029 – Top Tips for Retail Success with Mary Romeo of Bee Business Smart

Mary Romeo of Bee Business Smart

Mary has been in the retail environment for 23 years, both owning her own business and as a Regional Director handling a multi-store chain. During that time, she always wished there was someone to turn to who really understood retail. Someone who could brainstorm ideas, talk through problems and strategize concepts.

Friends and family were supportive but didn’t really understand running a retail business.

So….what did she do? Mary created Bee Business Smart. It’s a place where brick and mortar retailers can find tips, tools, resources, information, and inspiration. A place where wearing many hats is understood, encouraged and applauded.

Bee Business Smart is a resource for insights and strategies on merchandise concept development, displays and visual merchandising, hiring and staff training, branding, signage, packaging, systems, marketing and social media. It’s where to go to get help with the million things every retailer deals with every day in growing their business.

Motivational Quote

Mary Romeo's Success Quote

 A Candle Flickering Moment

How to retain your customers when Starbucks comes to town [7:03]

Business Building Insights

Repackaging to be unique [12:43]

A critical step – define your customer [17:09]

Example of a successful store niche [17:45]

Merchandise story example [18:16]

9 TOUCH POINTS OVERVIEW [19:12]

Capturing emails [23:26]

Bounceback coupons without discounting [25:33]

Success Trait

Perserverance and quick decision making

Productivity/Lifestyle Tool

Mary creates systems that enable her staff to take on projects with independence, confidence and accuracy

Valuable BookFree Audio Book

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk

Zingerman’s Guide to Giving Great S ervice by Ari Weinzweig

FREE Businesses Building Resources – Thanks Mary!

90 Tips to Rock Your Holiday Sales

Holiday Planning Calendar

Contact Links

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Pinterest

If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcript
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Gift biz on wrapped episode 29,

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Unless you're standing in your success,

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you don't know where it is.

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You want to go.

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Hi, this is John Lee,

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Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,

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and you're listening to the gift of biz unwrapped.

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And now it's time to light it up.

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Welcome to gift biz,

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unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop

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and grow your business.

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And now here's your host.

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Sue Monheit Unwrapped,

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whether you own a brick and mortar shop sell online or

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are just getting started,

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you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your

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business. And today I am so excited to have with us,

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Mary Romeo of B business smart Mary has been in the

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retail environment for 23 years,

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both owning her own business as well as being a regional

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director, handling a multi-store chain.

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During that time,

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she always wished there was someone to turn to who really

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understood retail.

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Someone who could brainstorm ideas,

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talk through problems and strategize concepts,

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friends and family were supportive,

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but didn't really understand running a retail business.

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So what did Mary do?

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She created B business smart.

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It's a place where brick and mortar retailers can find tips,

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tools, resources,

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information, and inspiration.

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It's also a place where wearing many hats is understood,

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encouraged and applauded.

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Be business smart is a resource for insights and strategies on

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merchandise, concept development displays and visual merchandising,

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hiring and staff training,

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branding, signage,

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Packaging systems,

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marketing, and social media.

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I would say it covers everything.

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It's the place to go to get help with the million

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things. Every retailer deals with every day in their growing business.

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Welcome to the show,

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Mary, Thank you so much.

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I am so thrilled to be here.

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That was a huge bio covering.

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So many things.

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Would you like to include anything else?

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No, I think you've pretty much got it covered.

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I was getting a little tired just thinking about it.

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I was like,

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wow, I'm exhausted from all that.

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Well, You know,

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it just brings to mind how many things,

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when you have a physical shop that you really have to

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be considering all the time.

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Absolutely. And I've been on both sides of it.

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I started retail actually on the developer side,

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I used to work for a shopping center developer and I

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did leasing with small business owners and I got to really

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help them create their concepts and design their stores.

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And I did that for 15 years before I decided I'd

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go to the other side and actually be a retailer and

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learn all the things that I really hadn't known before.

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I can.

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It's one thing to talk about us,

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the other thing to do it Well.

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And if you're consulting in an advising,

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other people,

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the credibility is in the fact that you actually have done

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it. Absolutely.

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Sometimes I think I'm still the front side of that learning

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curve because every day I swear to God,

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there's something else that pops up and I think,

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wow, you know what?

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I never thought about that before.

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So you're learning something new every single day when you're in

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retail, because it's constantly changing.

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Absolutely Well,

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as our listeners know,

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we align the conversation around the life of a motivational candle.

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The light shines on you,

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Mary, while you share your stories and all of your experiences.

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So are you ready to light it up?

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Absolutely. All right.

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Well, this vision is very easy.

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You're going to be walking into a retail shop and it's

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a candle shop.

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There's lights flickering all over and you walk up to a

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rack of motivational candles that are all brilliant,

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bright, and pretty.

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What color candle are you going to reach for?

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We've got to reach for purple.

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I love it for its richness and vibrancy.

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Wonderful. And what quote's going to be on that candle.

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The one I've always kind of lived by is stand in

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your success and look back to see what you have to

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do to get there.

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Oh, I like that,

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that talks to look for the end result first,

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the goal first,

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and then figure out the steps.

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Absolutely. Because it really helps you to create all those systems

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and all that checklist that we love to live by to

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get to where it is we want to go to.

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But unless you're standing in your success,

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you don't know where it is you want to go.

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So I'm going to ask you a challenging question because I

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think that's really hard for people to recognize.

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I have to remind myself about that all the time.

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At what point in your career did you discover that that's

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the way to do it,

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to look at the end goal first and then back it

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up from there?

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You know what?

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I was very lucky when I worked in the shopping center

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industry, I worked for an incredible company that built shopping centers

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that were,

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you know,

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like the Faneuil hall marketplaces and not Harvard places of the

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world that were just unbelievable.

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And they really taught us to be able to stand in

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our success and look back.

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So I was lucky to kind of have that in that

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corporate mindset that I left with,

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you know,

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when I left them to open my own store.

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So I really had been trained to do that.

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That really helped me to be able to do the many

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things that I had to do and I was creating my

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own store.

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So would you say that that brought you to success faster?

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Not necessarily success.

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There were a lot of road bumps when you're a retailer,

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as your listeners know there's lots and lots of road bumps.

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So it brought me to an understanding of what I needed

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to do to get to success.

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How about that?

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I try to use that quote,

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not only for the big picture of what I wanted that

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store to be,

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but for every project that I started on.

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Okay. So if what I want to do is create this

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merchandise story.

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Let me think about what I want that to look like

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in the end and let me see what I have to

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do to get to it.

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So yeah,

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I guess in a way it did,

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it did contribute to its success early on.

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Yeah. Success of specific projects,

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perhaps you'd say exactly.

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Got it.

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Because you're more now of a service provider with smart miss

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business. I'm not taking you through the questions that I would

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normally ask someone who runs a shop.

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But since you talked about road bumps,

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I'm dying to hear stories from you about one of those

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struggles. Can you pull one up like a really crazy one

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that you think would be valuable to everybody to hear,

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you know,

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one of those road bumps and then how you overcame it?

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Absolutely Because there were so many,

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the story that I opened was actually a specialty coffee store.

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And this was back in the early nineties,

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you know,

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before there was a Starbucks on every corner,

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but I really wanted to have a gift component to it

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because I just loved the gift business.

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And I'd gone to market every single year in my corporate

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job. And I loved going out there and finding great merchandise.

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So I had a specialty coffee store.

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It was also a gift store,

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which I will tell you for anybody that's in the gift

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business makes it a little easier because there's always somebody walking

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in the door to get just a cup of coffee.

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So I really love that piece of it and things are

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going great.

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In the first three years,

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I was in a small community room community of a bigger

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city. So there was a lot of affluent people there and

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business was growing.

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I mean,

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every month it was just unbelievable sales growth.

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And then all of a sudden Starbucks came to town.

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It was such a shock.

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And so I kind of had to really reinvent myself all

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over again.

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And even though I knew that what I had was better,

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we had the personal touch and we had the ownership and

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we have the gift business part of it that really helped.

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And we did build the business back up,

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but it was quite a shock to lose that much business

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in one year from a competitor.

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What types of things did you do in store to try

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and attract people back in?

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We really took customer service to the nth degree.

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I mean,

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we sent birthday cards to our customers.

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We knew our customers by name and they came in every

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single day.

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I used to say it was like throwing a party and

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having all your best friends come in and see you every

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single day.

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So we really got to know our customer and we really

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catered to them.

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I would say that our customer service was so exceptional that

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that's what really brought us back.

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And the gift business piece of it really helped because you

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weren't just going in to get a cup of coffee.

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You're going in to get a cup of coffee.

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And, oh my God,

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I forgot that birthday gift for so-and-so.

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And I can do that at seven o'clock in the morning.

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And I don't have to worry about doing it later tonight.

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We did a lot of marketing when we would give things

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away. We wouldn't just do contest to give away a free

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cup of coffee.

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We would give away a half a pound of coffee.

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I liked to do things that are really outrageous kind of

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way, because I just thought you had to really be outrageous

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in your marketing sometimes to really get their attention.

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So that really helped us tremendously.

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And we were able to build it back up.

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We changed our offerings and really hit on specialty staff.

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So Mary,

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you bring up a couple of really important points.

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I've also been in the retail environment and I've had the

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influence of a Walmart coming into town or a Starbucks coming

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into and having to deal with my businesses.

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You know,

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people that I was consulting.

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And how do you handle that when a big name comes

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to town?

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And one thing that I think if biz listeners,

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we all need to recognize is people are initially going to

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go and try out the competition a little bit less,

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maybe if it's a smaller local retailer,

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but for sure if it's someone like Starbucks.

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So if you're in that type of situation,

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recognize that you probably will naturally have an initial dip in

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business because people are just going to go check it out.

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It's just going to happen.

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But it doesn't mean that that is going to necessarily shut

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you down.

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You have to be smart about it.

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As Mary's talking about use customer service,

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use the relationships that you have to retain your business,

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but it's good just to recognize that that naturally will occur.

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The other thing,

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Mary, that we kind of glossed over and I really want

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to underline cause it's really a great point is the insight

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that you shared about being able to naturally attract traffic into

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your store.

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If you have a consumable such in Mary's case coffee,

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where people are coming in and coming by the gifts,

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that's just a natural flow of traffic that you can have.

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So think within your business,

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what types of things can you do that could bring in

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natural traffic?

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Maybe if you're a popcorn shop,

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you have little cups of daily samples that people can try.

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And if people are just walking by,

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they can see,

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oh, let's pop in and get a sample,

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something like that.

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But I'm sure there are many creative ways you can think

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of for your unique businesses,

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but that's a really good tip.

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So thank you for sharing that.

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Sure. Let's move on and talk a little bit about retail

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in general.

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And we're going to talk specifically here on this show about

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brick and mortar shops and any of you who have online

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shops or are home crafters,

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or haven't really been thinking about it,

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please stay tuned because you never know what kind of information

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is going to come up.

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That can be appropriate.

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And we're talking specifically brick and mortar,

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but could be a really good insight for you as well.

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Mary, you know,

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brick and mortars changed over the last 20 years with all

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the online ordering that's possible.

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Now it's a whole different ball game.

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I would say It is such a different ball game,

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the internet with its convenience,

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as well as big box stores because of their buying power,

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they can offer lower prices.

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So you really have to hone in your merchandise concepts so

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that you can have things that are as unique as possible,

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or that are branded specifically for you.

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And you can do that yourself as well as getting your

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vendors to do that.

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We do a lot of buying in bulk and repackaging things

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under our own name so that it reflects our brand and

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they can't find it anywhere else.

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And it might be very much the same product somewhere else,

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but because it's under our name,

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kind like what the grocery stores do,

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we're able to price it where we need it to be.

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And you know,

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again, it walks out the door with our brand on it,

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Right, for people who don't know what we're talking about,

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you think about private labeling and I'll just go down the

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diaper aisle of a supermarket.

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If you will,

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a supermarket brands,

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diapers might very well be made in the Huggies plant or

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another brand names plant.

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So it doesn't mean a product is inferior.

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You've just put your name on it.

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And you may not be going so far is to going

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to a factory and relabeling product that you're purchasing.

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But just like Mary's talking,

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you can bring it in and repackage it,

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maybe put it into gift baskets,

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just remerchandise it in some way,

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and then add your logo or a specialty message for a

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season. And it takes on a whole different appeal.

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Sure. Just like if you're selling jewelry,

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for instance,

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you can bring in those earrings and take them off the

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card that they come in and put them on a card

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with your name on It.

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That's a great idea besides that.

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What are some of the other overall challenges that you see

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brick and mortar stores having these days?

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Well, if you're in a shopping center and you do get

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some protection with use clauses so that everybody's not selling the

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same thing that you are,

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but if you're a,

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just a neighborhood shopping area,

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sometimes your fellow retailers start to infringe on your categories.

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And all of a sudden you see somebody suddenly show up

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with the same merchandise that you've got and then that throws

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you for a loop and you don't know exactly what to

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do. So you're always having to be on the lookout as

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to how you can pivot your unique concept.

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And I think that's also where that Randy can come in

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and be very important because if those earrings are on a

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card that has your name on it,

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or that candy is in a bag that has your name

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on it,

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then it's not quite the same thing as what the guy

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down the street is selling.

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Right? But the other things,

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I think that independent retailers have great abilities to be better

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than the big guys is that,

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you know,

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the customer gets to talk to you the honor,

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and they love being up close and personal and really understanding

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you and knowing you and your ability as an independent retailer

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to really turn on a dime and react to the needs

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and trends much,

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much faster than any of the big box guys or anybody

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online can do.

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So we do have such an incredible advantage in that.

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What Do you think the power is now of the whole

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shop local or the small business Saturday?

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Do you think people are really following and supporting small businesses

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through those events?

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Oh, I think they are.

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I think it's huge just in the same way that restaurants

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are really captivating their customers with the whole farm to chef

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concept. It's very much the same way with retailers.

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I mean,

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if you can have merchandise that local vendors are providing,

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that's fabulous,

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but also just because you're a local vendor,

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you really,

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really want to take advantage of things like small business Saturday

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and promote the fact that you are an independent retailer.

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Good Advice.

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Let's go back a little bit and talk to some of

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our listeners who might be thinking to open up their own

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shop. What types of hard questions should they be asking themselves

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to determine if this is the right choice for them?

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Obviously the first thing they want to have is a great

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merchandise concept and something that's not necessarily a copy of something

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else, Defined merchandise concept.

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If you're going to be a gift store and you don't

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want to just be a general gift store,

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you might really want to do a niche.

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That's maybe it's handcrafted gifts or maybe it's gifts for gourmets

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or maybe it's kitchen items.

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You know?

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So you really want to hone in on what that merchandise

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focus is so that you can create a store that when

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that customer walks in the door,

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they know without a question in their heart,

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what that store is all about.

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I really hate walking into retail stores that kind of are

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all over the board.

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You know,

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they've got t-shirts and they've got books and they've got jewelry

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and you can have all of those things that tie into

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one concept.

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But if they don't somehow tie in,

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you know,

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it might be that all of those things are related to

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your door at the beach.

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And so everything's beach related.

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So you can have all those categories within a beach related

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theme, for instance.

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But if you're just throwing stuff at the wall to see

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what sticks and your merchandise isn't connected to each other in

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the store,

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then it doesn't make any sense.

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And I think you confuse the customer.

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So I think that's a really important thing,

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Right? And I think a lot of people would kick back

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against that idea of saying,

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well, then I won't have product for everybody.

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I don't know if you've heard.

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They'll saying that if you're everything to everybody,

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your nothing to anybody,

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right. So really seriously take Mary's advice to heart in that

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somehow you want to tighten up,

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even if you're in the gifting arena,

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like Mary's talking about tighten up what your concept is around

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some type of a theme.

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And number one,

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it separates you totally from other people who are in your

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area. And number two,

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it just makes you unique and helps you with how you're

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going to position yourself in the market in terms of messaging,

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how you're going to relay social media posts,

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all of that just makes everything easier and very clear to

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someone who's walking In.

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If you could figure out who your ideal customer is,

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you know,

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I want to sell gifts to the woman who's between 35

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and 55.

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That's married with children.

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And as a working mom,

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it helps you really hone in on what that merchandise might

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be, as opposed to I'm going to sell to everybody.

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We'd like to think we could sell to everybody,

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but that's really not possible.

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We've learned from enough people that you try and do that,

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you know,

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unless you are a Walmart,

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unless You're a Walmart or a target,

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you've got 35,000

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square feet.

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But none of us have that.

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If you've got 500 or a thousand or 1500 square feet,

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you've really gotta be true to your concept.

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I just saw a great store in Chicago.

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That was all that were imported from France.

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Now, granted,

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they were able to have every possible category in there from

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soaps to books,

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to home decor and things like that.

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But the tying factor was that it was all imported from

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France and it all had that French feel to it.

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Don't just throw in t-shirts because you think t-shirts have a

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great margin on them and your sell a lot of them.

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Now that doesn't mean that you can't make that fit into

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your store.

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I remember when I had my coffee shop,

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I went to market and I found these really great flip-flops

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beach flip flops that I just fell in love with and

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I wanted to have them in the store.

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And so what I did was I created a merchandise story

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around ice tea,

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and I had beach tote bags made with our logo on

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it, pulled in some other things that were kind of related

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to that.

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So I brought in those flip flops,

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believe it or not.

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And they sold really well,

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but I still was able to keep it true to what

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my concept was.

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Right. Great example.

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So another thing that we haven't really talked about and I

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want to move into is in a retail shop atmosphere and

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customer service are both terribly important.

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And I realized that there are two separate topics,

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but it all has to do with the experience that somebody

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has when they're walking into the shop.

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Do you have any guidelines that you can share with our

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listeners on either one of those topics or perhaps both?

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I Do.

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I actually have what I called the nine touch points that

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every retailer has to pay attention to,

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to really make their story of success.

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Find those on my website.

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I'll talk about that in a little bit,

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but those nine touch points are so important and it's everything

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from, what is your store look like on the outside?

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Does it say welcome and come in,

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do you appeal to all the senses,

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sight, sound,

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touch, taste,

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smell again,

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going back to,

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what is your merchandise story?

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Is it clear customer service?

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Just making those moments of magic for your customers?

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How easy is it for them to buy from you?

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Your displays really massing it out,

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keeping them full,

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keeping them clean and making sure that they're attractive.

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And if you don't know how to do displays,

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because that's one of those things that can be difficult,

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either go find someone to hire freelance.

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You can go to one of the big department stores.

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The first person I ever hired to do my displays was

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somebody who worked for crate and barrel because he used to

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love Creighton barrels displays.

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And I hired that person to come in part-time and teach

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me as well as do the displays for me so that

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I could really kind of learn your signage.

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And branding is very important.

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Is it consistent?

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Is it clean?

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Is it clear?

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And is there a call to action?

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Do you really get a sense from your signage,

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what you want that customer to do?

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And there's a place to the right place.

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Your branding is important.

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Your packaging is that unique and distinctive and it doesn't have

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to be expensive.

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It can be a handled bag with your logo on it

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and some colored tissue in your stores colors,

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but it really makes a difference when the customer walks out

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of that store with their purchase,

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do they have something that they're number one,

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proud to be carrying around or that they can then just

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actually give as a gift right then?

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And there really makes you a unique place to go buy

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things. And then of course your social media and your marketing,

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you can't escape social media today,

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but it can be really overwhelming.

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You have to figure out where your customers are hanging out

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on social media and just use that platform.

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I certainly wouldn't use any more than two,

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but most importantly,

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you have to get emails every possible place you turn,

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because once you have the customer's email,

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you can really connect with them on a much better level

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than you can on social media.

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Social media helps you find them,

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but your email list helps you sell to them.

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And then lastly,

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I think you really want to surprise and delight your customers

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in some way,

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shape or form really going the extra mile,

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hand out candy hearts on Valentine's day,

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or you send them a birthday card.

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What are you really doing to surprise and delight your customers

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when they come in,

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maybe it's offering them a cup of hot cocoa on a

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cold winter day when their Christmas shopping Great points.

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And we are going to talk about these touch points a

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little bit later when we're wrapping up,

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but I want to do just a little deeper dive on

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two of these.

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When you talk about packaging and it brings to mind apple

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and their whole strategy,

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which is for those of you who don't have any apple

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products is when someone purchases.

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And that is not a low priced item,

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of course.

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But part of the experience is actually opening that box for

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the first time and everything was planned out how the packages

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released what's inside when you open the lid,

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it's a whole entire experience.

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So not that you have to take it necessarily to that

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level, but think about that,

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you know,

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what are you doing so that when a product is purchased

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from your shop,

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it is special because of the packaging,

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because it's something beautiful or maybe there's a little extra tissue

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in there,

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or it's wrapped in a fun way,

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or there's a fun ribbon on it or something,

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but that ought to all be planned out.

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It doesn't just happen by accident.

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So something for everybody to consider.

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And the second point is about emails.

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Obviously when you're online,

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we've talked a lot about in past episodes,

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on lead generators and how you get customers to opt in

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so that you're able to attract their email.

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When you have a brick and mortar shop,

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you have a very unique opportunity because you're face-to-face with a

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customer. When they walk into your store,

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do you have any creative or interesting ways or ideas for

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our listeners,

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Mary of ways you can capture that email when they're right

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in your shop?

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Well, the last thing you want to do is say,

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sign up for my newsletter because nobody wants one more newsletter

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in their email.

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But what you can do is possibly have a giveaway and

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maybe each month you offer a giveaway of a $10 gift

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certificate or a $20 gift certificate.

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And so it could be,

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I sign up to win this basket or gift box or

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this gift certificate,

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or sign up to get our monthly specials.

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Oh, There you go.

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That's kind of a newsletter,

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but it's really not termed that People love to get specials

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and be in the know.

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So maybe,

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you know,

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they're signing up to be part of your private shopping group,

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their own private little community that gets specials that nobody else

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would get.

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You know,

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customers love to feel that they're a part of a unique

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community, any place that you could possibly get emails.

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You definitely want to get it.

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If you're out doing an event,

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I always take some kind of gift that we're going to

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give away.

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And it's a registered a win type of thing so that

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I can get emails from people that are at the event.

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You might want to give people a bass back coupon,

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for instance,

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customers that are coming in during the holidays,

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when you're probably have more traffic than normal,

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give them a bounce back coupon for something that's going to

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happen in January or February,

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whether it's a discount or whatever,

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but in order to use that coupon,

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then they have to give you their email address.

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Oh, there you go.

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Yeah. So things like that as opposed to sign up for

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my newsletter,

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which nobody wants to do anymore.

Speaker:

And Not that this is totally connected with emails,

Speaker:

but you do bring up a good point about bounce-back coupons,

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look at Kohl's.

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And I'm sure a lot of us here,

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especially if you're listening from America have gone into Kohl's,

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they are experts at that.

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They give you a coupon,

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right at checkout,

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which gives you a discount off starting maybe a week later,

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or, you know,

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and then it goes for another week or something like that.

Speaker:

And I am sure that's how they just keep getting more

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people in the store and repeat customers in the store.

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I'm sure their platform allows for that because they offer such

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deep discounts,

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but they know they're going to have the repetition of customers

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as well.

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Absolutely. And I really want to make sure everybody understands that

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when you give a bounce-back coupon,

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it doesn't have to be for a discount.

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Cause I don't think we want to be known as always

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giving discounts and always being on sale,

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kind of like the department stores app,

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but you could give something extra.

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So possibly for a bounce back coupon,

Speaker:

as opposed to doing a price off or a percent off

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or a dollar off you offer them something extra.

Speaker:

So maybe it's come back in January and buy a pair

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of earrings and get a scarf for free.

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That's a little exorbitant,

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but you know what I mean?

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If you want to give them something extra,

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as opposed to giving them a dollar or a percentage off.

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Great Advice.

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All right.

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So Mary,

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we've been talking about and pulling out from you all of

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these insights that you have in the retail environment.

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Talk to us a little bit more about be business smart

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and what it is that you can provide retailers and not

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necessarily how they can get in touch with you because we're

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gonna do that later.

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But what your business is all about and what you are

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doing now to support brick and mortar shops.

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All right,

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thank you.

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Well, I mean,

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obviously I work one-on-one with retailers to help them find you

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in their merchandise concepts or maybe hiring and training,

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putting their systems in place so that they can indeed have

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a life outside of their retail store.

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Because as we know,

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owning your own retail store can be all consuming and you

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do want to have a life outside of it.

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It always kind of helps.

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So I am working one-on-one with people,

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but I'm also creating systems.

Speaker:

So that next year after the holidays are over and I

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can concentrate on it.

Speaker:

We're going to be launching a membership site as well as

Speaker:

some online courses for a retailer so that they can learn

Speaker:

online and that they can become a part of this membership

Speaker:

site. That's all of these other retailers who love being in

Speaker:

business and who can support each other and help each other

Speaker:

and be there when you've got just the silliest question that

Speaker:

you can't possibly figure out how to do,

Speaker:

but you can go online to this private Facebook community and

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say, Hey,

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this is what I'm struggling with right now.

Speaker:

Who's got an answer for this.

Speaker:

And it's just amazing when you're in these private Facebook groups

Speaker:

and these membership groups,

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the answers and support that you can get from people in

Speaker:

the same community.

Speaker:

I absolutely agree with you.

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I have a private Facebook group for the ribbon print company

Speaker:

and it's only available for customers of ours.

Speaker:

And it makes me so happy to know how supportive each

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person is of each other,

Speaker:

even if they have a similar business,

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but they're in totally different areas of the country.

Speaker:

So they're not competitors At all.

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I love seeing as some of the membership sites that I'm

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in with some of these Facebook groups and it's just women

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primarily from all over the world.

Speaker:

And it's just amazing what I've learned from them.

Speaker:

Totally agree.

Speaker:

So good luck with that.

Speaker:

And we'll have to make sure to make an announcement when

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that is up and running for sure.

Speaker:

All right.

Speaker:

We're going to move now into the reflection section.

Speaker:

This is where we take a look at you and what's

Speaker:

helped you with your success along the way.

Speaker:

What natural trait Mary do you have that you think has

Speaker:

helped you to succeed?

Speaker:

Well, I think there's two first off perseverance.

Speaker:

I just kind of a little tenacious,

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I guess I just like a little bulldog plus also the

Speaker:

ability to make a decision quickly.

Speaker:

I have always been good at just thinking through the problem,

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making a decision,

Speaker:

moving it forward.

Speaker:

No angsting about it,

Speaker:

because I mean,

Speaker:

that can get you caught in just a whole horrible web

Speaker:

of not moving forward at all.

Speaker:

So the ability to make a decision quickly,

Speaker:

and even if you find out is the wrong decision,

Speaker:

then you can turn on a dime and you can make

Speaker:

a different decision.

Speaker:

And I think that has helped me tremendously.

Speaker:

That is really good input.

Speaker:

I've heard recently.

Speaker:

I don't recall exactly where,

Speaker:

but the whole comment of be quick to fail.

Speaker:

Yes. You know,

Speaker:

you don't have to just sit and decide pros and cons

Speaker:

like, you know,

Speaker:

analysis paralysis type thing.

Speaker:

Just make a decision and move forward and I can clearly

Speaker:

see why that trait would help you succeed.

Speaker:

For sure.

Speaker:

For sure.

Speaker:

What tool do you use regularly that helps you keep productive

Speaker:

or create that balance that everyone needs in the whole brick

Speaker:

and mortar life?

Speaker:

The ability to create the systems that let me run the

Speaker:

stores and let my staff run the stores so that when

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I say to a staff member,

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I need you to check in this merchandise that there's a

Speaker:

system in place that they'll do it exactly the way I

Speaker:

want it to be done,

Speaker:

because we all know we ask a staff member to do

Speaker:

something. And we think in our brains that they know how

Speaker:

to do it because they've seen us do it so many

Speaker:

times and it never gets done the way we want it

Speaker:

to be.

Speaker:

So it's all of those systems that have really helped me

Speaker:

be a success.

Speaker:

So Do you then document the systems as well,

Speaker:

somewhere? So they have a resource to go to Everything's in

Speaker:

writing and I'm crate for forms.

Speaker:

I am known as the form queen.

Speaker:

There, there is never a doubt as to if you're taking

Speaker:

an order from a customer.

Speaker:

What the question is you have to ask,

Speaker:

or if you're checking in the merchandise,

Speaker:

what are the things you have to check in?

Speaker:

I have a form for everything and people joke that I

Speaker:

have forms for my forms.

Speaker:

I bet it gives a certain comfort level to the people

Speaker:

that work within the shop to then,

Speaker:

because they know that if they are going to encounter something

Speaker:

that they're not familiar with,

Speaker:

there's a resource that they can go to to get some

Speaker:

direction. I know you're not in a shop right now,

Speaker:

but a shop owner is not always going to be there

Speaker:

as the business grows.

Speaker:

Of course,

Speaker:

initially they would be.

Speaker:

But as the business grows and you have people helping you

Speaker:

can't be in your shop forever,

Speaker:

or you're not going to be a very short-lived business cause

Speaker:

you're going to burn yourself out And that's not on how

Speaker:

to do things,

Speaker:

but it systems on the conversations to have with the customer.

Speaker:

So we have a page,

Speaker:

that's a merchandise page for every kind of category so that

Speaker:

we list what the benefits and the features are of that

Speaker:

particular piece of merchandise and how to sell it and what,

Speaker:

how to overcome the objections.

Speaker:

Because knowledge of merchandise is everything.

Speaker:

Customers really want us to be the experts in what we're

Speaker:

selling and we need to be right.

Speaker:

Really good input.

Speaker:

What book have you read lately that you think our listeners

Speaker:

could find value in?

Speaker:

I really love jab jab,

Speaker:

jab, right hook by Gary Vaynerchuk.

Speaker:

It's a terrific book on social media strategies that really takes

Speaker:

the overwhelm out of it and gives you some clear strategies

Speaker:

on how you can be best on each platform.

Speaker:

And then a second book that I love is anything that

Speaker:

the Zingerman's people have written Zingerman's is a deli out in

Speaker:

Ann Arbor and they are worldwide known for their customer service.

Speaker:

And they have several books on great customer service and how

Speaker:

to manage and how to be a leader.

Speaker:

And their whole system of teaching is just phenomenal.

Speaker:

Yeah. You know,

Speaker:

that was recommended just on a recent episode.

Speaker:

Maybe even the one right before this.

Speaker:

Yeah. But both of these are fabulous.

Speaker:

In fact,

Speaker:

I think what I'll do is I'll go look and see

Speaker:

what others Zingerman's books there is.

Speaker:

Cause you've read all of them.

Speaker:

You say they're all good.

Speaker:

All fabulous.

Speaker:

I mean their guide to great service is phenomenal.

Speaker:

It's a very quick read and it really,

Speaker:

really gives you great insight into how you can create great

Speaker:

customer service for your stores.

Speaker:

And then Ari who's one of the owners of the whole

Speaker:

Zingerman's complex as written a couple of other books that are

Speaker:

just really good on leadership and visioning and things like that.

Speaker:

Fabulous. Well,

Speaker:

I'll put a couple of those then on the show notes

Speaker:

page, right?

Speaker:

So, and listeners,

Speaker:

just as you're listening to the podcast today,

Speaker:

you can also listen to audio books with ease.

Speaker:

I've teamed up with audible for you to be able to

Speaker:

get an audio book,

Speaker:

just like all these Singerman books or Geary's jab,

Speaker:

jab, jab,

Speaker:

right. Hook for free.

Speaker:

All you need to do is go to gift biz,

Speaker:

book.com and make a selection that's gift biz,

Speaker:

book.com. Well,

Speaker:

Mary, I'm really sad that our time is winding down.

Speaker:

Cause I think we could probably talk all afternoon and turn

Speaker:

this into like a five-hour podcast.

Speaker:

I won't Do it right.

Speaker:

We're going to circle into our dare to dream question.

Speaker:

I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

Speaker:

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

Speaker:

This is your dream or goal of almost unreachable Heights that

Speaker:

you would wish to obtain.

Speaker:

Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

Speaker:

What is inside Inside for me as a raving community of

Speaker:

retailers, that's part of the be business smart group and that

Speaker:

I'm able to serve them with resources and tips and inspiration

Speaker:

that will help them take their stores to whole new Heights

Speaker:

and work through all the many hats that every retailer has

Speaker:

to wear.

Speaker:

I would like to help you obtain that dream because I

Speaker:

think with the retail environment right now,

Speaker:

doesn't get as much support as they might've felt they had.

Speaker:

And with the changing environment,

Speaker:

I'm very anxious to see and excited to see what you're

Speaker:

putting together for everybody.

Speaker:

So I think your dreams going to come true.

Speaker:

I think that's going to be a pretty easy one.

Speaker:

Well, I hope so.

Speaker:

And now Let's go on.

Speaker:

How can our listeners get in touch with you in the

Speaker:

future? All right,

Speaker:

well, B is spelled B E like the bumblebee.

Speaker:

So on Facebook where it be business smart,

Speaker:

Twitter and Instagram,

Speaker:

where it be biz smart Bizz.

Speaker:

Our website is B business smart,

Speaker:

which is where you can also get two different things that

Speaker:

we're offering both the nine touch points of great retail stores,

Speaker:

as well as right now,

Speaker:

our holiday thing,

Speaker:

90 tips to rock your holiday sales.

Speaker:

And it's 90 tips that have to do with everything from

Speaker:

merchandising, the social media to displays to everything possible,

Speaker:

as well as a great planning calendar.

Speaker:

So you can go on our website and get both of

Speaker:

those and hopefully they will help our retailers get to the

Speaker:

other side of Christmas with their Christmas spirit and tax.

Speaker:

Well, I have to tell you as Mary and I were

Speaker:

planning for this episode,

Speaker:

I did download the 90 tips to rock your holiday sales.

Speaker:

And I've got to tell you,

Speaker:

it is the most complete guide,

Speaker:

all in one place.

Speaker:

Things I'd never considered before every single person without fail should

Speaker:

go and grab that document.

Speaker:

It is spectacular.

Speaker:

Thank you so much.

Speaker:

And don't be overwhelmed by the fact that it's 90 tips.

Speaker:

You certainly don't have to use every single one of them,

Speaker:

but I think it's good fuel for inspiration.

Speaker:

Absolutely. And it's broken a little bit into sections too,

Speaker:

so you can just go through and highlight the ones that

Speaker:

you need to use right now and save the rest for

Speaker:

later. Cause it's some of these also don't need to apply

Speaker:

just for holidays,

Speaker:

but they're great for specifically brick and mortar.

Speaker:

So again,

Speaker:

I just don't miss out on this one,

Speaker:

grab it while you can,

Speaker:

for sure.

Speaker:

Sure. And if anybody goes through it and has any questions

Speaker:

on any of the tips,

Speaker:

they can certainly email me at Marriott,

Speaker:

be business smart.com

Speaker:

and I'll be more than happy to help them kind of

Speaker:

work through it or give them some other tips and a

Speaker:

little bit further information about it.

Speaker:

Thank you for that.

Speaker:

And remember too,

Speaker:

that you can always go over to our show notes page.

Speaker:

I'll have all of Mary's contact information,

Speaker:

including links to where you can go and get both of

Speaker:

these freebies that Mary is offering us today.

Speaker:

So no excuses.

Speaker:

You guys need to do this for your business.

Speaker:

Mary, thank you so much for all of the really valuable

Speaker:

guidance and information that you've shared with us today.

Speaker:

And may your candle always burn bright.

Speaker:

Thank you so much your with you and I look forward

Speaker:

to listening to your many,

Speaker:

many podcasts in the future,

Speaker:

Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your business.

Speaker:

Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your business

Speaker:

in life.

Speaker:

It's our gift to you and available@giftbizonrap.com

Speaker:

slash tools.

Speaker:

Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the

Speaker:

next episode.

Speaker:

Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,

Speaker:

looking for a new income source for your gift business.

Speaker:

Customization is more popular now than ever grant your product from

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your logo or print a happy birthday,

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Jessica Griffin,

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to add to a gift right at checkout,

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it's all done right in your shop or across studio in

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seconds. Check out the ribbon printing company.com

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for more information.

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Would you like to be on the show or do you

Speaker:

know someone who can provide valuable insight from their experiences?

Speaker:

If so,

Speaker:

we'd love to hear from you.

Speaker:

All you need to do is submit a form for consideration.

Speaker:

You can access the form@giftunwrapped.com

Speaker:

forward slash yes.

Speaker:

That's eight biz on.com

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