The shopping centre near me is nothing to write home about and frankly there’s only a couple of stores at which we would shop… plus a place that makes good coffee.
However, it’s interesting to notice the difference that revitalising a business by making it spick and span, having a smiling team on show and generally making the whole place inviting makes.
For years in the centre there’s been a butcher premises that always looked pretty tired, old and uninviting. The meat wasn’t displayed very well and the butcher who was behind the counter was always a bit crabby and probably past his use by date. It meant we hated asking him for anything that wasn’t in the very limited display, so we shopped there very rarely.
Recently and inevitably, the owners gave up the ghost, shut the shop and quit the centre.
So we were without a butcher shop for quite a while until signs on a vacant shop at least double the size of the former butchery announced that one was to open there.
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The neighbourhood pundits were smitten with doubt. In view of the previous butcher’s experience there was no way the new proprietor, who had to be paying twice the rent, would be successful. But those doubts were suddenly allayed… almost overnight.
In the matter of just a few weeks the area was suddenly transformed into a sparkling new butcher’s premises with beautiful display cases displaying every conceivable type and cut of meat, and lots of happy smiling staff ready to help. It was magnetically attractive.
The doubting Thomas’s who reckoned that a new butcher would not succeed because of the previous butcher’s fate got their comeuppance.
This new butcher shop boomed and customers flocked to it.
As long as it maintains its current modus operandi, it will be very, very successful and profitable.
Isn’t it amazing? The product was the same but the way it was displayed and the way the team handled customers made all the difference. Quite simply it was inviting!
It’s worthwhile remembering that, whilst having great product is important, the people and the perceptions they create make a world of difference.
What worked for that butcher will work for any business.
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