Hopefully all the stress and worry has not taken all the fun out of your business. One of the more challenging aspects of retail is that there are always payables. It is also a great motivator to drive business. This creates constant pressure to generate revenue and thus the stress to excel.

When looking at how our business performs; we look at product, people, presentation and marketing. One thing I rarely hear is “Are we having Fun Yet?” When I walk in to a store I get a feel for the atmosphere. Is it too quiet? is the music upbeat, soft, too loud, etc. I also get a feel for the energy in the store. If that energy is positive, it can be contagious.
That can translate into dollars as customers become more willing to spend time and shop.

That energy also translates into how sales associates perform. A positive attitude goes a long way to influencing potential clients into getting involved with your product. People buy from people they like, and when you are up and happy you put yourself in a position to win. When you are negative, dour or depressed your performance level is going to diminish.

One of the morning talk shows recently had a psychologist on and she said that research showed that the average person has 60,000 individual thoughts per day and that in a high percentage of people, 80% of those thoughts are negative. That was a staggering statistic. It seems like the deck is stacked against us from the beginning. However replacing a positive thought when you feel a negative thought appear can be the beginning of making a difference.

We have a choice to be positive. When a situation occurs, like a return, we can smile and recognize this is an opportunity or we can be depressed and make the customer, those around you and your self miserable. The opportunity is that the return is still traffic in the store. Take it back with a smile and maybe you will resell something else or make a customer for life. A retailer in Texas recently shared this example. A person brought in a shirt that she had purchased at another store. The retailer did not carry that brand but had a similar product. It was not even a customer that had ever shopped with him in the past. He took the return and made her into a customer, FOR LIFE! After that return this customer has become a client and has spent over $18,000. Imagine the goodwill he generated and how many potential positive stories from that customer were repeated to her friends. We all know the best advertising in the world is word of mouth.

Here are some ideas to injecting some fun into your business:

  • Start each day by setting the tone of the day. Huddle with your staff and share success stories. Start the day with positive self talk. We are going to have a great day.
  • At the huddle, challenge each other. Have a little contest, the first person to sell xxx, gets an extra half hour lunch break, or a candy bar, or something fun.
    Play games, Get the customers involved.
  • Break up displays and redo them, share ideas, create some excitement in the front of the store.
  • Before the store opens crank up the loud speakers with music that gets you moving. Music can be a great motivator.
  • If you have XM or Sirrus or some comedy CD’s play them while you get the store ready to open, and start laughing.
  • Brainstorm your own list of fun things to do.
  • Hire people who like to be with people and who like to have fun. Let go of the downers because they bring everyone to their level and lower everyone’s expectations.

I realize that retail is serious business but life is worth living and for the amount of time you spend in those 4 walls there is no law that says it can’t be fun!

Let the good times roll…………

Marc