Off the Shelf

Five Things You May Not Know About Me

Our CEO, Mike Hyatt, tagged some of us to take the challenge of the “Five Things You May Not Know About Me.” It sounds like fun, so here goes:

1. I love the guitar. From the first time I saw Roy Rogers strum his guitar and sing a song I was hooked. What an incredible instrument that dates far into the history of the world. I began playing at fourteen (too long a story for this Blog) and never looked back. My personal list of favorites is long and includes Vince Gill, the late Chet Adkins, Glen Campbell, Eric Clapton, Earl Kluge, Phil Keaggy and John Lennon (one of the finest rhythm guitarists ever in my opinion). I had the privilege of teaching my son Zachary who is a fine guitar player and we often get together and pick. My pride and joy is my Guild dreadnaught 12-string.

2. I am a Film Noir buff. My Mother introduced me to the black and white films of the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s and I certainly appreciate it. The lighting, tight script writing, camera angles and mystery/adventure plots are fantastic. It’s amazing how much is packed into these classic movies. I am a huge Netflix customer and regularly scour their incredibly large selection of this genre.

3. Californian to the bone. I am a fifth generation Californian and the state is a special place for me. My Maternal Grandmother’s Great Grandparents immigrated to San Francisco from Germany where they were jewelers. My Grandmother was born in the shadow of the LA Coliseum and my Granddaughter, Claire is a seventh generation Californian and probably ends the streak as my son has moved to Nashville and we can’t predict the future.

4. Baseball is my game. I grew up playing street ball and Little League and just cannot get the game out of my system. I played baseball throughout my youth and organized softball (both fast pitch and slo-pitch) until I was twenty-eight. I most enjoy the history of the game, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and many others. We had season tickets to LA Dodger games while I was growing up so Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Maury Wills and others. graced my every summer day. I always wanted to be Vince Scully, the Dodgers Hall of Fame broadcaster.

5. Redheads surround me. My three granddaughters are all redheads and when they come to visit look out. At five, two and two, we get on the floor and play and most of the time they wear me out – but I’m ready for the next day. We have a grandson on the way, could he be a redhead too?

What are the five things I may not know about you? Take the challenge and either Blog or comment below.

Give Customers What They Need

Thomas Nelson's Bible division just completed a test of a Bible merchandising concept with great success. Our test stores achieved double-digit sales increases (not bad for today’s retail landscape) over the same period last year. What makes this result even better is that we did nothing to change their inventory mix, traffic patterns or marketing. We simply gave them a merchandising solution based on customer need that replaced a “feature” based system (in the world of Bible selling this feature is translation – important but not a driving shopping motivation for the majority of customers).

To provide some context, we did some research with Bible shoppers and this helped us discover what drove customers into the store to make the purchase. Certain features (like translation, binding, etc.) had importance, but they did not drive or motivate the customer to come to the store and to make the purchase. We wanted to create a merchandising system that matched the driving need of the customer. In this case it was gift-giving, personal study and a concept our research firm dubbed “readability”.

We joined forces with BJ Bueno’s company, Nonbox Consulting, and together developed a truly simply, yet tremendously successful point-of-purchase display for retailer’s Bible sections. Here’s what we’ve learned:

1. Keep it simple. Customers don’t want to wade through a maze to make a purchase. They crave simplicity because they have no time. Our customer (and yours too for that matter) simply has no time. Good retailers should respect that fact and make purchasing simple.

2. Focus on Need. Buying for any of us is an emotional experience. Customers come into stores for a reason – a personal need. Let’s match merchandising with their needs. If a customer wants a white shirt for a special occasion, let’s make sure he can find dress shirts easily and quickly. Let’s not merchandise by a feature like button down first (a feature), then go to dress shirts in white after they have waded through all the button downs (of all colors and styles) we have in stock.

3. Break down Barriers. A need based concept let’s us break down the barriers artificially created in many stores. I bought a digital camera at Best Buy a few months ago. Near the camera area were all the things digital that the shopper might need from software to training books. Best Buy didn’t let artificial barriers (I’m sure the corporate-level Buyer for cameras is a different person from book products Buyer) get in the way of successfully and completely serving my NEED.

Bottom line, all customers have needs when they shop and retailer’s ability to satisfy their need quickly and efficiently could determine whether or not they’ve had a positive or negative shopping experience with the store the products. Customer evangelists are built through positive experiences, not negative. In the end, understanding and focusing on your customer’s needs will get you to the customer’s heart.