From One Exec to Another – Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
Attention online retail executives: After the last month you’ve had as, I’m willing to guess that you’re tired of dealing with the data pouring in about the holiday season. Your head is probably swimming with statistics about your online sales revenue, your warehouse’s pick and pack accuracy, your returns rate, and your holiday marketing spends. Reconciling the good with the bad, fixing outstanding issues while still learning from your mistakes, and just sorting out the craziness is more than exhausting. The last thing you want to hear is one more statement that mentions numbers and figures, right?
In that case, here is a blog with no numbers, stats, or data. Instead, I’ll talk a little bit about stepping out of your comfort zone – both mentally and physically. That’s right – it’s time to step out of your office, away from the conference room, and as far from those spreadsheets and reports as possible and head out to where the action is. This blog is all about better understanding, refining, and guiding your retail operations – by viewing it firsthand.
- Step 1: When was the last time you walked the warehouse floor and saw your team in action? Even at a glance, you will be able to understand if your pick and pack operations are running smoothly. Are the order fulfillment processes you have in place actually being followed? Is the distribution center floor a disorganized mess? Are your pickers and packers running around like chickens with their heads cut off? Talk to the people on the front lines about the challenges they face – and find solutions to make them more manageable.
- Step 2: Have you listened in on a customer call recently? Head to your contact center and ask to listen in on an ongoing conversation. The reports you’re getting may indicate that problem resolution has never been higher, but hearing an actual customer voice her complaints or thank you for prompt action can help you understand the customer’s view of your customer service team, as well as the competence and skill of your team, the way no data can.
- Step 3: Do you know what’s being said on your company’s Facebook page or who’s mentioning your business on Twitter? Who recently blogged about the latest conference you attended or sponsored? While it’s okay to let your marketing team handle the content of your online messaging, retail executives need to remain plugged into the social aspect of the industry (and with today’s smartphone apps, social media monitoring services, and technology, there’s no excuse not to). That way, you’ll get insight into the problems your operations and customer service teams face when talking to your customers – and get some valuable info about consumer trends and demands, too.
Let’s be clear – I’m not advocating that you throw all the data you have out the window. However, I also don’t recommend spending your entire day knee-deep in the day-to-day operations processes involved with direct-to-consumer retail. What I do recommend is that you step out of your comfort zone occasionally to refine, or even just reaffirm, the strategy you have in place for your ecommerce business. Try a small-scale marketing campaign you’d normally turn down. Tweak the layout of your checkout page to see if it increases conversions. Chat with your contact center employees about the day’s highs and lows. Managing by walking around is not as outdated as you think – and will help you be an executive that’s more in-tune with the needs of your company and your people.
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