Hey. It’s Bob Negen. And in this episode of Real Retail TV, we’re going to explore a concept that I’ve been using for years that I t I’ve been teaching for years and that you should know about. And it’s the concept is low cost, high value.

So I was having a conversation with a coaching client this morning, and this client, this this he’s a friend of mine, has, several dozen shoe stores.

And several dozen, you know, thirty odd some stores sounds like a lot of stores, but in the, you know, in the world of shoe store chains, it’s pretty small. You know, Nike has thousands of store. You know, It’s it’s it’s a pretty small it’s a midsize business. Let’s let’s do it that way. It’s a great business, but it’s a midsize business. And what we were discussing is, my client is feeling pressure from the big chains to pay his managers more.

So the Nikes and the Adidas and the Footlockers pay more than my client pays. And not a lot. I mean, it’s not that the gap isn’t huge, but he was concerned about this. And so when we had the conversation, I introduced the concept of low cost, high value.

And what I said to him was talk to your team, think about it yourself, and then talk to your team and find ways to add value to the relationship you have with your managers. Yes. Pay is important. You have to pay a competitive wage, but pay isn’t everything.

Pay isn’t the only value in an employment relay an employer employee relationship.

So what else? This is the conversation that we had. What else could he add to the relationship that would add value to the relationship and not make money the only value driver? And we talked about things like training, that people, that good managers, love educational opportunities.

We talked about things like being listened to. People love to be heard. People love their opinions to be examined.

We just talked about how can he make their lives easier, better, more fun, more exciting, more rewarding.

Low cost. It’s not costing him anything more to do those things, but it adds a lot of value to the relationship.

Low cost, high value. Now this is also where I want to introduce another concept.

That concept is a d d, ask, discuss, decide.

And this is a concept that I created or a framework that I created when I started to understand that your team is a wealth of experience, knowledge, creativity, and tapping into your team’s knowledge, wisdom, creativity is a great way to leverage them. And so what I suggested is that he get together with his district manager. He gets together with, his key his top store managers and ask them, how can we make our managers’ lives better, more fun, more exciting, more rewarding? Ask them. Discuss.

Let them give input into the question and then decide.

ADD, you see? He could sit there and make a big list, and it would probably be a good list because he’s a smart guy, but it’s not going to be as good a list as if he brings other people into the conversation.

So ADD, ways to add value, low cost, high value, ways to add value to your relationship with your team members is one of your opportunities.

The second opportunity is when you’re trying to get people to join your loyalty program or you’re trying to get people to give you their contact information so that you can continue to develop the relationship.

And one of the mistakes that I see people make is they’re incredibly transactional.

Their loyalty programs tend to be, based on dollar volumes, you know, points per dollars. Redemption is by when you reach a certain threshold, the whole thing is very, very transactional, and it feels transactional.

And when the team member asks the new customer if they’d like to be part of a loyalty program and give you their contact information, it feels transactional. So I’ve had this conversation many times where people were having a hard time getting their customers to give you give them their contact information.

And the concept that I shared and the advice that I gave is low cost, high value. So, again, ADD.

What can you give to your loyalty club members that doesn’t cost you anything or cost you very little but has high value to them. And examples of this are low cost, high value benefits, is if you have a really, really great newsletter that’s fun and interesting and exciting and filled with solutions and that sort of thing. Talk about it. Brag about it.

Make it valuable when you’re talking about your loyalty program. You can also give previews and give early access to your clearance sales. So if somebody joins your loyalty program, they and let’s just say sidewalk sales where in that season, side your sidewalk sales run from Friday to Sunday. Your VIPs get a Thursday night preview.

Right? So low cost. It doesn’t cost you anymore. Well, it costs you some because you have to staff the store that night.

You know the kind of sales you’re gonna make from your best customers. Low cost to you, high value to them. If you do the Fifth Saturday program, that Fifth Saturday program is an incredible low cost, high value. Your customers will love that program.

It has low cost. Naturally, it’s a really profitable program, but it’s low cost, high value. So think about that. ADD that with your team.

How can we provide more value to our customers so that our new customers gladly enthusiastically join our loyalty program, give us their contact information, and allow us to build a relationship that has you know, to build a relationship, lifetime value of a customer.

Low cost, high value when it comes to the customer experience. Again, a d d this with your team. How what can you do that doesn’t cost you very much that your customers find very, very valuable.

And, you know, these are all the things that go into, things like clienteleting, where your best customers are assigned one of your team members, And your team member is responsible for making sure that that customer is nurtured.

That if something comes in that that customer would like, they get notified. You know, all the little things that you do on the floor.

The the fact that if you train your people, that’s low cost. You know, you could argue that training is a high cost, but in actuality, it’s low cost in return in in relationship to the return. So just ask yourself, low cost, high value, a d d this with your team. What can we give to our customers that has incredible value to them that doesn’t cost very much to us?

And when I learned this concept, I don’t even remember when I learned this concept, it really, really struck home deeply with me because I was trying very, very hard to buy my way into all of these situations.

You know, my default my default position was how can I spend more money to make this thing happen? But what I learned was that you don’t have to spend more money. You may spend more money. You may spend some money. But when you look at it from the perspective of low cost to you, high value to them, and you, come up with these ideas by ADD ing this with your team, all of a sudden, the return on your in, on your effort is absolutely fantastic.

So I’m going to encourage you. Think about that. You know, maybe sometime this week, call a meeting with your team. Call a meeting with your managers and talk about your staff. Call a meeting with your, team members and talk about the loyalty program or the customer experience.

A d d this. Make this concept low cost, high value, part of your retail mentality.

Make it part of the way you think. I’m guaranteeing you’ll be really glad that you did. Yes. Alright. I’m Bob Negen, and we’ll see you next week.