During my hiatus between selling my company and deciding what I wanted to pursue, my husband and I came upon an opportunity to purchase a local retail store that we frequently visited. The old owner was having a large number of personal interferences that were negatively effecting the business. While the store was far from profitable at the time, it had a really great customer base. As hobby game store, it is mostly a community hang-out, and I knew from my online experience just how to handle communities. So we decided to branch out and “save the store.”
That was just about a year ago. We’re eleven months in, and we’ve doubled the size of the store, carry twice the amount of product, have events with over 100 people, and have created amazing relationships with other local businesses. I find myself learning from this experience in completely different ways from my online businesses. As I’m about to get ready for a huge event at our store this weekend, I thought I’d talk a little about the comparisons and similarities of retail and online businesses.
Speed & Quality of Communication Determines Rapport
In our store, we know everyone that comes in more than once. In most cases, most of our staff will know not only their name, but what game they like to play most. This creates an open atmosphere between the staff and customers. They know they can come to any of us and share any complaints or let us know about needs we may not be providing. In an online world, you don’t get the luxury of connecting with every person that visits your site. You need to rely on your web design and marketing skills to convey the message for you. If you’re lucky, your users will participate in the site via forums, comments or sending e-mail. However, since they aren’t right in front of you talking, you may be missing out on opportunities to build strong rapport if you take too long to respond. I know I’ve fallen into this bad habit at times. However, I notice a significant difference with responses from visitors when I respond as rapidly as I can. It’s very close to the rapport I can build with our retail customers.
Creativity Creates Customers
In a retail store, you constantly have to change things up and give people reasons to walk through the doors. It’s a lot different from someone clicking from an email to your website. A customer has to actually get in their car and drive to your location. You have to get really creative with events and promotions to keep these customers coming back. In our store, we provide events every single day of the week. In addition, our customers can come and just hang out and play games or chit chat. We’ve created a very similar atmosphere to what you’ll find online. You can spark your online communities in the same way. You can hold hosted chats, webinars, contests and other fun events to constantly keep your site in your visitor’s mind.
Customer Service Will Always Be #1
No matter what business I’m in, one thing remains steadfast. Customers do not respond well to bad service. The need to find ways to streamline dealing with imperfections is crucial to your success as a business. In a retail store, you’re not allowed much leeway in this area. Not only do customers want great customer service, they expect it. They want to know you really care about them. In a hobby industry with heavy online competitors, the only way to secure loyalty is through excellent customer service. An online business can get away with a little less due to various influencers such as lower prices and ordering convenience. However, imagine if you could marry the convenience of online sales with over the top customer service. To truly stand out online, search for ways where you can go the extra mile. Maybe it means responding to emails in a more timely fashion. It could mean offering a little more than what is expected. Your personal expertise could also be your “extra”.
You Still Have To Love What You Do
People always ask me how they can make money. To me, the only way you can really find true happiness and wealth is when you engage in something you feel truly passionate about. You need something more than dedication and loyalty to keep you going through tough times. It’s easy to stay excited when things are going well, but eventually you’re going to have a bad week, month and even year. It’s your passion in your field or genre that’s going to keep you going during those times.
People love being around other people who make them feel good. When you’re excited about what you’re doing, you exude happiness and it’s contagious. Whether you have an online or offline business, your customers will respond to this. You’ll be someone who attracts people and therefore more sales and relationships. A golden rule I’ve learned is this – don’t ever underestimate or underplay your passion for your company.
When you look at it, there aren’t many differences between the offline and online worlds of business. The most effective marketers are the ones that are able to combine both worlds and make something extra special for us all.