The Clienteling Podcast

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By popular demand! In this episode of The Clienteling Podcast, Bryan Amaral discusses the reasons that many retailers are failing to transform in the face of disruption and he offers an Organizational and Customer Manifesto highlighting what retailers need to do to thrive in 2021 and beyond. Today's podcast is based on a presentation Amaral gave at the Retail Touchpoints Live event at RetailX in Chicago in June of 2019.

The original slide content is available here: 
http://clientricity.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/The-Retail-Landscape-of-2021-RTP-RetalX-Presentation-June-2019.pdf 

Highlights of today's podcast: 

Everybody talking about the digital transformation, but what does it mean? 

Retail is trying to get its shift together…

The first step on the journey…

13 Ways Retailers are Failing to Make the Transition

1. Lack of Clarity for What “Good” Looks Like.
2. Culture is not driven by data insights. 
3. Fiefdoms and disparate systems. 
4. A ROI mandate that doesn't support innovative ideas. 
5. Risk Adversity. Lack of internal leadership.
6. Protect the organizational structure. 
7. Lack of store-side CX insight or expertise. 
8. Failing store level execution. 
9. Underinvest in Technology   
10. No single view of what is happening. 
11. Lack of capital to acquire systems and personnel.  
12. Hoping technology alone will solve the problem.  

A New Organizational Manifesto for Retailers

• The truth will set you free! Start with Real World Data…
• Lead boldly, tear down convention, hire CX skills, create new customer value and execute “top down” flawlessly! 
• Don’t just DO digital…BE digital! 

A New Customer Manifesto for Retail

• Make it easy! Fast, efficient, frictionless & flexible. 
• Tell Me What I Want to Know! Don’t Abuse My Data!  
• Make it Mine! Express my individuality and identity through your brand and products. Engage Me in Fun, Memorable Experiences! Make the exploration fun!
• Let me Drive! But be there when I need help! 
• Know my “Shopper DNA” and what it takes to make me happy!  
• I’m social, I’m digital, I’m always on…you should be too!
• Let me become part a community of wildly passionate advocates! Create experiences and formats that connect people and immerse them in the brand narrative.

New Formats & Operating Models

What’s working and why?

New Formats and Models 

• Showrooms and Discovery Zones
• Personalized & Customized Products
• Storefront as a Service
•  Immersive “Phygital” Storytelling

What We Can Expect in 2021?

Resources:

Bryan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanamaral/

Bryan’s Website: https://www.clientricity.net

Bryan’s Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Call Bryan: 404-348-4849 

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Clienteling Best Practice Series:
    Part 1 - Pre-Implementation
    Part 2 - Implementation & Go-Live
    Part 3 - Engagement and Selling

In this episode of The Clienteling Podcast, Bryan Amaral highlights those topics that must be considered prior to implementation of a successful Clienteling project.


1. Vision, Alignment and Baseline Metrics:

• A thoughtful approach with a disciplined methodology
• What is the Vision for your brand? What are your goals?
• What types of engagement and journeys?
• How and when do you customers want to engage? 
• What types of engagement are possible for your brand?
• What is the role for your associates? 
• What does clienteling success look like for all stakeholders 
• Analyze Data. What does it tell us about relationships & behavior? 
• What winning practices can be replicated at scale 
• What can be measured and what ROI could be expected?

2. Assess Current & Desired Behaviors:

• Interview store teams and analyze customer engagement at every touchpoint. 
• How are associates engaging? Labor & staff/customer ratio?
• What are the “hero” outcomes? What are the failure points? 
• Do you monetize store events? Are associates reaching out? Scheduling appointments?  Engaging in specific dialogues? Capturing information and contact preference? Identifying the next best action? 
• Do your associates have adequate product knowledge & customer info? Have you identified archetypes?
• How do your customers use mobile today? 
• Where is there friction? What’s missing? 
• What are customers unhappy about? 

3. Assess Training and Change Management

• Do you currently have a sales methodology? If so, how will clienteling fit into that? What can clienteling do to enhance it?
• How are sales skills trained, monitored and managed?
• Will you identify store-level solution champions?  
• Who will do the solution training? Who trains the trainers? 
• How will your Sales Associates, SM’s, DM’s be incentivized to use the solution? Programs and contests?
• How will adoption be monitored and managed? 

4. Marketing, Ecommerce & BI Alignment

• Who owns the customer experience? How does each functional area of the business collaborate to leverage customer data to create the CX?
• How will Marketing and Ecommerce initiatives be executed at the store level? 
• How will “store to customer” digital transactions be attributed? Will store associates get credit for online sales?
• What customer and associate data attributes need to be shared across all constituents?  
• What data insights will be used to drive personalization and communication from clienteling?

5. Pre-Implementation Checklist

1. Baseline Data Analysis and Existing Relationship Practice Insights
2. Document Desired Sales and Omni-channel Engagement Practices
3. Define Roles and Linkage Between Marketing, Ecomm and Store Execution
4. Document Strategy for Training and Change Management Approach
5. Pro-forma Business Impact Model Yielding ROI/IRR from Desired Behaviors

Resources:

Bryan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanamaral/

Bryan’s Website: https://www.clientricity.net

Bryan’s Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Call Bryan: 404-348-4849 

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John Liebler Interview Pt. 2 of 2

In this episode, John Liebler joins the show and is interviewed by Bryan Amaral. John is a senior executive offering 30+ years of visionary leadership in-store operations, multi-unit management, and operations logistics with brands such as Kay Jewelers, Jared, Peoples Jewelers and Shinola. He is a passionate, motivational leader who builds successful, inspired, and customer-focused sales teams that drive results. 

First, John describes the challenges of implementing clienteling. Nobody wants to spend a substantial sum of money on technology and then have no one use it. John has had both successes and misses; he reveals the top three things that have most impacted clienteling:

1.     The most tenured salespeople are resistant. So, John would reach out to this group  and get their feedback on the technology before and after implementation. You need to be willing to make changes. 

2.     John did not fully understand the impact that technology would have on the selling process. When do you capture guest information? How will technology impact the sales process? If not careful you could be losing the guest’s engagement. Some issues didn’t come to light until after testing the technology. 

3.     Make sure you get the data right. John had a big challenge with duplicate records. 

Then, John reveals the most effective metrics:

·       Sales made after outreach.

·       New guest acquisition. 

Later, John explains the importance of getting your customer’s name. Every customer that comes into your store is an opportunity. In many organizations, they did secret shopping. They find out if their salespeople captured a name and if they did an outreach. From there, his team would create KPIs and create a training around it.

John shared his formula regarding transforming with new technology.

OP+NT=EOP (Old Process plus New Technology equals Expensive Old Process).

 There are three things that incredibly important when implementing clienteling:

1.     Choosing the right solution. 

2.     Putting the steps in place to ensure a successful implementation. Don’t let the business drive the timeline.

3.     Drive user-adoption. 

Enjoy the show!

Timestamps: 

•        [01:00] About John Liebler

•        [03:00] The most significant challenges with adopting clienteling

•        [09:30] Perfection is the enemy of progress

•        [11:00] The most effective metrics

•        [16:45] Advice for implementing clienteling 

Resources:

John’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnliebler1/

John’s Website: https://retailsuccessconsulting.com/

Call John: 330-283-6449

Bryan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanamaral/

Bryan’s Website: https://www.clientricity.net

Bryan’s Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Call Bryan: 404-348-4849 

Quotes:

¨      “There is going to be a hesitancy to use a new system.” -John

¨      “Getting it right the first time becomes extremely important.” -John

¨      “You have to give a reason for the customer to give you their name that’s noninvasive.” -John

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John Liebler Interview Pt. 1 of 2

In this episode, John Liebler joins the show and is interviewed by Bryan Amaral. John is a senior executive offering 30+ years of visionary leadership in-store operations, multi-unit management, and operations logistics with brands such as Kay Jewelers, Jared, Peoples Jewelers and Shinola. He is a passionate, motivational leader who builds successful, inspired, and customer-focused sales teams that drive results. 

First, John speaks about his definition of clienteling - a technique used by retail sales associates to establish long-term relationships with key customers based on data about their preferences, behaviors, and purchases. It requires salespeople to build a human connection. John says that creating connection it is a lost art form because of all the technology we consume daily. When you create a relationship with the customer, the sale will come as a result of that relationship. John learned relationship building early in his career and has taken these skills and passed them onto his teams in his various leadership roles. 

As the technology became available, John built a system to keep track of customer relationships on a whole new level. Working with Clientricity, he developed an internal clienteling system for their business. John discusses how he was able to get organizational buy-in, and a team that was ready for transformation. 

John looked at his one-time purchasers. He wanted to build a relationship with them so they would come back and buy one more thing. It was amazing what this alone could do for them. Then, John talks about how online shopping is changing clienteling and shares a story to illustrate diminished store value if you know what you want. People will shop in-person if they are looking for an experience or if they are looking for a 1:1 connection with an associate. Customers will come back in just see the associate that they trust. 

Stay tuned to hear John speak about when a clienteling system can go wrong and the difference between clienteling in larger vs. smaller organizations.

Enjoy the show!

Timestamps: 

•        [01:00] About John Liebler

•        [04:00] Why clienteling is so important to John

•        [08:40] Building a clienteling system

•        [14:05] How online shopping is changing clienteling

•        [15:45] Translating the manual process into a clienteling systems approach 

•        [19:40] Retail is the most rewarding yet challenging job you can have 

•        [21:00] How a clienteling system can go wrong 

•        [23:15] The difference clienteling has in larger vs. smaller organizations

Resources:

John’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnliebler1/

John’s Website: https://retailsuccessconsulting.com/

Call John: 330-283-6449

Bryan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanamaral/

Bryan’s Website: https://www.clientricity.net

Bryan’s Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Call Bryan: 404-348-4849 

Quotes:

¨      “Clienteling is becoming more important as technology becomes more robust.” -John

¨       “Technology cannot become a distraction.” –John

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Welcome to the first episode of the Clienteling Podcast! (5:25)

In this abbreviated episode you'll learn why we decided to start this podcast and what you can expect to hear in future shows.

Synopsis: 

In future shows, we'll discuss a broad spectrum of customer engagement, clienteling and retail technology insights, and we’ll provide plenty of examples and case studies directly from some of the most successful customer-focused luminaries in our industry.  We'll discuss why in most cases, innovation and transformation is not a technology issue as much as it's a people, process and methodology problem. Clientricity and in particular this podcast, is focused helping retailers think through those challenges and develop a repeatable process to ensure that their stores are delivering on customer expectations and that the organization can fully benefit from those technologies deployed. In this podcast you'll gain a deep understanding of what’s working, what isn’t and where you should consider making your customer-centric technology investments. We are hoping that after spending 20-30 minutes listening to each episode you will leave energized and ready to apply what you’ve learned in your own business. 

We look forward to bringing you this podcast several times a month and would welcome your thoughts, ideas and comments.

If you are passionate about customer centricity, clienteling and retail and would like to be a guest on the show, please send me a personal message at [email protected]. If you want get more personalized help or if you are interested in advisory services, contact Clientricity at [email protected].