00:00:00 

Happy New year. Hey there and welcome to today's episode of the Bringing business to retail podcast. 

00:00:08 

Well, it's here 2024. The Phoenix year as I am calling it because this is the year that I feel like we are all going to rise up and kick some amazing goals and just shrug off. 

00:00:21 

All of the crap that has been landed upon us over the last few. 

00:00:27 

Years now, as you listen to this, I will have just finished up my beautiful vacation down the South Coast of NSW, hanging out on the beach. I am praying for fantastic weather, but regardless, I love heading down there because it is just so peaceful, so calming. There is no junk. 

00:00:47 

At the House, you know all the little chachkies and the junk drawer. None of that stuff in the Airbnb. 

00:00:53 

So it is. 

00:00:53 

Always very, very relaxing. There are enough little projects going on like weeding the garden or, you know, painting a wall or something here and there are enough little things to keep. 

00:01:04 

Keep busy, but also by the same token I can just kick back, read a book and actually what quite often happens is I take a bunch of sticky notes with me and a notepad because you know what it's like when you switch off. It's some amazing ideas come your way. 

00:01:21 

And I think it's really important to write those down for prosperity and come back when you come back refreshed and ready to go, that you can take those ideas and then reassess them and see where they fit into what your plans are for the next quarter for the next two or three quarters or even for the next couple of years. 

00:01:40 

Now if you listen to the podcast regularly, you'll know that I said that last year was really tough for me. It was a roller coaster ride much, much more tougher than COVID never was. And this is 2024 and I have declared it my phoenix year. Yes, this is the year where we all rise up and fantastic things are going to happen. 

00:02:01 

And so in this last of my series from the Bolt, the vault, the vault series from the vault of episodes, your top downloaded episodes of 2023, I pulled this little gem out and I've done it because I was speaking as I recorded this last night. I went out for dinner with. 

00:02:22 

20 people from CEO Club and one of them was an economist. 

00:02:27 

Works for one of the private wealth private Bank of one of the banks. So you know private wealth. 

00:02:33 

And he was telling me how they were talking about what's going, you know what the outlook is for the economy and their consensus is here in Australia that it was tough Q4 in Australia. It'll be a kind of rocky Q1, but they do not want more than two quarters of economic downturn. 

00:02:53 

Because when you when that happens of negative growth, you end up in a recession and our government does not want us to enter into a. 

00:03:00 

Session and so the word on the street. This is not financial advice. The word on the street is, you know, by Q2 that kind of Easter time, things should be getting much, much better. Interest rates will probably go down and people will have a lot. But you know consumer spending will be a lot more positive. So that's my little insider tip. So if you find this first. 

00:03:21 

Water a little bit rocky. Just bear with me because things are going to get better. 

00:03:27 

And so today's episode was an episode that I did at the beginning of last year talking about how to get your customer shopping in a recession. And so we aren't in a recession here in Australia. We never hit a recession. But we did have, like, everywhere around the world, a crap ton of interest rate rises. 

00:03:47 

And a lot of belt tightening, but people with money were still spending and there were quite a few areas of retail and e-commerce where the numbers went up, people were still spending. 

00:04:00 

Money. And so with that, if you do find this first quarter a little bit rocky and you feel like maybe your Phoenix year has not come yet, bear with me, but. 

00:04:11 

Listen to today's episode. 

00:04:12 

Because I am going to give you some great tips on how you can get those customers to come back and keep spending with you even when the economy is. 

00:04:20 

A little bit tighter, just a few more months, I reckon. Be that we have to. 

00:04:25 

You know, bear. 

00:04:25 

With the current economic climate and I think things are going to get better, well, that's what my wealth advisors are saying to me. Alrighty. I hope you had a Merry Christmas and a safe new year and you are ready to get going in 2024. Next week I will be back with a fresh new live episode, but for today. 

00:04:45 

Let's jump in and talk about how you can keep customers shopping with you even when they are tightening their belts. Oh, and before I forget, just a heads up. 

00:04:55 

I will be launching a live challenge this month to help you scale your business. I'm going to walk you through some of the key areas that you can focus on and what you need to do. If you're looking to grow your business. So it's a little sneak peek if you want to sign up for the wait list to get early access to that. 

00:05:15 

Challenge head over to selenanight.com/challenge, enter your details or if you are on social media, you can reply to DM me the word challenge. Reply to one of my social posts challenge and I will get you onto the wait list. But more of that to come in next week's. 

00:05:33 

Episode or I de selenanight.com/challenge to register your details, but let's get into today's episode. 

00:05:45 

Hey there and. 

00:05:46 

Welcome to the bringing business to retail podcast. If you're looking to get more sales, more customers. 

00:05:53 

Master your Mac. 

00:05:54 

Hitting and ultimately take control of your retail. 

00:05:58 

Or e-commerce business? 

00:06:00 

Then you're in the right place. I'm Celina night, a retail growth strategist and multi award-winning store owner whose superpower is uncovering exactly what your business requires to. 

00:06:14 

Move to the next level. 

00:06:15 

I'll provide you with the strategies, the tools and the insight you need to scale your store. All you need to do is take action. 

00:06:26 

Ready to get started? 

00:06:31 

Do you know something funny? I've just realized when I posted one of my teaser videos on Instagram that. 

00:06:37 

I seem to own a lot of pink shirts, pink tank tops, pink outfit, pink shirts. Now I know with my dresses I have lots of Navy coloured dresses like base of Navy because I've been packing all of my clothes for heading off to San Diego. 

00:06:56 

In like 2 days, in fact, those how this goes live, I will already be there. But when I was posting the last couple of teaser videos, I've realized that I'm wearing a pink shirt in nearly a pink top in nearly every single one. So clearly I need to go out and do a little bit of shopping because even though it's not the same pink top. 

00:07:17 

They clearly like wearing pink T-shirts, so. 

00:07:20 

It's a funny, funny thing because when? 

00:07:22 

I I realized this. 

00:07:23 

Last Friday and then I thought ohh over the weekend, clearly I need. 

00:07:27 

To buy a few more shirts. 

00:07:29 

So all of my emails that I was getting from all of the brands that I follow, I was really paying particular attention for people who were selling T-shirts or, you know, blouses, kind of T-shirts, was what I was looking for and. 

00:07:43 

Nobody sent me anything. Do you forget that when you are like determined to go shopping and spend money and you find nothing? Whereas when you aren't looking to buy anything? 

00:07:55 

It feels like all. 

00:07:55 

The bargains are coming your way. 

00:07:58 

What I want you to take away from that is quite clearly you can never know. 

00:08:03 

What your customer? 

00:08:04 

Is thinking and feeling and what they're shopping for because you wouldn't know that I was. 

00:08:08 

Looking for shirts? 

00:08:09 

So e-mail marketing and just being out there like being in my news feed, being in my Instagram feed, being in potentially in my Pinterest feed, but just being at least. 

00:08:19 

In my inbox, even if I might delete your emails. 

00:08:23 

Like 9 times out of. 

00:08:24 

10 the day the weekend that I go looking for. 

00:08:27 

T-shirts if. 

00:08:28 

You happen to end up in my inbox selling me. 

00:08:30 

T-shirts it's highly likely that I am going. 

00:08:33 

To buy with you. 

00:08:35 

Bye some you. 

00:08:36 

I'm with you shop with you. So that was just a little bit of an aside, but it is actually the perfect segue into today's episode. 

00:08:44 

Which is all. 

00:08:44 

About how do you keep your customers shopping even if we end up heading into a recession? As I said, that was a great. 

00:08:51 

Segue but it's. 

00:08:52 

Not the reason I started this episode. 

00:08:54 

Code. The reason I started this episode is because when. 

00:08:57 

I was looking. 

00:08:57 

Through my Apple news feed. 

00:09:00 

Couple of days. 

00:09:01 

Ago I saw that here in Australia, we're heading into La Nina for three years in a row. Yes, we've already had it for two years and they're pretty much predicting another one for this year. 

00:09:15 

Now this is almost unheard of, but I swear it gave me PTSD and flashbacks to when I had my stores and it rained. 

00:09:25 

For two years. 

00:09:26 

It pretty much non-stop rained from 2007 to 2009. 

00:09:32 

In fact, that's probably like. 

00:09:34 

Close to three years. 

00:09:35 

When you combine that with the, the global financial crisis, the recession that we had from 2007 to 2009, bearing in mind I opened my business in 2007. 

00:09:45 

Opened my stores. 

00:09:47 

In 2008, still so long ago. 

00:09:51 

And so I. 

00:09:51 

Was really at that beginning stage and it felt like everything was against me. I mean, let's just say those first few years between opening up in a recession, opening up with a range. 

00:10:03 

Of products we. 

00:10:04 

Sold Eco Baby products and Eco was not a thing. 

00:10:07 

Back in 2000 and eight 2009 so recession. 

00:10:12 

Products no one knew about. 

00:10:14 

And it rained. 

00:10:15 

And if you have ever, you know, give about a baby, you know. 

00:10:19 

That going out in the. 

00:10:20 

Rain is not on the top. 

00:10:21 

Of your list of. 

00:10:22 

To do things so we. 

00:10:23 

Were on a High Street, which meant there wasn't an. 

00:10:26 

Awful lot of. 

00:10:27 

Shelter. We weren't in a big shopping mall. 

00:10:30 

Which meant, of course, when it rains and it rains and it. 

00:10:32 

Rains and it. 

00:10:32 

Rains. Most people go to the shopping malls, cause at least they can do. 

00:10:35 

All the things. So it was really difficult and for many years after I sold my business. I remember my husband like when it was raining, wasn't it? Me. This is my husband waking up, going. It is so nice not to feel the stress. Ohh. 

00:10:51 

What are you gonna do when it rains? Like, obviously, he was taking my stress and it was difficult because some days hardly anyone walked in the door. So right now it feels like for me all of. 

00:11:02 

The things that are happening. 

00:11:03 

In the world right now are flashbacks. 

00:11:06 

To what I've been through, I've gone through all of this. I've suffered through all of this. 

00:11:11 

And so I know first hand what lies ahead. 

00:11:15 

And I want to give you. 

00:11:18 

All of the knowledge that I either did do and it worked or didn't do and it didn't work. Things I would change if I could have to go if I had to go back and do. 

00:11:27 

It all again. 

00:11:28 

And things that. 

00:11:29 

I am so proud that we put into. 

00:11:32 

Now I don't want you to be the overwhelmed shopkeeper that I was who was waking up at 3:00 in the morning wondering if there were going to be enough people through the door orders on the website. And let's be honest, enough money to pay the bills and even yourself because. 

00:11:49 

Is that's where I was. That's why my husband still says to this day, 15 years later. Oh my God, I like. I love the fact that we don't have to stress now when it rains. Because when revenue is down you try and do all the things that you can to fix the problem. 

00:12:09 

Right. But if you're waking up at 3:00 in the morning like I was, and that would be probably most mornings, I would. 

00:12:16 

Wake up at. 

00:12:16 

Two or three. 

00:12:17 

O'clock, like stressing, panic attack, just hoping like, what could I do to change it? And I'll be honest, there's nothing you can do at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning to change. 

00:12:28 

Right, so I. 

00:12:28 

Want to give you some information that you can use to kind of counteract those panic attacks. 

00:12:36 

If they are happening. 

00:12:37 

To you, or if they're not. 

00:12:38 

Happening to you, to. 

00:12:40 

Just kind of give you some things that you can implement because at the end of the day, that's what I'm here for. I want to give you the knowledge and the tools that you need to make sure that you have profitable business. 

00:12:48 

I don't want you to have a job. A crappy. 

00:12:50 

Job that doesn't allow you to take. 

00:12:52 

Time off I. 

00:12:53 

Want you to have a thriving business that brings your money in, even if you're not there? 

00:12:58 

OK. So when revenue is down and maybe you might find you do this too, I'm pretty sure it wasn't just me. It did what most overworked, underpaid shopkeepers do when they want to make more money. And that was I focused all of my efforts on selling. 

00:13:16 

Which is the. 

00:13:17 

Smart thing to do, but. 

00:13:19 

I ran store wide. 

00:13:21 

Sales like I would. 

00:13:22 

Have ridiculous discounts, I posted on social media constantly and back then our social media posts got a lot more traction than they do. 

00:13:29 

These days I the litter box dropped and put Flyers in all the local like, I would literally get to work early and put Flyers in letterboxes around the shop and there would be days when sometimes a handful of people would come through the door, sometimes there be days when no one would come through the door, even if the people did come in. I was. 

00:13:49 

And I ended up giving people discounts even though. 

00:13:52 

They were quite. 

00:13:53 

Prepared to pay full price and I mean looking back, there is something I regret because. 

00:14:00 

It completely devalues the customer experience like they're coming in to buy something. You're like, I actually don't believe in my products enough to give this to you for full price I have. 

00:14:08 

To discount it, even if. 

00:14:09 

You didn't ask for it. That was a silly thing to do, but I'm pretty sure that customers could smell. 

00:14:16 

The desperation coming off me. 

00:14:18 

When times were tough, I was stressed out. 

00:14:21 

I worked way too many hours because I thought more hours in equaled more hours out. 

00:14:27 

And quite honestly, I felt like a failure. 

00:14:30 

That is not the place to grow. 

00:14:32 

A business from which I can see now. 

00:14:35 

Again, another big regret. You can't I? 

00:14:37 

Have not counted. 

00:14:38 

All of the regrets and things that I wish they would do more so you can keep count for me. Maybe you can let me know. The big regret was thinking that if I worked more I would make more money. Which honestly? 

00:14:51 

Is the complete opposite because I would stay. 

00:14:53 

At this at the shop. 

00:14:55 

Just trying to think of things to do. 

00:14:57 

And doing stuff that actually wasn't moving the needle forward. So because I was putting more hours in, I felt like I had to earn more money. And then I was giving these discounts to people or people would come in. 

00:15:08 

And I'd like pounce on. 

00:15:09 

Them and or. 

00:15:10 

The the team would pounce on them because they. 

00:15:12 

Had targets to meet. 

00:15:13 

And nobody wants that. But that is. 

00:15:16 

Not a good place to come from when. 

00:15:18 

It comes to sales. 

00:15:19 

Sales is about meeting. 

00:15:21 

Your customer on a journey and. 

00:15:23 

Helping them to get to where they want to go in the best way that works for them. 

00:15:28 

Nor holy crap I. 

00:15:29 

Can't pay my bills. I really want. 

00:15:31 

To sell something. 

00:15:32 

To you. So like I said, learn from my experiences. 

00:15:35 

Skip over all the crappy stuff. 

00:15:37 

OK, now when it comes to getting customers. 

00:15:41 

To keep shopping. 

00:15:43 

I told you at the beginning that one of the simple things was just to be. 

00:15:47 

You know front of mind. 

00:15:49 

But let's just quickly if you're just listening to the first time this for the first time. 

00:15:53 

Let me just quickly go over. 

00:15:54 

The five pillars of. 

00:15:55 

Retail success. First of all, there's money and that is understanding how money comes into moves around. 

00:16:02 

And goes out of your. 

00:16:04 

Then we have sales, which is the making of the money. 

00:16:07 

We've got customers. 

00:16:09 

And inside of that there is finding them, attracting them, catching them, connecting with them, converting them and keeping them lots of things inside. 

00:16:19 

The sales pillar. 

00:16:20 

Marketing, which is telling the world that you exist and. 

00:16:24 

Getting people to want what you. 

00:16:26 

Sell and then we have impact which is building. 

00:16:29 

More than just a store that involves building a brand, it involves you as. 

00:16:33 

A leader all. 

00:16:36 

Stuff that takes you to the next level and at any one time, one of those pillars. 

00:16:41 

Is going to. 

00:16:41 

Be the pillar that you're probably. 

00:16:43 

A little bit. 

00:16:44 

Crappier, right? If you focus your attention on that pillar just for 90 days, thoughts that you see can give you exponential growth. And sometimes the problems that you've got just disappear because you've fixed. 

00:16:56 

The source of the problem, not just treating the symptom. 

00:17:00 

So I though. 

00:17:02 

I had a sales problem. Remember I told you I was focused on selling. I thought I had a sales problem. Now that I have the smarts to look back. And now that I've, like, identified my 5 core pillars of retail success, I didn't have a sales problem because once I got them in the door, we had an 80% conversion rate. 

00:17:23 

But even an 80% conversion rate sucks if you only have two people coming in a day or three or five people coming in a day. That's like one or two sales that is not enough to keep the doors open. 

00:17:37 

I didn't have a sales problem. Even my website was converting quite well. 

00:17:42 

Was converting it like 3. 

00:17:43 

Percent, which back in the day, I mean it's good now, but back in the day it was even better then. But if you only have 100 people to your website, that's only three sales a day. So five sales a. 

00:17:53 

Day doesn't keep the doors. 

00:17:55 

Didn't have a. 

00:17:56 

Sales problem, what I had was a cusp. 

00:18:01 

I didn't have enough people coming in the. 

00:18:03 

Door. I had the sales I had. 

00:18:05 

The conversion rates. 

00:18:06 

I didn't have enough people coming to the website and I didn't have enough people coming into the store. 

00:18:12 

Now, because I relied on the bulk of our money back then came from our our physical store because they relied on that local football. 

00:18:21 

My customer acquisition tended to be all or. 

00:18:24 

Nothing so often in. 

00:18:26 

And and the nothing came when I was in desperate times, my customer retention was really good, like our repeat business number was ridiculously high. When I actually did something about it, OK. 

00:18:40 

But because everything was so. 

00:18:43 

So were my results, so I would focus on customer acquisition when I didn't have any customers instead of focusing on getting the customers, I already had to come back into. 

00:18:53 

The store. 

00:18:54 

Remember, this is right at the beginning. 

00:18:55 

I've got a lot. 

00:18:56 

Of views of experience now, and I can see. 

00:18:59 

All of the stupid mistakes that I made, even though. 

00:19:01 

I had a business degree. 

00:19:02 

No one taught me this stuff. I had to learn it for. 

00:19:04 

Yourself. So now I'm teaching it to you. All right, so I had a customer problem. I did not have consistent customer customer acquisition. Like, I wasn't constantly making sure. 

00:19:18 

That I had new. 

00:19:19 

People coming to the website and new people coming into the store, but then I also wasn't. 

00:19:23 

Great at customer retention. 

00:19:24 

Back in the day when I first started. 

00:19:26 

Yeah, because I mean, in my defense, a lot of the things that we went on. 

00:19:31 

To implement which I'm going to. 

00:19:32 

Tell you about we're not plug. 

00:19:35 

And play systems, it relied a. 

00:19:37 

Lot on manual labor so. 

00:19:39 

All the things that you now can do inside of your CRM inside of clavio or sometimes even inside of Shopify or WooCommerce. 

00:19:46 

That didn't exist. So if we wanted to send a welcome sequence to somebody, we would physically have to go and send those emails, like every day we'd have to send the emails. 

00:19:57 

And it makes me sound so old. Trust me, This is why I love e-mail marketing and CRM so much. 

00:20:03 

These days, because. 

00:20:03 

I've been there when this was not an automated thing, and if you are not like utilising the things that. 

00:20:09 

You've got then. 

00:20:11 

That's just. 

00:20:12 

Like a no brainer to just a fast track to failing, but it's a no brainer to. 

00:20:17 

Increase your customers and customer attention and increasing your customer experience. So when it came to my website, which I invested a lot of time and money and energy into crafting a great user experience, I remember spending something like $1000. 

00:20:33 

When I realized that the majority of our people were coming in from mobile now, this was before responsive. 

00:20:40 

Websites so we. 

00:20:41 

Actually paid someone $1000 to build us out a really basic mobile website because we could see that the customers. 

00:20:49 

We're coming. Like the majority of people who are coming, we're coming from that Channel and This is why it's really important to, you know, spend the time, be the CEO of your business and look at the numbers, look at what's happening. But even as I said, with a solid 3% conversion rate, if you've only got 100 visitors a day, that's three orders. 

00:21:09 

And that is not. 

00:21:10 

Enough to survive. 

00:21:13 

Focusing on existing customers, especially when potentially we're teetering on the edge of a recession, is going to be your quickest, cheapest. 

00:21:23 

And highest ROI strategy. 

00:21:26 

Right. Customers, customers, customers. Right now customers are your focus. Well, I don't know. They're going to have a recession. I feel like maybe it's going to be a short recession, but I'm not an economist and I can't give you financial. 

00:21:38 

Advice, but I feel like if we. 

00:21:40 

Do hit this recession, it is clear money is going to tighten like wallets are going. 

00:21:44 

To tighten but. 

00:21:46 

It doesn't mean there aren't people still spending. I was still prepared to go out there and buy shirts on the weekend if they arrived. I paid for express shipping to get some new shoes to arrive before I head off. 

00:21:56 

To the US like there. 

00:21:57 

Is still money. 

00:21:58 

Out there. So let's focus on the customers you've already got and let's use your money wisely. If you're taking notes or if you're just listening. Listen now, like stop tuning out. Listen to this. What I'm about to say next, because this is the most important. 

00:22:13 

Part of this episode. 

00:22:16 

Your core goal for. 

00:22:19 

Like till the end of the year. 

00:22:20 

At least. 

00:22:21 

Has to be reducing your churn rate or preventing churn. If you can prevent churn now. 

00:22:30 

Churn means you're losing. 

00:22:33 

Your customers. OK, it's a it's a. 

00:22:35 

Marketing word. It's a sales word. It's a business word, but churn is the number of customers who. 

00:22:41 

Don't buy from you ever again. 

00:22:43 

Your core goal right now is to prevent or reduce churn. The great thing about this is it often costs very little or nothing at all. 

00:22:54 

You just have to implement a. 

00:22:56 

Few strategies and I'm going to give. 

00:22:58 

Them to you. 

00:22:59 

Now so the. 

00:23:00 

First thing you. 

00:23:00 

Have to do. 

00:23:01 

Is you have to give your. 

00:23:03 

Customers a reason to come back. You have to have some way of saying to them we've got stuff for you that you might like to buy. So that means you have to communicate with them. 

00:23:14 

And it means you've got. 

00:23:15 

To have fresh stuff coming. 

00:23:18 

But there's a good chance that right now money might be a little bit tight for you. We've got Christmas coming up and all those Christmas orders you have to pay for. We've got people tightening their belts and maybe you've already ordered in and there's stuff sitting on the shelves. 

00:23:31 

You have to. 

00:23:32 

Get rid of that old. 

00:23:33 

Stock you probably hear me harp on about this all the time. 

00:23:36 

You know, I've got my master. 

00:23:38 

Classselenaknight.com/stock if you want to. 

00:23:41 

Get access to it. 

00:23:43 

You have to get rid. 

00:23:44 

Of it to turn that money into stuff that you can sell and sell fast. 

00:23:50 

You are no. 

00:23:51 

Longer in a position to be holding on. 

00:23:53 

To this stuff. 

00:23:55 

Your customers aren't going to buy it. I didn't actually mean that in the terms of buying it as in giving you money, but their customers, your customers aren't gonna buy it because they haven't bought it. But they're also not going to buy into your your store or your brand if nothing is changing, right. So one of the easiest ways to prevent or reduce churn is simply giving them a reason to come back, telling them that you're out there. 

00:24:17 

And here's some stuff you might like to buy, even if that stuff is sale stock. 

00:24:22 

You've got to get rid. 

00:24:23 

Of that old. 

00:24:24 

Stock if you need help with that, go and check out the master class selenanight.com/doc. You can read all about it over there the best way. 

00:24:33 

Way to get your customers to come back is to create. This is at this point #2, I don't know. 

00:24:40 

I haven't been. 

00:24:41 

Counting like this is like a this is a last minute episode because the episode that we had planned didn't quite work. We had an issue last week with our video, this one. Our guests didn't turn up. 

00:24:54 

Yeah, it's all up in the air. I haven't counted numbers. I've got a. 

00:24:57 

Couple of days before I. 

00:24:58 

Have to fly out and I got a ton. 

00:25:00 

Of things I have to. 

00:25:00 

Get done. So you keep track of. 

00:25:02 

The numbers, it doesn't really matter. 

00:25:05 

Then give people a reason to come back the next one create offers that are value based. 

00:25:12 

Yes, you heard. 

00:25:14 

Me right. Create offers that are value based. Their value doesn't necessarily mean discounting. In fact, discounting is generally not a value that your customers. 

00:25:24 

That's what I'm looking for. 

00:25:25 

Value they value value but they want to know that they're getting something that is going to make them happy. It's going to create a sense of fulfillment like, you know, making getting my shoes before I go to America, it's going to make me happy. 

00:25:42 

Because I'm going. 

00:25:43 

To look good and my feet are going to be comfortable. 

00:25:46 

What I value is the fact that I had the opportunity to buy express shipping. What I didn't value was the fact that they then sent me an e-mail saying it might take two to four days for them to ship it out because they're very busy. That's not what I value. So what does your customer value? What are some things that you can potentially bundle up? 

00:26:06 

And this may mean collaborating. It may mean looking at your team. It may mean looking at competitors or people in different industry to see what they give to their customers. 

00:26:19 

Just to get them to keep shopping. 

00:26:22 

It probably means you're. 

00:26:23 

Going to reach out to suppliers. 

00:26:25 

Or use the. 

00:26:26 

Knowledge that you've got in house. 

00:26:28 

So if you are great. 

00:26:29 

At styling, then maybe you offer a chance. 

00:26:33 

For people to go in the drawer to. 

00:26:35 

Be styled by. 

00:26:36 

You if that is something that your clients value and they know. 

00:26:39 

That you're great at. 

00:26:40 

Offer that if you are really good at decorating. 

00:26:44 

If you own a homeless shop. 

00:26:45 

And you really. 

00:26:46 

Like you've got an eye for. 

00:26:47 

That stuff you could. 

00:26:49 

Give the first five people who spend more than. 

00:26:51 

$500. 

00:26:53 

A virtual VIP styling decorating, decorating session. 

00:26:58 

Right. 

00:26:58 

You started this business because you're good at something. 

00:27:03 

Leverage that something, turn it into an offer that your competitors don't have because they're not you or they're not your team. 

00:27:11 

Is have a. 

00:27:11 

Great person in my team who. 

00:27:13 

Is amazing at styling. 

00:27:15 

And so I could have offered her styling services. And that doesn't have to be in person. It can. 

00:27:20 

Be a virtual thing, but think about. 

00:27:22 

Your customers. 

00:27:23 

Problems. Think about why they shop with you and think about what is going to give them that status and prestige, and how can you leverage that Speaking of leveraging. 

00:27:34 

I love to leverage 2 core groups of your customers. The first one, obviously your VIP's. 

00:27:44 

And when I say VIP's, I mean the true VIP's, the ones who drop hundreds if not thousands of dollars with you who shop with you over and over again. 

00:27:55 

Who constantly tagging you on social media? 

00:27:57 

What are you doing to keep? 

00:27:59 

Those people happy. 

00:28:00 

Because we're also, you're giving discounts to people who've never bought from you. What are you doing for your VIP? 

00:28:05 

These remember the best way to reduce churn is to give them a reason to come back and to create offers that are value based. So what do your VIPs value and I gave you a couple of examples just before. Maybe it is an after hours we used to hold after hours shopping nights. So we for our VIP. 

00:28:26 

Customers they could bring in five friends. We did some collaborations with like the local hairdresser. And I mean, we did lots of. 

00:28:33 

Different ones, but. 

00:28:34 

We did a hairdresser and a cat. 

00:28:36 

And the hairdresser came in and did some little sessions on. 

00:28:39 

You know how. 

00:28:39 

To use your hair up and the caterer came in and did like 5 canopies that you can make with stuff in your cupboard, like little things like that. That cost me nothing. But what happened is my VIP canning. She didn't have her kids, she had her friends. 

00:28:56 

They had a few glasses of wine to chew. They valued being able to take time away from new babies. They valued being able to hang out with their friends and not have people like. 

00:29:07 

Mum. Mum. Mum. Mum. 

00:29:09 

That's what they valued. 

00:29:10 

And they love shopping. They love treating themselves. They love treating their. 

00:29:13 

Families. So what is an offer that's value based? 

00:29:17 

That has. 

00:29:17 

A really high perceived. 

00:29:19 

Value something like one of those shopping nights. 

00:29:22 

Or maybe it is? 

00:29:23 

Something like the virtual styling session, but offer it only to your VIPs. 

00:29:28 

Get them to come back and spend more. The other group I love to leverage and I. 

00:29:35 

I swear I'm. 

00:29:36 

Really, the only person who? 

00:29:37 

Says this is. 

00:29:39 

Your discount hunters. 

00:29:41 

I know I always say don't discount. 

00:29:44 

But at some point. 

00:29:45 

You have stock you need. 

00:29:46 

To move, which means you're probably going to have to at some point put some kind of discount in place right, there will always. 

00:29:53 

Be stuff that. 

00:29:53 

Doesn't go if. 

00:29:54 

You want it to go quick, you have to market. 

00:29:57 

It to the discount hunters. So what? 

00:30:00 

Do they value? 

00:30:02 

Where clearly they value a discount. But what? 

00:30:04 

Other things do. 

00:30:05 

They value those discount hunters are generally very high aspirational customers, they. 

00:30:11 

Really want to be involved in your brand? 

00:30:14 

They just don't. 

00:30:15 

Have the money to do it all the time. 

00:30:18 

So what things could you include to get them? 

00:30:22 

To come back. 

00:30:23 

And to create and offer. 

00:30:24 

That value base. It could be something as simple as if they spend X amount of dollars they. 

00:30:29 

Get a gift with purchase. 

00:30:31 

Right. That's going to get rid of your stuff. It's going to keep them happy. And when you segment those two groups out and you send different offers to them, that is when you get leverage because your average customer shouldn't be getting the VIP treatment and your VIP customers don't. 

00:30:49 

Care about sales? 

00:30:51 

They're the they're the trendsetters. They want to be ahead of the curve filling up their. 

00:30:56 

Inbox with sales stuff is just. 

00:30:58 

Annoying the crap out of. 

00:31:00 

Them so this is where. 

00:31:01 

You have to know your customer journey and you have to know. 

00:31:04 

Who those customers are. 

00:31:06 

And where they're. 

00:31:06 

At you've got to give. 

00:31:07 

Them the offers at a value base and meet. 

00:31:09 

Them where they're at. 

00:31:11 

Next up is. 

00:31:12 

And I kind of alluded to this. 

00:31:13 

Right at the beginning is really. 

00:31:15 

Understanding a few key metric. 

00:31:19 

And one of those is. 

00:31:20 

Your customer lifetime value, how much is a? 

00:31:23 

Customer worth to you. 

00:31:25 

Throughout the whole time that they spend. 

00:31:27 

Now for us. 

00:31:28 

We only have a customer life cycle of. 

00:31:30 

Around 2:00 to. 

00:31:31 

Three years. And that's because we sold baby products. And so when your baby turned 2, we no longer had anything to sell to you. 

00:31:39 

That's OK. It doesn't mean we had to go and add more stuff. It just means we had to understand what that customer life cycle looked like. And unless you had another baby or a friend had a baby like there was kind of no reason for you to. 

00:31:52 

Keep coming back when you know. 

00:31:55 

You then know. 

00:31:56 

How to monetize that group of people in the best way possible? But it also allows you to know how much the average person should be spending. So what is your customer lifetime value? The great thing is if you're using an e-mail marketing program like Clavio, it's one of the reasons we love clavio. 

00:32:14 

Is you can see that. 

00:32:16 

Option your Shopify and hopefully your other e-commerce dashboard. 

00:32:19 

Are probably going to tell you. 

00:32:20 

That as well and I mentioned right at the beginning that you need to prevent or reduce churn. The other reason I love Clavio is it tells you when a customer is likely to churn so that you can put all this stuff that I'm telling you into an automated flow, so that if they do, you know you don't lose them. 

00:32:36 

If they are thinking of shopping somewhere else. 

00:32:39 

You are there. You are in their inbox. 

00:32:43 

You're giving them. 

00:32:43 

An offer that is value based. 

00:32:46 

So you have to know your customer lifetime value so that you know how much. 

00:32:50 

Discounts. How much? 

00:32:51 

Money you can put in to keeping. 

00:32:53 

That customer to. 

00:32:54 

Shop, which means you have to segment your database. You have to know where. 

00:33:00 

These people are at. 

00:33:01 

In their customer journey. All right, So what do we have reduced churn? Give them a reason. 

00:33:06 

To come back. 

00:33:08 

Get rid of the old stock. 

00:33:10 

Create offers that are value based. 

00:33:13 

Leverage your VIPs, leverage your discount customers, discount hunting customers nor those key metrics like churn rate, customer lifetime value, segmenting your database. 

00:33:24 

The other thing is and this kind of ties back to creating offers. 

00:33:28 

That are value based. 

00:33:29 

Is if you have. 

00:33:30 

A loyalty program. It's gotta mean something. It's gotta. 

00:33:34 

Be value based. 

00:33:36 

If your VIP program looks way less VIP and is more just an expense on your balance sheet because all. 

00:33:44 

You're doing is giving a discount. 

00:33:46 

Well, that isn't serving anyone. That single tiered discount based option based on points. It's not leveraging anything other than taking the pure profit out of your pocket. So if that's what you've got right now. 

00:34:00 

I will say that you're missing out on. 

00:34:01 

A lot of brand. 

00:34:02 

Loyalty. You're losing out on a lot of money. 

00:34:06 

And realistically, to me, all that does is encourage those price conscious bargain hunting customers, which has a place in your business, but they shouldn't be the key customer. 

00:34:21 

In your business, when you strip out your loyalty program and rebuild it into a program that customers actually value. 

00:34:30 

And you have different tiers. 

00:34:32 

So that customers can move up the chain and get better value as they become better customers. That can be the key to higher profits higher. 

00:34:41 

Customer lifetime value and higher brand loyalty. So I've gotta ask you then, why do so many retailers just give monetary discounts which are eating into their bottom line? Getting customers is hard and it's expense. 

00:34:56 

Keeping customers is so much easier and it is way cheaper, but quite often it's forgotten about. I have 3 great brands that I go to when I look at great loyalty programs. So one is Princess Polly, love, love, love like to me there were. 

00:35:15 

Rewards program. The loyalty program is. 

00:35:18 

The top. That's what you should measure yours off against. OK, when you go and look at Princess Polly, they're probably not your core demographic. It's all aimed at the Gen. setters. But just look at what they think their customers value, and it's not even think they actually get on their phones and they call their customers and they ask what they value. What would you like to see? What would you like to get as a reward? 

00:35:39 

That is great. 

00:35:42 

The other one is a company called Super Group and they do sunscreen and I love theirs like one of their key rewards is getting into a conversation. 

00:35:52 

With the founder. 

00:35:54 

She does. I think it's a group call once. 

00:35:56 

A month where. 

00:35:57 

You can come on. 

00:35:57 

And ask questions. I mean that's that's freaking. 

00:36:01 

Brilliant. It costs like nothing. It costs a little bit of time, but it builds. 

00:36:06 

That brand loyal. 

00:36:08 

T and then it just goes up from there and the other one is it's a like Japanese snack food. 

00:36:15 

I'm going to say it's. 

00:36:16 

Called something like kabosu. I've probably seriously screwed that up. I will find it and stick it into the show notes, but again, they build these experiences for our, for their customers that. 

00:36:28 

Simple things like. 

00:36:29 

Eat not simple, but they're very high value like these virtual too. 

00:36:34 

Offers on different sections of the snack industry in the area like snack shops in the area or like, just go. 

00:36:41 

Up as I said. 

00:36:42 

I'll put the link in the show notes. Go and have a look, but their rewards programs are all about the experience, and that experience costs them virtually nothing. 

00:36:51 

And this is. 

00:36:51 

The whole point is what I'm. 

00:36:52 

Trying to say is if you're just giving away. 

00:36:56 

Then all you're doing is eating into your. 

00:36:58 

Bottom line, how about? 

00:36:58 

We give what your customers value, give them some kind of experience which may not cost you. 

00:37:04 

A thing what comes back? 

00:37:06 

To you will come back tenfold, or a hundredfold. 

00:37:09 

Because customers really want to be part of. 

00:37:12 

That have a loyalty program. 

00:37:14 

That your customers actually want. 

00:37:17 

Not a loyalty program that you just put in place in your Shopify or your pause, and it's a discount and that's. 

00:37:24 

Because it was. 

00:37:26 

Stop thinking the easiest sloppiest way of doing things and start thinking about your customers, because that is what's going to keep them coming back. It is so much cheaper to. 

00:37:38 

Keep your customer. 

00:37:40 

Than it is. 

00:37:41 

To try and. 

00:37:42 

Find a new customer. 

00:37:43 

To get them to your website to get them into the store, to get them to trust you, to get them to hand. 

00:37:47 

Over their money. 

00:37:48 

And to get. 

00:37:49 

Them to keep coming back. Sure. You've gotta be doing. 

00:37:52 

But if you are. 

00:37:55 

Feeling financially strained, or if you need a quick injection of cash, or you just want to build a brand and be more than just that shop. 

00:38:04 

Then this is what? 

00:38:05 

You have to do whether we head into a recession or not. All of these things that I've given you are going to build your business. 

00:38:13 

So even if you. 

00:38:14 

Just take one of those things. 

00:38:16 

And you implemented it. 

00:38:18 

What do you think? 

00:38:19 

You would. 

00:38:19 

Do for your business. 

00:38:21 

If you implemented an offer for your VIPs, maybe that offer is a virtual styling session. Let's go with that. How many more sales do you think you're going to make? 

00:38:31 

Might not cost you anything. 

00:38:32 

It's going to cost you an hour of your time. 

00:38:35 

But if you send that offer out to your customers, maybe you can pick up the phone and do it over the phone, or you reach out to them on Messenger and say, hey, to reward you for being such a great customer, we're going to give you this chance to to get this offer, we're going to give you a chance to hang out with our founder and get a virtual styling session. If you purchase more than $500. 

00:38:57 

This week. 

00:38:58 

There's always got to. 

00:38:59 

Have the time frame on that right. 

00:39:01 

Don't forget that part. 

00:39:01 

I like 24. 

00:39:02 

48 hours. 

00:39:04 

Maybe you might have to stretch it out to a week. How many thousands of dollars would something like that bring into your business versus the hours that you're spending uploading products to your website or the hours that you're playing on Canva because you don't want to face up to being the CEO of your business? This is why I am so passionate about you working. 

00:39:22 

Less hours. Remember I said right back at the beginning. I would sit in my bloody shop and I would just sit there because I figured more hours meant more money. 

00:39:31 

I call BS because I know better now, sometimes less hours is going to get you more money half an hour to send out an e-mail or to reach out to a couple of key customers to offer an an offer like this. A value based offer could net you 10s of thousands of dollars. So why is it that as business owners you're. 

00:39:51 

More worried about. 

00:39:52 

Putting in more hours or playing playing on Canva or posting things to your website than you are about keeping your customers happy and keeping them coming back and keeping the money flowing in. And I think that. 

00:40:05 

Is the perfect place. 

00:40:06 

For us to wrap up this episode. 

00:40:09 

I would love it if. 

00:40:10 

You've listened to get. 

00:40:12 

Your share if you if you found this this valuable, go and share it with another retailer because at the end of the day there is room for all of us. 

00:40:21 

But I would also love it if you could let me know if. 

00:40:24 

You implement any of this stuff. 

00:40:26 

Because sometimes as a podcast host I only have connection with the people who I have the connection with. If you're in our group, or if you're. 

00:40:34 

One of my. 

00:40:35 

Clients, or if you've bought one of our. 

00:40:37 

Programs then I have connection. 

00:40:38 

With you but. 

00:40:39 

For everybody else, I would love to know if you implement this and what the results are, because if I can get you to make more money. 

00:40:47 

Then I can get you to a point where maybe you will want to hang out with us and you will want to buy some of our programs or you will want to be part of our community. 

00:40:55 

And then that means. 

00:40:56 

That you're going to be growing and you're going to be serving more customers and making more money and making this world. 

00:41:02 

A better place so. 

00:41:04 

I'm finishing up. I want you to share this episode if you. 

00:41:07 

Found it helpful. 

00:41:09 

And also if you put one of these things. 

00:41:11 

Into place, give yourself a deadline by the end of the week. 

00:41:14 

And let. 

00:41:15 

You know. 

00:41:16 

What were the results that you got? 

00:41:18 

All right, I need to go and pack my bags. I have not done that yet. I have laid everything out all over the floor. And you do unpack those things to a bag so that I can be ready to go over to San Diego, in just a couple of.

Days alrighty. I will see you right. 

00:41:33 

Back here same time, same place next week. Bye. 

00:41:37 

So that's a wrap. I'd love to hear what insight you've gotten from this episode and how you're going to put it into action. 

If you're a social kind of person, follow me at the Celina night and make sure to leave a comment and let me know. And if this episode made you think a little bit differently or gave you some inspiration, or perhaps gave you the kick that you needed to take action, then please take a couple of minutes to leave me a review. 

00:42:06 

On your platform of choice, because the more reviews the show gets, the more independent retail and e-commerce stores just like yours that we can. 

Help to scale. 

And when that happens, it's a win for you. 

A win for your community and a win for your customers. I'll see you on the next episode.