There were two other customers in the store when we entered and three people working behind the counter. They also had a tv on, watching an afternoon football game.

To say the experience was forgettable is an understatement. They didn’t welcome us. They didn’t ask if we had ever been in before or knew of how their products were sold. They didn’t explain what the samples were that were on the counter, but there was a sign inviting customers to try some.

The staff at Honey Baked ham could have made it a fun experience to shop in their store; after all, they do sell unique products. Instead, the experience was similar to that of the deli counter at any grocery store.

The article in USA Today talked about the challenges of Honey Baked Ham in dealing with a changing customer base.  I wonder if it is changing because of a lack of a shopping experience. I wonder how many customers are going to buy next time at the grocery store or Wal-Mart because they are basing their decision on price and don’t see anything unique about this specialty store.

Southwest Airlines rap

It may be funny, but there is also a lesson to be learned as detailed in this column I wrote from a trip I took on Southwest.

Always ON by Tom Shay

RetailWire — The Power of Collective Thinking.

Retail Customer Experience: The Retail Power of Suggestion

By James Bickers, Editor

Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is an excerpt of a current article from Retail Customer Experience, a daily news portal devoted to helping retailers differentiate the shopping experience.

Just down the road from my house is a great, locally owned, independent comic book shop that used to be one of my frequent haunts. Recently I’ve gone back in to reconnect with a hobby that I once loved.

The owner, an unassuming and quiet fellow named Doug, is there virtually all of the time. He has a deep love for and knowledge of his product, and is always happy to make suggestions about what to read next, based on what you’ve previously enjoyed.

Doug does something else that I didn’t notice at first, a powerful little trick of language: When he’s handing you your purchase and change, he leaves you with a phrase that, for lack of a better term, is a command to come back.

He doesn’t say, “Come see us again!” or “Thanks, please come again!” or any of the common parting shots. No, he says, confidently, “You’ll be back” or “You’ll enjoy” or “You’ll come back for more soon!”

It’s a tiny semantic difference, but a major psychological one. Like I said, I didn’t notice this at first – but when I bought the first volume of “Queen and Country” and Doug said “You’ll enjoy that, and be back soon for number two,” I immediately formed a mental picture of myself doing exactly that. About a week later, that’s precisely what I did.

Notice the level of specificity in his parting shot. He planted the seed for my next purchase by spelling it out for me. It’s not some nebulous idea of future business; it’s a description of a specific product that I’m going to buy in the coming days.

Visualization is one of the cornerstones of any flavor of self-improvement; it works because the human brain is so incredibly good at taking the things it sees and carrying out the next steps needed to make them real. This is precisely why Doug’s method is so powerful – it paints the brain a picture of the customer’s next visit, the next purchase, the next satisfying experience.

Fortune favors the brave, and business goes to the bold. A timid plea of “please, come back and see us” reaches out for pity, and sometimes that works. Much more effective is a simple and direct statement of what value the customer received, why they will want to receive it again, and what they will come back for.