The story of the Valet – a true story

Ms. Kalpana is a busy Senior Manager in a large Bangalore based company.  One Saturday evening,  she drove her Swift car along with her mother, to a store in Jayanagar , Bangalore to buy some jewellery for herself .

She gave the car to the Valet for parking and went up to do her shopping.  After a few hours of jewellery shopping, ( who ever finishes jewellery shopping in a few minutes ?) she came back to collect the car at about 8.40 Pm in the night ! only to find that her car had a punctured tyre ! She was at her wits end, as to what to do ?  At this time, all puncture shops would be closed and she will have to take a taxi back home and come back the next day to get it fixed !

It was then, she was surprised to hear the Valet, that if she doesn’t mind, he would change the punctured tyre with the stepney in the boot !

She was extremely relieved and thanked the valet !

Moral :- It was the customer orientation of the team at the brand, which the valet too had heard about and made the effort to help out a customer in need of help !

Result :- She had become a loyal fan of the brand and the store, she has gone around the whole of her friend and colleagues circle sharing this incident and wows to go back to the store for all her future purchases !

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Can you get Great Customer Service even at Rs. 7 ?

Just yesterday, I and a couple of entrepreneurs  from (http://www.startupleadershipprogram.com) wanted to have Coffee. The nearest one was a “Road side Chai Shop”, that typically sells Coffee and Chai from a Thermos Flask. We ordered two Teas and a Coffee . When the coffee was poured into a plastic cup, I saw some black “floating objects” and said, what is this ? The shop keeper  immediately took it back and poured another one and then told me it is undissolved instant coffee powder. I was quite impressed with his attitude to exchange what was after all coffee .

His  Customer Centricity did not end there and when we asked how much, he said 7 each , but I took out a Rs. 20 note and was searching for a Rupee coin when he said, if we didn’t have change, it is ok . That is even better customer service  ! Making you feel loyal for his shop !

What can be the reason for good service ? Education, Experience, or just a good human being ?

Compare this with many other retailing stories that we have either experienced or heard about. Just check out http://www.mouthshut.com or http://www.akosha.com where customers have complaints on National and International Brands who have spent Crores of Rupees in marketing their wares to customers. Yet, when they have had problems, they end up not getting satisfied and go to “Consumer forums” to get what they believe is their due ! You are often left wondering why the companies don’t seem to have trained their staff in handling the customers with more care ! Infact, it costs the companies, any where between Rs. 300 to Rs. 1000 in India, to just get a customer to walkin to the store . No, we are not talking about the profit after a customer makes a purchase ! Just walkin to the store to check out the merchandise !

What can you do next time ?

So, next time you see good service, take a few minutes to inform the staff what was your experience ! He would be very happy that his work got recognized ! Often it is said, Indians don’t really appreciate enough .

But if you had a bad experience, then “share a few good instances with them with  your Gandhigiri”. May be they will learn !

Remember to share it either way with us too :-   Retailgurukul@gmail.com

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A Street side Hawker's innovation

Streets in India, we get see and hear, hawkers, with all kinds of things for sale. They typically, keep “shouting “ about their wares and before long, some home maker or another will come out and buy one of those things, typically vegetables, fruits etc. Most of the hawkers even have a regular route and so are their customers as well. A bit of bargaining goes on, and every one is game for it. Some hawkers dont go out into the streets, but stay in a "market place" like a mandi !

But, recently, I was out on the streets on my morning jog,  when I was  surprised to hear  a hawker’s voice louder and clearer than what I normally hear and turned around to see where was it coming from?   There was only one hawker way down the road, and it was too far for the voice to be so loud and clear !

Curiosity got the better of me and I moved to wards the sound, and surprisingly the hawkers voice became louder and clearer and it was obvious that he was not even “shouting”. Imagine, what he had very smartly done ! Look at the picture ! He was selling raw mangoes..

Instead of having to shout all day long, he had invested in one of those Chinese loud speakers, that runs on batteries and recorded his whole “sales pitch “. Now all he had to do, was to put it “on”, and let it do the shouting, while he concentrated to pushing his cart around and selling.

I asked him how to got the idea and he said, he saw this in a “city market” and thought of it, that he would be able to reach out to more people  this way, as he could not constantly keep “shouting” his wares for every one in the hear !

So, quite a jugaad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugaad ) of an idea. What do  you think? Do you know of any such retailing solutions.? In a country like ours, there are a number of ways to reach out and impact your customers. 

Join us to become an author of a to be released book, For Retailers, By Retailers, Of Retailers - Top 100 Ideas. or forward to any one you know..

Reach us at RetailGurukul@gmail.com

Another popular book on Jugaad..http://jugaadinnovation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Jugaad-Innovation-excerpt-final.pdf

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The most important visitor on our store premises is....

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

These days, a customer can walkin to a large departmental store and be stopped only at the security gate  and there after go in and browse through the entire store for hours on end and no one else will even ask you how they can possibly help you !

The designation of the staff is typically " CCA" Customer Care Associate, but they hardly seem to care for the Customer ! It is not that they are purposefully avoiding you and doing something else instead.

A typical transaction and conversation goes like this...

A customer walks in to a branded area with rows of pants of a famous brand, and keeps looking, checking , feeling...

The CCA asks him " How may I help you ? "
Customer : I am just looking..
CCA .. Typically leaves the customer and goes back to what ever he is doing..

Customer keeps looking around, does not find what he wants, then he looks for the CCA who is now not available, then the customer walks off

Reason :-

It is not that the CCA does not want to sell. If any thing, he is dependent on the salary and a large percentage of the income is incentives driven and he wants to make the sale..

But the kind of training that has been provided is never adequate. Either the CCA has been around for hardly a few months, does not know English or is very shy of using the few words that he knows and has hardly been trained either by the Multi Brand store or the Brand itself, while the customer is speaking in English ( works in a software or BPO) . He feels in adequate if the customer asks any questions and cannot answer them back ! Better to " hide" behind some work of stacking and re stacking the racks .

Solution :-

Considering that the Brand spends so much on marketing to get the customers, if they spent some of the effort on training the CCA, then she would have asked a few more questions to the customer and answered his queries and made the sale !

Hello ..Brand and Sales Managers ! Are you listening to your customers ?

Why cannot you train your CCAs to give us, the Customers, a better service ?

Tell us ...

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Converting a walk-in to a sale through a proper welcome and query

Scenario:- A large department store of with rows and rows of ready to wear women apparel of jeans, kurtis etc..

Priya, a smartly dressed young women is walking into the area…

Lakshmi, a CCA at the department is folding and stocking the stocks, when she notices the customer walking in..

As per the training, she walks towards the customer and asks “Madam, how may I help you..”?

Priya has just walked in and she is still getting a feel of the place and says, “just looking”.

Then, Priya is left to shop for herself and Lakshmi will wait for to ask for any help.  Priya, then walks through and not having seen any thing in particular, go out of the department.

If only the training had been changed to the following :-

Lakshmi waits for Priya to start looking and then offers help, then she might have asked  a few questions and responded to them. The chances of a conversion would have been better.

What are your experiences in handling customers like Priya ? Share it with us at RetailGurukul@gmail.com

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G.U.E.S.T - How to treat a Customer !

There are many descriptions for the various "steps" that are mentioned in the process of making a sale.

GUEST

G - Greet the customer, it can be just a nodding your head with pleasant smile,
U - Unfold the customers needs with a smooth conversation,
E - Explain the customer regarding the product with their unique qualities,
S - Selling the product to the customer, make sure selling the product should not be the end of the relationship with the customer, it is infact should be the begining of the relationship with the customer, 
T -Thanking the customer after selling, never forget to thank the customer after the transaction is completed). 

In an article by Vinod Kumar M, Branch Manager /Regional Manage of Kiah Life Style Pvt Ltd.


G.U.E.S.T - Isn't it what we want each of the walkins to our store, to feel ... Guest who felt "Wanted"

This is a good example, to remember how to treat a customer and complete the selling process. Whether the sale was completed or it may not , this time...

Why not try out this process at the next available opportunity, and see if you have been able to improve the sales performance, in terms of closure ?

Share with your sales / retail team about this word GUEST .

Best of luck and happy selling,

Shivaram
www.RetailGurukul.com
www.RetailGurukul.blogspot.com
Join us on Twitter, Linkedin,FB @ RetailGurukul
Call us at 0 90360 365 24.  

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Customer or Khast se mar ! ? What is your experience

While there are many definitions of Consumer/ Customer , I will share what I found, easy to under stand and remember.

Consumer:- A person who "buys / consumes " something . Ex. I could be a consumer of a " dinner" at a particular point of time, say 9 pm, and I might even go to a restaurant along the way, just because it was in the vicinity.

Customer :- A custom is something, that we do again and again. Like praying everyday. Similarly, a customer is one, who comes back to the store, after her first visit. While every  one who makes even the first purchase can be called a customer, I prefer those who have decided to come back, because of some "custom" that they found likeable or useful. Ex. They might have liked our service and decided to make their second purchase again at our store.

Now for the "unhappy" Customer or Khast Se Mar !

How many of us have had bad experiences when something we bought did not work out and we went back to the store, only to find indifferent service or people or careless staff/ owner etc, who seem to have an attitude which says, "good once purchased cannot be returned or exchanged "philosophy. While the number of such retailers who even used to display a placard has really come down, we still do experience such "careless attitude" in the stores even today.

Even after complaining, there is no action forthcoming.  In fact, http://www.mouthshut.com is a site dedicated for such complaints, and it is good to know, some of the companies are taking care to respond to such complaints.

Learnings :- 

It often takes quite a bit of money to get a consumer into the store. (A Rs. 1000 per every walkin is not a unusual figure for big Brands ), the responsibility of the staff, to engage the consumer in such a way, that she becomes a "Customer" and not a "khast se mar "after her shopping, is the responsibility of every staff in the store....

Have you had experiences when a store treated you like a valued "customer" or examples of when you were treated with the "khast se mar" attitude. Share it with us.....

http://www.RetailGurukul.blogspot.com

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Talk to us at 0 90 360 365 24.

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Do you have the time to sharpen your saw ?

Who has the time ? – Every body’s confession ?

The popular story, as given in the picture is very descriptive of the life of many of  us and certainly of many owner - retailers.

We believe that we have so many things to do at the store, that we have no time, to go out and learn new things. Additionally, most of these seminars are full day or even 2 or 3 day events in Mumbai or Bangalore, it takes away another full day for travelling to and fro.

Besides, what is it there to learn, when we have been doing this business for 10,, 20 or even 30 years?

Learnings :-

Recently, I did attended a seminar . It really opened my eyes to the many things are being introduced in the industry for problems that are plaguing us for many years now.

Problem : One of the biggest problems that retailers are facing is the understanding of what sells and what does not sell and why ? Answer :- There are Business Analytics solutions

Problem :- What is the future likely to hold ? Solution :- No need to do detailed regressive analysis of BIG DATA. Predictive analysis takes small amounts of data and converts into potential trends.

Problem :- .Customer’s today know more about the product , than the Retail Staff, simply because , for the Retail Staff it is a job, while the customer is spending his hard earned money. Solution:- New solutions to keep the RSA updated on the “fly” with new content being downloaded from the net and a hand held to show to the customer.

Problem :- . Don’t know how to sell things on the net, except that you have products ? There is a company, which will do all the “dirty work’ about photography, content writing, putting up the product on websites and all you do is down load orders and replenish the stocks.

But the biggest revelation, ( even though we might know earlier) is the customer is checking out on physical stores and actually shopping  on the net . And how physical retailers have begun to fight back at this “showrooming” phenomenon.

Check out more on such ideas on New Age Retailing at this daily blog :-

www.RetailGurukul.com

Join us on Twitter, FB, Linkedin @RetailGurukul

Vote for us on http://www.WagonRSmartIdeas.com contest.

Call us on 0 90360 36524 and win prizes for accepted solutions!

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Offline browsing, online shopping. A new way of life...

A new word is entering the vocabulary of the consumer. Even if he  does not yet know the exact word, he knows how to extract the maximum benefit of the internet. Comparison shopping….

My 18 year old daughter Apoorva , wanted a new phone and after a lot of surveys, figured out that she wanted a HTC Explorer and got a commitment of Rs. 9,000 payment from me. Then, she did what most net savvy youngsters have started doing.

By this time, she had figured out, that the phone was priced at about Rs. 9000 at physical mobile stores like Croma, Univercell and Sangeetha in Bangalore. A little internet search on www.flipkart.com  revealed that it was priced at Rs. 8500 there. A little more comparison shopping showed  her that it was priced at Rs. 8090 on a classified advertising site called Sulekha.com, something she never knew existed , provided, the order was placed using a facebook login, where she could get this additional discount of some 400 Rs. And she went ahead and placed the order on Sulekha.com and it was promptly delivered a few days later.

Learnings :-

What are the learnings for physical retailers ? who seem to be opening more and more stores, each bigger than the other ? Already , it is such a big problem in the US, that the word “comparision shoping “ is common knowledge, where a shopper goes to a physical store, browses, compares feature for feature, get the price, and then gets the best price from the internet retailer, who has no “physical overheads” to pay for. Big Box retailers are closing down and one of the best companies BEST BUY is having a lot of problems...

Questions :-

Is there a way to keep such customers loyal to a physical store or is there a way to keep such customers loyal to even an internet retailer or is just price the only way to drive traffic.

Answers :-

It might be difficult to get a single answer that is right , but one way to go could be a brick and click retailers, who might just display products in a physical store, and deliver it from their “e retail” warehouses in some far off corner , but with good road connectivity. Bhiwandi , just of Bombay seems to be a good location for many warehouses ..

May be, e retailers like Flipkart or Indiaplaza and others could tie up with physical retailers, and each can leverage their respective strengths.

A recent study showed, retailers  who are good at physical retailing have struggled to get the digital model right, and those who are internet retailers have struggled to get the physical model right( though not many have tried it on a large scale ).

I am sure there is a lot more to come in the near future... stay tuned. And share your experiences…

shivaram

http://www.RetailGurukul.com
Fb, Twitter, Linkedin RetailGurukul
Cell 90 360 36524

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Security Guards..How to "Really"use them to reduce thefts !

In earlier days, the owner would typically sit near the entry/ exit door of a retail store, and would literally know every one of his customers and would know what came in and what went out. He was personally involved in every action .

But as the number of modern retail stores increases across the country, the need to protect the merchandise and other valuables increases significantly. The owner is no longer running the day to day operations, which is left to a employee and his team.

Scenario :-
Unlike in the past, the complexity of the modern retail store, the huge sizes of 1000s of square feet, multiple floors. ( any Relaince or a More Hyper mart ), the chances of theft and pilferage only increases.

The responsibility of detecting this is now a more complex operation as well. Apart from the now common CC TV which is centrally monitored, what is more important is the role of the Security Guards.

Challenges:-

The typical Security Guard in any retail store is often an outsourced resource, and most of them are too young, and  not educated to really find a more paying job, even inside the same super market. At the other end are very old security guards, who cannot do any manual work,and hence, the only job they can get is that of a security guard.
A formality at most stores...

How to convert a formality into an asset :-

Frankly, none of the employees care  about them. In fact, most employees dont even know the name of the security guard, probably because the guard changes almost every other day. The contract with the security agency is for so many guards and at the lowest rate per person...

Yet, the fact that theft, pilferage continuous and probably increased over a period is often "lost", mainly because they are not personally held accountable. See the wastage on the floor of any super market and you will understand the size of the problem...

Instead, if the Security Agency, the guards are all taken into confidence and made to be part of the store team, the commitment of these simple folk( often from far off villages) will surprise even the most hard nosed store manager.

In fact, in my earlier role as a Regional Manager, I was surprised, one day, that the security guard, Mr. Mishraji came with a mosquito repellent purchased out of his own funds, because he saw mosquitoes were entering the store when ever the door opened. And he suggested that we use this to control mosquitoes. All we had done, was to include the Security Guards as part of the morning meetings so that they knew the store operations, targets and challenges...

Incentive scheme ?
An incentive scheme which is a share of the theft / pilferage detected will make them feel a part of the store, apart from the including them in a theft preventiion program . Try it, you have nothing to lose Right ?

Share your insights !

Shivaram
www.retailgurukul.com
Facebook, Twitter, Linked in RetailGurukul.
Ph. 90360 365 24.

Pl forward to any of your business friends in the retail industry...

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