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Getting The House Ready For The Party

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Published: 11Mar2012
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As I work with clients trying to increase sales volume - and they ask "How do I get more customers" - I'm reminded of something that a vice president at my first retail job would say:

"Don't send out the invitations until you've got the house ready for the party."

As I've worked with clients, and we've analyzed their sales, we've found that, in general, traffic counts and transaction counts have been soft, but that the average dollars per transaction have held up. The customers coming in have money to spend and they are spending it. Their initial instinct is to find a way to get more customers to come in to their store - as it is.

But ask yourself this - if your store "as it is" was good enough, wouldn't the customers already be there? Look around - it's not hard to find stores filled with customers, nor is it hard to find stores devoid of customers. What's the difference between the two? It's what's the customers are experiencing in each store.

"Don't send out the invitations until you've got the house ready for the party." My vice-president from years ago was making an important point - in retail, what really counts is what happens in your stores, and how your customers experience it.

Let me come at it from a different angle. If you conclude that it's a marketing issue, then what do you do? What is the marketing message that's going to drive traffic? In the short term, there's really only one answer - run a sale. But that's the last thing any independent retailer should do.

Independent retailing is about building relationships with customers around a shared passion, one customer at a time, one transaction at a time. The very best independent retailers understand that real value is the synergy of distinctive stores, unique and compelling high-quality assortments and presentations, passionate, informed and engaged store associates, state of the art product knowledge, outstanding customer service and exceptional execution. All of these things add up to a memorable customer experience.

Traffic is built by giving your proven customers a reason to visit more frequently. It's about doing everything you can to assure that every visit is compelling and memorable. It's about engaging their passion, making sure that every time they visit there's something new for them to consider, and assuring that the experience always exceeds their expectations. That's how you get them to come back for more, and that's how you get them to tell a friend about it. That's how buzz is built, and that's the thing that independent retailers with lots of customers have lots of.

So as you're considering how to increase your sales, ask yourself this - Do I really need to send out more invitations? Or do I need to work on throwing the most compelling and memorable party in town?

Ted Hurlbut is a retail consultant, coach and speaker who helps independent retailers increase sales, profitability and cash flow by leveraging his deep expertise in the core retail disciplines. To learn more about how you can benefit from Ted's proven retail know-how, visit his website at http://www.hurlbutassociates.com.

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