valuing the customer relationship

Lately I’ve been spending a lot of my creative time thinking about relationships — all kinds of relationships, in fact — to better understand the most precious, prized, and valued relationships we merchants have:

Our relationship with our customers.

The hard truth is that how we relate to customers and, more importantly, how they relate to us is directly reflected by our cash flow.

Our cash flow is the score card of the dynamic, responsive, and empathetic way we act in relation with our customers.

So I ask you this — “Are you playing the long game or playing the field?”

That’s a big question, and one way you can start self-assessment is by focusing on your special events:

• How do in-store events fit with your guiding principles and core values?
• Are your event goals driven by an outcome goal (like gaining revenue from the event) or a process goal (like driving marketing for the store)?
• What could change in your business if you treated in-store events as a way to move your brand — its mission and its values — forward?

You know me, I like to make things attainable, actionable, and aligned with my own mission.

Naturally I was thrilled when Storefront, an online marketplace for renting pop-up retail space, asked me to share my insights on pop-up events. I was ready to share a plan for playing the long game, building brand loyalty, and nurturing valuable customer relationships.

You can read the feature here — I hope it will help you plan for the long game.