Retail Today with Bob Phibbs, The Retail Doctor

Being More Strategic With Your Add-Ons as a Retailer | Retail Today With Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor - Flash Briefing

Let's face it, there are fewer people walking in your brick-and-mortar store, and that's because any trip we save by buying online through Alexa or something else is one less going into your community. So, how do you make up the difference? Well, you have to get more out of the people that are walking in your door. So that's why you want to be able to cross sell, to be able to say, “Buy this item with this in a bundle,” or to add on after someone decides on the main purchase, then you're going to suggest one other item that gives them more enjoyment or makes it easier for the first item they picked out.
The key is, don't just come up with a laundry list, right? “Oh, it goes with this, and you could buy this and this.” Just lock up the most expensive first product first. If that's flooring for the house, then you just suggest the moldings. If you're selling window treatments, then you're talking about the headliners, or the cords, or the automation. But you don't keep them all together - you selectively add on, and when you do that, you can increase the number of items going out your store and more importantly, increase margins. So that's the way add-ons help customers get even more from their original purchase.
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!

Greeting the Shopper | Retail Today With Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor - Flash Briefing

Do you know what lazy retailing sounds like? "Can I help you? How are you? Looking for something special?" Those kind of lazy things your employees are saying are not going to build your sales. In fact, they turn most people off pretty quick because, well, it just doesn't feel normal. It doesn't feel natural. It sounds like it's an impersonal thing you've said a million times. Even if you've said it a million times, nobody wants to feel like they're just like everybody else. You know what I do instead when I teach how to greet a customer, just say, "Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening." That's kind of it because ultimately that's what starts you on the path to build a rapport. It's not all of it.It's that first step. That's important because you often lose the sale most often with what you said in those first 20 seconds with your greeting. Today, I want you to instead say, "Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening," to everybody you meet. You know what they're going to probably say is, "Thank you." Or they'll say good morning back to you. Isn't that a nice way to start instead of, "No, I'm just looking." Of course, it is. Get out there and greet the right way and you'll build more sales.
-
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!

Eye-Level Displays | Retail Today With Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor - Flash Briefing

A lot of times people forget one of the most basic things you can do in a brick-and-mortar store to attract customers is to have a great window display. The problem is too many people just want to put a bunch of junk in the window. If you're at a mall location, maybe you're gonna just put a bunch of junk in the front. That makes shopping feel like work. The secret to having a great window is going into the window and have someone on the outside mark where their eyes are with a sharpie or a magic marker, right in the middle, so you're gonna see it about six feet up. That's the sweet spot.
You want the most important, the brightest, and most beautiful, the premium is right there as people are walking by, so that's what grabs their eye. Then come up with a color story around it. So, today, remember that eye level is the key to making a successful display that attracts customers.
-
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!

What Is Customer Service? | Retail Today With Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor - Flash Briefing

You know, many people say, "Oh, we give great customer service." And then I ask them, "Well, what is great customer service?" And they're like, "Oh, we get an official order out." And I'm like, "No, that's not great customer service."Great customer service is making the person in front of you feel like, for those few minutes, they are the most important person in the world. Yes, it takes training. Yes, it takes a branded shopping experience. But the attitude about it is that you are making sure that that person feels something when they go into their brick-and-mortar store because people who feel they matter buy more.Today, I want you to think about customer service needs to be defined by you, trained by you, and then you end up being able to deliver that. Otherwise, you just end up like every other person on the street, every other brick and mortar saying, "Oh, online's beating our butt," when you can decide what customer service is, and that's what brings customers back every time.
-
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!

How to Sell Value Over Price | Retail Today With Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor - Flash Briefing

When people are trying to build sales, they always tell me they need to lower their prices, and I'm saying, "No. What you need to do is to be able to have your employees be able to challenge people's perceptions." An example I always use is garden hoses. You go into a home center and there they are at $9.99 and then there are others that are sitting there for $50 and $75.
And the problem is that somebody walks in and the sales rep says, "You need a garden hose. They're over there," and the guy will get the cheapest one. The problem is the cheapest one builds up steam and is heavier than lead when you try to drag it around your house. The more expensive ones need the ability to have somebody challenge their perception. You could buy a cheaper one, but when it gets hot out, the steam is going to build and it's going to rupture and it's going to be heavy to lug around with all that water. Wouldn't you rather have this lightweight one, which will hold up for many seasons because in a lot of ways it's the cheapest hose we have?Today, I want you to be thinking about, don't equate price with value. Value is different, and that's what you're selling.
-
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!

Tasks Over Training | Retail Today With Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor - Flash Briefing

As retailers, we all wish we had more time at home, and the problem is, is that when we're home, we just come up with all the tasks we have to get done on our days off. The problem with that is when we get back to our stores, that's what we put in charge of just doing tasks.
I'm here to tell you that tasks aren't going to make you more money, but training will. Your most important thing you can look at is instead of telling somebody to go do this, you want to train them how and why to give great customer service. You want to come up with a branded shopping experience.
Today I want you to think about fewer tasks, fewer to-do lists, and more of the soft skills of, "How do I engage a customer? How do I build rapport?" Because that is what's going to make you money today, not how neatly something is folded or how you got something from one shelf to another.
-
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!

Natural Color Attracts the Eye | Retail Today With Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor - Flash Briefing

A lot of times people ask me, "How do I attract more customers?" And one of the most basic ways is making sure your location looks like a friendly place. A new restaurant just opened not far from me, and they didn't change any of the plantings. And they're all in grasses and some things that looked kind of dead, no color. And the problem with that is it doesn't get anyone's eyes and frankly, it looks kind of dead.
So, what I want you to do today is to plant it up, whether you're in California or you're in New York, whether it's in spring or fall or winter, whatever. In your location, you want to grab people's eyes that's going to be bright colors, seasonal flowers, or maybe even lights at night because natural color attracts the eyes, which attracts customers.
-
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!

Make a Friend Before You Try Making a Sale | Retail Today With Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor - Flash Briefing

When you're trying to sell more in your brick-and-mortar store, a lot of times people think it's about discounting, but really what it is is you have to make a friend from somebody walking in your door. What I always say is, "Look for something they're holding or something that they're wearing. Notice it. Share something about yourself based on that, and then continue."
That's because people respond to people that open their hearts to them. You know that yourself. You can sell to a friend easier than a stranger. Today, I want you to think about that and find a way to engage that stranger before you ever start talking about product.
-
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!

Having a Clean Store Starts With Looking at Your Shoes | Retail Today With Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor - Flash Briefing

When I do a business makeover, I always look at how clean the store is first. So today, I want you to go out, about halfway into your store, and I want you to look down at your shoes. Then from there, I want you to look and notice five things that need to be cleaned. That could be carpet, that could be display fixtures, that could be a million things, and then, set your task today to clean those five things.It's funny, RSR Research recently said in a report that most retailers say, "If we just had more money, our store would be cleaner," and yet, customers are turned off by dirty stores.So remember, clean stores attract shoppers. Go out and clean it today.
-
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!

How to Bring Hope to Your Retail Atmosphere | Retail Today With Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor - Flash Briefing

Well, it's the end of January and the doldrums are probably here for you, right? You've done the inventory, you've done all the returns. You might have finally gotten your schedule back to a little bit leaner. Your store looks a little bit better, and now you're wondering where is everybody. And you start madly searching for how to attract customers. Look, the one thing I want you to think about today is, you have to take control of your mind and build a path to hope
Tony Robbins said a long time ago, there is a highway to fear and anxiety, and a dirt path to peace and hope. And you have to realize that you know what? Just going with the flow and feeling anxious isn't going to help. That it's up to you because shoppers only want to shop where they feel that people are hopeful. We don't want to meet bitter Betty either a bitter bill.
So when they come to your store, when you use that choice muscle, which says, I could either feel hopeless and say it's all hard and Amazon's doing this and Walmart is doing this. Or I can choose a different path and I can look at how are we going to do differently and how can I go out in the aisles and realize the parties out there with the shoppers instead of sitting back here feeling sorry for myself.
If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!