R ETAI LOBSE RVE R.COM AUGUST 2014
4
AUGUST 2014, VOLUME 25, ISSUE 8
CELEBRATING OUR 25
TH
YEAR
AS
THE RETAIL OBSERVER
PUBLISHER/MANAGING EDITOR
E LIANA BARRIGA
DIRECTOR OF SALES AND MARKETING
MOE LASTFOGEL
ART DIRECTOR
TERRY PRICE
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
MICHAEL ALLEN
TIMOTHY BEDNARZ
RANDY CARNEY
DENIS CORBEIL
TOM HICKMAN
PAUL MAC DONALD
VICKIE L. MILAZZO
JOHN TSCHOHL
E LLY VALAS
LIBBY WAGNER
DEADLINE FOR OCT. 2014 ISSUE:
SEPTEMBER 1, 2014
THE RETAIL OBSERVER
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KEEP EARTH
IN BUSINESS
Eliana Barriga
letters@retailobserver.com
Until next time,
Elle's View As I See It
T
here are waves of words that are popular to use in the retail world at any
given time and seem to come and go like fashion trends. However, there
are also a few that have stuck around and are now part of our industry's
standard vocabulary. One of these words is
success. "I run a successful
business." "The show was a success." "XYZ product launch was successful."
Often, "how" is not added to these statements, so we all just assume they
were—well, successful. But how do you know you were really successful? The
most practical way is to first standardize what will constitute success. This is
most commonly dictated by numbers. If 35 percent of the customers we
reach come in and make a purchase then the marketing campaign must have
been a success! Right? As I see the lines blurring more and more between
my own business and personal life, I've found success to be much more
subjective. For instance, if 35 percent of the customers who came in only
made a minimal purchase to get a freebie offer, would these numbers still
sound successful to you? Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't track your
successes with numbers, but I am challenging you to look a little deeper and
start tracking your business successes the same way you track achievements
and milestones in your personal life.
How? Through the behaviors, opinions and needs of your customers.
What if you take the 35 percent of customers that came in and made a
minimal purchase to receive "freebie offer" and gave them a one hour free
consultation with your home designer to select a color palette, furniture and
accessories for one room of their home most in need of a makeover? You
have engaged with your customer, heard their needs and you can now follow
up with them and offer a personalized package of products and services
tailored to exactly what they want. I'm sure this will be the beginning of a long
term relationship with those customers and most importantly, constitutes a
very successful and rewarding business campaign indeed.
REWARDING
SUCCESSES
