I must confess that to me the term retail consultant has negative connotations. Back when I was still managing variety and home center stores I resented the jerks who called me up out of nowhere, and proclaimed themselves retail consultant to every successful store in the country. Of course they would act like my long-lost friends and proceed to tell me how they could increase my sales and my margins. Truthfully, I really resented them implying that they knew more about my business than I did. Later in my career and after I took over as vice-president of sales for a hardware wholesaler I listened as our customers complained about the same thing. But alas here I am, nearly 30 years after I took those calls myself, and no matter how I dislike the title, retail consulting is what I do. I am a retail consultant.
First things first though, I do not know more about your business than you do. I will never know more about your business than you do. You work it, eat it and sleep it. It is yours! However, I do know some things that you don’t know and those things can make your business more profitable. I concentrate on the customer experience within your store. I firmly believe that shopping in any store is a personal experience. It is one that can be analyzed and enhanced. The better a customer feels about your store, the more often she comes back and the more money she spends while she’s there.
It doesn’t stop there however. Our company analyzes the way customers move through your store and why. We undertake a process that helps you learn who your ideal customers are and how your store appeals to that most important group. We interview employees and assess the customer service experience in your store. We interview customers and get their views, for their opinions matter most. We then help you formulate a strategy based upon what we have learned. We redesign the store to produce better movement through the space that is your “vending machine”. It isn’t magic, but business is improved.
We have named this series of systems and processes Discovery-Based Retail”. I have written a book that is titled Discovery-Based Retail, too. Scott Wright of the North American Hardware Association, Art Brown of the Mid-American Lumberman’s Association and other experts within the retail hardware industry have endorsed Discovery-Based Retail, the book.
If you choose to use my company’s retail consulting services you will find yourself looking at the retail process differently than you have in the past. You will see things with new eyes and you will quite literally become a better and more profitable manager. If you read the book, and have the manpower, you can undertake some of the processes yourself and become your own retail consultant.
Whether you end up referring to me as a retail consultant, retail advisor or just your friend, it doesn’t matter to me. I simply want to share what I’ve spent a lifetime learning and developing.
Phil Mitchell, Retail Consultant
