Cornwall Retail Network

Time to Stop and Stare

I’ve just been standing at our gate, looking out over the fields at the late evening sun. Despite the fact that I’m still cross about the fact that some one has seen fit to steal four of my very old chickens, who had huge sentimental value - It’s a brilliant night. In fact, it’s the night after midsummer’s eve and the sky is still blue. I know the sunset will be well worth seeing, and part of me thinks its one of those evenings for a late surf and a well deserved ale at the doom bar… but that’s another story… 

However, the whole essence of tonight has put me in mind of one of my favorite poems. When I was a student, I had this tacked to the inside of my brain, as it was my unsurpassed response to most, if not all, criticism of my time management.

 “What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare” 

These I think are two of the simplest and possibly most powerful lines, ever written.  In a former life, I could have spent the best part of 5000 words discussing why. But in this instance I think they speak for themselves. 

Time is one of those commodities, that we often take for granted. As retailers its one of those things that’s vital. Not only for the amount of personal time you spend pouring over books on a Sunday, and yes I know some of you do, but also in terms of the amount of time you need, or would like, potential customers to spend in your shop with your products. I’ve been talking to lots of traders over the last few weeks and several have been telling me that shopping habits, especially of those who are on holiday are changing. The consistent theme is that customers are spending more time looking and less time buying. Perhaps it’s a direct result of the recession, which has probably been harder felt in more circles than have been apparent in Cornwall. Or perhaps it’s just that consumers are becoming savvier and they are getting used to researching the market and its current offers before committing themselves and their money to a product or a shop. 

So I’m wondering, and so we get to the topic of this months blog, what is it, if not just having time, that makes us as consumers or retailers, stop and stare? 

I’m sure that I can’t answer that for everyone. For Davis, the romantic teller of verse, its several things; animals, woods, night, and not forgetting a dancing beauty with a wonderful smile… While perhaps some of us may agree that a great pair of legs, or scantily clad man or women might grab our attention – the attraction might not translate into a sale. What’s more alarming is the point that if you are competing for market share with amazing customer service alone and customers are not buying on impulse, then perhaps you could be missing a trick. 

About a two weeks ago now, I found myself wondering around Quimper. It’s a city, and I guess you can compare it to Truro. Its compact and you have to search for things, but the coffee is amazing, the food as always in France just hits the spot and the local retailers really know how to make you welcome. In fact, most of the time, there I am arrogantly exclaiming several things that normally I would keep to myself, when the shop manager responds to my questions directly in perfect English! I had a great chat with the guys that own ‘Breizh Punisher’s’ who are a band of 5 people with three shops, who have been trading for the last 15 years, and sell amazing local Breton type things… anyway I’m digressing. What I want to say is that in just about every local window there was a cow. Yes a cow. It was raining and people don’t generally tend to stop and stare when it rains – perhaps I’m an exception, but I was so taken by the range, colour and type of small plastic cow on display that I was hooked. Not only did I stop and stare, but I went in and made a purchase– and no not the cow. 

It’s a round about way of getting back to the crux of my point. There were two reasons why the cows made me stop. The first – they were a reoccurring theme, which meant the local traders had to be working together, and trust me; one cow would have made no impression at all (remember its raining!). The other thing that struck me was at some point I had to ask why there were cows everywhere, so I had to do more than look and more than stop. So, the stopping and staring was translated to stopping and asking, and ultimately making that all-important impulse purchase. 

Time is a random, phenomenon, and some times it can be as fickle as the customers we intend to entice. However just as we have the capacity to control how we capture our customer, we have the capacity to control, make and bend time to our whim should we see fit to use it to our advantage.

As Davis says, “A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare”.

Sight Lines

I’m just on my way back from a flash tour of the capital city. I actually think I could now direct a person around Paddington Station blind folded – but that’s another story.   

However it does bring me nicely to the subject if this months blog, which is about ways of ‘seeing’.

Perhaps on the outset, this is an unusual topic, however, everyone has some sort of site – fact. Literal or metaphorical, if affects the way we look at the world because we never just look at one thing, and we are constantly assessing the relationship between things and ourselves. Sight impacts on the way we dress, shop, stop to gaze at a window, a poster or a news story, and while it is all about site, there are when you think about it, fundamentally hundreds of ways of ‘seeing’. 

Those of you who have heard Peter Cooper from Artysmith2 speak on a number of occasions will know he is fond of telling you that consumers don’t read. In a sense he is right. Seeing comes before words, as children we learn to recognize and point before we can lucidly communicate with sounds that form words. But just how much of our site, our seeing, our interpretation of that vision into words, with which we explain what we have seen to others, is a self formed perception, and how much of it has been seen and described to us through the written or spoken word of others? 

By way of example, I stood in a room yesterday with Mary Portas. Having recently been impressed by the fluidity of her writing and depth of description in one of her many books about windows, I was slightly in awe of seeing, let alone speaking to her. First impressions? She is probably shorter than me and looks about a size 6 or smaller. Amazingly well dressed, fantastic shoes, and a beautifully styled mass of auburn hair. She gave everyone that look which said – don’t speak to me – and I didn’t, neither as far as I could see did anyone else. What still bugs me today as I’m on the way home is that relationship between what I saw of Mary Portas yesterday and what I know through news clippings and books is not aligned. It’s funny because while photos and images have always proved the medium through which to communicate a direct testimony about how a person or item was at that given time, here suddenly the expressive power of the written word had already defused the clarity of what I was seeing. 

Without rambling on two much, the point I’m trying to get at, is that there is, it seems, a gap between what we see and what we know. While red might well say sale to you, it might say danger to me – perhaps that explains why HMV have pink sale signs... 

With this in mind, this morning, I tried Peter’s line on a new shop that I’ve just started working with. “Consumers don’t read”, I told her, “it’s a fact”. 

Apart from looking quite sympathetically at me and asking if I needed a cup of tea, she promptly informed me that she never trusts other people’s colours or signs, and takes her glasses everywhere so she can read about the product she wants to buy before she buys it. Regardless of whether that’s a sale item, a regular purchase, a food item or a gift. “I read everything” she said. 

“You can never be too careful”. This particular example might constitute a one in a million shopper, but at a time when we are all looking to sell more product to both new and existing customers, in a consumer market that is so unpredictable it’s difficult to know who is buying what from where, I think its perhaps a point that shouldn’t be over looked. 

So as I sit here and flick through this months creative review, marveling at some of today’s best creative talent, I know I’m back to the whole issue about seeing. We never stop absorbing images; our eyes are continually active, seeking to define one thing against another. If sight establishes our place as shops and consumers, enables retailers to define their target consumer market and moreover it establishes our place as individuals in the world, why do we seek to reaffirm this and often reorder this in words if the visual image really is mightier than that scribbled in ink? 

For me I guess that the jury is still out. I know that we are programme to see certain messages in different colours and define our characters by certain styles and images. Yet I can’t help thinking that as a consumer I need both. Enticing me with amazing visuals is one thing, actually getting me to buy one product over another, or buy anything at all, well I see that as a multi-sensual activity, for which words and verbal communication are perhaps the most important.

A little bag of help - update

Dear All

Thanks for all your interest in these sessions. I've spent all day
with Peter working up this course and finalizing details. At the
moment, we have had no response from the 25 traders based in Camborne
who specifically asked for this workshop to be run. I will be giving
these businesses until after the bank holiday to respond. If the
response is still poor, it is likely that we will run one workshop on
the 6th of May, from 5.30 until 8.30 (including dinner) and will run a
separate mentoring project which is due to be launched in June as a
response to the requests for more time with Peter or other similar
experts. I will send you more information about this when I have it.

In the mean time thank-you again to those that responded with
interest, I will keep you all posted.

Finally I hope you have all received postal invites for the awards
ceremony later this month.

Kindest Regards

Jo Lake Cornwall Retail Skills

CRS Visual Merchandising Awards Event Invite

Hi All Please find below a downloadable PDF Invite for this event. Most of you should already have had yours in the post! But just in case here it is again! Also check out the photo album, I think there should be a photo there showing all of you - if I have forgotten anyone please let me know! There will be more photos available at the awards event. 

Jo 

Download Invite 25th April 09

Selling more and marketing smarter in a recession

Dear All

Please find attached information about a new course set to run in May,
these workshops and mentoring support are all about helping you look
at the sales and marketing strategies that are already working for
businesses in retail, and helping you establish a sales and marketing
plan that works for your business and customer groups.

Many of you will already know how helpful Peter Coopers time is, this
programme will allow you to benefit from a series of mentor visits
lasting for a six month period, where Peter or another area specialist
will help you implement your marketing plan into your shop.

Its a fantastic opportunity for those in retail in Cornwall, if you
want to get involved, or want more information, please feel free to
get in touch with jclake@cornwall-learning-partnership.org or give me
a call on 0773 777 2181. Alternatively if you would like to speak to
the course tutor, you can find Peter on info@artysmith2.com or 01929
427523.

In addition to this, some of you might have heard of the 'you are the
difference' programme. Its all about customer service and putting the
customer first. There is a great extract from Alf Dunbar's
presentation on his website if you want to take a look. Alf travels
all over the world delivering this programme and I am lucky enough to
have managed to get him to come to Cornwall in May. As an addition to
the above programme Alf will be running a workshop (date to be
confirmed) for 30 people. If you are also interested in attending this
workshop please let me know as soon as possible. Depending on the
geographical spread of those wanting to attend I am open to ideas
about venues!! In the mean time check out www.youarethedifference.co.uk

Please feel free to send this email to anyone I may have forgotten!

I think thats all for now.

Jo Lake Cornwall Retail Skills

IN A WORLD WHERE EVERYTHING IS ‘FREE’, NOTHING IS SO COST EFFECTIVE AS GIVING A LITTLE TIME.

We all spend time everyday talking to people, although while I have to admit that normally most of my conversations are done via email, recently I’ve spent quite a few hours on the phone, as is reflected in this mornings phone bill. It’s been a topic of this blog before in a slightly different guise, but yet again I find myself being drawn back to look at the art of relationship marketing. 

Perhaps the phrase ‘relationship marketing’ is another buzzword created by bored office workers. Incidentally, I’ve just discovered a rather amusing website www.theofficelife.com, where words such as “alpha pup”, which is used to describe trendsetting young people, or “apple polish” which means to suck up are posted by office staff, who clearly have their own way of communicating between themselves. I’m only glad that in my office we tend to talk pure ‘local’ so everyone knows what we are on about. 

I digress slightly, relationship marketing. What businesses all over the globe claim to know everything about, after all if they didn’t would they actually have any customers? Marketing and relationships are all about effective communication, and at the heart of a good piece of communication is a dialogue. This is not a new thought. In 44BC the roman philosopher Cicero constructed a series of rules to help people understand the art of a great conversation - they look a bit like this: 

• Speak clearly 

• Speak easily, but not too much, give others their turn 

• Do not interrupt 

• Be courteous 

• Deal seriously with serious matters, gracefully with lighter ones 

• Never criticize people behind their backs 

• Stick to subjects of general interests 

• Do not talk about yourself 

• Never lose your temper 

These, I think, should also be followed at dinner parties, but that’s for another blog. Cicero in his conversational rules has also highlighted, possibly not by chance, the importance of building a relationship with the person you are having a conversation with. In marketing terms, aiming your pieces of communication at the customer who understands your product, your message and wants to start a relationship with you as their retailer of choice. I’m a consumer so I’m not going to give you the option of saying ‘customers don’t want relationships with companies’ -because I do. What I want to know is as a business do you want a relationship with me, or are you just interested in making a sale?

In Cornwall, independent traders have a huge advantage. Why? It’s very rare that in consumer market place a customer can have a direct relationship with a person. Take Nike (yes again), I am100% more likely to have a relationship with the Nike brand than a Nike person – fact. Nike’s brand as discussed in the last blog, doesn’t fit me – that brand isn’t about me its about Nike. However, I am 50% more likely to have a relationship with the staff at Rowes who delight me every time I go into my local shop. In the same way that brands stimulate communities, human relationships that are fostered with understanding, patience, tolerance, support – you know the deal, create their own communities and translate into loyal customers and more sales. There are several retailers I know in Cornwall already doing this exceptionally well and generating sale after sale after sale in exactly this way. They understand customer affinity and are reaping the rewards in return repeat custom, which is by far more cost effective than trying to generate new customers. 

I’m not going to bore you with more on this because I could literally go on all night, relationship mapping, loyalty schemes, satisfaction, customer partnering, the list is really endless and its all about understanding the people who are buying your products and trying to link in with those that for what ever reason aren’t. If you want to know more about marketing, we will be running a series of workshops in May that will deal with all these topics and more. (jclake@cornwall-learning-partnership for more info).

I want to leave you with this thought, relationships require work. They are about thought, require developing, need ‘actioning’ and in there somewhere require a sense of mutual attraction, as well as commitment. Einstein, slightly paraphrased said that we are in a strange situation here on Earth; the one thing known to man is that he ‘is here for the sake of other men’. Are you taking advantage of that?

Finding the 'big idea' that defines you.

Defining ourselves, in a world where the very definition, of definition is often ambiguous, is immensely difficult. How do you stand out from the crowd, how do you attract the crowd, how do you just make a statement? Each of those avenues requires a defined response, dependant on the current fashions, trends and influences of our consumer society.  Finding the idea that defines you and stands up for you company is difficult, and over the last two days I have seen some of the best, well thought out, exciting retail brands on the Cornish retail circuit, and I am inspired. 

As a brand, as my brand, Cornwall Retail Skills (CRS) is getting established. Its taking a little help from others, and well respected others, but when you get a call from Panorama telling you that they think you’re an expert in your field, perhaps that’s a sign that things are moving in the right direction…. And just to clarify a small point that sometimes is over looked, CRS (Cornwall Retail Skills) isn’t a college, or a training provider, we just try to work with the best people in our market place at that current point in time, hence our strong association, and hopefully continuing association with one of the best retail people/companies in our current market place Artysmith2 – and I know they/he needs no introducing. 

If you are asking me to define in one short sentence, in a tag line sort of a way what CRS is about, I’d say; “we are here to look after Cornish retail – that’s it”. So as a brand, CRS isn’t about me, it’s about you. Its about people, not a product, its all about retailers, not about us as a company. Perhaps a great brand is one that you want to live your life by – I like running, perhaps for me the Nike philosophy of ‘doing you best’ is enough, - it isn’t and I’m not a Nike fan for that reason. 

“ A great brand taps into your emotions. Emotions drive most, if not all, of our decisions.” Said a very wise Scott Bedbury who is most famously associated with brands such as Nike and Starbucks. As humans, we are an emotional ball of string, think about your own emotional stimulus – because our differences create new and innovative branding everyday. When you look at branding, you are asking your customer to buy into your idea, your company ethos and your values, which you hope they convert into their own, if they weren’t part of your customer’s ethos already. In the same way as they buy into your ethos, you want them to buy into your product, because after all, what retailing is really about, is generating money to make a profit. 

But surely, branding is also about difference. Thinking and projecting what no one else has perhaps had the courage to express, searching for a market that you know is there, but perhaps needs a little encouragement. I would say that innovation is part of branding, and any new idea takes a while to get accepted and yes often its not accepted without a fight from the dominate market. New ideas, emerging brands, existing businesses all have one thing in comment, they don’t survive without a driver and they don’t find their high street, or business respect without courage and patience. 

As times on the high street get harder for some, and perhaps busier for others, I find myself confident about Cornish retail. While the innovation behind new ideas, branding and conceptual development, are put to their ultimate test during a recession, a very good friend recently reminded me that if you can start a new business during a period of economic crisis, or even manage to adapt what you have to suit the ever fluctuating market, you aren’t only a survivor, you are a business with innovation. Every single business I have met in the last two days has the ability, drive and passion to tick this box. While branding, and perhaps the innovation of a grand conceptual idea are always at some point the buzzword of business development, they are often packed up in a cardboard box during harder times. I’m just glad to see that Cornish retail intends to keep its driving force of competitiveness, of sustainability and growth throughout our economic hard times, and as a consumer, I can’t wait to continue shopping.

FW:

Dear All,

Please find attached further information about the judges.

Gans gorhemmynnadow a'n gwella

Jo Lake Cornwall Retail Skills Co-ordinator M: 07737772181 Web site: www.yourshopcornwall.co.uk Latest blog: www.cornwallretailnetwork.typepad.com

-----Original Message----- From: JOANNA LAKE [mailto:jolake@mac.com]
Sent: 06 March 2009 08:53 To: Jo Lake Subject:

For info - new file formats

Lift From Helston

Hi All

Final mail of the day for me - and a small request. Kate from Red Ella in Falmouth is having car trouble and is perhaps in need of a little help getting from Helston to Wadebridge on Thursday. If anyone can help - please let me or Kate know.

Thanks.

Gans gorhemmynnadow a'n gwella

Jo Lake Cornwall Retail Skills Co-ordinator M: 07737772181

Web site: www.yourshopcornwall.co.uk

Latest blog: www.cornwallretailnetwork.typepad.com