Cleo Cummings worked for May Co. and Macy’s for 73 years and was 89 when she retired this week, wearing her signature black hose, 2 inch heels and red hair.

She spent 73 years building a contagious following of customers through her personal shopper program that probably started before Nordstroms thought about starting one.

When she was 77 she did almost $700,000 in sales that year and was hard to get out of the store if she didn’t make her goals!

What would it take for you to train “super heroes” that build a contagious following of loyal customers who want to spread the news about you and your retail business?  Wouldn’t you love to have a dozen “Cleo’s” with her determination and company loyalty?  Better yet, what are your concrete plans to develop them? Read more »

Training retail sales associates to use scripts might backfire. Customers are aware of the scheme and are saying we don’t want to hear “outstanding” from every employee. Frankly, I am tired of having them waste their time circling the website on a receipt to tell me I need to go to it and talk about my experience. I would rather the sales associate be efficient, friendly, knowledgeable and there when I need them and get me on my way. Customer’s don’t want hoops to jump through or parrots to listen to.

Visual merchandising’. It’s the fastest, least-expensive, most contagious way retail stores can use design—as opposed to yet another “blowout sale”–to build customer traffic and sales.