[:en]A Powerful Technique For Dominating Your Competition[:]

[:en]When was the last time you visited your top competitors’ stores?

Afraid you’ll be seen and asked to leave? Don’t be. That fear’s all in your head.

Though simple, it can be an awesome way to compare your customer experience to theirs.

But you don’t want to go in without the right mindset.

Because if you go in blindly without a strategic approach, you’ll come away thinking,”We do everything better than the competition. I’m not worried one bit.”

Perhaps you do in fact offer a better customer experience than your competition.

However, your business is not perfect. No business is 100% good or bad. Not even Amazon.

So you have to visit your competitors’ stores armed with the right questions.

What The World’s Leading Brick-and-Mortar Retail Consultant Recommends

Bob Phibbs, also called “The Retail Doctor,” is the world’s leading expert on brick-and-mortar retail sales.

He began his consultancy all the way back in 1994 when he first recognized that eventually, brick-and-mortar retail would experience great competition from online retailers.

Anyway, now that you know his credibility, you can understand his approach. Basically, he recommends asking five questions during your visit:

1. Why did the retailer arrange merchandise the way they did?
2. Is the store neat, clean, and well-lit?
3. What is the energy level from the staff?
4. Is the staff obviously trained with a strategic approach of how to engage you?
5. Does the staff want to be there or have to be there? How do you know?

Then, you can go back to your own store and compare your experience to theirs based on a factual, objective analysis.

You might even have a trusted coworker do the same to compare experiences.

Why Does He Recommend This?

Bob says that in his experience most brick-and-mortar retailers don’t understand how truly awful their customer experience is.

And that may not necessarily fall on the employees. It could also fall on the shoulders of high-level decision makers who haven’t made customer-first and organization-wide process changes.

If you want to succeed in retail in 2019 and beyond, customer experience is the key differentiator.

An awesome in-store customer experience separates you from Amazon and your brick-and-mortar competition.

There’s no reason you have to raise the white flag and simply say Amazon can’t be beaten.

It can be.

But it’s up to you to innovate in ways your customers love. And then, you have to market your experience to your customer so they know about it.

Simply to say. Tough to do. But well worth the endeavor.[:]