November 7, 2023 • 36 mins
When was the last time you were a customer in your own business? Not as an expert in what you do but as a true never-before-visited customer? This episode talks it through and highlights the importance of excellent service and how our immersion in the professional sphere can often lead to a disconnect with the consumer's experience. Can you pinpoint areas ready for improvement; and is it maybe something you wouldn't expect? Listen in as we evaluate our own experiences as customers, using those insights to rethink our businesses.
Thank you to Zastro for sponsoring this episode of Lighting with Lisa!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello and welcome fellow lighting nerds and
friends to another episode ofLighting with Lisa, the Lighting
Industries podcast, sponsoredonce again this week by Zastro.
I'll have more information onZastro and the bonus you can get
for setting up a demo with themby mentioning the Lighting with
(00:23):
Lisa podcast.
So definitely stay tuned forthat.
So I also want to, in myhousekeeping, remind you all
that the best way to contributeto the podcast at the moment is
to email me, lisa, atlightingwithlisacom.
And also don't forget about thetwo Facebook groups that I have
(00:47):
up.
One is the residential lightingindustry job board, the other
is the fixture finder group.
Both links, links to bothgroups, are in the show notes,
so please reference that again.
Please do email me, lisa, atlightingwithlisacom.
It is the best way tocontribute to the episode, to
(01:08):
become a sponsor, the episode,whatever you are wanting or
looking for, email me there andI can always keep your, your,
your input, as anonymous orpublic as you like, but it is
your contributions thatcertainly help this podcast grow
and expand and share new ideaswith the entire industry.
(01:32):
So please do reach me there.
So this week I wanted to talk abit about the experience of
being a customer, so here'swhere this is coming from for me
personally.
And then it just kind of led tosome realizations about
customer service, the experienceof shopping, the experience of
(01:56):
shopping at a specialty store oreven like if you wanted to make
this an even bigger discussionof customers and a customer
experience you could even thinkabout like visiting a specialty
doctor, visiting any sort oflike specialist in whatever
field, whether it's lighting ormedicine or accounting or
(02:20):
whatever it is.
There is this effect thathappens to those of us who live,
eat, breathe, sleep or jobs,and it's a good thing.
For those of us in the jobs webecome, it becomes just such a
part of who we are and how weoperate and we notice things
(02:43):
everywhere.
We notice when a ceiling van ishung too high, we notice when a
chandelier isn't installed atthe right height, we notice the
color temperature of light bulbswherever we go in the world.
We notice all of these thingsand they become such a part of
our daily life experience.
But in in so doing we a bitbecome like indoctrinated or
(03:06):
maybe that's not the right wordlike immune to the experience,
and it's really really easy tojust kind of get just lost in
the in the world and theunderstanding of what you're
doing and you forget to see whatyou're providing, the expertise
(03:27):
that you're providing.
You forget to stop and look atthat from the customer side and
I really think it's not that Ibelieve we lose a bunch of sales
, you know, because of this.
I certainly think the opposite.
Our expertise is what sets usapart as you know, people
working in lighting showroomsbut I do think we often have a
(03:51):
bit of a blind spot when itcomes to excellence in meeting
our customers needs.
And, as I'm trying maybe not soeloquently or perfectly to say,
I think a lot of that nothitting our highest standard
just comes from, like livingthis life and like being so
(04:15):
knowledgeable and so in yourtrade and so in your skill set,
that you forget how much youreally know and that the
customer doesn't know.
And, yes, you can answer aquestion, like you know, is this
the right fixture for me?
And maybe give a couplecontexts of why.
But then you just say, yes,it's good, let's get it on order
(04:35):
, and then, like, the customermight just be left a little
wondering like, okay, how didyou reach that decision?
Is there more that I shouldknow?
What are the pros, what are thecons Like?
Sometimes I just think we get socaught up in our jobs and what
we're doing and processing andgetting this customer done to
move on to the next that wereally kind of forget the
(04:58):
experience the customer ishaving.
And again, I'm not saying thatthis is like a huge, like reason
we don't make sales or whatnot,but I do think it's something
we don't focus on enough and Idon't think we all collectively
strategize about it enough andlike it's fits and starts right.
(05:19):
Sometimes you will, sometimesyou won't.
But I just think this is reallyan area that we could all as
showrooms really take a stepback and improve on and I think
there could be some really greatpayoff for all of us in the
best way with having justunparalleled customer
(05:39):
experiences.
So here's kind of where I cameto this thought process that I
wanted to talk through thisepisode and, as always after the
sponsored ad break, I'm goingto talk about some potential
things to try, some possiblesolutions.
I always want this podcast tobe about setting us up for
(06:02):
success, just even if it's justa thinking point.
So stay tuned for after the adbreak for the ideas I've come up
with for things to try.
So we all know that customersare like priority number one in
our showroom business, butbecause without the customers
(06:25):
the business doesn't exist.
So I think we're just soaccustomed to that process that
thought that sometimes we forgetthat it's something we really
need to be mindful of everysingle day.
And so if you're the customer,okay.
So here's something thathappened to me recently.
(06:47):
I have to get a new fridge andfreezer for my home.
The ones I have are from 1991,literally date stamped 1991.
They have lived very well.
They've serviced our life inthis home and the people before
us for many years, but they needreplaced.
(07:10):
So, as with, you know, a lot ofappliances, as we all know,
there could be a long lead timedepending on the specific
appliance that you need.
This appliance, this brand,definitely falls in that
category.
So, while you know my units arestill operating now we figured
it's probably a good time to goahead and get these on order,
(07:33):
because we know we're going tobe waiting a while for them,
which, again, is totally fine.
It just is the way of the worldright now.
I'm going to sidebar on myself aminute to say that we did go to
the local dealer for theseappliances and they got a quote.
You know, everything was good.
We did go to another dealerwho's not a locally owned
(07:56):
business, but just to checkthings out we actually the place
we originally were working with.
They didn't have anythingsimilar to what we needed to buy
on display, so we really justkind of wanted to go see a
display somewhere and in sodoing, they gave us a price
quote and because of themanufacturer's pricing rules,
(08:18):
the price was exactly the samefrom both dealers.
I loved that.
As the as the consumer, as anowner of a business, I was like,
oh my gosh, in some ways likeit was a dream, in that the only
thing that would make thedifference in that sale it
(08:40):
wasn't who could race to thebottom first in pricing, it was
who was going to give me thebest service and the best
experience.
And that really ties into thetopic of this podcast, because
this is all about just thinkingabout your customer and
providing them the bestexperience.
And yet it just was realinteresting to me how different
(09:01):
industries work.
Now, I don't know anythingabout the margins in the
appliance business, so therecould be in a whole other world
of factors at play here, but Idid find it pretty interesting
that both retailers said ourpricing is going to be is came
out to be exactly the same.
So this purchase again, itwasn't like you know, this has
(09:26):
to happen.
It was just planning for thefuture and there were a few
options of what we could buy.
And the salesperson Icommunicated with, the most a
was off on a weekday, presumablybecause this business also has
weekend hours and they work onthe weekend.
But there was no out of officemessage identifying to me that
(09:49):
this person wasn't going to beavailable all day, so I
shouldn't expect a response.
That's always something I thinkwe should be doing in our
businesses.
And the salesperson newestproduct was really good, but was
seemingly unaware that it wasimpossible for me to know as
much about these appliances asthey did, because, again, they
(10:14):
do this, it's their specialtyday in, day out.
And so this salesperson seemedto fall in this trap that he
forgot what it's like to notknow everything he knows and to
be on the other side of thistransaction.
And appliances of any kind arenot inexpensive, you know.
(10:36):
You can easily spend a fewthousand dollars on one
appliance, given pricing levelsright now in our economy, and
it's not an insignificantpurchase for any one of us.
So I think when you're justdealing in this day in, day out,
you forget, like the priceseems to like kind of lose, lose
(10:59):
significance to you as thesales person, but for the
customer it's extremelysignificant and it's an
extremely important to me toknow that if I'm spending a few
thousand dollars on thisappliance, that it's going to be
what I need, that it's gonnafit in the space, that that
we've answered all the questions, that we've talked through the
(11:19):
pros and cons of thismanufacturer versus that
manufacturer.
Tell me what I don't know hereso that I can make the best
decision for my home and mylifestyle.
And the sales person just kindof had lost the plot when it
came to that course.
I do what I do for a living, soI asked all these questions.
(11:39):
But it really dawned on me howmany of my customers might come
into our store and have the samequestions but just never ask
them and we just don't addressthem.
And how many times does thatlead to the loss of a sale or
maybe a remorse return becausewe didn't talk through all these
(12:02):
things up front.
Are we really setting ourcustomers up for success by
providing the information andthe tools and the tips that
might make them just that muchmore satisfied with their
purchase and their experience.
For most of our customers, thewhat they're buying goes into
(12:22):
their single most importantexpense.
As you know contributingmembers of society I don't know
how the right way to say that,but like this is going into
their house and our home, andour homes is most of our biggest
expense.
It's the biggest thing we spendmoney on in a single purchase
and then in ongoing expenses.
(12:44):
Our homes are hugely important.
We spend a lot of money on andin them and sometimes, you know,
when we're just thinking about,like, the pretty dining room
chandelier, we kind of lose theunderstanding of just how
impactful and meaningful thisfixture can be and someone's
(13:05):
home in their lifestyle.
And I just don't always knowand this is much of a criticism
of my own business as anyoneelse's, and that's why we're
going to talk about some tips to, you know, reinvigorate
ourselves at the end of thispodcast.
So we just really need to, Ithink, collectively, work harder
(13:28):
, better to set our customers upfor success.
And now I keep talking in thispodcast about the customers of
the lighting showroom.
But if you're a different, ifyou're a different segment of
the industry listening to this,whether your service provider, a
manufacturer, sales agent Iwould also really really
(13:50):
encourage you to be thinkingthrough this same concept when
it comes to your showroomcustomers or whoever whatever
your customer model looks like.
Are we really setting ourcustomers up for success by our
policies, by how we enact ourpricing structures, by how we
enforce things?
Are we setting our customers upfor success or are we just
(14:14):
giving them roadblocks?
And I really think collectively, the entire lighting industry,
start to finish, needs to havesome hard looks at this question
and the possible answers,because I think often in
showrooms were not alwayssetting up our customers for
success, although I know mostbusinesses Truly try to, and I
(14:39):
think the frequently the samecould be said for manufacturers
and sales agents and serviceproviders.
Nobody is intentionally tryingto make life hard for somebody
else, but are we really taking acareful look at things and are
we truly setting one another upfor success?
So just something to thinkabout.
(15:00):
Now I'm going to stop for aminute and talk about the
sponsor of this week's episodeis Zastrow, and then on the
other side we're going to talksome more about this topic and
Maybe things we could do toimprove our customer experience
in the quality of the customerexperience.
So A big thanks to Zastrow onceagain for sponsoring the
(15:25):
Lighting with Lisa podcast.
Zastrow, you may remember, hasa program called Illuminate
which is tailored to lightingshowrooms and based on the
lighting and based on the netsuite, oracle, net suite ERP
software.
It's all cloud based.
It's truly comprehensive in away you might not be expecting.
(15:51):
So what I wanted to mention thisweek in the Zastro product or,
as you're considering, any ERPor software solution for your
business, is what workaroundshave you set up for your
operating system, for yourbusiness, and what do you think
those workarounds are costingyou in time, in accuracy, in
(16:14):
efficiency?
Is your work around soselective that only you or maybe
one other person knows the workaround and how to make it
correct for your business, foryour customers?
What would happen if thatperson or people were not there?
What would the impact be onyour business?
These things, I believe, areextremely important when you're
(16:39):
looking at the software that isgonna manage not only your
inventory but your sales orders,your purchase orders, your
human resources function, yoursales functions, your customer
acquisition functions.
You really need to be All of usneed to be thinking about how
we do this in a great, efficientand effective way.
(17:01):
And so the Zastro system withtheir Illuminate program.
It's all built on the net suite.
It's the market and you know,market leading cloud ERP
software.
You get inventory management.
You have your lights Americaintegration.
You have e-commerceintegrations, a complete CRM
(17:23):
solution.
You can add in a humanresources management function,
fully automated integration withyour showroom labels, your
pricing changes, your Everythingthat, honestly, I've made work
around for my business.
There are integrations, thereare ways to make these things
(17:47):
automatic, and it is a cloudbased solution.
So if something random happens,like what happened at my store
recently, everything.
I've always had my business setup where I can work remotely,
or anybody can work remotely.
But there's one catch and it'sthat the internet at the
(18:08):
physical brick and mortarlocation has to be functioning.
If that goes down for anyreason, it removes my ability to
work remotely.
Well, a cloud based solutionLike the Zastro Illuminate net
suite program is all cloud based.
So a few weeks ago, when mystore lost internet for reasons
(18:30):
beyond our control it was theutility companies issue I was
still able to work remotely whenI would not have been able to
otherwise.
So it's worth checking out.
Go to Zastro dot com slashIlluminate there are it.
You can get more information,but this is just a complete set
(18:51):
of tools to manage projects, todo like truly soup to nuts,
everything you could think offor your business.
When you mention the pie, whenyou sign up for a demo and
mention the podcast, you'regonna get five hundred dollars
off a purchase.
So definitely do that.
Here's your contacts.
If you live west of theMississippi River, you're gonna
(19:13):
want to email Gail her name, heremail address is gail at Zastro
dot com.
That's Z A S T?
R?
O.
If you're east of theMississippi River, you're gonna
contact Thomas Thomas at Zastrodot com.
It's definitely worth doing ademo, checking it out Again.
If you make a purchase, you getfive hundred dollars off If you
(19:35):
mention that you came via thelighting with Lisa podcast.
So please do check it out andthank you, zastro, for
supporting the podcast.
Okay, so back to this customerpriority topic.
So here's what I really startedbeing mindful of after my
appliance shopping experience.
(19:56):
By the way, just to just to tieup the loose end, we did end up
making the purchase with thelocally owned business and I'm
very happy, but it did require abit more back and forth than I
anticipated.
So ever since this happened, Ihave been visualizing and acting
(20:19):
what it would be like to be acustomer in my showroom like
from start to finish.
What was from a customerperspective?
What was it like from themoment I entered the showroom
space?
What's the workflow thathappens once I enter and all
seeing it all the way through tothe exit point via product in
(20:42):
our warehouse, with delivery andeverything else.
Actually, randomly, I had totake over running the warehouse
for a day this week, whichactually I really enjoyed doing.
Only from the perspective ofthis topic and this question, to
really think about the labelsthat we put on boxes and where
(21:03):
we put them and what it says onthe label, and is this really
setting up our installers forsuccess?
And setting the installer upfor success can be just as
important as setting thecustomer up for success, because
we all know the installer getsin the home and if the homeowner
is present and something isn'tquite perfect or perfectly
(21:26):
labeled or perfectly easy tounderstand, the installer has
this tendency to complain aboutwhere the homeowner got the
products from and the homeownervery easily tends to believe
that person that's in theproduct or in their home,
standing right in front of them,then the place they purchase
from who's like removed fromthat particular situation?
(21:46):
And and we need to be settingthem up for success too.
It's a big process, it's a bigjob, there's a lot to keep in
mind, but working in mywarehouse really gave me some
time to think through.
Okay, how does this processwork?
Is my customer, the actualpurchasing customer, set up for
(22:11):
success?
Is the installer?
Are we providing theinformation, the tools, the
resources they need to maketheir job a successful one?
So I would really recommend,well, not working in your
warehouse unless you just areabsolutely dying to.
Although it really was a goodday, I enjoyed it immensely, but
I would highly recommend takinga bird's eye view, taking a
(22:35):
step back.
Try not to think of yourself asthe person that created the
processes that they're followingin your showroom, but try to
view it from the customer.
And is the process andprocedure and protocol that I
set in place for this business?
Is it really serving mycustomer in the way that they
need?
(22:55):
And here's something to reallythink about Customer needs are
not one size fits all.
This was like my biggest momentas I was not only a customer
myself, but as I was thinkingthrough the customer process in
my business.
Customer needs are not one sizefits all.
(23:16):
There are some customers whoare going to need a lot of
attention, a lot ofcommunication, a lot of hand
holding.
There are going to be othercustomers that maybe this is
like their fifth custom homethey've built.
They've worked with thisdesigner in the past, they know
the process, they know theprocedure, they're good, they
don't need a bunch of attention.
(23:37):
Now, let's not to say weshouldn't still pay them plenty
of attention, but there are justdifferent levels of need.
There are different levels ofunderstanding of the process.
So if this is somebody who'sbuilding their first home from
the ground up, they're going tohave a lot more questions.
They're going to have a lotmore needs of communication.
(23:58):
They're not going tonecessarily know the full steps
of roughen and trim andeverything else, and why would
they know?
It's their first time doing it.
That's where I really stronglybelieve it is our job to make
sure we're effectivelycommunicating with the homeowner
, the builder, whatever it is,to give them the best possible
(24:21):
experience, knowing wherethey're at in their experience
of buying their first home,building their first home,
whatever the case may be,customer needs are not one size
fits all and that's somethingthat I think we all again, as I
mentioned before the ad break,no matter what part of the
(24:42):
industry we're working in,whether it's a manufacturer,
sales rep, service providerreally think that through.
And I know sometimes it justseems intuitive like yeah, at
least I got it.
Some customers need me to be oncall for them and some don't,
or whatever, like it sounds easyenough when you say it, but are
(25:05):
we really absorbing it?
Are we really acting in thatmanner?
And so many times you might say, well, yeah, everyone does need
a little bit different, butit's too costly to provide this
for this person, this for thatperson, this for this person.
There has to be commonality,and I get it and of course there
is going to be.
But if you have a customer thatjust needs a response they just
(25:30):
need to know that their emailwas received, whether or not you
are able to reply back rightaway then you need to make sure
you have your out of office onwhen you have your scheduled day
off during the week, something,anything.
That's one tiny little thing.
But customer needs are not onesize fits all.
(25:51):
Some customers are totally finewaiting a few days for an
answer back on something.
Now I don't believe that's howanybody should ever operate, but
there is a world in which weneed to know and understand the
needs of each particularcustomer.
Or perhaps a customer is preferssometimes, like my dad is one
(26:13):
of these.
He prefers to be a bit moreself, sufficient, he prefers to
be given some information thathe can read.
He comes from a very scientificbackground and he would like to
be able to research things onhis own time with helpful
information I provided, and thenhe'll come back with questions.
So it's just the point being toreally think through is your
(26:35):
processing serving the needs ofthe maximum amount of your
customers or are there tweaks?
Are your salespeopleidentifying the homeowners, the
clients who might need a bitmore attention, who have never
been through this process ofbuilding a home before and might
have a little more anxiety orconfusion or not understand the
(26:57):
full process?
Like, are we just?
Are we just?
Are we adjusting as needed tothe particular needs of each
customer of ours?
And the other thing that I havefound extremely valuable outside
of, like you know, trying towalk through my entire sales
experience, start to finish.
(27:19):
Is this really serving my needsas the business owner?
Is it serving the needs of thecustomer and really taking ego
out of it and just looking at it, analyzing it?
Is this appropriate for us?
The other fun actually thoughtexperiment is to think about
(27:39):
what your favorite moments as acustomer have been in any
situation buying jewelry, buying, appliances, buying, I don't
know, going to the doctor,whatever it is.
What have your favoriteexperiences as a consumer is a
customer been, and how can youreplicate a version of that in
(28:00):
your business?
So Like there's just so manylike fun nuggets you can get as
a brick and mortar showroombusiness and when you're out in
the world of like just a greatsalesperson experience.
And I think oftentimes my bestexperiences have come back to a
(28:22):
salesperson or a sellingenvironment where the
salesperson is just soknowledgeable and attentive that
it just eases like all pressureof like.
Okay, maybe this is more than Iwanted to spend, or maybe they
were able to show me this otherthing I didn't even know about.
Maybe they actually saved mesome money because I came in
(28:44):
thinking I had to have thisthing or this brand, but they
showed me these other featuresof something I haven't heard of
and maybe it ended up saving memoney here just so many little
instances of being a consumerthat maybe you can take just
little pieces of that back toyour store.
Whether it's the type ofrefreshments they offered their
(29:07):
customers, did they have maybenot just coffee and water, but
sodas, or whatever it is thatyou really was a value add to
your experience as a customer.
What can you pick from that andtake it back?
Was it a small, locally ownedbusiness but then they had very
easy like email communication ora customer portal or something
(29:32):
that just made it that mucheasier to shop with them?
Like, what are the littlethings you've experienced out
there in the world?
Was it they had great socialmedia and you just felt
connected with the businessright off the bat?
Was it the merchandising intheir space that just really
invited you in and made you feelwelcome and warm in the space?
(29:53):
What was it about a greatshopping experience you had that
really elevated it, that reallytook it to the next step, and
what aspect of that experiencecan you repeat in your own
business?
Some of this is very intuitive.
I know I'm not like setting theworld on fire with these
opinions.
(30:13):
The point of this podcast is tostop and think about how your
business is operating from aneagle eye view, because we do
all get so into it, so focusedon our day to day tasks, that we
forget to step back and look atthese things and the customers
and the customers having a greatexperience is something we
(30:36):
cannot ignore, no matter whatpart of this business you're in,
it's something you cannotignore and you cannot forget
that you are the expert andthat's why they're there.
And don't get so blinded byyour expertise that you forget
that the customer in front ofyou doesn't share it and doesn't
(30:56):
understand and might need a bitmore explanation.
They might have additionalquestions, they might not have
any at all, and that's justgreat.
But I do think sometimes we getso into our processes and our
day to day and I need to getthis customer out of here
because I need to answer theseemails or I need to make these
(31:17):
phone calls and we just get sowrapped up in that that we
forget what the customerthemselves is going through,
what their experience is, and wereally need to make sure that,
as much as humanly possible,every customer has a fantastic
experience in our stores fromstart to finish.
So, as the average customer whoGods Just really?
(31:39):
I'd encourage everyone again,no matter what your portion of
the lighting industry businessis, I would really encourage
everyone to step back and thinkabout your customer process.
I would encourage you maybe toreach out to a customer or two
that you have a really greatclose relationship with and ask
(32:00):
them what are some things thatwe could be doing better for you
as you bring your customers in.
If you have a great closedesigner you work with, what's
something we could offer to makeyour experience in our showroom
that much better?
And maybe they say nothing it'sabsolutely perfect, we adore
you.
Fantastic, that's what we wantto hear.
(32:21):
But maybe they have a littletidbit for you.
Maybe they say every time wetalk about ceiling fans, the
homeowners always get soconfused about Cfms and I feel
like we never really talk aboutwhat a great ceiling fan is or
what sets the.
You know the price differenceor whatever.
It could be something as easyas that that you're just
(32:43):
glossing by because you alreadyknow this stuff, but your
customer doesn't fully get thepicture and just a small course
correction can really seteverybody up for more success.
If you're a service providerproviding a tool for industry,
is it clear how to use allaspects of that tool?
(33:06):
Have you communicated with yourcustomers all of the possible
options?
Or, if you feel like you have,but understand they're not being
used in the right way, have youbeen reinforcing that message
of hey, maybe you forgot you cando this or that?
You know because, as we usetools in our business, when it's
a new tool for you, you're justgetting to know it.
(33:28):
You just kind of use it in arudimentary fashion.
Then, after months of gone byand you're well accustomed to
the basics of the tool, butyou've forgotten all the
advanced functions that you knowyou were told about at the
beginning, but you didn't quite.
You weren't quite capable ofusing them then.
So then, as you move along andyou're a little more advanced,
(33:48):
it might be worth it every sixmonths to have a check in are
you using this?
Do you know about it?
Do you have any further needs?
So it's.
This is in all areas of ourindustry.
I really think we could allbenefit from stepping back,
viewing our businesses as acustomer, might, might, and
(34:09):
really thinking through all theparticular needs of a customer
and are we truly meeting them tothe best of our ability and
providing the best customerexperience?
It's really my mission for mystore and I know it is for so
many of you listening to thisthat also own brick and mortar
showrooms.
We just want to share our joyand love of lighting and fans
(34:32):
with the world.
We want them to have.
We want our customers to havethe best experience, to have fun
while they're shopping forthese pretty fun things for
their home.
We want them to be so pleasedevery Thanksgiving that they sit
down, that they have thatdining room chandelier.
They want them to be happyevery time they turn their foyer
light on to welcome family andfriends into their home.
(34:55):
I know we all are aiming forthese same great moments for our
customers, so every now andagain I think it's worth taking
a step back, taking a really toplevel.
Look about what that process is, from entry to exit point for
every one of our customers.
Are we really meeting theirneeds or have we just become
(35:18):
processing procedures and maybewe need to make some refinements
to make the experience betterfor everyone?
All right, that's all for thistime.
Thank you again to Zastrow forsponsoring the podcast.
I really appreciate you, anddon't forget to mention the
podcast when you sign up foryour demo and get $500 off your
purchase.
It's a great deal.
Don't miss it and it'sabsolutely worth checking out.
(35:41):
All right, everyone.
Until next time, take care.
Hello and welcome fellow lighting nerds and
friends to another episode ofLighting with Lisa, the Lighting
Industries podcast, sponsoredonce again this week by Zastro.
I'll have more information onZastro and the bonus you can get
for setting up a demo with themby mentioning the Lighting with
(00:23):
Lisa podcast.
So definitely stay tuned forthat.
So I also want to, in myhousekeeping, remind you all
that the best way to contributeto the podcast at the moment is
to email me, lisa, atlightingwithlisacom.
And also don't forget about thetwo Facebook groups that I have
(00:47):
up.
One is the residential lightingindustry job board, the other
is the fixture finder group.
Both links, links to bothgroups, are in the show notes,
so please reference that again.
Please do email me, lisa, atlightingwithlisacom.
It is the best way tocontribute to the episode, to
(01:08):
become a sponsor, the episode,whatever you are wanting or
looking for, email me there andI can always keep your, your,
your input, as anonymous orpublic as you like, but it is
your contributions thatcertainly help this podcast grow
and expand and share new ideaswith the entire industry.
(01:32):
So please do reach me there.
So this week I wanted to talk abit about the experience of
being a customer, so here'swhere this is coming from for me
personally.
And then it just kind of led tosome realizations about
customer service, the experienceof shopping, the experience of
(01:56):
shopping at a specialty store oreven like if you wanted to make
this an even bigger discussionof customers and a customer
experience you could even thinkabout like visiting a specialty
doctor, visiting any sort oflike specialist in whatever
field, whether it's lighting ormedicine or accounting or
(02:20):
whatever it is.
There is this effect thathappens to those of us who live,
eat, breathe, sleep or jobs,and it's a good thing.
For those of us in the jobs webecome, it becomes just such a
part of who we are and how weoperate and we notice things
(02:43):
everywhere.
We notice when a ceiling van ishung too high, we notice when a
chandelier isn't installed atthe right height, we notice the
color temperature of light bulbswherever we go in the world.
We notice all of these thingsand they become such a part of
our daily life experience.
But in in so doing we a bitbecome like indoctrinated or
(03:06):
maybe that's not the right wordlike immune to the experience,
and it's really really easy tojust kind of get just lost in
the in the world and theunderstanding of what you're
doing and you forget to see whatyou're providing, the expertise
(03:27):
that you're providing.
You forget to stop and look atthat from the customer side and
I really think it's not that Ibelieve we lose a bunch of sales
, you know, because of this.
I certainly think the opposite.
Our expertise is what sets usapart as you know, people
working in lighting showroomsbut I do think we often have a
(03:51):
bit of a blind spot when itcomes to excellence in meeting
our customers needs.
And, as I'm trying maybe not soeloquently or perfectly to say,
I think a lot of that nothitting our highest standard
just comes from, like livingthis life and like being so
(04:15):
knowledgeable and so in yourtrade and so in your skill set,
that you forget how much youreally know and that the
customer doesn't know.
And, yes, you can answer aquestion, like you know, is this
the right fixture for me?
And maybe give a couplecontexts of why.
But then you just say, yes,it's good, let's get it on order
(04:35):
, and then, like, the customermight just be left a little
wondering like, okay, how didyou reach that decision?
Is there more that I shouldknow?
What are the pros, what are thecons Like?
Sometimes I just think we get socaught up in our jobs and what
we're doing and processing andgetting this customer done to
move on to the next that wereally kind of forget the
(04:58):
experience the customer ishaving.
And again, I'm not saying thatthis is like a huge, like reason
we don't make sales or whatnot,but I do think it's something
we don't focus on enough and Idon't think we all collectively
strategize about it enough andlike it's fits and starts right.
(05:19):
Sometimes you will, sometimesyou won't.
But I just think this is reallyan area that we could all as
showrooms really take a stepback and improve on and I think
there could be some really greatpayoff for all of us in the
best way with having justunparalleled customer
(05:39):
experiences.
So here's kind of where I cameto this thought process that I
wanted to talk through thisepisode and, as always after the
sponsored ad break, I'm goingto talk about some potential
things to try, some possiblesolutions.
I always want this podcast tobe about setting us up for
(06:02):
success, just even if it's justa thinking point.
So stay tuned for after the adbreak for the ideas I've come up
with for things to try.
So we all know that customersare like priority number one in
our showroom business, butbecause without the customers
(06:25):
the business doesn't exist.
So I think we're just soaccustomed to that process that
thought that sometimes we forgetthat it's something we really
need to be mindful of everysingle day.
And so if you're the customer,okay.
So here's something thathappened to me recently.
(06:47):
I have to get a new fridge andfreezer for my home.
The ones I have are from 1991,literally date stamped 1991.
They have lived very well.
They've serviced our life inthis home and the people before
us for many years, but they needreplaced.
(07:10):
So, as with, you know, a lot ofappliances, as we all know,
there could be a long lead timedepending on the specific
appliance that you need.
This appliance, this brand,definitely falls in that
category.
So, while you know my units arestill operating now we figured
it's probably a good time to goahead and get these on order,
(07:33):
because we know we're going tobe waiting a while for them,
which, again, is totally fine.
It just is the way of the worldright now.
I'm going to sidebar on myself aminute to say that we did go to
the local dealer for theseappliances and they got a quote.
You know, everything was good.
We did go to another dealerwho's not a locally owned
(07:56):
business, but just to checkthings out we actually the place
we originally were working with.
They didn't have anythingsimilar to what we needed to buy
on display, so we really justkind of wanted to go see a
display somewhere and in sodoing, they gave us a price
quote and because of themanufacturer's pricing rules,
(08:18):
the price was exactly the samefrom both dealers.
I loved that.
As the as the consumer, as anowner of a business, I was like,
oh my gosh, in some ways likeit was a dream, in that the only
thing that would make thedifference in that sale it
(08:40):
wasn't who could race to thebottom first in pricing, it was
who was going to give me thebest service and the best
experience.
And that really ties into thetopic of this podcast, because
this is all about just thinkingabout your customer and
providing them the bestexperience.
And yet it just was realinteresting to me how different
(09:01):
industries work.
Now, I don't know anythingabout the margins in the
appliance business, so therecould be in a whole other world
of factors at play here, but Idid find it pretty interesting
that both retailers said ourpricing is going to be is came
out to be exactly the same.
So this purchase again, itwasn't like you know, this has
(09:26):
to happen.
It was just planning for thefuture and there were a few
options of what we could buy.
And the salesperson Icommunicated with, the most a
was off on a weekday, presumablybecause this business also has
weekend hours and they work onthe weekend.
But there was no out of officemessage identifying to me that
(09:49):
this person wasn't going to beavailable all day, so I
shouldn't expect a response.
That's always something I thinkwe should be doing in our
businesses.
And the salesperson newestproduct was really good, but was
seemingly unaware that it wasimpossible for me to know as
much about these appliances asthey did, because, again, they
(10:14):
do this, it's their specialtyday in, day out.
And so this salesperson seemedto fall in this trap that he
forgot what it's like to notknow everything he knows and to
be on the other side of thistransaction.
And appliances of any kind arenot inexpensive, you know.
(10:36):
You can easily spend a fewthousand dollars on one
appliance, given pricing levelsright now in our economy, and
it's not an insignificantpurchase for any one of us.
So I think when you're justdealing in this day in, day out,
you forget, like the priceseems to like kind of lose, lose
(10:59):
significance to you as thesales person, but for the
customer it's extremelysignificant and it's an
extremely important to me toknow that if I'm spending a few
thousand dollars on thisappliance, that it's going to be
what I need, that it's gonnafit in the space, that that
we've answered all the questions, that we've talked through the
(11:19):
pros and cons of thismanufacturer versus that
manufacturer.
Tell me what I don't know hereso that I can make the best
decision for my home and mylifestyle.
And the sales person just kindof had lost the plot when it
came to that course.
I do what I do for a living, soI asked all these questions.
(11:39):
But it really dawned on me howmany of my customers might come
into our store and have the samequestions but just never ask
them and we just don't addressthem.
And how many times does thatlead to the loss of a sale or
maybe a remorse return becausewe didn't talk through all these
(12:02):
things up front.
Are we really setting ourcustomers up for success by
providing the information andthe tools and the tips that
might make them just that muchmore satisfied with their
purchase and their experience.
For most of our customers, thewhat they're buying goes into
(12:22):
their single most importantexpense.
As you know contributingmembers of society I don't know
how the right way to say that,but like this is going into
their house and our home, andour homes is most of our biggest
expense.
It's the biggest thing we spendmoney on in a single purchase
and then in ongoing expenses.
(12:44):
Our homes are hugely important.
We spend a lot of money on andin them and sometimes, you know,
when we're just thinking about,like, the pretty dining room
chandelier, we kind of lose theunderstanding of just how
impactful and meaningful thisfixture can be and someone's
(13:05):
home in their lifestyle.
And I just don't always knowand this is much of a criticism
of my own business as anyoneelse's, and that's why we're
going to talk about some tips to, you know, reinvigorate
ourselves at the end of thispodcast.
So we just really need to, Ithink, collectively, work harder
(13:28):
, better to set our customers upfor success.
And now I keep talking in thispodcast about the customers of
the lighting showroom.
But if you're a different, ifyou're a different segment of
the industry listening to this,whether your service provider, a
manufacturer, sales agent Iwould also really really
(13:50):
encourage you to be thinkingthrough this same concept when
it comes to your showroomcustomers or whoever whatever
your customer model looks like.
Are we really setting ourcustomers up for success by our
policies, by how we enact ourpricing structures, by how we
enforce things?
Are we setting our customers upfor success or are we just
(14:14):
giving them roadblocks?
And I really think collectively, the entire lighting industry,
start to finish, needs to havesome hard looks at this question
and the possible answers,because I think often in
showrooms were not alwayssetting up our customers for
success, although I know mostbusinesses Truly try to, and I
(14:39):
think the frequently the samecould be said for manufacturers
and sales agents and serviceproviders.
Nobody is intentionally tryingto make life hard for somebody
else, but are we really taking acareful look at things and are
we truly setting one another upfor success?
So just something to thinkabout.
(15:00):
Now I'm going to stop for aminute and talk about the
sponsor of this week's episodeis Zastrow, and then on the
other side we're going to talksome more about this topic and
Maybe things we could do toimprove our customer experience
in the quality of the customerexperience.
So A big thanks to Zastrow onceagain for sponsoring the
(15:25):
Lighting with Lisa podcast.
Zastrow, you may remember, hasa program called Illuminate
which is tailored to lightingshowrooms and based on the
lighting and based on the netsuite, oracle, net suite ERP
software.
It's all cloud based.
It's truly comprehensive in away you might not be expecting.
(15:51):
So what I wanted to mention thisweek in the Zastro product or,
as you're considering, any ERPor software solution for your
business, is what workaroundshave you set up for your
operating system, for yourbusiness, and what do you think
those workarounds are costingyou in time, in accuracy, in
(16:14):
efficiency?
Is your work around soselective that only you or maybe
one other person knows the workaround and how to make it
correct for your business, foryour customers?
What would happen if thatperson or people were not there?
What would the impact be onyour business?
These things, I believe, areextremely important when you're
(16:39):
looking at the software that isgonna manage not only your
inventory but your sales orders,your purchase orders, your
human resources function, yoursales functions, your customer
acquisition functions.
You really need to be All of usneed to be thinking about how
we do this in a great, efficientand effective way.
(17:01):
And so the Zastro system withtheir Illuminate program.
It's all built on the net suite.
It's the market and you know,market leading cloud ERP
software.
You get inventory management.
You have your lights Americaintegration.
You have e-commerceintegrations, a complete CRM
(17:23):
solution.
You can add in a humanresources management function,
fully automated integration withyour showroom labels, your
pricing changes, your Everythingthat, honestly, I've made work
around for my business.
There are integrations, thereare ways to make these things
(17:47):
automatic, and it is a cloudbased solution.
So if something random happens,like what happened at my store
recently, everything.
I've always had my business setup where I can work remotely,
or anybody can work remotely.
But there's one catch and it'sthat the internet at the
(18:08):
physical brick and mortarlocation has to be functioning.
If that goes down for anyreason, it removes my ability to
work remotely.
Well, a cloud based solutionLike the Zastro Illuminate net
suite program is all cloud based.
So a few weeks ago, when mystore lost internet for reasons
(18:30):
beyond our control it was theutility companies issue I was
still able to work remotely whenI would not have been able to
otherwise.
So it's worth checking out.
Go to Zastro dot com slashIlluminate there are it.
You can get more information,but this is just a complete set
(18:51):
of tools to manage projects, todo like truly soup to nuts,
everything you could think offor your business.
When you mention the pie, whenyou sign up for a demo and
mention the podcast, you'regonna get five hundred dollars
off a purchase.
So definitely do that.
Here's your contacts.
If you live west of theMississippi River, you're gonna
(19:13):
want to email Gail her name, heremail address is gail at Zastro
dot com.
That's Z A S T?
R?
O.
If you're east of theMississippi River, you're gonna
contact Thomas Thomas at Zastrodot com.
It's definitely worth doing ademo, checking it out Again.
If you make a purchase, you getfive hundred dollars off If you
(19:35):
mention that you came via thelighting with Lisa podcast.
So please do check it out andthank you, zastro, for
supporting the podcast.
Okay, so back to this customerpriority topic.
So here's what I really startedbeing mindful of after my
appliance shopping experience.
(19:56):
By the way, just to just to tieup the loose end, we did end up
making the purchase with thelocally owned business and I'm
very happy, but it did require abit more back and forth than I
anticipated.
So ever since this happened, Ihave been visualizing and acting
(20:19):
what it would be like to be acustomer in my showroom like
from start to finish.
What was from a customerperspective?
What was it like from themoment I entered the showroom
space?
What's the workflow thathappens once I enter and all
seeing it all the way through tothe exit point via product in
(20:42):
our warehouse, with delivery andeverything else.
Actually, randomly, I had totake over running the warehouse
for a day this week, whichactually I really enjoyed doing.
Only from the perspective ofthis topic and this question, to
really think about the labelsthat we put on boxes and where
(21:03):
we put them and what it says onthe label, and is this really
setting up our installers forsuccess?
And setting the installer upfor success can be just as
important as setting thecustomer up for success, because
we all know the installer getsin the home and if the homeowner
is present and something isn'tquite perfect or perfectly
(21:26):
labeled or perfectly easy tounderstand, the installer has
this tendency to complain aboutwhere the homeowner got the
products from and the homeownervery easily tends to believe
that person that's in theproduct or in their home,
standing right in front of them,then the place they purchase
from who's like removed fromthat particular situation?
(21:46):
And and we need to be settingthem up for success too.
It's a big process, it's a bigjob, there's a lot to keep in
mind, but working in mywarehouse really gave me some
time to think through.
Okay, how does this processwork?
Is my customer, the actualpurchasing customer, set up for
(22:11):
success?
Is the installer?
Are we providing theinformation, the tools, the
resources they need to maketheir job a successful one?
So I would really recommend,well, not working in your
warehouse unless you just areabsolutely dying to.
Although it really was a goodday, I enjoyed it immensely, but
I would highly recommend takinga bird's eye view, taking a
(22:35):
step back.
Try not to think of yourself asthe person that created the
processes that they're followingin your showroom, but try to
view it from the customer.
And is the process andprocedure and protocol that I
set in place for this business?
Is it really serving mycustomer in the way that they
need?
(22:55):
And here's something to reallythink about Customer needs are
not one size fits all.
This was like my biggest momentas I was not only a customer
myself, but as I was thinkingthrough the customer process in
my business.
Customer needs are not one sizefits all.
(23:16):
There are some customers whoare going to need a lot of
attention, a lot ofcommunication, a lot of hand
holding.
There are going to be othercustomers that maybe this is
like their fifth custom homethey've built.
They've worked with thisdesigner in the past, they know
the process, they know theprocedure, they're good, they
don't need a bunch of attention.
(23:37):
Now, let's not to say weshouldn't still pay them plenty
of attention, but there are justdifferent levels of need.
There are different levels ofunderstanding of the process.
So if this is somebody who'sbuilding their first home from
the ground up, they're going tohave a lot more questions.
They're going to have a lotmore needs of communication.
(23:58):
They're not going tonecessarily know the full steps
of roughen and trim andeverything else, and why would
they know?
It's their first time doing it.
That's where I really stronglybelieve it is our job to make
sure we're effectivelycommunicating with the homeowner
, the builder, whatever it is,to give them the best possible
(24:21):
experience, knowing wherethey're at in their experience
of buying their first home,building their first home,
whatever the case may be,customer needs are not one size
fits all and that's somethingthat I think we all again, as I
mentioned before the ad break,no matter what part of the
(24:42):
industry we're working in,whether it's a manufacturer,
sales rep, service providerreally think that through.
And I know sometimes it justseems intuitive like yeah, at
least I got it.
Some customers need me to be oncall for them and some don't,
or whatever, like it sounds easyenough when you say it, but are
(25:05):
we really absorbing it?
Are we really acting in thatmanner?
And so many times you might say, well, yeah, everyone does need
a little bit different, butit's too costly to provide this
for this person, this for thatperson, this for this person.
There has to be commonality,and I get it and of course there
is going to be.
But if you have a customer thatjust needs a response they just
(25:30):
need to know that their emailwas received, whether or not you
are able to reply back rightaway then you need to make sure
you have your out of office onwhen you have your scheduled day
off during the week, something,anything.
That's one tiny little thing.
But customer needs are not onesize fits all.
(25:51):
Some customers are totally finewaiting a few days for an
answer back on something.
Now I don't believe that's howanybody should ever operate, but
there is a world in which weneed to know and understand the
needs of each particularcustomer.
Or perhaps a customer is preferssometimes, like my dad is one
(26:13):
of these.
He prefers to be a bit moreself, sufficient, he prefers to
be given some information thathe can read.
He comes from a very scientificbackground and he would like to
be able to research things onhis own time with helpful
information I provided, and thenhe'll come back with questions.
So it's just the point being toreally think through is your
(26:35):
processing serving the needs ofthe maximum amount of your
customers or are there tweaks?
Are your salespeopleidentifying the homeowners, the
clients who might need a bitmore attention, who have never
been through this process ofbuilding a home before and might
have a little more anxiety orconfusion or not understand the
(26:57):
full process?
Like, are we just?
Are we just?
Are we adjusting as needed tothe particular needs of each
customer of ours?
And the other thing that I havefound extremely valuable outside
of, like you know, trying towalk through my entire sales
experience, start to finish.
(27:19):
Is this really serving my needsas the business owner?
Is it serving the needs of thecustomer and really taking ego
out of it and just looking at it, analyzing it?
Is this appropriate for us?
The other fun actually thoughtexperiment is to think about
(27:39):
what your favorite moments as acustomer have been in any
situation buying jewelry, buying, appliances, buying, I don't
know, going to the doctor,whatever it is.
What have your favoriteexperiences as a consumer is a
customer been, and how can youreplicate a version of that in
(28:00):
your business?
So Like there's just so manylike fun nuggets you can get as
a brick and mortar showroombusiness and when you're out in
the world of like just a greatsalesperson experience.
And I think oftentimes my bestexperiences have come back to a
(28:22):
salesperson or a sellingenvironment where the
salesperson is just soknowledgeable and attentive that
it just eases like all pressureof like.
Okay, maybe this is more than Iwanted to spend, or maybe they
were able to show me this otherthing I didn't even know about.
Maybe they actually saved mesome money because I came in
(28:44):
thinking I had to have thisthing or this brand, but they
showed me these other featuresof something I haven't heard of
and maybe it ended up saving memoney here just so many little
instances of being a consumerthat maybe you can take just
little pieces of that back toyour store.
Whether it's the type ofrefreshments they offered their
(29:07):
customers, did they have maybenot just coffee and water, but
sodas, or whatever it is thatyou really was a value add to
your experience as a customer.
What can you pick from that andtake it back?
Was it a small, locally ownedbusiness but then they had very
easy like email communication ora customer portal or something
(29:32):
that just made it that mucheasier to shop with them?
Like, what are the littlethings you've experienced out
there in the world?
Was it they had great socialmedia and you just felt
connected with the businessright off the bat?
Was it the merchandising intheir space that just really
invited you in and made you feelwelcome and warm in the space?
(29:53):
What was it about a greatshopping experience you had that
really elevated it, that reallytook it to the next step, and
what aspect of that experiencecan you repeat in your own
business?
Some of this is very intuitive.
I know I'm not like setting theworld on fire with these
opinions.
(30:13):
The point of this podcast is tostop and think about how your
business is operating from aneagle eye view, because we do
all get so into it, so focusedon our day to day tasks, that we
forget to step back and look atthese things and the customers
and the customers having a greatexperience is something we
(30:36):
cannot ignore, no matter whatpart of this business you're in,
it's something you cannotignore and you cannot forget
that you are the expert andthat's why they're there.
And don't get so blinded byyour expertise that you forget
that the customer in front ofyou doesn't share it and doesn't
(30:56):
understand and might need a bitmore explanation.
They might have additionalquestions, they might not have
any at all, and that's justgreat.
But I do think sometimes we getso into our processes and our
day to day and I need to getthis customer out of here
because I need to answer theseemails or I need to make these
(31:17):
phone calls and we just get sowrapped up in that that we
forget what the customerthemselves is going through,
what their experience is, and wereally need to make sure that,
as much as humanly possible,every customer has a fantastic
experience in our stores fromstart to finish.
So, as the average customer whoGods Just really?
(31:39):
I'd encourage everyone again,no matter what your portion of
the lighting industry businessis, I would really encourage
everyone to step back and thinkabout your customer process.
I would encourage you maybe toreach out to a customer or two
that you have a really greatclose relationship with and ask
(32:00):
them what are some things thatwe could be doing better for you
as you bring your customers in.
If you have a great closedesigner you work with, what's
something we could offer to makeyour experience in our showroom
that much better?
And maybe they say nothing it'sabsolutely perfect, we adore
you.
Fantastic, that's what we wantto hear.
(32:21):
But maybe they have a littletidbit for you.
Maybe they say every time wetalk about ceiling fans, the
homeowners always get soconfused about Cfms and I feel
like we never really talk aboutwhat a great ceiling fan is or
what sets the.
You know the price differenceor whatever.
It could be something as easyas that that you're just
(32:43):
glossing by because you alreadyknow this stuff, but your
customer doesn't fully get thepicture and just a small course
correction can really seteverybody up for more success.
If you're a service providerproviding a tool for industry,
is it clear how to use allaspects of that tool?
(33:06):
Have you communicated with yourcustomers all of the possible
options?
Or, if you feel like you have,but understand they're not being
used in the right way, have youbeen reinforcing that message
of hey, maybe you forgot you cando this or that?
You know because, as we usetools in our business, when it's
a new tool for you, you're justgetting to know it.
(33:28):
You just kind of use it in arudimentary fashion.
Then, after months of gone byand you're well accustomed to
the basics of the tool, butyou've forgotten all the
advanced functions that you knowyou were told about at the
beginning, but you didn't quite.
You weren't quite capable ofusing them then.
So then, as you move along andyou're a little more advanced,
(33:48):
it might be worth it every sixmonths to have a check in are
you using this?
Do you know about it?
Do you have any further needs?
So it's.
This is in all areas of ourindustry.
I really think we could allbenefit from stepping back,
viewing our businesses as acustomer, might, might, and
(34:09):
really thinking through all theparticular needs of a customer
and are we truly meeting them tothe best of our ability and
providing the best customerexperience?
It's really my mission for mystore and I know it is for so
many of you listening to thisthat also own brick and mortar
showrooms.
We just want to share our joyand love of lighting and fans
(34:32):
with the world.
We want them to have.
We want our customers to havethe best experience, to have fun
while they're shopping forthese pretty fun things for
their home.
We want them to be so pleasedevery Thanksgiving that they sit
down, that they have thatdining room chandelier.
They want them to be happyevery time they turn their foyer
light on to welcome family andfriends into their home.
(34:55):
I know we all are aiming forthese same great moments for our
customers, so every now andagain I think it's worth taking
a step back, taking a really toplevel.
Look about what that process is, from entry to exit point for
every one of our customers.
Are we really meeting theirneeds or have we just become
(35:18):
processing procedures and maybewe need to make some refinements
to make the experience betterfor everyone?
All right, that's all for thistime.
Thank you again to Zastrow forsponsoring the podcast.
I really appreciate you, anddon't forget to mention the
podcast when you sign up foryour demo and get $500 off your
purchase.
It's a great deal.
Don't miss it and it'sabsolutely worth checking out.
(35:41):
All right, everyone.
Until next time, take care.
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