feature: customer service


“Get up close and personal to your website and your customers”


In our first feature for the new post-lockdown IER this month, we are delighted to speak to industry stalwart John Reddington, Founder of Big Red Sales. John discusses customer service, the effect of the pandemic on independent retailers, and looks at how you can reinvent your business to succeed in “the new normal”.


B


enjamin Franklin made famous the phrase that there are two things in life


you can be certain of – death and taxes. But at Big Red we think there is a third – change. And it’s the third one that is going to see our industry restore itself and prosper over the coming weeks, months and even years. Just as the Government has found new and


faster ways to execute things, from building new hospitals to the way industries are run, so too have electrical retailers found new ways of doing things during lockdown. And the internet – once an unwelcome phrase with independent retailers – has now become an exciting and highly supportive friend. As they say every cloud has a silver lining. And those Big Red Sales retailer customers with an on-line presence were certainly happier than most. In Leicester, the location of two lockdowns,


retailers such as Phil Lord of Lord’s of Leicester saw their transactional website really take off during the pandemic. However, he originally had misgivings about it! He admits: “I must confess I have always


somewhat begrudged our investment in time and money for the website, but it really came up trumps during lockdown accounting for a staggering 70% of our usual turnover. Some days we could hardly cope with the demand.” Over in the West Country “Local” is the


sweetest word as far as Tim Moss of Moss of Bath is concerned. He explains: “Since re-opening we haven’t


stopped. It’s been so busy. And we have found there is a definite move back to shopping


locally. And a move back to the indies. In fact there’s a bit of mistrust now for the likes of Curry’s and the John Lewis Partnership. And the latter are certainly no longer the ‘darling’ of the High Street they used to be.” He adds: “This is definitely a time for the


indies to come to the fore.” Like me, he has always supported local trades people. And they in turn have always supported him. Don’t we all like to be known and acknowledged when we walk into a shop or restaurant? It makes us feel good. Continues Tim: “If you want service and


better quality it’s no more expensive if you shop locally. We have done so for years and we have better meat, better veg, buying from local people.”


And helping to keep it local is the very active social media campaign that his wife Annie organises for the business. “Social media has become an increasingly


important part of the mix. We do less and less printed promotion now,” she explains. Another very good reason for relying so


heavily on social media is attracting new younger customers. At present Tim’s customers are 40+. He says: “In order to survive we have to attract younger people and what better way to do that than on social media via their smartphones .” But like the websites, it doesn’t just happen


on its own. Says Annie: “Social media can be very labour


intensive as you have to keep up with things, but it is very worthwhile.” In the main she uses Facebook and Twitter. Some of the most


22 | www.innovativeelectricalretailing.co.uk


successful posts are those featuring actual custom installations carried out by the store. About 80% of the company’s revenue comes from this side of the business, with the shop floor accounting for the remainder. Explains Tim: “Very often a customer will show


us a picture on his phone of an installation from one of our posts and say, ‘I want it to look like this’”.


During lockdown Tim was going into the office three or four times a week to collect mail and respond to phone queries from customers. “I was amazed at how many calls we had for help and assistance,” he told me. Where possible they did trouble shooting


over the phone. Then after June 14 when the showroom reopened, they operated a ‘triage’ service dealing first with the elderly, vulnerable and those who couldn’t physically get into the store. At New Milton in the New Forest, Helen Hardy and her husband and daughter manned the shop the entire time, even though the doors were closed. “We didn’t stop trading from our main shop


Hardy’s Electrical and, as we are a family bubble, it worked well,” says Helen. One very good and positive thing to emerge


September 2020


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32