September 2023 NEWSLETTER
‘Who’s supporting the support office?’
I’ve never forgotten that question when it was bravely asked at an HQ team meeting in a retail business I worked in.
A kind of awkward silence followed with furious glances between senior team members that meant ‘Why would they bring that up?!'
Investment of front-line retail team will always and should always come first because that’s how you can most directly impact customer experience and consequent results.
Nordstrom’s inverted pyramid reinforces that to have an engaged, high performing team in every part of your business it’s essential the people supporting the stores, have the skills to also be great retail leaders.
Ask yourself:
Do my head office leaders understand how to drive the customer experience you want to be famous for?
Do they know how to effectively communicate?
Do they know how to maximise the potential of their team?
Do they know how to have brave conversations with their teams?
Do they know how to visit a store powerfully?
We tailor face to face or online programs for head office retail leaders that provide practical ways to say HELL YES to all of the above.
Contact us here to have a chat.
THINGS WE LOVE IN RETAIL THIS MONTH
The signs are already up in retail windows across the land and we’re estimating that the industry will hire 20,000 casuals this Christmas.
We love the retailers who are not only hiring early but setting these people up for success.
Making sure they can start on day one confidently knowing how to make customers truly happy and not be the deer in headlights we so often see and even get frustrated by.
Our top tips to onboarding your Christmas casuals are:
Hire the ‘smile’ (you can train the skill)
Ensure they align with your values so they add to the team culture at such an important time of year
Show them how to make your customers happy
Reward and recognise the right behaviours
We have a 1 hour online class that gets your casuals ready to create exceptional customer experiences from the get go.
Contact us here if you’d like to find out more.
STUDENT OF THE MONTH
The accolade goes to 3 Austin Group store managers who did their weekly practise and coached their team members so well they made budget for the week.
Believe us - it works!
RETAILER OF THE MONTH
We recently shopped Armadale High St in Melbourne on the hunt for great welcomes.
Only 50% of stores greeted us and 20% made great conversation asking open ended questions and telling us about the products we were looking at.
We are awarding Bec and Bridge as retailer of the month for their brilliant welcome.
Seems so simple but it was a rare find...
LOVE NOTE
See you in store soon
Love, Claire, Janelle and Aba