Leaders in retailing have learned hard lessons about what customers will and will not tolerate. No longer do they have to trade at the local store. They will drive a hundred miles to get good service, trade at a clean, well-merchandised store and deal with nice people. Many retailers lament the fact that consumers are "much more difficult" nowadays, when they should welcome these more educated, hard-to-please people. They are only behaving like upscale customers have always behaved. Are customers spoiled? You bet they are! To me this is good news. Demanding consumers have raised the level of retailing in this country. Professional businesspeople should welcome this change, because it gives them opportunity to increase market share. Marginal businesses, on the other hand, will have a more difficult time competing.

I remember when Sam Walton first hired "greeters" in his stores - mostly retirees. Their only purpose was to make customers feel comfortable as they entered. It was kind of "hokey;' but it worked. It feels good for someone to say, "Hello!" Amazing was the fact that this was considered "cutting edge," when it was how customers wanted to be treated all along, no matter their position on the economic scale. Go into any fine men's store over the last hundred or so years and this is exactly how elite consumers have always been treated. Why should mainstream America deserve less? This is why the giant carpet chains perished. It wasn't Shaw who killed New York Carpet World. It was DOA.

Moreover, clerks became known as sales associates and when you ask for a certain product, the answer is never, "over there." WalMart associates lead you to the exact location cheerfully. Sam knew that you couldn't logically ask employees to treat customers well if employees weren't treated just as well. Many WalMart employees are now millionaires because of stock options offered to them. Proof of the power of the individual is the fact that the difference in WalMart was noticeable almost from the moment Sam died. While still good, it isn't the old WalMart. You can't fake these things as a leader, you have to feel it. Every mass merchandiser has attempted to copy Sam Walton with varying, but lesser degrees of success.

Chapter 3 deals with our greatest resource - people. First and foremost, success is predicated on who you are and how you treat your employees and, in turn, how they treat customers. Great businesses are organized for customers, not the convenience of owners and managers. Customers want products that will do what they want with the least possible complications, available when they want it and how they want it. They have a right to feel this way no matter how much it may inconvenience you or your employees.

Great companies organize and develop systems to ensure business is carried out efficiently irrespective of events or who becomes sick or dies. While working for Sam Allman, Dean of Mohawk University, in the preparation of a presentation, I ran across a question directed to retailers. "What should be the goal of your business?" The answer, "To sell it!" Only when a business is organized with systems in place that allow for effective operation no matter who is at the helm, can a business be worth anything beyond fixtures and inventory. Have a goal to make your business as valuable as possible. Every day in America, businesses that should be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and more are closed down. If your business can't run without you, it's worthless - a real tragedy.

You must organize your store to ensure customer satisfaction with controls in place for each operation. Running a business is like driving a car, once the controls - steering wheel, brakes, accelerator, turn signals, windshield wiper -  are in place, anyone familiar with them can drive the car. Granted, some drivers are better than others, but no one can drive without controls. These controls in business are systems. An organized business has systems for processing orders, ordering merchandise, handling complaints, scheduling jobs, opening the store, inventory control, installations, prospecting, advertising and promotion, display and the dozens of other functions needed to operate the store. Once systems are in place, anyone can drive. Just pick the best driver. Without systems and areas of responsibility, employees are kept busy plugging holes in the dike with no one accountable. The bulk of a leader's time should be spent constantly improving, fine­tuning and innovating rather than fixing. Are you tweaking or fixing?

Recently, a reader wrote to tell me the only reason she read my column was that I made her angry. Well, whatever floats your boat. One point where we differed was the importance of maintaining a clean, well-merchandised store. "Her customers don't care," she wrote, "They only care about how well I treat them and whether I have the knowledge to do the job." Certainly, I have no disagreement with the last two elements of her statement. But one of the common threads of successful retailers is a well-merchandised and maintained store. Walk through any department store and one of the first things you notice is not only how organized it is, but how well maintained - no unopened boxes, scattered merchandise, samples or litter as in smaller stores.

"Little things mean a lot" was a popular song of the early '50s and I adhere to it. It's even Biblical, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness." The manner in which we keep our belongings is an indication of how well or badly we are handling our time on Earth. In conducting business surveys for clients, organization and maintenance were critical in allowing me to make quick and accurate assumptions. In the time it took to go from the entrance to the office, I was already fairly confident about sales volume, approximate gross margin and whether bills were getting paid. Nothing is 100%, but it takes organization and systems to keep a store looking new and to display merchandise properly day-to-day. The indisputable fact is, customers care!

Recent market surveys indicate that in any market area, up to 30% of consumers will never ever come in to your store no matter what promotion or sale is run because of something they heard about you, your people or service. The greatest thing ever said by a retailer was, "The customer is always right!" The retailer, Marshall Field, meant "right" no matter if the customer is right or wrong. Right or wrong, you lose! Great retailers like Nordstroms and Sewall Cadillac understand this, and right or wrong, do what it takes to satisfy their customers. They do it because it doesn't increase expenses to do whatever it takes, it increases revenue. This is a hard lesson for retailers to learn. You can't be successful if emotion blinds you to the fact that in life or business, right or wrong can never be an issue.

Bringing them, ready-to-buy to the door!

Whether through merchandising, promotion, networking, prospecting, publicity or advertising, great retailers know what it takes to bring them in. Home Depot knows what it takes to put 5,000 consumers in several hundred parking lots every Saturday and then overwhelm them with the vastness of their "If we don't have it, you don't need it!" merchandising. It's entertainment rather than shopping to be in a "Depot." They and Lowe's have changed the face of retailing in this country. Specialty retailers of individual home center product sectors should thank them for increasing our market share. America has become more willing to spend money on their home becasue of these folks. I know the Depot and Lowe's try, but if they could treat their employees as did Sam Walton, their potential would be even greater. Great retailers should know how to attract, train and retain good employess.

Successful Retailers Have Goals

Not only do they have goals, they formulate plans that allow them to reach those goals and take action. Whether through buying an existing business, or starting one, successful retailers have dreams - who they want to be, where they are going and how they want to get there. Prioritize your dreams, write them down and formulate your plans. Do it right away.

There are no bad ideas. What if a friend came to you and said, "I have a great idea, I'm going to the seashore and collect rounded rocks and sell them for $5.99 apiece. I'll be rich!" You would probably counsel him to take it easy, that his work is getting to him and if he persisted, you would call the men with the white coats. Well, at one time in this nation, almost every school kid had a "pet rock" sitting on their desk. Even more loony was the person who had the idea that little girls wanted an ugly doll. No one still conscious in this country hasn't heard of the "Cabbage Patch" doll.

Much research and study has been invested in how successful people make decisions. A general result of these studies is that the idea is not quite as important as the zeal with which a plan is carried out. Some studies suggest that a mediocre idea wholeheartedly put forth and acted upon has a much greater chance of success than an idea acted upon with trepidation. Furthermore, passion counts for more than an overly thought-out plan. Studies also show that generally people who make spur-of-the-moment decisions tend to stick with them while "detail drones" who need to cross every "t" and dot every "i" are prone to quit at any hint of rough going and change their minds with more frequency. Most successful people tell us that failure rarely crosses their minds. How you think counts. Successful people are positive thinkers almost to the point of silliness.

Vision

As a popular bumper sticker for the clothing brand, "Big Dogs" implies, "If you're not the lead dog, the scenery never changes!" Think about this for a minute. You can be relatively successful by copying good ideas, but you will never be # 1. Then by the time everyone catches on, # 1 is long gone. Be innovative. Decide what you want to be and do it. Try things. Who knows? Something might work. Great retailers are different! Find a niche and fill it.

Leavittown in Long Island was founded when Mr. Leavit wondered where the hundreds of thousands of men returning from the WWII were going to live. He filled a need by building small, inexpensive cookie cutter homes built row on row by the thousands. Although the object of much derision, the plan was wildly successful. In fact, original Leavit homes are actually collector's items. Hundreds of Leavittown look-alikes sprung up shortly thereafter.

Levitz Furniture was one of the first furniture warehouses opening gigantic furniture warehouse showrooms around the country offering discounts to take the furniture home with you in the box as opposed to having delivery personnel bringing the merchandise to the door and placing it in the room. Since then, this form of merchandising has become a mainstay of furniture retailing.

The "Gallery" concept in furniture started when someone with vision thought furniture should be displayed as it was to be used in the home rather than like pieces lined up row on row. It worked! Customers could better visualize how furniture would look in their home. Now in the furniture industry, almost all manufacturers promote their own fully accessorized "Gallery." Innovative flooring retailers surely can think of better ways to display their wares than rows of ugly racks.

David Elychar had a vision. He believed there were more K-Mart shoppers than Nieman-Marcus shoppers and opened "Big Bob's New and Used Carpet." Don't laugh, some of these "bottom feeders" are experiencing gross margins of 60-70%. Many Big Bob's franchises own traditional retail stores as well and the Big Bob's Store produces more profit dollars than the traditional stores producing higher volume.

Many retailers are "contrarians," offering exclusive merchandise that others won't or can't sell. During the ugly cut and loop shag craze of the '60s, many creative retailers marketed other looks such as ''The European Look" and led their individual market areas. Every store in your area selling rebond? Don't do it. Sell quality. It works. Other stores selling laminates? Market the inherent advantages of wood or search for a high quality yet obscure maker. Everyone in the market looking for the cheapest remnants? Try marketing remnants of high-end merchandise.

Decide who you want to be, be innovative, creative and dare to be different. Never, ever accept the fact that it's always been done that way. Whatever problems come along, fear not, there are dozens of creative solutions for the adventurous. Cash flow? Get paid in full at the time of sale. How? Teach you people to say exactly this: "That will be $4,300" and shut up! Whether the response comes immediately or twenty minutes later, 25% will pay up front and the others will shyly ask, "May we give you 50%?" Receivables? Collect money up front. Same method as before, offer credit or sell them. How can any retailer let merchandise out of the store without the customer paying or charging? Try that in your local department store or "The Depot" and you would face arrest! Bottleneck in your warehouse? Move production and installation up from two to three weeks to two days. You can figure it out. Then focus intently on carrying out your plan and never give up. You will be right. They will be wrong.

Great Stores Have Great Buyers

Every retailer loves to buy. I even understand the fascination. It makes us feel good! The fact is specialty retailers don't understand the buying function. For most, the activity they enjoy best is where they are most ineffective. In most large operations, buyers work under the advertising and marketing department. Companies are organized to meet a position in the marketplace, reach their intended customer and offer attractive merchandise at a profitable, yet attractive price. The plan is to market around competition or do it much better than the competition - a more difficult strategy. For this they need people who understand the marketplace, do the research and interpret it before the buyers can do their job. Products are selected by applicability and retail price points and if other preset criteria such as advertising is met, only then will negotiations begin. In home decor products such as flooring, kitchens and baths, style and color are major factors.

At Pier One stores, their buyers seem to find unique furniture styles that seemingly, you can't do without. Every time you thought your taste for style was satisfied, the next visit brings something more appetizing to the floor. Great buying! How innovative can you be with flooring? Are you creative enough to whet appetites with floors your customers just have to have? Is your vision to be the Pier One of flooring, Big Bob's or The International Design Guild?

Integrity

Integrity is the mainstay of professionalism. People who lie, steal and cheat have to believe they lack the skills to make it any other way. Usually salespeople at the bottom end of the skills scale feel pressured to "oversell" - a form of cheating. Stores who are under pressure because of low profits are those whose selling tactics come under question. This is why it's unethical not to make a substantial profit, because taking care of customer complaints becomes an economic decision rather than an ethical one. Many businesses simply can't afford to replace botched-up jobs. The truth is no retailer can afford not to. Give your people the skills needed to compete honestly. Raise your margins immediately so you can afford to replace every job, right or wrong.

When interviewing floor covering salespeople who write a million dollars a year in sales, all mention that they operate with complete integrity. There is never a situation that can't be handled more effectively with the truth. No company can expect a long successful run without a culture of complete integrity. No employee will ever feel comfortable working for a business that is anything less. It's an insult to say to someone, ''Tell her I'm not here!" Elite salespeople will not work for people they don't like or trust. Think about it, someone writing 1.5 million dollars annually could work anywhere. They want to know that no matter what, the company stands behind everything they sell. Elite companies understand that above all, customers come first.

Education

The learning never stops. Whether owner, manager, office staff, installers or salespeople, growth through education is paramount in successful companies. While teaching at a Carpet One Education Day which serves up to 900 people and takes place twice a year prior to their conventions, one of their foremost retailers came up to me and stated, "Warren, the sellers are here today. The buyers come tomorrow," meaning professional retailers need knowledge to sell effectively. No one ever made a dime buying. In the words of Al Bates, Profit Planning Group, "Any activity that doesn't support selling is wasted!"

When education stops, so does growth. Virtually every retailer and salesperson experiences the "dreaded plateau." When starting out, growth comes easily and fast, but after a while the growth slows precipitously, sales and profits level out and in some cases recede. This is a sign that you have gone as far as your skill level or vision will take you. The only way to continue growth is to acquire new skills and change whatever you're doing. That is what this book is about.

Your goals have to change, become more far-reaching, organization has to become more sophisticated, every element of your business has to improve and importantly, your people need to acquire the most up-to-date skills available. Education is the only answer.  Order Warren Tyler on Retail NOW!

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Chapter 2

Organize Your Business And Create Systems For Success!

Chapter 3

Your Greatest Resource

Chapter 4

Elements of Powerful Management

Chapter 5

Creating Showrooms That Sell

Chapter 6

Exemplary Customer Service

Chapter 7

Buying

Chapter 8

Networking and Prospecting

Chapter 9

Twenty-five Ways to Double Sales Production

Chapter 10

Everything You Wanted to Know About Retail Groups

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