RTLL Raising the Bar (Dec 2011)

Thanks for coming to have a peak at our last newsletter for 2011. (And we mean that; becuse in a busy world, time is people's most treasured resource and we will attempt to honour it with great content.)

So we don't publish often, but when we do, we want to make sure it is worth it.

Before you start, a quick 30 sec message from Dennis & Moonyeen.

INTRODUCTION

For this last issue of RTLL in 2011, we thought we would set the tone for 2012. When you set your new resolutions, you must know where the bar is when you want to raise the bar. We'd like to do this by offering a liquorice allsorts of topics.

This means you can also dip in and dip out as you wish. Come back and 'steal' some content later.

Enjoy.

RAISING THE BAR: IN BUSINESS

STRATEGY & FUTURE

This is quite brilliant - do take the time to read and explore.

If you did not explore all the links, this one below you really should.

I am pasting the 'naked' link because I need you to launch a CHROME browser (the Google browser) and paste the link in that rather than click and launch your default browser.

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

Go do it. I will be here when you get back.

TOP 100

Of course you can't raise the bar until you have cleared the bar.

So where is the bar in retail?

This year’s Top 100 list hints at the changes that are underway: Check out Amazon’s growth andApple’s stores’ jump in the ranking as two examples. And who knows what transformative impact the mobile wallet will have over the next five to 10 years?

THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Factoid #1

According to research from ACI Worldwide, 75 percent of people hold a loyalty card, but over 80 percent don’t know why and have never received any benefit.

Factoid #2

Office Depot’s president could not understand why all their stores received outstanding customer service ratings done by a third party BUT their sales were declining faster than their competitors'. He knew they were not in control of the economy; the only thing he could control is what was going on in the stores. 

He realised that he needed to answer this burning question: they walk in by the loads, but they come out empty handed.

Read the full story.

You can say what you want about who you (think you) are, but people believe what they experience.

Jack Mackey, Vice president, Services Management Group

Factoid #3

Bain and Company after they have surveyed 362 companies found:

• That only 8 percent of customer surveyed describe their experience as superior.
• Yet 80% of the companies surveyed believe that the service they provided was indeed superior.

Factoid #4

The owner of Chick-fil-A understands the H-factor, they live the H-factor and it is part of their DNA. They are not company centric, they focus on their customers. They employ the right people.  They create a dynamic and inspiring environment to work in. 'It is more difficult to be a Chick-fil-A franchisee than to get into the CIA',  Cathy the owner likes to joke.

"If we have to keep telling people what to do, it means we're not modelling the behaviour ourselves," says Cathy. "If we're living it every day, we don't need to talk about it."

Raising the bar on Customer Service

1. Understand it. (If you haven't watched it yet, check out the video on the H-Factor.)

2. Use visual cues.

This is a smart way to 'tag your customers' in ways that it can remind you/your staff of how you could treat every customer.

For example, in a restaurant you could use a colour serviette to remind all staff that it is a regular customer (red serviette) or a newbie (white serviette).

All staff members will know to use phrases like: “nice to see you again” or if “since it is your first time here, let me introduce you to our chef.”

Obviously you need to have the systems in place to know this!

It is easy to implement:

• Talk to staff and ask about customer behaviours - regularly. Stew Leonard once said that you will never need a consultant ever again in your life all that you have to do is talk to your customers, have a conversation ask what they would like to have and then if possible fix it or implement it.
• Forecast what can go wrong at any given touchpoint and put strategies in place to ensure a golden moment of truth for your customers.
• Have service recovery systems in place:

E.g: “What if they bring the product back?”

E.g: “How do you handle complaints?”

Remember, dissatisfaction is contagious. (A Neuromarketing article.)

STAFFING

It is not going to get any better in the future if we do not address the problem and understand that we cannot deliver customer service experience without our staff. Management Guru Tom Peters recently presented in Jonannesburg and (find the entire presentation here)  gives us his take on staff problems. It is worth a look.  

PRICING

Check out this stunning slideshow which explains the rise and rise of Amazon to be the world's most trusted retail brand. It proves you cannot compete on price.

 PACKAGING 

How about Puma's biodegradable plastic bag for clever innovation?

 

RAISING THE BAR: PERSONAL

Here are a few songs that will bless you if you watch it.

And also this one...

Why did I show you this?

I wanted you to think about how BLESSED you already are. A wise person once said something like this:

If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

We live by grace. 

We should live graciously in return. And at the heart of a gracious life is GRATITUDE. If you liked the first video, you will like this one too. 

Our sincere Christmas wish to all all RTLL readers is to find this gracious life by accepting what they have and the peace that comes with knowing who you are.

So often 'personal development' is about goals and achievements, and God forbid, money; when the most important thing is what you already have: LIFE.

RAISING THE BAR: GANADOR

Here we are constantly raising the bar for ourselves and for our clients. Some of the changes and new services we can share with you are:

ONE

We are authorised to distubute one of the world's leading Learning Management Systems (LMS). If you are a trainer, coach, consultant, RTO or even a corporation that may be thinking about tapping into the benefits of eLearning (simply & affordably) then you may want to explore a series of very short videos that explains the back-end. 

TWO

We have launched a LIVE CHAT function on our website. (Just look at the left-hand navigation bar, top left.) If we are online and available for a chat, we will indicate accordingly and if you have a question about retail or marketing, we will try to help. Give it a try... (If we are offline, we will still get your message, so be sure to leave an email if you want us to respond.)

THREE

We are  working on some new products to be launched in 2012, including a 'Going Online for Dummies'. It is aimed at SMEs who have limited skills and technology. We will be stepping users through every step you need to go through - from buying the domain name to eventually trading online.

I am not creating a survey here, but I would love to hear ANY thoughts you may have on this topic. What to include. What to exclude. How much to charge. How long it should be. Why it will work/ fail...

Whatever opinions you have are bound to shape the final product, and we would appreciate it very much.

FOUR

We are contantly tweaking our learning and development content and style to create new products. In particular, we are increasingly adopting a Non-Training-Approach to learning. Less talk & chalk, more about side-by-side performance improvement strategies.

FIVE

Of course, we continuously improve what we do as well. Browse on the site and you will see that we:

Speak, Consult, Audit, Write, Develop - smart solutions for our clients. Raising the bar is also comprised of those small changes you make to the 'everyday' stuff. For instance, we have launched a RetailCoach version of our Retail Performance Assessments because we found that struggling retailers did not need advice, they needed a hand. And it is proving to be very successful - in case you were interested.

LIFE IS TOO SERIOUS

World's Greatest Salesman

Three salesmen were bragging who is the best.

The first said, that he is so good he sold a colour television to a blind man.

The second bragged he sold a HI-FI stereo system to a deaf man.

The third said he sold a Cuckoo clock to a blonde lady.

The other two said, so what?

The third salesman added, along with the Cuckoo clock, I also sold her one hundred kilos of bird seed!

(Moonyeen is blonde, and she picked this one ;-)

Did you like this issue?

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Want to stay in touch?

On the left hand side of this page you can connect via Twitter, LindkeIn, Email or RSS.  Don't be like this guy. 

THAT'S IT FOLKS.

Who knows when the next newsletter will be published? But when it is published  it will be a cracker. Hope you got something out of this one.

Enjoy the holiday season. And remember, you know where to find us if you need a hand to get better results for your brand...