Put on a good show

Macy’s annual flower show was in full bloom at its flagship store in NYC (and a few other locations) earlier this spring. It’s worth it to make a trip as it has to be one of the last vestiges of when department stores used events to differentiate one over the other.

I was in the store last year and saw long-term employees who were very proud it was their 39th show; you could see it in their smiles and hear it in their voices.

Smaller stores still do events such as book signings, story time, trunk shows, parties, live music, movie launches and new product arrivals, all with the goal of driving new traffic to their shop, Main Street, mall or even city.

The one part that is missing when people talk about doing events is the employees or shop owners. How will they greet the event, with welcome arms or as a chance to complain to the public?

Unless this important link is considered, oftentimes the latter citing how it didn’t do anything for them but bring in “lookie-loos,” or worse.

I know, I hear it all the time.

Here are 9 elements to make any event in your store a success:

• Know why you are doing it in the first place — to entice in new customers who do not know you and to shorten the return to your shop/area/city by customers who know you. In both cases it is to drive sales.
• Create a timetable of explanations to employees, managers and owners with firm dates so everyone has the same information.
• Explain to as many business owners and employees in person as possible why you doing it. Ask for questions ahead of time. Note any potential problems, parking, long wait times, where to get additional information.
• Make a flier explaining why you are doing this, what the event entails, start and end times, etc. Even better, create a 2 minute YouTube video that you can email around.
• Brainstorm some ways other small businesses can participate – by contributing donations for prizes, sharing short updates about the event for their Facebook and Twitter pages, etc.
• Create a contest for employees or the other businesses that gets their buy-in. If they have a stake in its success, they are much more likely to make it memorable – in a good way.
• Film videos during your event of shops full of people, strolling on your sidewalks, etc. Encourage event partners to post their own videos on their Facebook pages, webpages, and anywhere else they can think of.
• Follow up after the event and hold a meeting to debrief. What went well? What could be improved? Don’t let the grumpy Guses ruin it for everyone — keep focused on how it could be better, lessons learned, etc. What firm numbers did you deliver? We don’t want anecdotal evidence. Sales up 3 percent? Write it down.
• Create a file either in a folder or on your computer with all the information you created prior to and during the event, and at the debriefing for use in planning another event or when someone says to do it, you’ll have everything in one location.

To truly move the needle of sales, customers who throng stores during an event should be met with the same wonder and excitement as the customers gazing at the flowers, listening to the music or strolling your downtown.

Remember, the reason you are doing this is to get buy-in that builds the event rather than takes away from all the energy you’ve put into it. Employee pride can make all the difference but it, like having a profitable business, takes work.

Bob is a retail consultant at The Retail Doctor. www.retaildoc.com