The Power of Presenting Your Business the Right Way

As the well-worn saying goes, ‘first impressions count.’ This is a phrase worth remembering if you run a retail business, or in fact, any business. Creating the right first impression is so important and has a lasting influence on how customers perceive your business. Have you ever walked into a shop, taken a quick look around and then promptly walked straight back out again? If so, you probably formed the opinion that the shop didn’t have what you wanted, needed or sufficiently appealed to you to make you take a look around. This thought process probably took less than a minute, and in that short time, you had already decided that the shop wasn’t for you. So, how you do you get people to venture inside your shop, and buy something? How do you attract visitors to your website and prevent them from clicking the back button almost immediately? The answer, of course, is by creating a positive first impression. Here’s how to present your business the right way, engage your customers and keep them coming back for more:

Live up to Expectations

If you shout about how great your products are (which you should do, by the way), you have to live up to your hype. You need to give customers what they want and then something extra on top to keep them returning to you over and over again.

Consistency is key to living up to expectations. Every aspect of your business needs to live and breathe your brand values. Cohesive branding allows customers to engage with your brand, to want to be associated with what you have created. You could have the best advertising campaign the world has ever seen, but if customers wander into your shop and it doesn’t match those expectations, you’ve just wasted a great opportunity and a lot of money.

Get the Basics Right

Having a quirky and innovative brand is excellent, but if you haven’t got the basics right, you’re not presenting your business in the right way. Change your perspective and try to see your business from your customer’s point of view, place yourself on the customer’s journey, if you will. Ask yourself these questions: 

Is the shop clean and tidy? If it isn’t clean, you need to get this sorted right away. 

Are the staff friendly and helpful? Can you even identify staff members? Customers need to be able to identify staff members quickly, this can be trickier if they aren’t wearing a uniform, but a lanyard is an excellent alternative – see here for info on this. As well as being easy to spot, your team need to be friendly, welcoming and ready to help.

Is the store shoppable? This means, are the products displayed in the best way, is your merchandising encouraging sells, can customers easily find what they are looking for? 

Remember, you need to get the basics right and stay true to your branding. Keep things consistent and see things from your customer’s point of view.