In this episode of The Retail Experience Show, Bobby speaks with Dean Butler, Founder and CEO at LensCrafters, an international retailer of prescription eyewear. They discuss how Dean started LensCrafters with the revolutionary premise to make “glasses in about an hour” and what steps they take to create “enthusiastically satisfied customers all the time.” They also talk about best practices for advertising and customer service, advice for young entrepreneurs, and what’s changed in retail — or hasn’t — over Dean’s 40-year career.
Topics discussed:
- How Dean started LensCrafters with the revolutionary idea of “glasses in about an hour,” and how he applied what he learned at P&G to marketing it.
- The two biggest things you can do as a retail leader to create “enthusiastically satisfied customers all the time.”
- The importance of empowering your staff, and why greeting a customer within 30 seconds of them walking in makes a difference.
- Best practices for your marketing, including having a provocative and substantive proposition and making your product the hero.
- What’s changed in retail over the years, and what hasn’t.
- Advice for young entrepreneurs on why they should focus on hard work and willingness instead of an idea.
Guest Quotes:
“So what you can do is you create enthusiastically satisfied customers all the time. But — there’s a big but here — and that is, how do you do that with your staff? First of all, empower every single member of staff to do what they have to do to make the customer happy.”
“You turn them into enthusiastically satisfied customers. You do that by taking care of their problem. How do you take care of the problem? First of all, you’ve got to make them feel really welcome.”
“So you got to have a provocative, substantive selling proposition, and you got to give people clear permission to believe you can pull it off. That is the secret.”
“The principles have not changed. If anything has changed, it’s customers expect more today. They’re more demanding. But if you follow the principles that I’ve just articulated, you’ve got it made.”
“The trick is not the idea. It’s the guts, the willingness, and the massive hard work it takes to pull it off.”
Get in touch with Dean Butler:
LinkedIn
Website
Get in touch with Bobby Marhamat:
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