Last month, as part of his book tour, promoting Call of the Mall author Paco Underhill visited our offices. He shared with us his background and a bit about his first book Why We Buy – all very interesting. However, the Q&A part of his presentation was the most interesting...
Here are a few of the interesting thoughts Paco shared… (paraphrased and in my own words…)
Paco mentioned three retail concepts that he thought had it right…
• Staples – they have a new store concept that makes finding what you want within the store very easy. You wouldn't find yourself wandering up and down the aisles unless you wanted to.
• Zara – a fashion apparel company highlighted for the way they’ve set up a network to manage inventory from the factory to the store floor
• Three Minute Happiness* – a Japanese based store with general household and houseware items. *Scroll down to the second image - This is the only link I could find… It's a Japanese site translated through AltaVista's Babel Fish Translation Service – it's difficult to understand, but you can at least get the picture - literally.
• He believes that we’re “past the age where companies are driven by a visionary general”. Where a single individual owns and drives the overall concept and direction of an organization. He said we’re in the age where empowered captains and sergeants are/should be running organizations. Where the brand DNA of the company is carried and executed by many.
• He mentioned that when customers love a product so much you could say they almost worship it… for us, he said we’re in the "worship of coffee business" (stay with me here). Paco mentioned that there are three types of worshipers: the Novice, the Acolyte and the Deacon. (This is similar to the way Ben and Jackie use the term Evangelist for a customer who is a raving fan). You need to treat each type of worshiper according to their level of experience with your product. The Deacon can easily explain the concept to others… the Novice, however, is just a beginner and my need help understanding how your concept works. (At Starbucks – the 'deacon' could order their drink using all the drink calling wording just like a barista… a novice is still trying to understand how it all works).
Paco also made reference to three forms of time. To customers time passes in three forms:
• 1) real
• 2) perceived
• 3) a combination of real and perceived
real – An episode of Gilligan's Island feels pretty much like a 1/2 hour with the commercials and all. I pretty much know it'll be a 30-minute show and that's basically how it feels…
perceived - waiting in line for 30 minutes for a fresh, hot Krispy Kreme donut goes by very quickly – you may perceive it as a shorter wait than it is. Waiting for 5 minutes at the department of motor vehicle office can feel like a lifetime.
combination – the best example I can think of is waiting in line at a theme park. A queue line may take 40 minutes (and feel somewhere between 20 and 60 depending on the temperature and who you're in line with)… The ride itself may last for 10 minutes, but may feel like 5 because it was so engaging or thrilling.
Very interesting thoughts... I recommend you check out either of his books if you haven't already.
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