It’s The Little Things That Make a Difference

Mobile.  Omnichannel.  Harmonized Retail.  eComm.  Data. Augmented Reality. It’s a dizzying list of things that seem to consume   so much attention and resources for retailers these days.  And, for good reason.  Retail is changing fast and keeping up is harder than ever. But let’s not forget, for all the potential that exists in your stores, it’s the “little” things that make the big difference each day.  “Little” isn’t really the right word in terms of their importance and impact. I use ‘little’ because all too often these things get very little attention and resources applied to making them a consistent reality. The list below is, unfortunately, the ‘little’ things that don’t happen consistently in stores.  The result is lost sales, lost loyalty and lost customers.

1. Wait on your customers … not a radical idea, but so rarely executed consistently
2. Know your products
3. Work with enthusiasm
4. Execute the merchandising plan the way its intended
5. Make sure everything has a price on it
6. Sell the complete solution … don’t just clerk the sale
7. Appreciate your customers, whether they buy or not

Yes, that’s a pretty basic list.  But, consider how often one or more of these items doesn’t happen in stores today (of note, I shopped in 8 stores in a major mall today and none got a passing grade from this list)   Then, evaluate how much more you’d sell if you actually lived up to the list every day (it wouldn’t have been hard to get me to spend more … a lot more). It’s these “little” things that make a difference.   And that difference is what will set you and your store apart from most everyone else.