One of our best ideas a few years ago was to make an effort to actually see the places we have the opportunity to visit. We’re grateful, for example, for that sunny day in May when we were just tourists in New Orleans. We walked the city, took the tours, and wondered how we could have come to that wonderful city so many times and had missed so much. Never again, we said.
Now, you would think the number of times we visit Las Vegas each year we’d have seen it all. Not so; we rarely go to shows. Since our pact, we’ve seen several, and we’ve left each one shaking our heads, wondering what took us so long. After all, there’s a lot more to the conventions we all attend than the airport, hotel, and show floor.
About a year ago we saw AVENUE Q, the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, that was playing at Wynn Las Vegas. AVENUE Q has been described as Sesame Street meets South Park. It’s unique because the puppets tell the story, but the audience gets to see the puppeteers, too. It’s an incredible experience – sometimes we didn’t know where to look because “both” performers were so good. It’s pure fun, but it’s definitely not for kids. It’s apparently not for Las Vegas either, because it closed to make for the more extravagant Monty Python’s Spamalot. (We’re seen Spamalot twice – it’s a great show, too!)
Steve Wynn bought the exclusive North American rights to AVENUE Q and built it a beautiful theater, but it never connected with Las Vegas visitors. Perhaps it didn’t have the word-of- mouth excitement it enjoyed on Broadway. Even though it’s a great show, the thing that impresses us is Steve Wynn’s ability to move on.
Steve Wynn works ON his resort, not IN his resort. Funny thing, Wynn runs a multi-billion dollar resort, yet he’s a lot like you: he must constantly evaluate his business, making changes until he gets it right for his guests. He’s on top of what his competition is up to, and when it makes sense, outdoes them. Sure, it would be a lot easier to leave the resort the way it is and adopt a “build it and they will come” attitude, but that attitude just doesn’t cut it with today’s savvy and demanding consumers.
So, here’s the big question: how good are you at tweaking your store? Are you constantly reviewing what’s going on and looking for new ideas, or are you content to make subtle changes and hope shoppers will notice? Guess what? They won’t. Here are some things you need to make a part of your operational activities:
• Visit your competition every six weeks. More often if your competitors are known for making changes. Cruise their parking lots and stop in their stores. Watch how customers shop, and what they say to store associates and other shoppers. Visit their web sites. Google their names to see what’s being said about them. And sign-up for every single thing they offer to customers. Have the snail mail delivered to a post office box. Yahoo and Google will give you a free e-mail address – choose one the competition will not recognize as yours. This stealthy move will give you a heads-up on their plans before the ads hit the street. And don’t worry about what competitors will think about you visiting their stores! If they’re smart, they’ve been in yours.
• Look at your store through your customers’ eyes. Because you come to work each day with a list of things to do as long as your forearm, it’s easy to get tunnel vision. When you have tunnel vision, you walk through the store with blinders on – it’s time to take them off! After a day out of the store, grab a pen and paper, and stand just inside your front door. Write down everything that would bug you if you were a customer. Be very objective. Nitpick. Then, ask a customer – yes, a customer! – to do the same exercise. You will likely fill a page or two, but the customer will fill three or four. Prioritize the things on the list, and get busy fixing what needs fixing. Trust us, customers will notice!
• View your merchandise with an objective eye. You may love a certain line or department, but the product just isn’t selling. No matter how much you love it, if it doesn’t sell, it’s got to go. You have to make room for product that will pull its weight.
If your sales floor has looked pretty much the same for more than 30 days, you have work to do. Move product around, set new speed bumps, refresh your displays, do demos and makit & takits, and build foot traffic with an in-store event. If that product still doesn’t move, then hold an “End of Season Clearance Sale” and price those goods to sell. Then you’ll be able to reinvest those dollars on merchandise that does.
After you’ve done each of the above things, do this three-step exercise:
1. Draw three columns on a sheet of paper: use the left column to list marketing ideas you’ve seen competitors (and other non-competing businesses) use that could be tweaked to work in your store, too. In the center column, list ways you can spin each idea to make it different, unique, and memorable.
2. Stick this piece of paper in a handy spot, but don’t look at it again until the next day. You have to give your ideas time to simmer.
3. The next day, review the ideas listed in the center column, and then use the space in the right column to expand your original ideas. Make them bigger! Make them better! Make them so unique to your store they will be tough for competitors to copy.
4. Have your team to do the same exercise. Tell them it’s OK to go a little crazy with their ideas, because no idea is a bad idea. We’re certain they will surprise you with things you’ve never even dreamed of!
Your store is a constantly changing and evolving entity that needs your care and attention to thrive. Starting now, vow to work ON your store, not just IN it. Take a risk! Steve Wynn could have opened with a sure bet like Wicked, but Wicked would not have been exclusive to his resort. Sure, it’s safer to buy commodity brands and top selling lines – you need them, but you also need to be unique. If you’re not different, then you become just another store selling “stuff.”
Now, you would think the number of times we visit Las Vegas each year we’d have seen it all. Not so; we rarely go to shows. Since our pact, we’ve seen several, and we’ve left each one shaking our heads, wondering what took us so long. After all, there’s a lot more to the conventions we all attend than the airport, hotel, and show floor.
About a year ago we saw AVENUE Q, the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, that was playing at Wynn Las Vegas. AVENUE Q has been described as Sesame Street meets South Park. It’s unique because the puppets tell the story, but the audience gets to see the puppeteers, too. It’s an incredible experience – sometimes we didn’t know where to look because “both” performers were so good. It’s pure fun, but it’s definitely not for kids. It’s apparently not for Las Vegas either, because it closed to make for the more extravagant Monty Python’s Spamalot. (We’re seen Spamalot twice – it’s a great show, too!)
Steve Wynn bought the exclusive North American rights to AVENUE Q and built it a beautiful theater, but it never connected with Las Vegas visitors. Perhaps it didn’t have the word-of- mouth excitement it enjoyed on Broadway. Even though it’s a great show, the thing that impresses us is Steve Wynn’s ability to move on.
Steve Wynn works ON his resort, not IN his resort. Funny thing, Wynn runs a multi-billion dollar resort, yet he’s a lot like you: he must constantly evaluate his business, making changes until he gets it right for his guests. He’s on top of what his competition is up to, and when it makes sense, outdoes them. Sure, it would be a lot easier to leave the resort the way it is and adopt a “build it and they will come” attitude, but that attitude just doesn’t cut it with today’s savvy and demanding consumers.
So, here’s the big question: how good are you at tweaking your store? Are you constantly reviewing what’s going on and looking for new ideas, or are you content to make subtle changes and hope shoppers will notice? Guess what? They won’t. Here are some things you need to make a part of your operational activities:
• Visit your competition every six weeks. More often if your competitors are known for making changes. Cruise their parking lots and stop in their stores. Watch how customers shop, and what they say to store associates and other shoppers. Visit their web sites. Google their names to see what’s being said about them. And sign-up for every single thing they offer to customers. Have the snail mail delivered to a post office box. Yahoo and Google will give you a free e-mail address – choose one the competition will not recognize as yours. This stealthy move will give you a heads-up on their plans before the ads hit the street. And don’t worry about what competitors will think about you visiting their stores! If they’re smart, they’ve been in yours.
• Look at your store through your customers’ eyes. Because you come to work each day with a list of things to do as long as your forearm, it’s easy to get tunnel vision. When you have tunnel vision, you walk through the store with blinders on – it’s time to take them off! After a day out of the store, grab a pen and paper, and stand just inside your front door. Write down everything that would bug you if you were a customer. Be very objective. Nitpick. Then, ask a customer – yes, a customer! – to do the same exercise. You will likely fill a page or two, but the customer will fill three or four. Prioritize the things on the list, and get busy fixing what needs fixing. Trust us, customers will notice!
• View your merchandise with an objective eye. You may love a certain line or department, but the product just isn’t selling. No matter how much you love it, if it doesn’t sell, it’s got to go. You have to make room for product that will pull its weight.
If your sales floor has looked pretty much the same for more than 30 days, you have work to do. Move product around, set new speed bumps, refresh your displays, do demos and makit & takits, and build foot traffic with an in-store event. If that product still doesn’t move, then hold an “End of Season Clearance Sale” and price those goods to sell. Then you’ll be able to reinvest those dollars on merchandise that does.
After you’ve done each of the above things, do this three-step exercise:
1. Draw three columns on a sheet of paper: use the left column to list marketing ideas you’ve seen competitors (and other non-competing businesses) use that could be tweaked to work in your store, too. In the center column, list ways you can spin each idea to make it different, unique, and memorable.
2. Stick this piece of paper in a handy spot, but don’t look at it again until the next day. You have to give your ideas time to simmer.
3. The next day, review the ideas listed in the center column, and then use the space in the right column to expand your original ideas. Make them bigger! Make them better! Make them so unique to your store they will be tough for competitors to copy.
4. Have your team to do the same exercise. Tell them it’s OK to go a little crazy with their ideas, because no idea is a bad idea. We’re certain they will surprise you with things you’ve never even dreamed of!
Your store is a constantly changing and evolving entity that needs your care and attention to thrive. Starting now, vow to work ON your store, not just IN it. Take a risk! Steve Wynn could have opened with a sure bet like Wicked, but Wicked would not have been exclusive to his resort. Sure, it’s safer to buy commodity brands and top selling lines – you need them, but you also need to be unique. If you’re not different, then you become just another store selling “stuff.”
