Creative Shop Talk with Wendy Batten

You have lots of customers coming in the door this season - how are you making sure you wow and delight them so that they can't help but smile when they leave and become superfans?

If you've listened to my podcast for a while, you know that we talk a lot about the 5 parts of retail marketing, the framework I call Foot Traffic Made Simple.

We can keep our marketing unique, but there are 5 things we all need to do to keep that marketing engine humming along.

Attract. Engage. Nurture. Serve. Wow and Delight. It works.

Let's talk about WOW and DELIGHT. It's what really sets us apart from those big-box competitors.

We value our customers, without them we have no business. So with every customer that walks in the door - let's make sure we are wowing and delighting each of them.

Here are 4 tips to help you wow and delight your customers this holiday season and get them coming back in January.

Full show notes at https://wendybatten.com/episode-85/

Are you investing in your staff, or as I like to say, your team?

Paying attention to your team RIGHT NOW is as important as having the right inventory and pricing, both major pieces of your retail success. Your team is an extension of you and your brand. They are a huge asset.

It can be hard being the boss. Today I'm sharing some strategies that will help our employees be better at what they do for us. Strategies that will help them represent our brand in the best way possible and keep them happy. If our employees are happy, our customers are happy, we're happy.

Here are six strategies to help you amplify your team's performance this holiday.

Full show notes at https://wendybatten.com/episode-84/

Success. What does that even mean?

Are we talking about particular goals you may have? To me, it's more about how you FEEL about your business.

Success can mean - more time off, maybe a bigger paycheck or reaching goals. It might mean getting your doors open, or expansion or maybe just making your first sale.

It all depends on what stage of business you are in, and the lifestyle you want to go along with it.

Now is the time to plan your goals out for success in 2022.

Goals such as:

• More ease within your business
• A less stressful holiday season
• Having systems in place for inventory
• More organization
• Better time management
• Staying consistent with social media content

At every level of your business, continue to ask yourself: "I wish I was more ________."

We should always strive to continue our learning and improvement. Whether you're in the first year of business or expanding and having a big year, we all have to refine and optimize our business.

Full show notes at https://wendybatten.com/episode-83/

Our overall motto going into 2022, friends, is "how can we make things light and easy?" Believe it or not, content planning CAN be EASY!

I know content can be overwhelming.

Are you staring at the screen wondering what to share and put out there and when?

Whether you're using Facebook, Instagram, email marketing, or a website - content humanizes our brand so customers know us, our values, and what we have to offer.

Are you feeling stuck when it comes to content? These five steps will surely help you get UNstuck and make this part of your business a little bit easier.

Full show notes at https://wendybatten.com/episode-82/

Google My Business may not be the sexy popular platform we think of - mainly because you have to fit your business into their parameters, but it is essential. And FREE! Many businesses stop at just having a Google My Business profile, but are not taking the time to optimize it.

25 years ago, Chris Hickle's wife was teaching piano lessons to help pay for college. The business really began to grow and they started really focusing on their online marketing strategy. Chris was then able to quit his 9-5 job and help solely with the business.

Chris found a hole in the market with music stores. He is not a musician himself, so expanding and offering his online marketing and technology skills to other musicians and business owners was the natural next step for him and his wife, Jen, in 2013. That's when they started Never Alone Business Services and help brick and mortar businesses market their business.

Did you know?

• Over 90% of searches online are done on Google
• You can connect Google My Business to your Bing local listing
• Your goal is to be in the top three searches

Listen in and learn the details on how you can optimize the visibility of your business today. Just as Google is, Chris and his wife Jen are keeping their focus on small, local businesses because they truly are what drive our economy.

Full show notes at https://wendybatten.com/episode-81/

The holidays are coming. For some of you, this season is treating you well and it's amazing. But for others, the feeling of tiredness has really set in. Today I am sharing a few strategies that will help you if you feel like you're about to hit a wall and the mental anxiety of it all is starting to set in.

A healthy business needs a healthy CEO and can't operate their business if they aren't in love with it. (Re-listen to Episode 45 for some inspiration on falling back in love with your business).

To ease the pressure of the holiday season and Q4 and to see the success you want, you first have to show up as your best self for your family, your team, and your customers.

In this episode, we'll go over:

1. Reset your mindset (bless and release all the negative thoughts)
2. Reignite your passion (write down the positives, declare your goals, and surround yourself with those who encourage you)
3. Revisit or create your Thrive List (non-negotiable things you need to make you feel good - self-care)
4. Rest and reclaim - so you can show up 100%

What does all of this have to do with running your retail business? Everything. If you're feeling down, burnt out, and not fueled by the things that make you thrive, you're not showing up and you're going to hit that burnout wall. I want to encourage you to rest and reset. You don't want to go into any quarter, let alone the 4th quarter and this busy season, with a low-energy battery.

Ask yourself: "What would make this light and easy?"

Full show notes at https://wendybatten.com/episode-80/

Let's talk about Amazon. First - you are not Amazon. And boy that's awesome, isn't it?

In today's episode, I am going to give you some strategies and ideas that will give you a competitive advantage over Amazon.

First up - change your mindset. Think of Amazon as just another business down the road, and ask yourself "what do they do well that I can incorporate into my independent shop?"

Your competitive advantage is HUGE. You are a passionate, caring hard-working shop owner.

But let's look at a few things Amazon does well that YOU can implement in your own business. (No - I don't mean free shipping)

Full show notes at https://wendybatten.com/episode-79/

Amy Hart was an elementary school teacher first, then started teaching painting classes at a friend's local store in 2016. In that same store, Amy and her friend started a line of paint by number products and sold it to stores all over the country.

She created toile (pronounced "twall") which means "linen cloth" or "canvas" in French. Amy shared it at a local flea market in the Spring of 2017 and then opened her first little shop in Tallahassee, FL in September of 2017.

When she quickly outgrew her first shop, her family then moved to Thomasville, GA where they found their new location for The Hare & The Hart. A shop with an English/Southern/French decorating style and a huge, amazing community!

It's hard work to open, run and stay creative. It's even harder when you know you need some strategic planning and "business back end skill and confidence." Amy shares how she knew it was time to step into that role in a more confident way. And she did.

Owning a retail shop doesn't come without its ups and downs. But after taking Wendy's courses, and immediately signing up for the Retailer's Inner Circle, Amy found the tools and resources and more so, the confidence to step fully into her role as CEO. Now, the back-end of her business is set up so well that she is able to hand things off to her team and be ok with it.

Full show notes at https://wendybatten.com/episode-78/

Let's discuss the 1% difference. What if we just increase everything by 1%? What if we focus on small, tiny tasks and put them into action within our business? Sometimes that's hard to implement. I know.

It's all about the percentages, though. Every percentage matters. Whether you're trying to increase your foot traffic, increase your conversion, increase or decrease your margins, cut the payroll fees, etc. One little step at a time shows progress instead of always trying to make unattainable, giant leaps.

So what is that 1 THING that you need to work on? What is something you want to get 1% better with so you can start to see improvement in your business?

What if you had 1% of last year's annual revenue in your pocket right now? Hmm...makes us think right?

Full show notes at https://wendybatten.com/episode-77/

Are you keeping yourself small? Are you DIY'ing your entire business? I was.

Entrepreneurs have that mindset that we can figure it out ourselves. That's just the way we are wired. Throw in a creative spirit and drive - and well - we want to DIY it all.

But in this episode, I want to share with you how you can think a little bit differently and create a massive impact on your business!

Recently, I made the revelation that I was keeping myself small in an area of my business I wanted to grow. Over the past six months, I have been tweaking my website. When I had time, in between everything else. I know HOW, I just kept pushing it to the back burner. I found that I was frustrated that we were not making headway on that side of my business - and it was costing me time, money, and stress because I was trying to DIY it all…

Then I was reminded of a great book: Who Not How by Dan Sullivan reiterates this mantra: "Just because we can doesn't mean we should." WHY was I doing this to myself? Which meant it was time to hire a team to help me with my website. I knew the ROI (return of investment) was going to be great. So I hired out and we're almost done with the entire revamp of a new website in less than 2 weeks.

Those things in your business that you are forcing yourself to do, are out of your zone of genius, are really complicated, or are put off week after week… start thinking about hiring an expert that can help you take those tasks off your plate. Help you LEAPFROG into the next level. This goes for coaching too. If you are stuck, get unstuck and re-motivated, and back on track with the right support. LEAPFROG.

Listen as I discuss various shop owner stories and how they added team members to their business and the success it brought them. They stopped trying to DIY their entire business and hired people to help them accelerate.

Full show notes at https://wendybatten.com/episode-76/