One of the main challenges manufacturers and retailers have is establishing credibility with the customer. According to research the consumer is more likely to trust information received via their own research, on the web or from friends that from a salesperson. Some industries have an easier job of getting the credibility message across than other, for example a vet is likely to be more trusted and credible than a second hand car salesperson in the consumers mind.

Whatever industry you are in the important rules of the game is to get the credibility message across quickly as the consumer has not got the time to wait and do the research on you to provide them with the confidence they need.
What are customers looking for in the credibility stakes?

This is my list of essential attributes for the credible salesperson. (more…)

A new year with new opportunities for the garden industry.2009 may have been a tough year, 2010 could well be another tough year for those retailers who are not prepared to move forward and experiment with the new ways of marketing their business.

Your resolution this year should be based on how you are going to market your business in a better way, 2010 will be about marketing and using new ways to communicate to the customer.

1 Are you on Face Book as a business?
A number of garden centres around the world are now using Facebook as a means of talking to their customers. This is not something that is unique to our industry; even companies such as IKEA are seeing the benefits of using Facebook to market their business. This is a means of communicating that is very cost effective and is becoming a major marketing tool as well as a social network tool. Garden centres need to get into this communications tool before it becomes too late. (more…)

I was recently invited to be on a conference panel with those considered to be the best of the best in retailing.  The aim of the panel was to advise an  audience of retailers what they needed to do to become the best of the best themselves.

The first panel member mentioned that the key to success  was customer service, the other retailers on the panel agreed and the audience started taking notes. This suggested that the retailers in the audience did not provide customer service.  It was then it dawned on me, the audience would all agree that they provided customer service, the group that were not providing customer service were the panel members themselves.

I have never met a retailer who has felt they did not provide customer service. To be in retailing you need a product to sell and a customer service approach to business, without either of these you will not have a business for very long. Customer service allows you to join the retailers club, but the best of the best do not provide service, that is why they stand out from the rest. The best businesses build a relationship with their customer.  The average retailer thinks about the transaction, whilst the best of the best focus on building a relationship with the consumers that enter their store. (more…)

A recent piece of research carried out in the UK by YouGov and commissioned by RightNow was reported in the January edition of GTN.

The question asked was what do you hate most as a consumer.

The answers:

26%     Being put on hold when calling a contact centre

25%     Premium rate telephone numbers

15%     Having to contact businesses a number of times to resolve an issue

10%     Having to repeat yourself to an uninformed company agent

8%       Having to communicate with a company through their preferred communication channel and not yours

5%       Having to contact a company a number of times to get information

4%       Emails that get an automated response ,but no resolving of the issue

3%       Not being able to find the information you want on a company webpage

Interesting list and reflects how communications channels has changed and then how our hates have changed