The sad story of the boy who called the wolf and the lessons for your retail business
The sad story of the boy who called the wolf and the lesson for his business
I have four young grandchildren who are the light of my life. From 3 to 9 years old everyone loves coming to grandma and grandpa’s house, playing, baking in the kitchen, spending hours exhausting ourselves in the pool -“Look at me grandpa”- and having the stores read to them. Yes, I’m delighted that you share my love of books. There is so much wisdom that can be passed on through the Stinky Face to Dr. Seuss stories.
One of my grandsons has a habit of ‘wolf calling’ to get attention. So for some time I’ve been trying to locate a collection of Aesop’s fables that includes “The Boy Who Called Wolf”. I have searched local bookstores, specialized children’s book sections in my hometown of Perth in Australia and in rural centres. A few months ago I even looked in some of the biggest bookstores in London and found a few different collections of Aesop’s Fables, but to my surprise none included ‘The Boy Who Called Wolf’.
A couple of months ago I had to fly interstate for training. The owner of a large chain bookstore in that city contacted me and asked if he could hold a nightly training session for his staff while I was there, which I was happy to do.
My hotel was not far from this store, so I made sure to check it out the day before the staff recognized my face. I went to the children’s section and found two books with a collection of Aesop’s Fables but neither contained ‘The boy who called the wolf’. I went to the counter and asked a young lady for help. She went back on the shelves with me and spent a lot of time doing what I had already done. Was he happy to wait? She didn’t ask!
Go further?
He then went to his computer and after a while he said, “Sorry, these are the only ones we have.” She did not offer to check with her vendors and get back to me. She did not offer to consult with other stores or with any knowledgeable person on the team with a particular interest in children’s literature.
The next night I started the training session with an exercise that included them identifying what set them apart from the competition. Key points included:
• Friendly personalized service
• Depth of staff knowledge
• Go the extra mile to help.
I then told them the story of my experience in their store (without identifying the staff member, of course) and emphasized that they needed to live their perceived point of difference every day with every customer.
Now here is the saddest part of this story.
That was over three months ago. My email address and phone number were included in the notes each staff member received. However, none of these smart young men bothered to follow up. So much to go the extra mile!
Unfair competition on the Internet?
By now (I’m sure) you’re wondering why I didn’t go to Amazon.com, look it up on the net, and deliver it within a few days. It may sound crazy to you, but my old love of bookstores stopped me. I regularly buy business books from Amazon, but not fiction and I feel good about it. These days, even the largest bookstores have a pretty poor selection of business books. By comparison, Amazon immediately gives me a list of recommendations based on my past purchases, and when I click on a book, it brings up the ‘Customers who bought this also bought’ section, which regularly brings me new discoveries… and increases the value of my purchase.
However, I have avoided doing this with non-fiction books in order to support local bookstores. This time I searched on Amazon.com. In a matter of seconds, clicking through to the cover and then to the content page, I identified a couple of Aesop’s Fables collections including ‘The Boy Who Called Wolf’. I made my selection and then I was tempted to buy another couple of books. A far more rewarding experience than my many wasted trips to bookstores.
Last night I read the story to two of my grandchildren. Soon I will read it to the other two. They will listen to Aesop’s Fables many times over the next two years and absorb the lessons of stories like this just as I did as a child.
Buying online is a challenge and not only for bookstores. To compete with this challenge, you must not only have your own Internet options, but you must live your perceived point of difference every day with every customer. If you don’t, it will be a sad story for your business.