If Mama Ain’t Happy... Ain’t Nobody Happy

by Rich Kizer & Georganne Bender

The adage “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy” holds true in a lot of areas. It certainly is in the retail world. So many companies claim they understand their female customers, yet life on the sales floor continues to be business as usual. Let’s be honest here: sometimes even female business owners and executives think they’re serving their females customers in the best way possible, but they’re really only kidding themselves. Your female customers are the lifeblood of your business.

When it comes to shopping, men and women are different. Plain and simple. On the sales floor guys are much easier to please. A place to park and a cash register to pay are usually all he requires. You know that Decompression Zone we’re always talking about? It’s really a guy thing -- he needs to “decompress” before hitting the floor. He’s been on a one-man mission: parking the car and making a beeline to the one store he wants to visit. Give him some breathing room at the entrance or he’ll miss almost everything inside. Men are focused shoppers!

The Decompression Zone helps focus female shoppers, too, but for them it’s an added bonus. Women appreciate an uncluttered place to get ready to shop. Once inside, she wants all kinds of creature comforts in her shopping experience. It’s true -- all those things you do for your female customers -- well, the secret is men love them, too, even if they won’t admit it!

FOCUS GROUPS & ADVISORY BOARDS
Focus groups are a great way to find out what’s on customers’ minds. To host a focus group, choose a time and place, then invite approximately 14 women to participate. Choose equal amounts of women who know your store, and women who don’t. You’ll need to make participation worth their time, so bribe them with food and a free gift. The gift can be monetary ($50 seems to be the going rate), merchandise, or a gift certificate.

Have a list of questions to ask and someone to moderate. If you own the business, you can only moderate if you can stay wholly objective. You cannot go on the defensive if someone slams your store. Smile, take it in stride, and fix what needs fixing.

After focus groups, the next step is to create a female Customer Advisory Board; a group of customers who meet regularly to discuss what’s right and what’s wrong with your store. These women develop a vested interest in your success -- they’ll come up with all kinds of unique ideas to help you grow. Schedule your meetings once a quarter, perhaps over dinner. You’ll also need to reward your advisory group for their time spent.

You can always take a customer’s pulse by asking our BIG Question: “What one thing could we do to ____?” You fill in the blank. “What one thing could we do to improve our customer service?” or “What one category would you like to see us add to our merchandise mix?” Each time you ask something, you’re bound to receive useable information.

TIME & STRESS
Statistics say women are the Chief Operating Officers of the household, and that 80 percent of purchase decisions are hers to make. But she’s time-starved and stressed-out, sometimes juggling too many tasks to count, so even when your female customers are loyal to your store, they still need help from you.

Is your store open when she needs to it to be? Many of the women in our focus groups complain that stores open too late to stop before work and close before they can get to them after work. That’s why so many of them bypass your store for the big box stores that carry the items you sell.

Make sure you’re open enough hours to be competitive. That means daily hours and on weekends. If you’re not open competitive hours, you don’t have a store; you have an expensive hobby. Another thing to keep in mind: weekdays are important, but don’t forget to schedule some of your best people for the night and weekend hours when working women tend to shop.

Another common area of concern involves women shopping with kids. She will not abandon her children if your aisles are too crowded for a shopping cart or stroller to pass. She’ll just leave instead. And it’s a proven fact that a woman’s stress rises when the kids are bugging her, so why not have a safe place for the kids to play or toys that occupy Junior in the shopping cart while mom peruses the aisles?

And a female shopper’s stress level goes off the charts when her spouse wants her to speed it up. Have a comfy chair in an out-of-the-way place where she can park him. Ply him with snacks, magazines, movies, and a remote control while she shops.

IMPRESSIONS
All customers make value judgments about your store within the first 10 seconds of contact. It may not be fair, but we all do it. Women, however, are cataloging how long to stay based on their first impression. Store ambiance is more important to a woman than it is to a man. She prefers a clean and brightly lit store where she can spend time and move about comfortably at her own pace. She wants clean and inviting restrooms with a place to change her baby’s diapers.

Look for opportunities to cross-merchandise all over the store. Doesn’t it make sense to send her home with everything she needs to complete a project, rather than forcing her to make another trip to the store when she doesn’t want to?

You can easily cross-merchandise in every product category using clip strips and J-hooks, and you can set beautiful displays on your speed bumps and throughout the store. Vow to never put a new item on the sales floor without first choosing items to cross-merchandise with it.

NO. 1 CHOICE
Women are collectors of information and alternatives; they know which stores carry their favorite brands and where to go for the best value, so even though she’s time-starved, she’s quite willing to shop in several stores when necessary. This is where relationship building comes in: if you want her to drive by other retail stores that sell similar products to get to yours, then let her know she’s important to you.

How you sell to a woman is as important as what you’re selling. Almost every encounter a woman has is personal – women care about the human element, so they often look for a relationship before making a purchase. She wants to be treated well, and she wants to know that you will be there the next time she needs you.

The good news is that women actually like to work with store associates, but she expects the people she works with to know their products and applications. Above all, she wants to be taken seriously and treated with respect. Discount her feelings and she won’t hesitate to tell her friends how poorly she was treated.

EXPERIENCE
When you treat her well, she will reward you with the gift of her friends. Did you know a customer testimonial is 10 to 20 times more powerful than what you have to say about yourself? That great word of mouth is called Viral Marketing – many retailers have profited from their female customers inviting their friends to shop at their favorite stores. We have a program and customizable template called, “Introducing My Friend” that we will be happy to send to you if you drop us an e-mail.

Also, a woman shopping by herself is good, but a woman shopping with her friends is even better. Women love to shop in packs, egging each other on to buy more. Classes, demos, trunk shows, and other events that connect women to your store are wonderful opportunities to build and cement relationships.

So remember, if mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. Even if your store is female-owned and operated, it doesn’t guarantee that you fully understand your female customers. Take time to ask what they want and implement what they tell you – you’ll be glad that you did!

About the Authors …
Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender are nationally recognized experts on customer diversity, “messing with the media,” marketing and everything retail.

They will present the 2008 keynote during the VDTA/SDTA Convention on Feb. 21. Attend the keynote and meet them in person.

KIZER & BENDER are widely referred to as retail anthropologists because they stalk and study that most elusive of mammals: today’s consumer. They have presented their “Retail Adventures in the REAL World™” keynotes and seminars to diverse audiences since 1989. In 2004, KIZER & BENDER were named “Two of Retailing’s Most Influential People.”

KIZER & BENDER’s retail observations are widely featured in the Medias, including the ABC News special report “How Stores Hook You.” Their book Champagne Strategies on a Beer Budget! has helped thousands of retailers improve their bottom line.

Contact Rich & Georganne at 1-888-215-1839 or via their Web site www.KIZERandBENDER.com.

Reprinted from Floor Care Professional, February 2008