If retailers know you’ve taken the time to get to know them, they’re often much happier to refer a customer to you instead of saying, “I don’t know where you can get that specific product or service.”
When you pay your visits, search the entire operation for inspiration. For instance, along with strolling the aisles, look around the parking lot.
How easy or difficult is it to enter the lot from the commonly used access streets? During busy shopping hours, how easy is it to find a space that doesn’t require a cross-country hike to reach the doors to the store?
How comfortable do people appear to feel in the lot and the store? Do their posture, gestures, or facial expressions suggest uncertainty? If the store is open at night, how well-lit is the lot? For daytime shoppers, how many cracks, buckles, and potholes must the shopper navigate around?
Impressions created as the shopper navigates into and around the lot prime their thoughts for when they enter the store premises. If shoppers see clean in the lot, they’re more likely to notice the clean while shopping. The parking lot could be considered the true front entrance to the store.
What clarity, cleanliness, and safety benefits do other lots offer that yours currently does not? What clarity, cleanliness, and safety advantages does your lot offer that the others don’t?
An Inc. article a while back suggested business people broaden their learning opportunities even more by exploring seemingly unrelated industries. With a mindset of picking up ideas to bring back to your store, you’re likely to discover the host’s business is related to yours. The article tells a tale that, many years ago, a fast food retailer picked up the idea of the drive-through window by noticing one during a tour of banks. This tale might be apocryphal, but consider the idea behind it as gospel.
For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers
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Visit Other Retailers
Park Your Carcass to Learn a Lot
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