Romancing in Retail .......skin care

Hello and a heartfelt welcome to the first addition of romancing in skin care retail, a specialist blog for all skincare therapists and consultants. The aim is to offer inspiration, thought provocation, endorsement, and touches of humour in your world of retailing skin care products.

Surprise & Delight

This has nothing to do with ‘traffic stopping’ although the effect is just as valuable. The difference with the romancing principles is both you and the customer feel fabulous with the greeting – as of now approach everything you do and say with an “every encounter counts” mentality.

Quit using traffic stopping techniques which customers dread, and you’re bored to death with. Instead, engage your charm and imagination and begin to make every encounter count.

Ban the 4 most useless words in retail

Banned from this instant are the words “can I help you?” – it is dull in the extreme and makes you look like a numtie. Replace with a few of these suggestions, mix with several of your own and make it into a bit of a game. Have fun. Laugh a little. Be authentic. Be lovely

• Compliment the person – love the style or colour of their coat/dress/hair? Then say so! Children do this effortlessly and it is charming, highly infectious and deeply irresistible – think for a minute how fabulous you feel when a complete stranger pays you a genuine compliment – so easy to do, and how much fun is it to make as your mission each day ‘discover something lovely about everyone’
• Dare to be different – so few skincare consultants smile and say hello, and I have no idea why, we’re surrounded by such loveliness – what’s not to smile about?? Stand out from the glumness and say hello & smile at everyone (yes, even grumpy knickers, they offer the greatest reward when the smile gets returned)
• Start an epidemic – smiling, enthusiasm and excitement are all totally infectious – so let’s start an epidemic. This has nothing to do with being perennially and psychotically irritating and everything to do with making the decision to communicate with energy and passion what you love about your products ……don’t love them? Leave – you do yourself a huge disservice staying with something you hate
• Show off more! – when you have knowledge about skincare you owe to me to share this knowledge. Quit assuming I already understand why an eye cream is an essential part of my battle against face migration – I don’t! Quit assuming I want to know about product ingredients and ask me what I want to know about. I must, must, must leave smarter than when I arrived so inspire me with your expertise & insider knowledge
• Answers create natural conversations – when you ask a question do you truly listen to the answer or are you waiting to speak? Asking questions is definitely the secret to creating great connections and effortless conversations so make it your mission to ask your question and then shut up! Sometimes people need a little time, especially if you’ve asked a fab question they’ve never thought about before, so give people space & time to answer instead of jumping into the silence. It really is the greatest compliment you can pay another – genuine listening is a rare and beautiful thing

The next blog will be about the ways we unwittingly confuse the customers ……until then, keep shining!

The tale of tiresome tyres and hysterical brides

Tyres and brides – not a natural marriage (sorry, should have resisted) however, the moral of the story means they did not live happily ever after.

When will companies wake up to the fact that blaming customers simply doesn’t make for ‘happy ever after’ – never, never, never ….

Take my friend who wanted a new tyre on his car. Web price shows an all-in price of £166 (it’s a very posh car). Delighted he calls his local branch, enquiring about availability. He’s then asked what the car is (uhh oh, that’ll move the decimal point to the right) to be told “that’ll be £220 all in mate” …grrrrr, he’s not your mate …..

Explaining he’d seen it cheaper on the web he then gets offered “£175 all-in mate” – so what stopped them offering this price to begin with???

The customer waiting area was unlit, the coffee machine was filthy (and cost £2.00) and the magazines were ratty …….what was the brand message being experienced?

Confident, competent, honest or sloppy, careless, dodgy – you decide

And so to the bride …..and this just makes my jaw drop

Friend getting married, doing so in major style, decides it has to be a dress to die for (metaphorically we trust) so appoints high profile designer Susan Goodchild (the £ signs are immense at this stage).

Abridged version – went to collect on Saturday, full of excited anticipation & happiness. Sadly not to last - dress has been made for what appears to be friends younger and potentially anorexic sister – it simply ain’t gonna fit in a million years.

Wondering if they’ve got 2 dresses mixed up my friend (the customer paying vast sums of money remember) is told it must be her fault!!! She must have got the size wrong!

Erm, hello, this is a designer, tailor made dress, how on earth could she have got the size wrong??

By now in tears she is told “well, you’ll just have to make do with one of the dresses from stock”.

Far be it from me to suggest the dresses from stock are any less than totally gorgeous, being told “you’ll just have to make do” is not what a bride-to-be wants to hear.

Leaving the store without a solution and spending the weekend in tears, she eventually receives a call from the designer on Monday afternoon and is told “well, you must have put on weight” (this is a lady who’s recovering from liver cancer so I think not) ……there now remains something of an impasse. Friend doesn’t have a dress – designer doesn’t appear to have a solution.

And it’s all her fault!

Obvious points here, however I just wonder how many times common-sense flies out of the window, where employees and business owners lose sight of what they’re all about. I describe it as ‘choose your battles’ ……..some customers really do attempt to take advantage, however it’s rare. Most simply expect common courtesy, understanding and a ‘what can we do to put this right’ attitude – nothing too complicated really. Staff need to understand this attitude is going to win more business, increase loyalty and create a far more pleasant day. Leaders need to give permission. Customers are not the enemy

e-tiquette – 10 email no-no’s

War & Peace

The email that goes on and on and on and on …..and not nearly as amusing as the old Ariston advert either. I often wonder if their strategy is to bore you into submission, like you’ll lose the will to live so sign up just to get rid of them

Flawed thinking – do these people really believe that we’re so captivated we have time to read their verbose ramblings?

Get to the point!! Keep your points succinct, relevant and punchy ….unless that is you’ve got stuff to hide, in which case keep rambling and we’ll keep deleting!

Flags

Not the world cup variety – flags telling me how to prioritise.

Hello??? I decide the level of importance not you. All smacks of ‘my priority is now your priority’ and is guaranteed to get me as mad as Maradonna.

My suggestion? Unless you’ve called and we’ve agreed this is a very important/open this immediately/it’s a top of the league message please let me decide where to place the importance

Reply all

This could fall into ‘cc list’ territory except for one major difference – the public row that generally ensues. Failing that, the rather tedious reading of an email conversation between the sender and the originator – either way it’s rarely compelling – it’s nothing to do with me!

The ‘public row’ happens when egos are clashing or bitchy points are being scored – perhaps making for short-term amusement but like toilet humour, soon starts to leave a lingering and unwelcome odour.

To avoid being viewed in a pretty feeble light take any disagreements out of the email arena, put your big boy/girl pants on and have an adult debate – privately

And ‘reply all’ for a private conversation is rather like naff cartoon ties or ‘you don’t have to be mad’ notices – you may believe its interesting for the rest of us – it’s not.

Poor spelling/grammar/structure/text talk

Grrrrr, one of my all time pet hates – what’s wrong with using F7 for goodness sake?

Compose. Cut & paste. Spell check. Sorted. Took a nano-second.

In the same way as emailing in text language – it just makes you appear sloppy, ignorant and incompetent.

Email communication is a pretty impoverished at the best of times but has now all but replaced the mailed letter as a method of business contact.

Hold this in mind the next time you’re tempted to believe spelling and grammar matter not a jot – they do

Finally, spelling names incorrectly – simply no excuse. This is such a deep, ingrained feature of our psyche (primary school and possibly even nursery) that you’ll cause huge disconnection by ignoring name spelling.

Forward history

Here’s a great oxymoron for you – what I mean is the email where you’re being asked to comment on something urgently which is lost in an ocean of fwd, fwd, fwd ………

Help me cut through the fog and just send me the relevant points

Cc list

I appreciate I guard my privacy with the ferocity of Sigourney Weaver in Aliens but seeing my contact details on view to the world and his brother in a business circulation is just plain bad manners.

Use bcc (blind copy) or find some email whiz who knows how to keep your distribution list anonymous.

On a slightly different tangent, being included on an email without any specific instruction or request for information drives me insane.

If your intention is to ask someone to do something please avoid cc-ing them on an email and assuming they’re going to understand what is you’re expecting from them.

Finally on the subject of ‘cc list’ is the inclusion of a superior.

It’s not big and it’s not clever. In many ways it’s the equivalent of “right, that’s it. I’m telling on you”.

Filled with politics, spiteful, childish behaviour – time to put the big boy pants on again

Wrong tone

Being all about authenticity I get pretty miserable when an email is either overly matey or full of pomposity and high-brow words that would never see the light of day in general conversation.

Use language appropriate to the recipient, or better still, use a language and tone that is genuinely how you speak (providing you’re not the ignorant incompetent who fails to use F7).

This also includes ill placed humour – misogyny is just tasteless and sexism is rarely a redeeming feature.

Think a little before sending and ask yourself how much gender stereotyping it contains – not all females love shopping and hate sport, in much the same way that not all guys are constantly thinking about sex ………are they??

We-ing over the recipient

The worst kind of email is one that is full of ‘we’. Disgusting thought isn’t it? You know the sort of thing – we can provide, we work with, we think you should, we pride ourselves on, we would like to ……I could keep adding to this but hey, that would become War & Peace wouldn’t it?

The content needs to be about the person receiving it, so consider using a narrative with me in it to guarantee I’ll keep reading.

This one area will do more to help me determine your competency, your quality, and the value I place on you than anything else you may conceive of – promise.

Rather like a first date if the email is all about you I’m going to become cynical and bored faster than a fiddlers elbow – give me a reason to open your email by providing information relevant to me, inspire me, educate me, enlighten me but please never we on me!

Bad news day

Likely each one of us can recall the unfortunate email sent out intending to be buried on a bad news day – this isn’t what I mean, I was just teasing.

This is the use of email to fire/dump/air disputes/complain – simply don’t do it. Ever, ever, ever

Visual pollution

They say a picture paints a thousand words – except when the email is so chock-full with images that finding the text in the preview pane proves futile.

Instead of being able to make an informed choice about whether to invest time reading it I’m more likely to delete – that’s if my spam filters haven’t zapped it first!

Be succinct. Signpost. Structure.

Use visuals with caution otherwise it becomes a designers wet dream

The curse of auditory pollution

Having decided to ditch the car in favour of walking, cycling and taking the train I have become fitter, firmer and frustrated.

The first two F’s require no explanation. The third F began as wry amusement which has rapidly become screaming exasperation ……public announcements on trains.

Now, please don’t misunderstand me, I believe it’s vitally important to receive confirmation of platform departures and the fact that I’m on the right train, however, the apparently arbitrary nature of further announcements appears to be inexorable.

For those unfamiliar with the intricacies of rail travel please let me explain.

It begins with the train manager announcing the type of tickets NOT valid for travel, of which there are zillions. Next are the safety announcements, to which no-one appears to be listening.

Announcements for where to safely store luggage swiftly follow – on the big space clearly labelled LUGGAGE would be my guess. Then comes another announcement from the train manager about where the quiet carriages are, with further prattling about what this means (dumbing down or what?)

Then we get the on-board catering announcement, lamely attempting to seduce us to indulge in their plastic tasting bacon rolls, molten hot beverages or poor quality wines. Even more hilarious is the catering manager’s announcement that there is no catering! Intermingled throughout these ubiquitous interruptions is the unrelenting and generic recording of where the train is about to stop, and what future stops are planned…….cross country trains make up to 20 stops …..imagine how monotonous this becomes.

Sometimes the announcements are made by individuals with a severe case of verbal diarrhoea, who, compelled to come ‘off script’ add their own witticisms (rarely are they) about the service, who they are, where they come from, what they had for breakfast, in fact just about any random fact you can imagine. All the while I just want to scream “For the love of God just be quiet”.

OK rant over……..am I the only person climbing the carriage windows in frustration? Compelled to start a campaign to eliminate auditory pollution ……who will join me???

Power of the positive

Having listened to the final leaders debate last night I was amazed by Gordon Brown’s insistence to focus on entirely negative statements throughout his concluding speech. There was not one single positive thing in that statement. He missed a glorious opportunity to reinforce all the positive reasons why voters should re-elect a Labour government by sounding scared and desperate – both deeply unattractive characteristics.

Number one lesson in customer engagement and sales – NEVER slag off the competition!!!

Almost without exception it leaves a deeply cynical and suspicious customer behind. It rarely communicates how fabulous you and your services are. It never suggests you’re an innovative thinker. Seldom does it act to strengthen feelings of trust and confidence. In short, you inevitably communicate how preoccupied you are with everything other than the customer you’re here to serve.

There are many ways in which we unwittingly undermine our authority – Gordon Brown gave a master class in alienating potential customers and causing existing one’s to disconnect.

Jobs-worth on the train

May the Lord forgive me ………I simply loathe ‘jobs-worth’ types and I managed to attract one on this mornings train journey to Birmingham.

In my endeavours to reduce my carbon omissions/ get fitter/ enjoy fresh air I have decided to start cycling the 1½ miles from home to station and then station to office……I know, my halo is glowing bright.

However, this morning’s journey was blighted by possibly the worst example of jobs worth I’ve ever had the misfortune to encounter.

Let me set the scene……I get myself and said bicycle safely onto the train at International for the short journey to New Street (approx 7 minutes) and in the absence of any better place I holed-up between standard and first class, largely because the latter was empty and the corridor was wide……then jobs worth strikes!

My first error is to have underestimated the murderous intent of my cycle, something jobs worth identified in a heartbeat when he greeted me with the words “that bike could kill”. My bike? A murderer? Surely a miscarriage of justice if ever there was.

It seems what I should have done was enter the train at the opposite end, through a locked door, which only the absent staff at International could have unlocked for me. And I would know this because ……..???? Aahhh, it seems I couldn’t have known this, for only the man with the key would know.

By now I’m feeling confused (not hard I admit) which is rapidly replaced by a fit of the giggles as jobs worth grabs his mobile, puffs out his chest and complains to some faceless bicycle fascist at HO “we have a bike on the train and I knew nothing about”.

Suitably pleased with himself as he finishes his call, looks me in the eye and announces “that showed ‘em”

What a totally pointless waste of his time & energy! More critically I know see Virgin inspectors as silly, bullying and ridiculous ……more alarming is the murderous intent of my previously benign cycle!

Business or quick fumble?

A customers measure of our quality, competence and value are very different to what we might imagine. The bad news is it is rarely, if ever, determined by how brilliant we might be at something. It is almost always measured and judged by what we’re saying through non-verbal communication.

Let’s look at business cards -

In business I see companies and consultants listing endless services, I guess in the belief that as a customer I’ll be impressed by this. The opposite is in fact true.

I have no idea what it is they’re good at, they appear lacking in confidence, perhaps unsure themselves about their strengths and expertise, and so unwittingly communicate in a way which leaves me confused and doubting their credibility. Jack of all trades, master of none

It does little to create anticipation and irresistible temptation either. It’s the equivalent of baring all and leaving nothing to the imagination.

You surprise and delight your customers far more by introducing additional products and services in an appropriate and relevant manner, rather than attempting to explain everything at the same time. Better to find the judicious opportunity to unfurl your businesses breadth of services and products in a thoughtful manner than to pitch everything at once in a desperate and frantic manner.

5 tips to think about –

• Decide what it is you want to communicate with your business cards – do you want to tell all or offer just a hint of what you offer? This is often the first thing people see in a business environment or networking event. It is the first opportunity you will have to create the wow
• Consider also the ergonomics of your card – it must be able to fit into the wallet, and also business card holders. Designing something that is none-standard is flawed – if it can’t be filed it will be dumped! Confine none-standard shapes to your promotional material not your business cards

· One vital point on your cards is to ensure you use both sides. It is a missed opportunity and a false saving to only print on one side – don’t be misguided – use every available space

· Get them professionally printed. This is a necessary investment – substandard cards suggest you either don’t take yourself seriously or worse that you won’t be around very long. This may not be your intention but it certainly is what gets communicated

· If the contact details are out of date get new ones printed – never scribble details through, it just looks cheap and naff

The quality of your business cards, as with all your printed stuff will communicate more about your professionalism, how much you value yourself and ultimately how much I’m prepared to pay for your products and services. Avoid BTN (better than nothing) thinking – because it never is.