weekly twenty minute meetings like this are revolutionary. But then again, so are the growing sales and profits this retailer has enjoyed since the associate evaluation meetings started to take hold. We think there’s a connection, don’t you?

It’s a Retail Revolution!

P.S. You’re not a retailer? It doesn’t matter, you’re going through a revolution of your own. Put these strategies to work in your company – we guarantee they are universal. It’s the one time one size does fit all!

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KIZER & BENDER Holiday 2009 Press Release

2009-11-12T00:00:00.001-06:00

From the time you walk in the front door, until you are safely back in your car, savvy retailers are doing things to entice you stay longer, and spend more while you are there! Just in time for the 2009 holiday shopping season, retail experts Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender uncover the myriad of secrets retailers use to sell more merchandise.

St. Charles, IL November 12, 2009 -- Retail anthropologists, Rich Kizer & Georganne Bender of Kizer & Bender Speaking, have studied shopping patterns and retail stores for decades.

The duo has surveyed the science of how retailers set their stores to sell.

The Decompression Zone: The Decompression Zone is the first 5 to 10’ just inside the store’s front door. The Decompression Zone is used to slow shoppers down from whatever speed they entered the store to a comfortable shopping speed.

Speed Bumps: Speed Bumps are fixtures or displays that are located approximately 15 to 20’ inside the front door of the store. The Speed Bump’s job is to stop the shopper and redirect his or her focus to the merchandise. They work the same way speed bumps in parking lots work.

The Impulse Zone: Watch out for merchandise displayed on tables in the aisles, on the end features (the part of the gondola that faces the aisle), and at the check out counter. These areas are where you are most likely to pick up things you did not intend to purchase.

The Wall Stripe: Ever notice how some stores paint horizontal stripes on the walls, a few feet below the ceiling? That’s to make shoppers eyes stay focused on the merchandise.

Disco Music is the Sound of Money: The right music can actually make you spend more money. That’s why familiar, up beat music is played during busy times. Disco seems to put everyone in the mood to buy.

Shopping Carts and Baskets: Do you know why the big box stores offer you a shopping cart or a basket when you walk in the front door? It’s because you’ll spend 25% more than you originally intended to spend, and up to 15 minutes longer in the store. The lure of the shopping cart/basket is so strong; we’re even seeing fancy department stores getting in on the action.

If It Smells, It Sells: The holidays aren’t the only time some retail stores smell so good. The old retail adage, “If it smells, it sells”, holds true all year long. Retailers light candles, and turn on the fragrance machines, to turn up the sales. Grapefruit is said to renew energy; Pine inspires positive feelings, and Cinnamon, bless its spicy little heart, is said to attract money!

Vertical Merchandising: Retailers display product in vertical rows so that customers are exposed to a greater variety of the assortment at any eye level. And since we’re naturally inclined to read from left to right, Vertical Merchandising encourages purchases because customers will see the entire selection of merchandise wherever they look.

Small Sizes on the Left, Large on the Right: Stores that sell similar items in various sizes obviously profit from selling the largest size because it’s likely to be the higher priced item. That’s why when a product comes in more than one size, you will always find small size of the product on the left, and the larger size on the right. This trick works because most customers are right handed, and will unconsciously reach for the item closest to their right hands, rather than reaching across their bodies or shopping carts.

“Hot Spot Cross” Merchandising: Every section of every fixture has what’s called a “Hot Spot Cross” – the part of the fixture that sells the best. Since most customers have a tendency to stop at the center of the category, the Hot Spot silently points out important merchandise. You can locate the Hot Spot in any fixture, simply by drawing an imaginary cross through the center of a fixture. Incidentally, fixtures such as gondolas, with many sections, will have a Hot Spot in each one of the sections.

Hot Spot and One to the Right: Remember this: “Hot Spot and one to the right.” Since most customers will reach for product with their right hand, the position just to the right of the center of the cross is an equally hot display area. Retailers use this space to display new items, and to energize product that might be suffering from sagging sales.

Visual Curve Merchandising: Visual Curve Merchandising involves the use of slanted shelves to increase the customer’s strike zone – the amount of product the customer sees in just one glance.

Cross Promotion: Cross-merchandising is a technique that mixes different product categories together allowing customers see and buy more because they can easily visualize how the items will work together. Cross Merchandised items are the ones hanging on clip-strips throughout the store. Drug stores are great cross merchandisers: If you had a cold, and came in for cough syrup, you might also be in the market for disposable spoons, Kleenex, or juice. Drug store retailers are more than happy to put it all together, making it easier for you to spend more money when you’re feeling lousy.

Gift Cards & Gift Certificates: When it comes to choosing the right present, gift cards may be a no-brainer for you, but they are a windfall for retailers. You may love that cashmere sweater Uncle Bob gave you for Christmas, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll ever personally shop in the store that it came from. Enter gift cards.

According to a study by ValueLink, the gift and spending card service of First Data Corporation, 54 percent of consumers spend the initial value of their gift card within one month; 61 percent of consumers spend the initial value of their gift card in their first visit; and 56 percent of consumers spend more than the initial value of their card.

The Checkout Counter: Even the placement of the checkout counter encourages you to spend. Smart retailers never place the checkout as the first thing shoppers see. Instead, it’s generally located near the front, toward the left of the store and a natural stopping point.

Rich Kizer & Georganne Bender are nationally recognized experts on customer diversity, marketing and promotion, and everything retail.

Source: Kizer and Bender Speaking

Contact: Georganne Bender or Rich Kizer (630)513-8020 http://www.kizerandbender.com/ info@kizerandbender.com

Secondary contact: Ruth Furman, publicist (702) 615-2244 ruth@ruthfurman.com

On this Veteran's Day...

2009-11-11T00:00:00.002-06:00

We can't think of a better way of honoring our nation's Veterans than with this wonderful poem written Jack Donnelly, Georganne's nephew who is 12 years old.

Jack lost both of his grandfathers this year. He's proud that both of them served our country, one in the Korean Conflict, the other in WWII. That's Grandpa Donnelly pictured above on the left, carrying a rifle. Here's Jack's tribute to his Grandfathers and all U.S. Veterans:

Veterans

With great will they fought
Powerful as one
Strong saviors, superior to the rest

Veterans always did the right thing
Helpful to all
Fighting for our freedom is the best thing of all

Keeping us strong all day and night
Honest even when faced with fright
Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, strong as a tank

Their minds are great computers
Veterans, thanks for the help in war
You've helped our country in many ways so far

Customer Care at Culver's

2009-11-08T20:35:00.005-06:00

We just don’t get it. Tough economic times make it harder and harder to sell products, competition is fierce and yet it seems customer service levels actually are falling. Yes, competition is tough; it could even be called hyper-competition they way everyone wants to steal your customers. This post is about the restaurant industry, but it relates to retailers as well.

We signed up for T.G.I. Friday’s “Give Me More Stripes” rewards card. It’s excellent; the deals are great. Overall, we have no complaints about Friday’s, except for that one time we stopped in for a quick dinner. The place was less than half full, yet we stood near the front door and no one approached us. We looked to the left and there, sitting in a section closed to customers, was the hostess, the greeter, whatever they call the person who is supposed to seat guests. She saw us, but she was busy folding silverware into napkins. She kept at this for a few minutes before she stopped and come over to seat us. And yes, she apologized for the wait, but seriously, what’s higher on the food chain? Folding napkins or greeting guests?

In tough economic times your staff needs to be more productive. We've said that a million times, but we also preach priorities: Customers first, tasks second. Here’s the deal: If you are not absolutely clear about how this customers first thing works, your staff will decide their own priorities. And those priorities just might be completing assigned tasks first, taking care of customers second. And that ain’t good.

Flash forward two days after dinner at Friday’s. We walk into a McDonald's. There are two customers at the counter waiting to order and four associates behind the counter, standing by the drive-thru window, in deep conversation, with no desire to be disturbed. The man ahead of us waved to them, they saw him (and the rest of us), but pretended that they didn’t. You’ve been there, right?

We decided to leave and head out to Culver’s, another joint that sells burgers. But once inside, we sense something different: Culver's isn't just another fast food restaurant; it’s more like a Disneyland that sells food. It’s a happy place!

Here, we approach the counter and the three associates behind the counter all smile, grinning from ear to ear, like they’re really glad to see us. They each say hello and in unison offer to help us. We turn around to see if there's some celebrity behind us, but it’s just the two of us they're happy to see. We place our order, grab our Coke’s and find a table. At Culver's you don't have to hang around the counter waiting for your food; they bring it to your table.

During our meal, another smiling associate stopped by, offering free samples of their featured frozen custard. Sold! We’ll take two. And when we were finished yet another smiling associate cleaned our table. No trips to the trash can for Culver’s customers.

Okay, so aside for this post being an ad for Culver’s, what’s the point about our experience? Easy. The next time you’re hungry for a burger, forgo your usual restaurant and stop in at a Culver’s. Sit back and watch how they make their customers feel welcome and important. We absolutely guarantee you will find a number of things to take back and tweak for your own store. It doesn’t matter which Culver’s franchise you are in, you’ll find the same great customer care. It’s just the Culver way. It should be your way as well.

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It doesn't take a genius ...

2009-11-05T12:49:00.006-06:00

Sometimes we pose as customers and sometimes we actually are customers. For Rich, this was one of those “I really am a customer” times.

Apple stores are cool; and so are their products. We can spend a lot of time in them, when we have a lot of time. This was not the case on this particular trip. Rich was in the market for a glare shield for his iPhone, but he didn’t have much time to spare.

So he stopped in the new Apple store near his home. He was met by a young lady, the store’s official Greeter, who asked if she could help. Rich said, "Yes, I need a glare shield for my iPhone."

The Greeter processed his request and immediately began speaking into her high tech device: "Evelyn? Can you hear me?" Evelyn responded with a yes. Rich knew this because he could clearly hear her – she was standing less than six feet from him. The two Apple associates looked directly at one another and continued their conversation via their high tech devices.

"Evelyn, I have a gentleman here looking for a glare shield for his iPhone. Can you help him?" Again, Evelyn replied with a yes, followed by "Send him over to me."

Okay ... are you getting that Rich was listening to the two of them talking to one another in their normal tone of voice? They were so close he didn't even need a high tech device of his own. He’s standing there thinking how weird this whole thing is, wondering of he’s on MTV’s Punked, and he’s laughing to himself. Okay, maybe this is just the Apple way.

But it gets better.

The Greeter points Rich to Evelyn (as if he didn't already know who and where she was; she’s now standing about an arms length away from him). He reaches Evelyn in a nano second. She blinks at him, confused. He says, “I'm the guy looking for a glare shield for my iPhone." "Oh!”, she says, “It's you!" Come on, Rich is thinking. You just saw me a few feet away, talking with the Greeter. Of course it's me. Evelyn escorts him to the iPhone accessories wall and quickly points out the item he needs.

Perfect! But just like every other shopper, Rich doesn’t have a lot of time. He whips out his credit card and offers it to Evelyn, who says, "Oh no, not me; you’ll have to find one of the people with a black holster on their belt to pay. I’m just the concierge." Rich thinks, “What? I will have to FIND someone? Why do I have to find someone? Why can’t they find me?” Or better yet, where’s the cashier?

Rich looks around the busy store. He sees a few of the holster-toting “Apple Geniuses” running around. (Yep, that’s really what they’re called.) All the Geniuses are busy with customers who have made appointments to see them. Rich stops one and says, “Can you please ring this up for me? I’m kind of in a hurry." The Genius says, "Sorry, I’m busy with a customer right now. Please wait until one of us is available. It will probably be five to ten," and walks away.

No, he won’t wait “five to ten”; he can't wait “five to ten”, so Rich put the glare shield down and walked out of the store.

Here’s the thing: we can understand that the Apple Geniuses are busy with more important things than ringing up a glare shield, but really, isn’t Apple smart enough to figure out how to accommodate customers who need to make a quick purchase and don't need a Genius to tell them how it works?

Isn't that what customer service sensitivity is all about? Why can’t the Apple concierges be trained to ring up a sale? When faced with a customer request, concierges in the finest hotels respond with, “It would be my pleasure." Not, “You’ll have to find one of the people with a black holster on their belt to pay.”

Look, we don't care who you are or what you do, don't ever forget this very important service rule: When it comes to customer service, it is the customer's definition that counts, not yours.

It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out.

50 Ideas to Increase Store Sales!

2009-11-04T16:43:00.005-06:00

This article ran this morning in Nancy Nally's Scrapbook Update. ( http://www.scrapbookupdate.com ) Response was overwhelming so we thought we'd run it here, too. There were also some interesting comments from consumers as well:

"Hello! I just had to write after reading today's Scrapbook Update! This article is AWESOME! I was amazed to see it includes the #1 reason (in my opinion) Independent Scrapbooking and NeedleArts shops close in our area ... #14 store hours. Every time a LSS or LNS changes their hours to some strange new format we know they are headed out. None of them take into consideration the people who would shop their stores after work or on weekends and actually close before 5pm and take 3 day weekends (Sat., Sun. & Mon.) and don't open until 10or 10:30 in the morning. It seems like it would be a common sense issue - be open when people can shop - but it is the main reason every single local independent shop has closed. I mean, really, if the shop isn't open when I'm off work and can shop then I might as well purchase item xyz on the Internet and have it shipped directly to me. I printed this article out and will be saving it with my future plans for opening my own craft shop. Thank you so very much!"

And ...

"One thing that has always bugged me about scrap and stamp stores -- or any store actually -- is when you ask for an item or rave about something you saw in the magazines or another store out of town and the proprietor or other employed person says they don't carry it because its ugly or stupid or blah blah blah making you feel like your choices or ideas are less than good.

One store in my area did that several times to me and I stopped going. Guess who isn't in business anymore. I happen to think a stamp company without heads in the images is sorta dumb but others love them. I would never deny the buyers that chance to purchase but would love to know why a stamp company I love and have purchased online at least a dozen times is not available locally because the owner says they are ugly but the online stores can't keep them in stock for a day? Ask the customers what they like instead of telling us what you don't like."

Read on for "50 Ideas to Increase Store Sales!"

It’s a busy retail world out there – every competitor wishes they had more customers. Actually, they wish they had YOUR customers. Keep competitors at bay and thrilling your customers with these easy-to-implement, customer-pleasing, traffic-building, sales-increasing ideas!

One the Sales Floor …

1. The customer’s first 10 seconds inside the store sets the tone for their entire shopping trip. What kind of first impression does your give? Check it daily.

2. Hang a bulletin board near your Decompression Zone (the first 5 – 15’ inside your front door). Post a store map, a list of this week’s sale items, Bag Stuffers, class calendar, special events, and other important information. In time, customers will stop at the bulletin board first to see what’s going on in the store.

3. Place Speed Bumps – small tabletop displays of product just beyond your Decompression Zone. Make these displays irresistible and easy to shop: customers are far more likely to buy if they are encouraged to pick up the product.

4. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires store aisles to be a minimum of 3.6’. Could a wheelchair bound customer easily maneuver your aisles? Can two customers comfortably shop in the same aisle?

5. Set your end features to sell! End features are meant to display promotional items; not to house everyday, basic merchandise. You need to plan what will go on your end features, so assign each one a number, and make a list of product each end feature will house each month. Take this calendar with you to trade shows and look for merchandise specials specifically for your end features.

6. Studies show that customers will spend 25% more in dollars, and up to 15 minutes longer in the store when they shop with a cart. Even if your store is tiny you can still offer customers a shopping cart. Visit BigBasketCo.com and check out their Basket Carts – they’re no wider that a typical shopping basket, but they sure help sell product.

7. Do not house shopping carts and/or baskets in the Decompression Zone because customers will walk right by them. Instead place them just past the DZ and in key locations throughout the store. Instruct associates to get a cart or basket for customers’ carrying product – once their hands are full they tend to stop shopping.

8. Implement a signing program. Signs serve a purpose – they act as silent sales people, helping customers until a real person is available to help. And unless handwritten signing is part of your store décor, don’t do it. Professional sign making software is available from a variety of suppliers, including Insignia Systems, Inc. ( www.insigniasystems.com )

Check Out the Checkouts

9. The wall directly behind your checkout counter is major selling space! Use it to display new items, hot buys, and impulse product.

10. Policy signing must be professionally done. Nuke the “No! No! No’s!” Write your policy signing in a positive voice: “We gladly accept returns and exchanges within _________ days. Your receipt guarantees it.”

11. Increase sales at the checkout with impulse item displays – your female customers can’t resist them!

12. Instruct associates not to hang out behind the checkout counter unless they are helping a customer. And when they are assigned the job of cashier, have them work on a project in-between customers.

13. Save the sale! Keep a stash of items that customers frequently forget at each checkout counter. Then when a shopper says, “I forgot to get __________. I’ll get it next time.”, the cashier can reach under the counter and hand the customer that item. Cashiers can be your best add-on sales associates!

Store Operations

14. Make sure that your store is open when your customers need to shop. This means before and after work, nights, and Sundays.

15. Decide how you want the telephone to be answered, and then let every associate know that’s the plan. The phone must be answered within three rings, customers are “connected” not “transferred”, customers are asked before being placed on-hold, and no one stays on-hold longer than 45 seconds.

16. Cross merchandise whenever and wherever possible. Visit Southern Imperial ( http://www.SouthernImperial.com ) for J-hooks, clip strips, power panels, and other inexpensive fixtures designed to help you sell more product.

17. Assign Category Captains. Their job includes making sure the shelves are full, the shelf space is optimized to avoid out of stocks, and that top sellers have been given enough facings.

18. Control your back stock. Make sure the product you are about to order is not already in your back room.

19. Create a Never Out Item List. Category Captains can check this list daily, and re-order product necessary.

20. Every item on your sales floor must be assigned a “home” that is identified with a bin ticket. If you do not use bin tickets your stock will not be organized and product could end up in several different places.

21. Ditch the dogs! Add a “sell by” date to price tags and bin tickets and markdown as necessary. Move product with special sales, grab bags, store-created kits, and “Last Chance” clearance dump displays.

Your “Things to Do” List

22. Do our 360 Degree Pass-By every, single day. Begin at the front door and walk the entire store – every aisle, nook, cranny, restroom, and service area. Note things that need to be attended to before the store opens for the day.

23. Are your windows set to sell? Window displays need to be refreshed as necessary and set to a new theme on a monthly basis.

24. Each morning create a Store Opening Checklist that outlines tasks that must be completed by the day crew.

25. Each afternoon create out a Store Closing Checklist. These are the things the closing team must accomplish before they leave for the night.

26. Set a daily sales quota for each person working that day. If it’s not written down, it’s not a goal. Your people will perform better if they know what’s expected of them.

27. Make time each day to quietly observe your customers. This daily exercise will help you come up with new ways to amp up the customer experience.

28. Host one MAJOR in-store event and two – three MINOR in-store events each month. Major events fill the store with shoppers; minor events limit the amount of participants. Think demos and classes.

Your Team

29. Hold a New Hire Orientation for each new associate. Let them know what’s expected and give them an assignment they can easily accomplish on the first day – this will boost their on the job self-esteem.

30. Implement our “7-Tile Rule™": Each time and associate comes within seven floor tiles – that’s seven feet – of a customer they must acknowledge that customer.

31. Don’t react to customer questions. Respond. When you react you tend to give a short, unfocused answer. But when you respond to a customer, you look them in the eye and really engage them in conversation.

32. Associates must also do a daily 360 Degree Pass-By. They need to know the products they sell, and where they are located in the store. Associates must also memorize the prices and locations of key items.

33. Unless the customer looks like they need help ASAP, never ask, “May I help you?” Talk about the customer’s kids, the weather, or local news – the best opening lines have nothing to do with the store. Schmooze a little before you talk about product.

34. Have associates carry product you don’t what customers to miss (or that you just can’t seem to move). After a little schmoose time, the associate can talk with the customer about the item.

35. Encourage every associate to practice add-on selling – the goal is to sell the primary item, plus additional merchandise. Ethically adding on to the sale actually strengthens customer relationships because it saves them time and money. If they forget a key item, and have to come back, they aren’t going to be very happy about it.

36. Do a monthly add-on selling exercise. Hold up an item and ask associates to shout out complementary they could add on to the original item. If they can’t come up with a complementary add-on they can always suggest a sale or value-priced item.

37. Each month ask associates to write three things they could do to exceed customer expectations. Implement their suggestions.

38. Reward associates when they do a good job. Programs like “Associate of the Month” and “Super Star of the Week” are great motivators IF they are well run. Have associates nominate one another and vote for the winner.

39. Be flexible with scheduling. According to a recent survey, 61% of working women would leave their current jobs if they were offered more flexible hours elsewhere.

40. Offer on-going education. Hold monthly in-store training classes, keep a library of books and DVDS, and ask vendors what they have available to help train your team.

41. Two words: Dress code. Every associate should be properly dressed to meet your customers. Even when you provide garments you still must be very specific about what is acceptable to wear to work and what is not.

Build a buzz about town

42. Pick an e-mail marketing company and send out monthly e-mail blasts. Send your blasts on the same day each month and customers will look forward to receiving them. We use EmailContact.com ( http://www.emailcontact.com )because it offers lots of templates and it’s easy to use.

43. Add a “Forward to Your Friend” link to every promotional and marketing e-mail message you send to customers.

44. Create a weekly Bag Stuffer and hand one to every single shopper. DO NOT pre-stuff them in your bags – they never get read if you do that! Some weeks use your Bag Stuffers to advertise specific product or events, other times create a monthly calendar that’s loaded with in-store goings-on.

45. Make a list of all the services and conveniences you provide and build a “Brag Sheet”. Print it on the back of your weekly Bag Stuffer, add it to your website and e-mail blasts. You can also turn it into a big sign to hang near the checkout counter. Soon you’ll begin to hear, “I didn’t know you did that!”

46. Watch QVC and HSN and the infomercials on television. Each time they feature a product that you sell, hang "Same As Seen on TV!" signs over that product in your store.

47. Make your own “radio” advertising campaign. Play it over the intercom system and it use it as your telephone on-hold message.

48. Contact local medias and pitch stories about your store, product lines, services, in-store events and promotions, charity events, your people, trips to trade shows, and more. 80 percent of the stories in local medias come from a press release, so send one for each legitimately newsworthy thing you do in your store.

49. Contact your trade associations and ask to put on their Reporter Referral List. Who knows? You just might end up on national TV!

50. Collect customer testimonials and add them to your e-mail blasts, newsletters, website, and other marketing materials. Customer quotes are also great additions to your in-store signing program. A customer testimonial is 10 – 20 times more powerful than what you have to say about yourself!

Send an e-mail to info@kizerandbender.com and put “50 Things” in the subject line, and we’ll send you the forms mentioned in this article, plus additional customizable templates and employee motivational tools to help you stimulate store sales!

http://www.kizerandbender.com . http://www.kizerandbender.blogspot.com

Best customer service EVER

2009-11-03T17:11:00.004-06:00

For the past few weeks we've had an issue with our toll-free number. It's been an exhaustive adventure trying to make things right. We've talked with ... ready? ... at least 10 people in 10 different departments of the phone company trying to get it straightened out. We've heard all kinds of nos and plenty of ideas on what might be done to fix the situation. Nothing ever panned out.

Until today.

Today we met Angela, whom we have named "AT&T's Angel of Long Distance". Around noon, Angela told us she'd do her best to help remedy the situation. At 5:10 Angela called to tell us that it was fixed. We were stunned. Know what she said when we thanked her? A modest, "You're welcome. Thank you for being our customer."

We may never meet Angela in person, but we certainly wish we could. We do hope that AT&T understands what a value she is to their company and rewards her accordingly.

This is the kind of customer service of which legends are made. And you'd better believe it's the kind of service that's destined to be told over and over in our Retail Adventures.

Thank you Angela, for delivering "out of the park" customer service!

You gotta have a gimmick...

2009-11-03T00:00:00.000-06:00

Legend has it that Ty Warner, the creator of Beanie Babies, used to drive to see his retail clients in a white Rolls-Royce convertible, wearing a knee-length fur coat and top hat, a gimmick he has said was calculated to make people curious about what he was selling. History has shown he was right.

That being the case, we can only hope that the young lady in the photo above works for Ty. But somehow we don't think that she does ...

The "What Were They Thinking?" Syndrome

2009-11-02T12:00:00.002-06:00

As we travel about visiting stores, we like to inquire about the things retailers are doing to attract and keep customers. No, not just to make a sale, we want to learn what they do to build a long-term customer base. This is so important in our “me, too” world where you have to fight to stand out.

We always hope we’ll hear exciting stories about in-store events, programs, customer partnerships, and the cool things associates did to help a customer. But what we usually hear are tales about last week’s ad versus this week’s ad, followed by what’s going to happen next week.

Don’t get us wrong: ad campaigns are important, critical in fact. But there’s a lot of advertising clutter and confusion out there. So much, in fact, that customers can become disinterested even bored with advertising messages. Some have even built up a resistance to marketing messages.

According to a study done by Yankelovich Partners, when people were asked what needed more government regulation, “advertising” ranked 4th, just behind “nuclear safety.” “Advertising” was followed by “water pollution,” “toxic waste,” and “air pollution.” When we read that, the Sesame Street game “One of These Things is Not Like the Others”, quickly came to mind.

Yet, we’d NEVER, EVER suggest that you stop advertising. If you consistently work to make strong emotional connections with your customers, then the likelihood of your message being read and accepted is good, and the word-of-mouth – now World-of-Mouth thanks to social medias – even better.

Unfortunately, we’ve seen even the greatest efforts derailed by the “What Were They Thinking?” Syndrome; an increasingly common malady that occurs when we neglect to connect emotionally with customers. That emotional connection causes a customer reaction: they actually look for your advertising messages and react. You may read this and think that connection isn’t really important, or perhaps just a waste of time, but you would be wrong. In fact, if you think that way then we only have one word for you: retirement. We all stumble at one time or another, but if you have that mindset, your customers may not be there to help you get back up.

Consider this:

• We received an e-mail from a consumer who had to jump through so many hoops to return a $9 item that she exploded in anger. The transaction took almost 10 minutes as the cashier questioned the customer about the return. This wasn’t a “serial returner” abusing store policy, the customer had paid cash, had her receipt in hand, and was well within in the time frame the store’s return policy dictated for a return, yet she was quizzed about the reason for the return until she was pushed to her limit. What was the point and … What Were They Thinking?

• Many customers have complained about a retailer’s corporate policy that requires customers to divulge personal information, including home telephone number, before the transaction can be completed, even when paying in cash. A policy no doubt written by someone who has never worked in a store. It actually got so bad that, rather than offend customers, store associates would use telephone numbers picked randomly from the local telephone book so they could complete the sale.

We remember stopping in one of these stores to pick up an item and paying by check. We happened to notice that the cashier was inputting Rich’s entire driver’s license into the computer. When we asked what she was doing she said, “I have to type in everything on the front of your driver’s license. It’s corporate policy.” What did Rich’s height and weight have to do with anything? Guess what? No sale! We voided the transaction and went to their competitor … What Were They Thinking?

• Two employees at the Evansville, Indiana, Wal-Mart were just following a manager’s orders when they shot and killed a stray cat that had been living in a storage trailer behind the store. Both were charged with federal animal cruelty. As you would expect, the folks in Bentonville, Arkansas, were outraged. Why didn’t the manager simply call animal control? An almost inconceivable case of What Were They Thinking?

Perhaps you’ve had a shaky moment or two in your own business. There will always be people working in stores and companies who do things that make us shake our heads in wonder. Fortunately, when you are willing to spend time with customers building those important emotional connections, no matter what consumers think about advertising in general, your customers will be back to shop in your store. And if you do happen to come upon a “What Were They Thinking?” moment occurring on your sales floor, don’t worry. That emotional connection you worked so hard to achieve will ensure that your customers will be there to help you recover.

COPYRIGHT KIZER & BENDER . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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Ghostly photos for a Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T00:00:00.000-05:00

Back by popular demand are the photos we took in St. Anthony's Garden, located behind the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, in 2004. The photos are from two consecutive frames taken with a 35mm camera. We still have no idea what that white mist is that begins to appear in the first photo, then makes its presence really known in the second.

Built in the 1700s, the St. Louis Cathedral is the oldest continuously operating cathedral in the United States. During Hurricane Katrina the trees in St. Anthony's Garden dislodged thirty feet of ornamental gate, but the marble statue of Jesus lost only a forefinger and a thumb. Locals say that the statue of Jesus sacrificed two fingers while flicking the storm away from the city, saving it from total destruction.

Last year Marilyn P. commented: "Pirates Alley is right next to the cathedral. There have been many ghostly sightings there. Maybe that's what's in your picture. (Insert ghostly howling here.)"

We think Marilyn just might be right ... Judge for yourself. And have a Happy Halloween!

PHOTOS COPYRIGHT KIZER & BENDER 2004

KIZER & BENDER interviewed on Popular Halloween pop-up stores

2009-10-30T00:00:00.001-05:00

We recently went “shopping” at several Halloween pop-up stores with James Fuller, a reporter for the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newspaper. The following is an excerpt from James’ article, "Popular Halloween pop-up stores help push for annual 'Halloweekend' "

“Spirit Halloween is one of the largest Halloween retailers with 725 locations across the country. But just being located on a main street doesn't necessarily equal success, as evidenced by all the previously empty storefronts pop-ups have found this year to move into.

Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender, a St. Charles-based retail consulting team, said pop-up stores like a local Spirit Halloween shop are prime examples of retail outlets who do nearly everything right as a matter of survival. In eight weeks, Halloween retails make 70 to 80 percent of their revenue for the entire year, they said. That's because when they open, Halloween pop-up stores often do far better business then even the major retail chains in the same strip malls.

"If you're willing to do 1 percent more than anybody else, you win the war," Kizer said, eyeballing a Spirit Halloween employee dressed as a penguin roaming a parking lot on Randall Road in Elgin. "This store has got to sell itself."

A big, bright neon-colored sign adorns the outside of the store. Inside, a mechanical ghoul crawls toward the front door, stopping customers in their tracks. Bender said that's a key ploy to keep customers in the store longer. The more time spent in the store, the more money a customer tends to spend. Indeed, the whole store is decorated with functioning, large yard displays of varying levels of terror and humor from animatronic slashers from well-known horror films ("Friday the 13th" and "Halloween") to your basic talking heads, er, skulls.

"What they are selling here is an experience," Bender said. "These displays are speed bumps to make you forget what you're here for."

Click to read the article in its entirety: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=332642

Holiday Merchandising 101

2009-10-29T11:34:00.000-05:00

Halloween is just a few days away and Holiday 2009 is right around the corner. Or maybe it began two months in your store. "Christmas Creep" -- setting the sales floor for the holidays -- is coming earlier and earlier these days. None the less, this is the best time of the year to be a retailer. We love to see stores are dressed for the holidays and displays brimming with product. We spend hours in stores watching customers come in with long lists, looking for the perfect gifts; and picking up a little something extra for themselves. Sales are brisk during the holidays and that’s a good thing.

We know that each and every one of you has a customer-attracting trick or two up your sleeves and we know that many of you are already in full-tilt holiday mode, but just in case you haven’t quite tackled that list of things to do to spin your doors this holiday season, there’s still time. Print this list and get busy:

* Step outside and consider your store front. Is the customer’s first impression clean and clear of debris? Are your window displays set for Christmas or are they pretty much the same as they were during back-to-school? Does your window signing properly represent your brand image? And have you set the appropriate amount of holiday décor throughout the store to put customers in a shopping mood?

* Stand just inside the front door. Customers should be immediately embraced by your store’s ambiance. Your sales floor should smell like the holidays. Visit http://www.scentair.com/ and order holiday scents ASAP. Or visit your local discounter and pick up scent diffusers in holiday flavors. Place them throughout the store – especially near the front door, so the fragrance immediately impacts customers just walking in. And if you sell candles, cross-merchandise a few on or near the checkout counters. If it smells, it sells!

Another part of your store’s ambiance embrace is music. The right music can actually make customers stay in the store longer and spend more money while they’re there. Choose fun music with a good beat, especially when the store is busy. We like disco – it’s the sound of money.

* Check your Decompression Zone, the first 5 to 10’ just inside your store’s front door. This is where shoppers refocus and collect themselves for the shopping ahead. They will miss anything you place in the Decompression Zone, so make sure this space is empty. Just beyond the DZ is where they begin shopping.

* Set your Speed Bump displays to sell. Place Speed Bumps – small fixtures or tables loaded with cool product – just beyond your Decompression Zone. Speed Bumps stop busy shoppers and redirect their focus to your merchandise. Your Speed Bump displays work just like the ones in the parking lot: they make you slow down and take notice.

* Shopping Carts and Baskets. Know why the Wal-Mart greeter offers customers a shopping cart when they walk in the front door? Because customers will spend 25% more than they originally intended to spend, and up to 15 minutes longer in the store.

Place carts and baskets just past the Decompression Zone. Baskets should be near the carts, and also throughout the store, so they are within reach when a customer decides she needs one. Encourage associates to watch for customers carrying product, then get them a cart ASAP. Studies show that customers stop shopping when their hands are full. And if you think your store’s too small for shopping carts, think again. And visit http://www.bigbasketco.com/ and checkout their “Basket Carts”.

* Plan Your Impulse Zones. A big percentage of purchases are unplanned. You know those tables department store merchants place in the aisles during the holidays? They’re called Merchandise Outposts and they’re used to entice customers to pick up product on impulse. You can use these outposts to in your own store to cross-merchandise and to display impulse items and high profit product. Each of your Impulse Zone displays should be reset as least once a week, more often if your store is heavily shopped. This sounds like a lot of work, but it’s not: simply moving items from one Impulse Zone to another makes the product look brand new to shoppers.

* Set your End Features to sell with product customers simply have to have: great new items, hot deals, and value buys. Try to display three items or less per end feature, and use Vertical Merchandising – product displayed in vertical rows – as your primary display technique. Vertical Merchandising exposes customers to a greater variety of merchandise at every eye level. When shoppers see more, they tend to buy more.

* Cross-Merchandise everywhere you can. Cross-merchandising displays complementary product together, saving shoppers time by making it easy to visualize how the items will work together. Cross-merchandise items on clip-strips throughout the store and you’ll encourage add-on purchases and increase your average sale. It’s frustrating for customers to have to make a trip back to the store because they forgot a critical component necessary to complete a project. Cross-merchandise and you both win. Clip-strips and other cross-merchandising fixtures and accessories are available here: http://www.southernimperial.com

* Highlight Gift Cards with carefully placed in-store signing, and encourage store associates to talk them up. Gift card sales are on the rise; that’s good because they bring customers to your store. Studies show that 80 percent of customers spend more than face value of the gift card, and 40 percent of customers spend more than twice the face value of the card. You can’t lose!

* Encourage Impulse Buying at the Checkout Counter. Your check out counters should be loaded up with product customers just can’t pass up. Put the wall behind your checkout counter to work with a fabulous display of gift items. You may even want to set up a Merchandise Outpost within eyeball distance of the checkout; then customers can continue to shop while they wait on line to pay for their purchases.

We wish the strong December sales lasted all year long, but they don’t – you only have a limited time to make your Golden Quarter golden. You have to take advantage of the gift-buying frenzy while you can, so take this checklist out to your sales floor and do a complete walk-thru. Note which areas to change, set your priorities and get to work.

http://www.kizerandbender.com . http://www.kizerandbender.blogspot.com

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Turning Lions into Lambs

2009-10-26T20:30:00.000-05:00

It's getting to be that time of year: Stressed out shoppers, returns and exchanges, and just plain unhappy customers. You know the drill: You smile as you unlock the front door of your store ready to greet the hordes of happy customers who will visit you today. Then reality hits you smack in the face when a cheesed off customer demands satisfaction.

Welcome to Retailing in the new millennium. Everybody’s in a bad mood.

We are a product of the world that we live in. We’re all time-starved and stressed-out. Mom’s working, Dad’s working, the kid’s are in day care, the bigger one’s are in school. At the end of the work day it’s a mad rush to get Suzie to Girl Scouts and Timmy to basketball. Never mind that you’re tired, you still have to make dinner and do laundry, not to mention help the kid’s with their homework before you can finally relax. No wonder we’re cranky.

The thing is those cranky customers can be anyone – we’ve all been not-so-nice customers at one time or another. Most are just nice people who are having a really bad day – you just happen to be the one they decide to take their frustrations out on. If you’re in the retail business then unhappy customers are a daily fact of life. When faced with one you can choose to react or to respond. If you merely react, the customer will most likely stay unhappy. But if you choose to respond in a concerned and professional manner you can turn that lion of a customer into a loyal lamb.

Understand that an angry customer may be reacting to what he or she imagines will happen when they present you with a problem. This is part of the emotional baggage every customer brings with them to your store. We’ve all faced snarling store associates who treat customers like the enemy – if a customer has had a bad experience in one of your competitor’s stores, it’s easy to see why they might think they will have a similar experience in yours.

That being said, if the customer is a complete jerk, do yourself a big favor and get him/her off of the sales floor and into an area where you can speak privately. If you stay on the sales floor, where other customers can watch, you’d better be prepared to deliver service perfection, because how you respond will be the topic of the day among customers and associates alike.

If the customer is abusive or is using foul language say, “Sir/Madame: I am going to help you, but I cannot help you if you continue to speak to me like that.” If the customer calms down, continue with the steps below to solve their problem. But if the customer continues to berate you, it is perfectly okay to say, “I really do want to help you but I need you to calm down. If you do so I can help you now, otherwise we will have to do this another time.” You can also try politely turning the customer over to another associate. Under “normal” circumstances the following five steps should do the trick:

1. Allow the customer to get the problem off of his chest.

Let’s say a customer brings you a problem you can fix in two seconds flat. Resist the urge to save the day, instead let the customer blow off steam.

When a customer is unhappy about something, he has a tendency to rehearse what he’s going to say over and over and over on the way to your store. By the time he gets there, his anger is at its peak. If you try to fix the problem without first letting the customer vent, he is likely to wait for a break in the conversation and begin to tell his story all over again. So …

* Offer your hand and introduce yourself. Using the customer’s name tends to have a calming effect.

* Listen carefully and attentively to the customer’s entire story and don’t interrupt! Stay calm – you set the tome for the rest of the conversation.

* Apologize, even if you are not the cause of the problem. This shows the customer you are on their side. If you say, “Gee, this is a great product. We’ve never had this happen before.” The customer hears, “You moron. Didn’t you read the directions?” Instead say, “I am so sorry that you are upset. Let me see what I can do to solve this problem.” Or “I am really sorry this happened to you. I can understand why you are frustrated.”

2. Ask lots of questions to help determine what you should do next.

When you ask questions people think you care about them, and they will respond more positively. Ask the customer Open-Ended Questions that cannot be answered by a simple “yes” or “no”. You might say, “When did you first notice this problem?”

Open-ended questions require the customer to talk – and that’s a good thing – because the talking helps the customer to slow down and refocus. Smile, make eye contact, and nod as the customer tells his story.

3. Ask the customer what they would like you to do for them.

We witnessed a heated exchange between a store manager and a customer who was trying to return a defective shop vacuum. The stone-faced manager was too busy defending his product to focus on the customer. The manager wasn’t giving an inch, and the customer looked like she was ready to throw the vacuum through the window. Finally, in a sarcastic tone of voice, the manager asked the customer what she’d like him to do. She sighed, and replied that she wanted to exchange the defective vacuum for one that worked. The manager was taken aback. What did he expect she was going to ask for? His first born child?

Most customers are not unreasonable; they just want you to fix the problem. Ask, “What would you like me to do for you today?” Then tell the customer exactly what you are going to do on their behalf.

Take responsibility: If it’s a problem you can fix on the spot, fix it. If the problem will require further action on your part, then explain which steps you will take, and tell the customer when you will get back to them. And make sure that you follow through!

4. Go a step further and “Do one more thing” for the customer.

That “one more thing” is an olive branch that you offer in good faith. It doesn’t matter what you offer, it’s the gesture that counts.

A $5.00 gift certificate (80% of all gift certificates are redeemed for more than the face value; 40% of all gift certificates are redeemed for TWICE the face value so you can’t lose); a free class or free crop; or even an inexpensive gift, such as a small photo frame, will work wonders.

5. Follow up to make sure the customer is satisfied.

According to The Technical Assistance Research Programs Institute (TARP), up to 70% of unhappy customers will do business with you again, and up to 95% will return if you fix the problem quickly. It’s to your benefit to follow-up. A simple telephone call or handwritten note will do the trick.

You may also want to keep a file on what happened, and what you did to take care of the customer. Email us for a free copy of our Super Quick Service Response to help you keep track.

Don’t take it personally! Sometimes that’s easier said than done, but remember you are not the cause of the customer’s frustration – don’t expect to win them all. Do your best not to let an angry customer ruin your entire day or affect the next customer.

Make sure that everyone in your organization understands how to work with an unhappy customer. Why not hold a staff meeting using this article as the agenda? Ask your associates to think of a situation they had with an unhappy customer. Ask what they did to solve the problem. Then ask if anyone has a suggestion on what the associate could have done differently. You might want to think up some off-the-wall scenarios of your own, and see how your associates solve them. Ask one associate to be the customer, and another to be the associate. Role play is a great way to get the point across.

Customers don’t expect you to be perfect, but they do expect you to fix things when they go wrong. Solving their problems is proof that your store is a trusted partner. It’s that trust that will keep them coming back for more.

http://www.kizerandbender.com http://www.kizerandbender.blogspot.com

Adventures in Experiential Retailing: The Pintchik Oracle

2009-10-19T20:12:00.000-05:00

A brilliant marketing technique we wish we’d thought of first…

“On a broad patch of sidewalk at the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Bergen Street, across from Yummy Taco, an old-fashioned wooden box telephone materialized recently. The phone, which is mounted on a metal stand, as if it were a floor lamp, has brass ringer bells, a wooden receiver on one side, and a crank on the other. On the dial is written “The Pintchik Oracle,” and, below that, a psychedelic sticker asks, 'Do you have a question? Don’t be afraid and speak clearly. Say your name, ask a question.'

If you stop and stare at the phone for a while, some passerby is bound to start laughing at you, at which point the thing to do is to look over at Pintchik’s Hardware and then turn your gaze upward. Spanning twenty feet of the store’s yellow-painted brick façade is a black electronic billboard, across which red letters zoom like Space Invaders. 'WASSUP BABY?' the sign says. The Pintchik Oracle has spoken …

One afternoon last week, a young woman with bobbed brown hair approached, walking slowly. An easy target.

Olsher: Excuse me, would you like to ask the Oracle a question?

Woman: Oracle? What oracle?

Olsher: The Oracle is this electronic sign on the wall that knows all. See?

Woman: O.K. What should I be when I grow up?

Oracle: That’s a question for Dr. Phil. What do you do?

Woman: I used to be a dancer.

Oracle: You have a dancer’s body.

Woman: Who’s doing this?

Oracle: I will hum if you will dance.

Olsher: I think the Oracle is coming on to you.

Oracle: It’s safe. I’m just an electronic sign. And I use surge protection.

Woman: That’s horrible. What if someone sees what you’re saying!

Oracle: Nobody ever pays attention!”

Excerpted from the New York Times article “Man Behind Curtain Dept. Oracle on Flatbush
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/11/03/031103ta_talk_schillinger

An article in the U.K.'s The Guardian notes that “Pintchik Hardware’s owner, Matthew Pintchik, refuses to take any credit for the oracle’s arrival in Brooklyn. ‘You know,’ he says, deadpan, ‘we’re this crazy hardware store that’s been around for 95 years, and the oracle has been around for thousands of years, and we were just blessed that the oracle appeared on our building. We don’t know why it’s here. It’s a phenomenon. We just accept it.’”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1790177,00.html

We’ve known Matt for years and we’ve always been big fans of his cool, unusual, and off-the-wall in-store events and promotions. His store is just plain fun -- and you know what the survey says about fun:

"78 percent of SATISFIED customers will go somewhere else to shop if that somewhere else is more fun."

So, the next time you're in NYC, catch a cab to Brooklyn and head out to Pintchik's Ace Hardware. If you're lucky the Pintchik Oracle will be on duty. And while you're there ask Matt if you can sing karaoke. Trust us, it's a good time ...

Dude, you’ve been airlined. Again.

2009-10-12T12:34:00.007-05:00

We’re going to learn a new verb today class: Airlined.

We’ve been airlined lately and we’re not happy about it. We’ve had it with airline surcharges. We bet you are, too.

First we were nailed with fuel surcharges on flights. The cost of flying was going up, so the cost to the customer was raised to offset the expense and to protect profit margin. Then the slippery slope got even slipperier: now you’re gonna have to pay for your bags. The first one might be free, but you’ll going to have to fork over $15 for the second one. Preserve the bottom line!

But it gets even better!

Birds of a feather flock together, so most airlines have implemented a bag charge. You know there had to be some great conversations in airline boardrooms: “Listen, if passengers are willing to pay for the second piece of luggage, why don’t we nail them on the first?!” And just like the banking industry did with ATM fees, the customer gets shafted – airlined – again.

But it gets even better!

Food on flights is a thing of the past, and on some airlines, so are blankets and pillows. “Do you have any idea what it costs to clean those pillows and blankets once a year?”

But it gets even better!

You want an exit row? That’s an additional 40 bucks. If you plan to travel on any of the traditionally busiest days of the year – think Thanksgiving and Christmas – that “let’s surcharge them!” mentality kicks in once again: add at least another $10 per flight for the privilege.

But it gets even better!

A Japanese airline now requests that passengers visit the bathroom before boarding the plane. Awww geez Mom. I don’t have to go! It’s supposed to make for a “greener flight”, but we think it’s really about the lesser amount of fuel burned because passengers weigh less when they get on the plane. All together now! “Use the john before you get on!” Next up, a toilet charge for an in-flight potty break …

All these up charges and surcharges add millions of dollars of added revenue, one little screw at a time. Hyper-critical? Maybe. Tongue in cheek? Yep. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all could offset any increase in doing business by immediately passing it on to the customer? How much better would your business be if you didn’t have to re-examine how to conserve, save, and best utilize every asset you have? Seems to us the airline industry could learn a lot about creative associate involvement, company pride, and customer service as a competitive strength from the people reading this blog.

Come to think about it, maybe you can airline your customers, too. Charge them an entrance fee. Hey, price stickers are expensive; let’s add a ten cent charge for every item purchased. You want a bag? No problem: that’ll be twelve cents per bag; twenty five cents for one with a handle. The opportunities are endless, right? Wrong. You can’t airline your customers, you don’t live in that world. You’d lose customers because they have too many choices. You have to be responsible and look at what makes you better than the competition; the things that make a customer choose your store first.

Southwest Airlines stands alone as the only airline that’s made a decision to focus on the same things that you focus on to keep customers coming back for more: nice people to do business with, fair prices and outstanding customer care. And isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?

Ten Ways to Jump Start Your Business!

2009-10-04T11:49:00.005-05:00

Face it: the rules of retailing have changed a lot lately; mostly because of the economy and your changing customers. Each year you tell yourself that next year you'll get organized and be better prepared; that you'll become more customer-focused, and determined to make this your banner year. You tell yourself that success is just around the corner. Well guess what? It can be! Each year we look at what the "best of the best" in business do very well. Check it out these 10 strategies:

1) Study Last Year's Performance. Take a look at where your business was at this time last year and where it is now. What commitments have you made to grow your business? What worked for you? What didn't? What will you change and focus on in the coming year? Make a list-call it your "Strategic Plan of Action" and refer to it all year long.

2) Strengthen Your Relationships. Every retailer should have blank note cards with their store's logo and address printed on the front. Use them to send thank-you notes to four customers everyday to simply to thank them for their business. When you hear that a friend or colleague has done something exciting, drop them a note of congratulations. Telephone someone that has helped you somewhere along the line. In other words, spend at least 10 minutes each day acknowledging the people that help make you a success.

3) Continue Your Education. Take a course at your local community college. Go to the business seminars offered in your area and at the trade shows you attend. Pick a topic that interests you and listen to CDs while in your car. Continuing your education is an investment in yourself and your business.

4) Form a Network. Look for the opportunity to work with other people in your industry. If such a network doesn't already exist, then form one. Networking provides a wonderful opportunity to spend time with people that face the same challenges as you do. Think of the disappointments you might have been able to avoid if you'd only been able to discuss your ideas and ambitions with someone who has already experienced those same growing pains.

5) Develop a Trademark. If you asked any of your customers what you're best known for, what would they say? More importantly, would they say anything at all? Pick one thing that you want to be well known for and then use it! Include your "trademark" on all of your advertising and promotional pieces, use it in your store signing, on your business cards and on your stationery – everywhere you can. In no time, your store and your specialty will be highly recognizable and that's exactly what you want!

6) Build Sweat Equity. Every time you sell something you're provided with the opportunity to become even more involved with your customers. We call that extra involvement "Sweat Equity." Sweat Equity might mean calling the customer after the transaction to inquire about how the item purchased worked in their home, or it could mean traveling to a customer's house to provide custom work. Sweat Equity can be as simple as writing a folksy newsletter involving your customers and their love of your store. Sweat equity draws your customers closer to your store by nurturing and strengthening important customer relationships.

7) Study Your Competition. Identify your competition and learn everything that you can about them. Visit their stores as a retailer and as a customer. Keep up with them via Google Alerts. Get a new e-mail address from Yahoo or Gmail and sign up for their newsletters and e-mail blasts. Get on their snail lists, attend their special events. How does your competition rate when compared to your store? What happens when a customer enters their store, calls them on the telephone or visits their website? Find out what their typical customer experience is like and then you do it better.

8) Change Your Store's Perception. Once you've found out all about your competition, then it's time to focus on your own store. Remember that you are what you are perceived to be whether you like it or not. Reality is a myth, today the customer's perceived reality is what really counts.

Take this reality test: Grab a legal pad and pencil, start at the front door of your store and write down everything that looks bad or would make a negative impression on a customer. Do this throughout the entire store (Yep, even in the bathrooms!). Then ask your newest store associate to do the same exercise. You'll probably fill two pages, your associate will fill four to six pages. Prioritize what needs to change and go for it! Your customers will notice your efforts and their perception will improve.

9) Set Written Standards of Operation. Standards are your measurement of operation. Each of the successful retailers that we've encountered has WRITTEN standards of operation in areas that include customer service, training, associate appearance, and customer policies. Standards add consistency to already successful businesses, and add success to those seeking it.

10) Thank Your Customers. It's great to be a retailer and its fun to be able to do the things that you love, but it's important to remember that customers are the reason you are in business. Take time everyday to do something for them. Send a flyer announcing new product or your next event; create an e-mail blast or newsletter that keeps them up-to-date on your latest in-store adventures. Drop an occasional note or pick up the telephone and call a few. Do whatever it takes to keep your customers your customers. The most successful retailers that we know never lose sight of their customers or of what their customers expect from their store.

COPYRIGHT KIZER & BENDER . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Rich Kizer & Georganne Bender . KIZER & BENDER Speaking!
Keynotes . Seminars . Consulting . Store Design
103 North 11th Avenue . Suite 206 . St. Charles, Illinois 60174
630.513.8020 . 24/7 Mobile Hotline: 708.347.2682 . Fax: 630.513.8098

http://www.kizerandbender.com . http://www.kizerandbender.blogspot.com

Six Steps to a Great Christmas

2009-10-01T13:43:00.004-05:00

We have been on the road non-stop for the past 10 days so our posting has not been as often as we'd like. We're back and ready to blog! Here's a little something to get you thinking about the holidays ...

Six Steps to a Great Christmas

Even if you're already made a list and checked it twice, heed this savvy holiday advice:

EVENTS ARE ESSENTIAL. Customers need a reason to visit your store. Plan on having at least one major and two minor in-store events every week in November and December.

ROTATION DEVICES. Perception is everything! Move the displays and fixtures at the front of your store every Monday, so customers think they're seeing new products every week.

MAKE A LIST OF GREAT GIFTS. Create a top 10 list of great gifts. Have copies to hand out, feature the items on your web site, in your advertisements and promotions, and make sure staff know them off-by-heart.

THE BUDDY SYSTEM. Pair each new hire and temporary staffer with a veteran who can mentor them throughout their holiday employment.

POLICY DECISIONS. Post your return and exchange policy behind the counter, on your web site and on any promotion materials. Also, decide how and where holiday returns will be processed: at the checkout or at a separate table.

A MARKDOWN MANNER. Plan now for your post-holiday markdowns. Determine how much each item will be marked down, what signage you'll use and how and where it will be displayed.

This is just the beginning of great ideas to spin the doors on your store this Holiday season. Keep checking back for more! Better yet, add your e-mail address to our RSS feed or sign up to have our blog updates sent directly to your e-mail box. You'll find the links on the left-hand side of this blog. You can also get our daily updates on Twitter: http://twitter.com/kizerandbender

Q&A: How to get rid of old merchandise

2009-09-23T09:24:00.003-05:00

A retailer asks: “We always love hearing from you. You are full of great ideas for marketing. However, one thing has us stumped. We continue to have sales and specials, but still have many "old or unwanted products" to unload. Can you give us some creative ideas on how to do that?”

Sure can! Every store needs a well-signed area near the back of the store that’s the official home for clearance merchandise. It’s located at the back of the store because you want shoppers to walk through regular-priced merchandised to get to it. When clearance product does not move, it usually means your mark downs are not deep enough (note: your first markdown should always be the deepest) or customers just aren’t aware it’s there. It’s also a good idea to move this product to the front of the store from time to time. Throw it in a dump bin or on a table on a busy weekend or during another in-store event.

Here are a few retailer-tested ideas to help move old product:

“Got Game?”: If a product or product line is not selling try an in-store demonstration. Add in a sales game for your store associates; post a tally sheet at the checkout (away from customers’ eyes) so associates can keep track of how many items they sell. Each product demonstrated and sold is worth a point. Whoever has the most points at the end of the contest wins a prize. You’ll start a friendly competition, get rid of old merchandise, and have fun all at the same time!

Ugly Dog Contest: Go through your store and pick out all the “ugly stuff” that you just can’t seem to sell. Put an assortment of these items in brown paper bags and sell these “Ugly Dog” kits to customers for $5. The deal is they have to make something out of what’s in the bag, plus whatever else they want to add. They don’t have to actually make an ugly dog – that moniker refers to the stuff in the bag.

The retailer who ran this event had 42 entries in her “Ugly Dog” contest – amazing creations the retailer hung throughout her store. Other customers voted for their favorite and the winner won a $50 store gift certificate. The contest even made the papers because the retailer donated a portion of sales to the local animal shelter.

Here’s another idea: Partner with your local animal shelter. Kick off the contest with a pet adoption day at your store. You’ll attract more people, sell more Ugly Dog kits and some four-legged friends will find new homes.

A retailer ran a Clearance Bag Sale, offering shopping bags in three different sizes. Customers could choose a $15 bag, $25 bag or $35 bag to fill with sale items. Some shoppers started out with a $15 bag, but quickly traded up to the $35 bag when they saw the selection of sale items. It was a happy pandemonium as shoppers’ filled bag after bag. The retailer cleaned house, her customers got a good deal, and her store launched another great annual event. This is a good event to run on the day after Christmas.

“Monthly Challenge”: Create your own kits from a collection of slow-moving product. Participants pay $3 for the kit and must create a project using some of everything in the kit. Display the projects throughout the store for a two week period, with the winner selected by popular vote. The winner receives a prize along with the honor that comes from designing a cool new project. Make this a quarterly event.

Hold a Yard Sale where participating customers can “sell” the product they had to have, but never used, plus gently used supplies. Set up tables throughout your store or in the parking lot. Sales are translated into store credit. Build a buzz about town with e-mail blasts, in-store signage and Bag Stuffers. Encourage each participant to advertise their participation in church bulletins, neighborhood newsletters, and community publications. And make sure that your store is open for business during the entire event!

Just remember that no matter how much you love it, merchandise, unlike fine wine; does not get better with time. You should know when each product in your store was received because this will help you identify slow-sellers or those items that are dead on the shelves. If you can, then you are ahead of the game. If you can’t here’s an easy fix:

Add a code to the product labels and/or bin tickets that tell you how old the merchandise is. Here's a trick: Write the date of receipt on the bin ticket in reverse - 09/30/09, for example, would be 900390.

Search this blog -- the search box is located in the upper left hand corner -- for even more sales-building ideas!

http://www.kizerandbender.com . http://www.kizerandbender.blogspot.com

Affluent shoppers more likely to be heavy coupon users

2009-09-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

From http://www.RetailCustomerExperience.com

Nielsen: Affluent shoppers more likely to be heavy coupon users

In today's economy, more U.S. consumers are using coupons when purchasing consumer packaged goods (CPG) items with 1.6 billion coupons redeemed in the first half of 2009, up 23 percent from last year. But which consumers are using coupons? According to new research from The Nielsen Company:

More affluent consumers ($70k+) are considered super heavy coupon users (39 percent compared to 35 percent for total U.S. households) and coupon enthusiasts (42 percent compared to 35 percent for total U.S. households.)

Other serious coupon users include those from large households, those households with female heads age 54 and younger, as well as consumers living in affluent suburban and comfortable country spreads.

Those likely to be low or non-coupon users: low-income, one-member households, male-only head of households, African-Americans and Hispanic consumers, residents in rural and struggling urban areas.

The largest groups of coupon users are the super low and low users, accounting for 31 percent of households. Just under one-third (32 percent) of all U.S. households didn`t use any coupons during the first half of 2009.

The recession drove heavier coupon usage as lighter coupon users in 2008 became heavier users in 2009.

Consumers show stronger coupon use in edible departments and this is particularly true among the coupon enthusiasts, with 85 percent of their coupon unit purchases in edible departments (compared to 80 percent for total coupon users) and 15 percent of coupon unit purchases in non-food and health and beauty (vs. 20 percent for total coupon users).

"With more consumers looking for value and savings and CPG retailers and manufacturers collaborating to enable easier coupon access, coupons are back in vogue," said Todd Hale, senior vice president, Consumer & Shopper Insights, The Nielsen Company. "It's important for manufacturers and retailers to understand who is using coupons and how frequently. For example, while some might think that the fervent coupon clippers are only interested in a good deal, our research shows that this was the only group to show an increase in overall purchases, with or without a coupon, suggesting real benefits to companies deploying coupons in their marketing mix."

© 2009 NetWorld Alliance LLC. All rights reserved.

____________________________________________________

KIZER & BENDER: Plenty of retailers are sending coupons and savings passes in e-mail blasts like never before. And the good news is that customers are redeeming them. So if coupons are important to shoppers, then it’s important for you to include coupons in your marketing, events and promotions.

We’ve created promotion called “Create Your Own Coupon Sale” that allows customers to choose which items they want to save on. Drop us an e-mail if you’d like our free, customizable coupon template and how-to run the event instructions.

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On this Spetember 11

2009-09-11T00:00:00.001-05:00

Remembering you is easy – we do it every day.
It's the heartache of losing you that never goes away.

September 11, 2001. We must never, ever forget.

Listen To Your Customers, They're Smarter Than You!

2009-09-09T16:28:00.005-05:00

A wise merchant once told us to "Listen to your customers because they're smarter than you." Another pointed out that the same letters that form the word LISTEN and spell SILENT, and that you cannot listen when your mouth is open. So we listen, and over the years, we've learned that consumers have issues with retail stores, and that retailers do not always step up to address those issues. Some retailers operate in their own world, never stopping to ask customers for their opinions. That's a dangerous precedent in a market where there are thousands of other retailers, Internet sites, catalogs, and TV merchants out there who are more than willing to form a partnership with customers.

To avoid this trap, we recommend that 20% of your marketing budget be spent listening to, and acquiring information, from your customers. You can do this in several ways:

Consumer Focus Groups: Invite 15 customers to participate in your focus group, but set the room for 8 - 10. It's always better to have to bring in extra chairs than to have empty ones – it makes your meeting seem even more important. You can hold your focus group in your store or off-site. Either way, you will need someone to mediate because it will be tough for you to be objective. Compared to some focus groups we observed, ours or more conversational and laid back. Participants relax and are more willing to share their opinions; our focus groups often last long beyond the allotted 90 minutes.

* Put together a list of questions in advance but be ready to venture off-course; and be prepared to redirect the discussion back to the topic at hand.

* It's a good idea to record or video tape your focus group. We use a voice recorder that sits in the center of the table. We also set up a video recorder in a discreet corner of the room.

* You will need to have a sign-up sheet and a form participants sign after receiving their thank you gift. Drop us an e-mail us at info@kizerandbender.com and we'll send you a copy of the forms we use.

* Speaking of rewards, you'll want to give each person a gift of value for participating. We thank our focus group participants with $50 in cash (you could also do a gift certificate from your store) and a gift such as a 22 ounce Yankee Candle.

* And don't forget to serve quality refreshments – you know our motto: Food is Good!

Customer Advisory Board: A Customer Advisory Board is like a board of directors for your store. Meet once a quarter over dinner to discuss the things you've done in your store, and your future plans. It's a good idea to have both professional and non-professional customers sit on your advisory board.

Exit Interviews: As customers leave the store, politely stop them and ask if they found everything they were looking for. You will get a clear idea of the things customers wish you carried, and you will save the sale when customers find out you actually do have the items they came in to purchase.

Customer Comment Cards: Place "How Are We Doing?" cards in your store and on your website for customers to fill out. These are great for time-starved customers who have something to say, but are short on time to stop and talk.

Associate feedback: Ask your store associates to fill you in on what they are hearing from customers on the sales floor. Place a notebook in the lunchroom or at the cash register so they can jot down customer comments. You can discuss their notes in detail during store meetings.

And our personal favorite, KIZER & BENDER's "BIG QuestionTM": You will get extremely useful information when you ask customers, "What ONE thing could we do to ________________? You fill in the blank. You might ask, "What ONE thing could we do to improve our customer service?" or "What ONE service could we add that would make it more convenient for you to shop here?" or "What ONE in-store event could we host that you would like to attend?" Because the customer has to put thought into their answer, you will hear constructive things that you will be able to implement. And don't be surprised if several customers tell you a variation on the same theme - that's a good thing! If it's positive then you have one more thing to brag about, and if it's negative, then you know just what to fix.

You will uncover a great many things to help you grow your business, but you are likely to hear things you didn't want to hear as well. Your responsibility after asking customers for their input is to make sure that you let them know what you will do with what they told you. If they suggest, and you ignore what they have to say, customers will share their thoughts only once or twice before they decide you aren't worth the effort.

The goal of all of your hard work and research should be to create an escape for your customers; a place where they can dream and do, be entertained, get lost for a little while, and look forward to their next visit. Let other retailers ignore them and push them around. Not you. The relationship you have with your customers is like any other relationship; it's based on trust, coupled with your ability to interpret, meet, and even exceed, your customers changing needs. Knowing your customers, and what they want, will keep your merchandise fresh, your promotions fun, and your store alive.

http://www.kizerandbender.com . http://www.kizerandbender.blogspot.com

Neutralizing Your Competition

2009-09-03T13:06:00.004-05:00

This post addresses a few of the sales-building steps we share in our program, “Neutralizing Your Competition: Stealth Marketing Strategies to Help You Stand Tall in a Crowd of Competitors!”

In this competitive retail world of ours, one chain store does something unique for their customers, and the others quickly follow suite. The leading independent retailer introduces a new service and the store across town adds it, too. Pretty soon every retail store is doing the same things to build sales – and customers barely even notice. When every store in town is doing them, services and conveniences that were once considered cool become just ho-hum, business-as-usual, to customers.

With so much sameness out there the question is this: What are you doing in your store that makes it special? What are you prepared to do for your customers that no other competitor can knock off? It’s import to establish who you are – identifying your store’s unique brand. Your brand is more than just the name on your store or your product, and it’s much more than what you sell. Marketing comes after you have established who you are, and marketing is a day-to-day job that never ends. Here are four surefire ways to help you identify and establish your brand:

1. Write Your “Store’s Story”:

Your “Store’s Story” sets your brand apart and tells customers why your store is different from all the rest.

Set aside a block of time and write a short story about who you are, and what makes your store unique and dramatically different from every other store that sells similar product. List your passions. Tell the reader why you got into this business in the first place. It doesn’t have to be Pulitzer Prize winning quality, you just have to get your story down on paper so that it can be told the way you want it to be told. Your story is the foundation for all of your future marketing. You may also want to ask your store associates to give you a hand by challenging them to write their version of your Store’s Story. Then you can blend them all together.

2. Now, it’s time to turn your Store’s Story into “Story Selling”

Your advertising and marketing efforts should also reflect your Store’s Story. It has much more impact then just item and price. Wal-Mart’s television advertising campaign is a good example of Story Selling. Viewers relate to, and remember, those 30 to 60 second commercials – stories – because they touch something inside of them or evoke a memory. Each one of those mini-epics connects Wal-Mart to its customers. And when you break it down, Wal-Mart’s secret isn’t the big ad dollars they spend, it’s that they use customer testimonials to market their message. You can do that too, and you don’t need a big ad budget.

Customer testimonials are so effective because of the simple fact that customers believe what other customers have to say about your store before they believe you, in fact a customer testimonial is 10 – 20 times more believable than what you say about yourself. That “word of mouth” advertising tops the list of reasons new customers come to stores. Make sure that you give your customers an opportunity to tell you how good you are, then use their quotes in all of your marketing efforts.

2. Create a 60 Second “Elevator Commercial”

Have you ever been in an elevator at a networking function when someone asked you what you do, only to find yourself suddenly speechless? We all have. You won’t miss another marketing opportunity if you turn your Store’s Story into a 60 second synopsis of what you do. Write it down and memorize it. Then make sure that everyone in your store memorizes, too. Test them every once in awhile to make sure they really know it and understand why it’s so important to get it right.

3. Create Unique Experiences that Connect Customers to Your Store!

Shoppertainment! That wonderful intersection where shopping and entertainment meet. Shoppertainment is a powerful tool that builds loyalty by connecting customers to your store. Why buy what you need at a boring store when you can buy it have fun at the same time?

You should have a Shoppertainment event planned for each and every month of the year. Open houses, demonstrations, events that focus on holidays, a simple “guess the number of jelly beans in a jar” contest, even hot coffee and donuts on a cold day, all fall into the category of Shoppertainment. Low-cost and no-cost events are the best, and we have personally tested thousands over the years. If you are fresh out of ideas or just want to brainstorm, drop us an e-mail and we’ll send you enough Shoppertainment ideas to make your head spin.

4. Consistently Tell the World How Cool You Are!

Other than word-of-mouth, the cheapest way to market your store is through public relations. That’s why you need to send out a press release for everything of interest that that you do. The media wants – needs – your input! Did you know that nearly 80% of the stories that appear in your local medias came from a one-page press release sent by someone like you who had a story to tell? So, for the cost of a stamp, fax, or a quicker than you can hit “send” e-mail, your store could become famous. E-mail us for our easy-to-follow “How to Write a Press Release” instruction sheet.

If you are too busy to handle the public relations by yourself, then choose one person and promote him or her the exalted position of “Director of Public Relations”. Buy your new director business cards with this important title printed on them. This person will be your media contact. Your Director will collect the names of local editors and reporters, get to know their preferences, then write and distribute your press releases. Your Director can even be your store’s ambassador at local functions and Chamber of Commerce events, and more.

And while we’re on the topic of PR, it’s a good idea to carry a notebook and a digital camera with you everywhere you go. How many future PR or marketing opportunities have you missed because you didn’t have a camera? Invest in small camera you can put in your pocket or hang around your neck, then whenever something cool happens in your store you’ll be able to capture the moment. Use the photos in future marketing efforts.

Neutralizing Your Competition is all about turning occasional customers into loyal customers. And loyal customers are not created simply because you sell neat stuff or have killer customer service. Nope, a retail study showed that 70% of your current customers will go somewhere else to shop if that somewhere else is more fun. So, write your Store’s Story, spice up your sales floor with events that connect customers to your store, and get the word out about how cool you are, and your competition will never know what hit them!

Free Store Planning & Design Webinar on NAMTA.org

2009-08-31T13:25:00.006-05:00

We recently filmed "Store Planning & Design" and "Visual Merchandising & Display", a two-part webinar series for the National Art Materials Association (NAMTA).

Part I, "Store Planning and Design" is now live on NAMTA's website. It's free, but you'll need to register before you can view it:

http://www.artcalendar.com/namta-ppv/

About "Store Planning & Design":

One of the most challenging aspects of retailing is designing unique, eye-appealing displays that pull customers in and convince them to buy. Your savvy customers want more than just a place to "buy stuff" -- they can do that anywhere. Today they want to be entertained and visually stimulated. They want to shop in environments that make their shopping decisions easier. You want that too, but to do that your store's ambience, decor, signing, and displays have to work hand-in-hand as silent salespeople, creating sales even when your store associates are busy helping other customers.

KIZER & BENDER's Retail Adventure™ with NAMTA offers up ideas and advice you can take to the bank. You’ll see plenty of store photos, examples of the techniques used to increase sales. You'll learn the latest in store layout, plus and tricks of the trade to increase your "shelf esteem" -- and store sales! Here are some of the sales-building topics we’ll explore:

How to choose the layout that's right for your store

How to choose interior décor colors

How to properly use your Decompression Zone to your advantage

How to use Speed Bumps; Strike Zone Merchandising; Power Walls and more

Where you place the Checkout Counter can cost you money -- is yours in the right place?

We know that after viewing this webinar you will have questions about your own store, so here's the deal: Call us for a free consultation. You can even e-mail photos of your sales floor if you like for a more customized consultation!

(C) KIZER & BENDER . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Rich Kizer & Georganne Bender . KIZER & BENDER Speaking!
Keynotes / Seminars / Consulting / Store Design
103 North 11th Avenue . Suite 206 . St. Charles, Illinois 60174
630.513.8020 24/7 Mobile Hotline: 708.347.2682 Fax: 630.513.8098
http://www.kizerandbender.com . http://www.kizerandbender.blogspot.com

Follow us on Twitter! http://twitter.com/kizerandbender