Providing a Rewarding Experience for Your Customers – Part 4

By John Stanley

Successful retailers take consumers on a journey. In this series of articles, I explain this journey to you, offering examples on how to implement it in your business.
Here’s a recap of the four steps to providing that rewarding experience for shoppers:

Journey of Discovery
Journey of Inspiration
Journey of Excitement
Journey of Trust

STEP FOUR: JOURNEY OF TRUST

You have your customers’ attention through innovative marketing because you have dared to be different. You inspired them when they first entered your business and again when they made a purchase. The experience you provided has been an exciting and rewarding experience. Now it’s time to win the customers’ trust so they keep coming back.
One of the most important issues for retailers is consumers’ lack of trust. In the USA, consumers simply do not trust businesses and in recent Australian surveys, 69 percent of respondents indicated that they did not trust big business. This is a huge opportunity for retailers, especially independent stores.
During the ‘90s we saw independent retailers lose market share to the big box stores that could purchase at a better price and pass the savings on to consumers. Independents found it difficult to compete, but now the game rules are changing.
Large retailers are still able to stand out on price, but consumers now prefer to trust small, local, independent businesses that have a trust strategy. Small businesses now have a unique marketing tool: the trust factor.

If you are perceived as a trusted business, then you have an opportunity to expand your market share because customers talk about trusted retailers. Consider the following actions:
1. Name Badges
A garden center owner in New Zealand recently changed his name badge to say “John Smith, Proud Owner”. This small detail has made a difference. One of the most common comments he has received is, “I did not realise [this was] a small business. I thought [it] would be part of a chain”. Research carried out by Shopper Anonymous in Australia indicated that people who wore name badges were perceived to provide 15 percent better customer service.
2. The Local Angle
If you are a locally owned business, promote that fact in your advertisements, and at your store’s entrance and exit. Remind customers and thank them for supporting their local economy.
3. Team Roster
Place certificates and photographs of your sales team near the checkout. This provides the personal touch and also promotes the knowledge of the team.
4. Product Roster
Promote products that you believe in and use frequently on your signage and make sure that your entire team recommends. Be consistent in those recommendations (e.g. “We use ABC growing media when potting our plants up” or “We recommend XYZ polishes to care for your furniture.”).
5. Product Data
In a garden center, for example, inform your customers that you specifically select plants that are hardy and have been acclimatised to the local weather conditions. This would counter the marketplace perception that plants are often distributed nationally and are not hardy.
6. Celebrities
Promote local celebrities, recommend the products they recommend and get them into your store whenever possible.
7. Sponsorships
Sponsor local events that are relevant to your business. Be seen getting involved with local clubs and charities. Don’t be shy in getting your name promoted at such events.
8. Guarantees
Have a risk reversal guarantee on products that you sell. Risk reversal means that whatever customers do, you will replace the product if it does not meet their expectations. In my experience, some store owners do grasp the marketing opportunity it provides whilst others worry they will be abused. Risk reversal is a marketing strategy and should be looked on as such.
9. Training
Ensure that your entire team is properly trained in customer service and product knowledge. Trust comes from retailers who are confident, and that confidence stems from the feeling that one has the capabilities to sell professionally.
10.  Gain Trust
And finally, brainstorm with your team around that notion of trust and how to build it. I’m sure that it could expand on the above list and enhance the trust marketing tools in your business.

Over the past four articles we’ve taken you on the customers’ journey through your business. The idea was to get you to walk your store in the customers’ shoes. As retailing becomes more competitive, you will constantly need to evaluate what you’re doing. The days of setting up your business and keeping it looking the same for long periods of time have long gone. Customers get bored quickly nowadays, and they’re looking for new stimulation from your business. Bored customers leave businesses so don’t play safe. It would be the least safe thing you could do in today’s market.

John Stanley is an internationally recognized conference speaker and retail consultant with more than 25 years of experience in 18 countries, and has authored many books,
For more information on John Stanley and his services, please hop online and visit his Website at www.JohnStanley.cc.


Jan.
2010
Posted in Columns
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