Selectively Neglect

It was in a 1911 story, Gertrude the Governess, that Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock, wrote, “Lord Ronald said nothing; he flung himself from the room, flung himself upon his horse, and rode madly off in all directions.” It is a line that has been quoted, misquoted, and misattributed since then.
     Riding madly off in all directions at once is a risk for a retailer when the challenges keep flying at you. You might fling yourself into trying to take care of everything.
     Keep your focus. The successful retailer engages in skillful selective neglect. Actually, you can do it all. The problem is you can’t do it all at the same time. And the fact is that you won’t really want to do it all at any time.
     There are very many ways to improve your profitability as a retailer. You almost certainly don’t have the resources to implement them all at the same time. And recognize that more is not always better.

• Researchers at University of Mannheim in Germany and University of Texas-Austin found that customers who are adequately satisfied are willing to pay higher prices than are customers who are barely satisfied. But the researchers also found that developing customer willingness to pay even higher prices generally requires ensuring those customers are consistently very highly satisfied. The costs of doing this might make it unprofitable. If so, why not be satisfied with adequate customer satisfaction?
• Researchers at Duke University and University of California-Berkeley find that advertising a warranty today has no effect on consumer perceptions of retailer and product quality unless both retailer reputation and manufacturer reputation are in other ways flawlessly positive. So until you’re confident that your shoppers absolutely revere your reputation, why advertise warranties?

     Prioritize. Keep your eye on many important tasks at once. But allow some tasks to be in your peripheral vision. The central focus should be on tactics and measures that, if they fall too far short, substantially impact your profitability.
     Satisfice. In the 1950s, psychologist/economist Herbert Simon coined the term “satisficing” to refer to his finding that successful people accept less-than-perfect alternatives in order for them to be able to move on to the next tasks to be accomplished.
     With the many unknowns facing the small to midsize retail business, assiduously avoid riding off in all directions at once.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

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