By Ron Kustek
That famous line by Joe Gideon (played by Roy Scheider in the movie “All That Jazz”) will hopefully soon be resonating throughout the land, when the all clear is given upon the end of these Covid times.
Will you be ready?
These challenging times have called for our remaining businesses to be even better than before. Better for the locals who loyally “shop local.” Better for the community who supports small businesses. Better for each employee who wants to get back to work, earning a living, and providing for their family. So how will you be better?
If you have a storefront (brick & mortar business) then what have you done during these past 7 months to improve your offering? Have you improved your location? Have you taken the time to put systems in place to capture customer information to communicate with them? Have you fixed those areas that you weren’t able to, when you had customers in your store on a daily basis?
If you haven’t taken this time to make improvements to your business, then you’ve wasted this time. I understand it’s costly, it’s unpredictable, it’s not guaranteed to give you a return on your investment. But I can tell you that customers will be even MORE demanding once we’re back to a “new normal.”
In a recent Forbes article about brick & mortar being “dead,” international studies found the following:
- 58% of people will continue to avoid crowds (think traffic-flow in your location)
- 52% will avoid unnecessary travel (so much for counting on tourism to save the day)
- 46% will spend less time inside stores (consider focusing on those SKUs that move the fastest)
- 45% will dine out less often (think how you’re going to get customers back)
What this rather bleak near-term outlook tells us, is that we will have to do much more business with fewer customers. Forget about raising prices, as people have been leveraged enough with ever-increasing taxes and rents. Forget about putting signs in your window or on the curbside, because if fewer people are out in the marketplace, fewer will see what you’re trying to tell them. Which is one of the key points: What will be your message?
Step 1: Hopefully you’ve taken this time to improve your shopping experience for customers. This means that you’ve invested more time and money making your location more inviting, improving on lighting and cleanliness, furniture, décor and your overall ambience. You’re planning to present a “better you” to your customers, including an improvement in customer service, which has been taken for granted by many small businesses ━ as has the lack of providing a “customer experience.”
Likely most of what you sell can be bought online — so why would people come to your location to buy? Think “EXPERIENCE” — Think “Disneyland.” Think about the experience each customer feels when in your location, which becomes the memory they walk away with and tell others about on social media platforms and in person.
In Miami, the RazzleDazzle Barbershop is decorated as an old-time shoppe with the staff dressed in ‘20s attire, big band music playing throughout the day, where customers can get an espresso or a free drink from the liquor cabinet.
Their unique atmosphere draws their target customers who want more than just a haircut — they want an experience. Their brand and positioning is reinforced with their ambience, their products and especially their customer service. They actually listen to each customer, as the regulars are greeted by name, with their favorite beverage upon being seated, and everyone is smiling, sharing, connecting with the ambience and experience that many business owners have forgotten about, or didn’t think was necessary.
But it’s now essential. Creating and delivering an experience is the way to get people to leave their homes to spend money at your business. But you’ll also have to tell them you’ve changed.
Step 2: Advertising and communicating through the right vehicles and social media platforms. Your customer email list that you’ve hopefully curated over the years will be even more essential for your communications. We’ll be exploring this more in future articles.
There’s lots to do. But as Walt Disney said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
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Ron Kustek is a former senior executive and small business owner who is currently a business instructor at Cabrillo College. Contact him at [email protected].