Latest / The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson / Cultivating Customer Loyalty with Deanna Wallin

Transcript

Cultivating Customer Loyalty with Deanna Wallin · The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson

0:37
Jennifer Johnson: In today's hyper-competitive market, acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing one.
0:43
Jennifer Johnson: Yet many businesses still focus predominantly on attracting new clients rather than nurturing their current customer base.
0:50
Jennifer Johnson: Today, we're going to explore why customer loyalty is not just a nice-to-have, but a must-have for a sustainable business.
0:58
Jennifer Johnson: We'll discuss proven strategies to build lasting relationships with your customers, turning one-time buyers into lifelong advocates of your brand.
1:06
Jennifer Johnson: Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, this episode will provide you with actionable insights to boost your customer retention and drive long-term success.
1:15
Jennifer Johnson: Today, we welcome into the studio Deanna Wallin.
1:19
Jennifer Johnson: Deanna is the CEO of Naples Soap Company.
1:22
Jennifer Johnson: She's a trained nurse that turned skincare pioneer.
1:26
Jennifer Johnson: Her mission began by helping people who suffer from chronic skin issues such as eczema and psoriasis, and has since expanded into a very successful skin and hair care business for all users seeking higher quality and clean ingredient products.
1:40
Jennifer Johnson: So grab your notebook, settle in and let's unlock the power of customer loyalty together.
1:45
Jennifer Johnson: Welcome, deanna Hi.
1:48
Jennifer Johnson: Thank you for having me.
1:49
Jennifer Johnson: I'm so excited to begin this conversation because I know the history of Naples Soap Company.
1:55
Jennifer Johnson: I want you to just briefly chat about that, but I know your history and I know how loyal your customers are and that's why I wanted to sit down with you.
2:05
Jennifer Johnson: You were the first person I thought of when I thought of this topic.
2:08
Deanna Wallin: Well, thank you, that's a huge compliment.
2:09
Deanna Wallin: So Naples Soap started so 15 years ago and I appreciate you referring to me as a pioneer in the industry, because a lot of people I actually won an entrepreneur award this year.
2:19
Deanna Wallin: You did.
2:20
Deanna Wallin: I've been doing this 15 years.
2:23
Jennifer Johnson: She's a pioneer, the distinguished entrepreneur of the year.
2:26
Deanna Wallin: Right from the Small Business Administration here in Southwest Florida, and so, yes, thank you for referring to me as a pioneer.
2:32
Deanna Wallin: When I first started the company 15 years ago, you know, natural and organic really it wasn't a thing.
2:42
Deanna Wallin: It was on the periphery and there weren't a lot of companies that were marketing, especially in skincare.
2:49
Deanna Wallin: Foods were starting to come on the market, more available things in.
2:53
Deanna Wallin: You know, whole Foods was expanding, but as far as like skincare and ingredients that were healthy for your skin and not toxic, that definitely was groundbreaking.
3:05
Deanna Wallin: And you know we we still apply the same principles today that we did 15 years ago as far as quality goes, and that definitely lends itself to our customer loyalty, which is what we'll be talking about today.
3:17
Deanna Wallin: But yeah, so I started a bath and body company 15 years ago.
3:23
Deanna Wallin: I was an LPN.
3:24
Deanna Wallin: I've had eczema and psoriasis my whole entire life and if you suffer with any kind of skin issue, you know that it is a constant battle.
3:32
Deanna Wallin: And even owning a skincare company and founding a skincare company for all these years, there's a lot of factors that can affect it, whether it's your diet, stress, travel, even simple things.
3:45
Deanna Wallin: Like you know, my skin will get irritated if I go.
3:48
Deanna Wallin: Stay in hotel sheets, the detergent, the detergent correct.
3:51
Deanna Wallin: So it's always an ongoing thing for people who have super sensitive skin.
3:57
Deanna Wallin: So I knew this from being a nurse and working in the hospital.
4:01
Deanna Wallin: I worked in everything from geriatrics to pediatrics.
4:04
Deanna Wallin: Now we call it babies to eighties.
4:06
Deanna Wallin: So people say who's your target market?
4:08
Deanna Wallin: I go babies to eighties.
4:09
Deanna Wallin: They go no, no, no.
4:10
Deanna Wallin: Who's your demographic?
4:11
Deanna Wallin: I said no babies to eighties because you know the skin's the largest organ of the body and, um, you know, there we see, uh, moms that come in looking for, you know, relief for their children that may have sensitivities, and then even, you know, through middle life.
4:27
Deanna Wallin: And then also, you know, when people get older, their skin starts to break down, it starts to thin, they start to take medication and things like that, dietary changes, hormonal changes that can change the skin.
4:39
Deanna Wallin: So it's an ever evolving situation through our entire life and it's the most visible.
4:44
Jennifer Johnson: It's it's the visible organ.
4:46
Jennifer Johnson: You can wear it.
4:48
Deanna Wallin: Exactly so.
4:49
Deanna Wallin: So I started the company 15 years ago and, uh, I just started talking to people.
4:54
Deanna Wallin: When we talk about customer service, it was really about getting to know the customer asking questions.
5:01
Deanna Wallin: What are you looking for?
5:03
Deanna Wallin: What do you need?
5:03
Deanna Wallin: Tell me about you A lot of companies you know you go into a store or a sales associate.
5:09
Deanna Wallin: They're so individual before you go in to sell a product or pitch a product.
5:23
Deanna Wallin: It's amazing what you'll learn about people if you just have you know.
5:26
Deanna Wallin: Break the ice and start with you know some conversation to begin with.
5:30
Deanna Wallin: But so fast forward as far as our company story goes today, we've got 13 locations open in the state of Florida.
5:38
Deanna Wallin: We've got a 20,000 warehouse and distribution facility.
5:41
Jennifer Johnson: Which is impressive.
5:41
Jennifer Johnson: I've seen it.
5:42
Deanna Wallin: It's a lot of work.
5:43
Deanna Wallin: Yeah, you did, you took a quick facility visit.
5:47
Deanna Wallin: And then we also have an e-com.
5:49
Deanna Wallin: We are a small publicly chartered company, otcqp, so that's a whole other level of accountability as far as, like, your customer service, your customer experience, your front facing image and branding for the company when you get into like, not just customer relations but investor relations.
6:07
Deanna Wallin: Those are two different things altogether, but they have to coincide and go hand in hand.
6:13
Deanna Wallin: So we also you know we do as volume, our numbers are public Last year we did about 1212.5 million in sales.
6:21
Jennifer Johnson: Wow.
6:22
Deanna Wallin: So for a little company that started in a 300 square foot store, we've really hustled, and in the last 15 years, but we owe it to our customers.
6:31
Deanna Wallin: It's really that customer loyalty and that customer base.
6:35
Deanna Wallin: That is the secret to our success.
6:38
Jennifer Johnson: So customer loyalty, what does that look like in your company?
6:41
Jennifer Johnson: What does it mean to your company?
6:45
Deanna Wallin: Well, first of, all.
6:47
Jennifer Johnson: And how did that?
6:48
Jennifer Johnson: How did that evolve into?
6:50
Jennifer Johnson: You know, you started in one spot, I'm assuming with with your customer base, and how did that evolve into where you're at today?
6:58
Jennifer Johnson: It certainly probably didn't look like what it looks like today back then.
7:01
Deanna Wallin: No, it didn't.
7:02
Deanna Wallin: Well, we had a very small space and it really was about conversation, about getting to know people, what's your name?
7:12
Deanna Wallin: And just breaking ice with people, not just going in to try to sell, sell, sell, sell, sell it was.
7:18
Deanna Wallin: I love people, I'm a people person and I like to find out about people and that journey, you know, through having conversation with people.
7:29
Deanna Wallin: We had people all of a sudden that would come through where our initial store was in Tin City in Naples, and it's a very high tourist traffic area.
7:36
Deanna Wallin: It's where boats go out of, there's some waterfront restaurants there and I thought, well, this would be a great retail location because it's foot traffic and location, location, location, right.
7:46
Deanna Wallin: So after a while, people would go back to adjacent areas, maybe 50 miles away, to Lake Panagorda, port Charlotte, maybe to the East Coast of Miami, boca Raton.
7:57
Deanna Wallin: People were bringing their friends back and I was like, oh, hey, you're back in and they said, yeah, we wanted them to talk to you.
8:03
Deanna Wallin: Okay, tell me what's going on.
8:07
Deanna Wallin: Well, you spoke with us about this particular skin situation, or, and.
8:12
Deanna Wallin: Then we tried this product and, and, and it worked.
8:15
Deanna Wallin: And it's funny, cause I used to joke and say I was going to get a tattoo that said I've tried everything and nothing worked.
8:20
Deanna Wallin: And here we are and say where I was going to get a tattoo that said I've tried everything and nothing worked.
8:24
Deanna Wallin: And here we are and say where I was going to put it Right.
8:27
Deanna Wallin: But it was really about talking to people and finding out.
8:33
Deanna Wallin: Some things were as simple as just identifying something as a topical allergy or a food allergy or a chemical allergy.
8:41
Deanna Wallin: Um, you know, and a lot of times I would ask questions that dermatologists really wouldn't ask, you know, like they might be.
8:48
Deanna Wallin: For example, if someone has psoriasis or what they thought was psoriasis, or dry patches or something on their skin or eczema, a lot of times derms would treat it with steroids, of course, drugs.
9:00
Jennifer Johnson: Drugs.
9:00
Deanna Wallin: Yeah, A lot of times derms would treat it with steroids, of course, drugs, drugs, yeah, a lot of drugs, and I am so not about putting topical steroids, especially on children.
9:09
Deanna Wallin: And I went through this journey with my daughter, because when she was very young, she was born.
9:12
Deanna Wallin: She's very, very pale skin, very blue eyes and fair, fair, fair, sensitive skin, and by the time she was, you know, two and a half, three, the doctors were trying to put topical steroids on her and I said we're not, we're not doing that.
9:26
Deanna Wallin: So by having these conversations with people, they realized that I was really interested in them.
9:32
Deanna Wallin: What have you been through?
9:32
Deanna Wallin: What have you gone?
9:33
Deanna Wallin: What, what, what has helped you, what hasn't?
9:36
Deanna Wallin: And, um, a lot of times, you know, I would say well, did the dermatologist ask you?
9:41
Deanna Wallin: I said, well, just quick question.
9:42
Deanna Wallin: What are you washing your hair with?
9:44
Deanna Wallin: Oh, just something cheap.
9:46
Deanna Wallin: Blah, blah, blah.
9:46
Deanna Wallin: Oh, okay.
9:48
Deanna Wallin: Well, by the way, here's the ingredient, here's the top ingredient.
9:51
Deanna Wallin: I'd look it up.
9:52
Deanna Wallin: Here's the top ingredient in the shampoo that you're using and it's the same ingredient that they're using in oh, Armorol car wash.
9:59
Deanna Wallin: So basically, it's a degreaser, it's a chemical degreaser.
10:02
Deanna Wallin: So you're stripping all the oils off of your skin.
10:04
Deanna Wallin: And now you're wondering why your skin's angry at you because you've just used a chemical degreaser and you don't even know it.
10:11
Deanna Wallin: But in the meantime you might've gone to the dermatologist and they've spot treated.
10:15
Deanna Wallin: I'm really irritating all the derms.
10:17
Deanna Wallin: Any of the?
10:17
Jennifer Johnson: derms out there.
10:18
Jennifer Johnson: Sorry, but this is our experience.
10:20
Jennifer Johnson: It happens.
10:22
Deanna Wallin: It happens to, it still happens to us every day now.
10:24
Deanna Wallin: So by asking that question, you know, really looking at the person holistically and saying, okay, tell me about your routine, tell me about what you're using, tell me, tell me about, you know, your skincare experience, not just here's a cream, here's a body better, we recommend this.
10:39
Deanna Wallin: So we try this so conversationally, um, and getting to know your customer, and that builds a rapport of trust.
10:47
Deanna Wallin: And then they were bringing friends back and then people would email us and say, oh my gosh, my skin cleared up in six days or five days or all we had to do was stop using this and reboot the body.
10:58
Deanna Wallin: So we learned very quickly that it wasn't about, you know, putting high dollar skincare lines together, that someone needs $500 to buy this kit.
11:09
Deanna Wallin: It was really about listening to them and learning what they're doing right now and helping them adjust what their current you know personal care behaviors might be, and substituting a clean product.
11:21
Jennifer Johnson: For that it sounds like it's all relational.
11:23
Jennifer Johnson: It is.
11:24
Jennifer Johnson: That's really kind of the foundation that I'm getting.
11:26
Jennifer Johnson: It is it's personal.
11:28
Deanna Wallin: It is.
11:28
Deanna Wallin: It's not.
11:29
Deanna Wallin: You know, we're not.
11:30
Deanna Wallin: We are a boutique.
11:31
Deanna Wallin: We do have a chain of 13 stores.
11:33
Deanna Wallin: I think our smallest store is 800 square feet, the largest is 2,400 square feet Wow, and we get a lot of people from all over the country, all over the world, but we also do an extensive amount of sales training with the staff.
11:50
Jennifer Johnson: This is I was going down that road.
11:51
Deanna Wallin: Sure.
11:52
Jennifer Johnson: How do you possibly scale this on the?
11:55
Jennifer Johnson: You know you have 13 stores, however many employees, so that they're getting the same experience in store A as they are in B, c and D.
12:02
Deanna Wallin: That's hard right For a small company, it's really challenging.
12:06
Deanna Wallin: So what we did is we used two different platforms, Because when you work in retail or any business, if you're in sales, there's a sales piece to it, there's a process procedure you know your ABCs Right Exactly To that, but then there's a second piece of it as far as product knowledge goes.
12:29
Deanna Wallin: So if you're trying to teach all of that at once, it's a mess, it's a hot mess and it's confusing.
12:37
Deanna Wallin: We are very fortunate.
12:38
Deanna Wallin: For many, many years now, we have used for our sales training platform, we have used SalesRx, which is a gentleman extremely knowledgeable.
12:46
Deanna Wallin: He's been in the I'm going to say like 200 years.
12:49
Deanna Wallin: He's been in the sale.
12:51
Jennifer Johnson: Hopefully, if you're listening to this, I'm really sorry.
12:53
Jennifer Johnson: Love you, bob Fibbs.
12:55
Deanna Wallin: No, he loves me, I love him.
12:56
Deanna Wallin: We've become very good friends because we share the same ideas and the same ethics as far as how to treat customers and what that should look like inside your facility.
13:07
Deanna Wallin: So we break out our actual sales training piece, like your meet and greet.
13:12
Deanna Wallin: How do you greet a customer?
13:14
Deanna Wallin: Do you walk in immediately?
13:16
Deanna Wallin: What are your zones in the stores?
13:18
Deanna Wallin: There are so many different behaviors that are.
13:22
Deanna Wallin: They are trainable, they are predictable and they do work without being too pitchy too salesy and attacking someone.
13:30
Jennifer Johnson: We all know how that feels when you walk into a store and you're like, oh, I don't want to be attacked Even more fun.
13:37
Deanna Wallin: Let me know if you need anything.
13:38
Deanna Wallin: Yeah, I know here's what I need.
13:41
Deanna Wallin: I need to turn around and walk out.
13:42
Deanna Wallin: It's very hard right now because I want customer service.
13:48
Deanna Wallin: Things are so expensive and I think people want customer service, and customer service during COVID really fell by the wayside.
13:57
Deanna Wallin: It was here don't touch me, stay six feet away.
14:00
Deanna Wallin: We've got masks on Making the checkout process.
14:03
Deanna Wallin: Let me drop it off to curbside, we totally regressed.
14:06
Deanna Wallin: We regressed, and so we have worked very hard to make sure that that customer experience, that that customer connection is there, and so the other platform that we use is it works for us.
14:19
Deanna Wallin: It's called Lessonly.
14:20
Deanna Wallin: We have a kind of a library, if you will, of training, videos, of things, and when we bring new material in, we have over 600 branded SKUs.
14:29
Jennifer Johnson: Wow, that's a lot to learn.
14:30
Deanna Wallin: It's a lot, a lot of ingredients and things like that.
14:32
Deanna Wallin: But if you break it up and realize that the sales behaviors are repetitive the product we have core product and those ingredients typically stay the same, that we'll launch new product just like anyone else, and so it's important to learn those things.
14:48
Deanna Wallin: But it's about balancing, teaching the staff to balance those two instead of just diving in and attacking you with a sales pitch with a product.
14:57
Deanna Wallin: So it really is a kind of a delicate dance and it's something that, as companies, you want to work on non-stop.
15:05
Deanna Wallin: When our staff goes through the sales rx, it's it has a specific timing and they do modules and stuff.
15:10
Deanna Wallin: When they finish that, we start again.
15:13
Deanna Wallin: Wow, and we do it again.
15:15
Deanna Wallin: And we do it again because you're not going to learn all the nuances of it through the first time the repetition, and that's how we do it.
15:22
Deanna Wallin: Jennifer is through repetition, and that's how we do it.
15:24
Deanna Wallin: Jennifer is through repetition, so that's how we maintain consistency Without being a big box store and having the resources that big box stores do.
15:31
Deanna Wallin: We've had to kind of create our own system in our own way, but you're breaking it out, which is nice.
15:37
Jennifer Johnson: Yes, because, like you said, you know you could have all these products and you have over 600 products and they have to try to figure that out.
15:46
Jennifer Johnson: But if they don't have the nuts and bolts into how to actually work with the customer and know what that customer service should look like, it doesn't matter.
15:53
Deanna Wallin: Yeah, if you're standing behind the register and you don't greet a customer, you never get a chance to explain the product You're done.
15:59
Deanna Wallin: So if you can't break through those initial behaviors then the product knowledge is a futile effort and some people you know through sales training.
16:10
Deanna Wallin: It will definitely tell you who is comfortable and who is not.
16:13
Deanna Wallin: And sometimes people get into retail and or any sales job.
16:18
Deanna Wallin: They're taking the job because it sounds like fun or they thought they wanted to get into it.
16:23
Deanna Wallin: But it really does take a special person to sell.
16:25
Deanna Wallin: I don't care if you're selling cars, houses Without selling right.
16:28
Jennifer Johnson: Correct Sell without selling.
16:29
Deanna Wallin: Yes, it's a special and you have to not be afraid of rejection and if you're really good at it, it goes back to what we talked about about building a rapport, and that is the key to our customer loyalty, because when they come in, they know they're going to get a consistent experience.
16:47
Deanna Wallin: If they came into my locations and one person treated them one way, one person treated them another way, and what I will say is that you know we're not perfect.
19:23
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah.
19:23
Deanna Wallin: And when you have that big of a footprint, spread out over 800 square miles 800 miles you can't watch everything all the time and if there is a customer service issue, we have a dedicated in-house person at our office.
19:36
Deanna Wallin: If an email comes through or if there's a customer service issue, we address it immediately.
19:41
Deanna Wallin: We don't wait.
19:42
Deanna Wallin: It doesn't go three, four days down the line it is.
19:45
Deanna Wallin: We are sorry that you had this experience.
19:48
Deanna Wallin: How can we make this right for you?
19:49
Deanna Wallin: Whatever, we're not going to argue a point.
19:53
Deanna Wallin: We're not going to go do a tit for tat with a customer.
19:56
Deanna Wallin: How can we make this better for you?
20:02
Jennifer Johnson: And I think that's where a lot of people go wrong.
20:03
Jennifer Johnson: Because in a world where everything is online, you have a bad experience and you probably saw something I had posted on this about.
20:08
Jennifer Johnson: You know you have one bad experience and then everybody knows about it, but you have one good experience and they don't tell as many people.
20:17
Jennifer Johnson: Or you respond to a Google review with the tit for tat, Right, and that doesn't look good for you and it doesn't build that customer loyalty.
20:27
Deanna Wallin: Right, absolutely.
20:29
Deanna Wallin: And that can tear you down so fast.
20:32
Deanna Wallin: I'll give you an example.
20:34
Deanna Wallin: We had a customer and the reviews are savage, you know, let me say the abuse of reviews is savage.
20:43
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah, that's what it is.
20:44
Deanna Wallin: And as business owners and people that manage small businesses, we have to walk such a fine line.
20:50
Deanna Wallin: It's, and it can be very scary, and sometimes it's not even.
20:55
Deanna Wallin: Here's an example we had a customer that had a body scrub.
21:04
Deanna Wallin: Now this is made with shea butter, and I love you, I just used it this morning.
21:08
Deanna Wallin: Oh, thanks, good, that makes me happy.
21:10
Deanna Wallin: So we had a customer that had basically a three-year-old scrub that we didn't even manufacture anymore.
21:16
Deanna Wallin: We knew my sales associate knew this because of the label.
21:20
Deanna Wallin: So this woman tried to return it, saying she had bought it just a few months ago.
21:24
Deanna Wallin: And my sales associate was trying to be very nice and she she was like you know what, unfortunately, this is our policy.
21:31
Deanna Wallin: Like you know what, unfortunately, this is our policy.
21:33
Deanna Wallin: Because you know, being in a business, you have to have certain policies and procedures.
21:35
Jennifer Johnson: It doesn't matter, right?
21:36
Jennifer Johnson: You still have to.
21:37
Deanna Wallin: You have to.
21:37
Deanna Wallin: So she's trying to return this scrub and my poor sales associate is like I I you know I can't do this Sales associate finally reaches out to the district manager, who reached out to me and was like, look, this customer's making a pretty big stink in the store.
21:51
Deanna Wallin: And I said you know what, had she been even remotely nicer to my staff, I might have hedged a little differently.
22:02
Deanna Wallin: But when you come in with an expired product and you're going to be super rude to my staff, I'm going to be a little less amiable to the situation.
22:11
Deanna Wallin: Now my cost of goods on that body butter is not that significant, but because she was super rude.
22:16
Deanna Wallin: If I allow someone like that, it's a fine line If you allow someone like that to treat your staff poorly.
22:23
Deanna Wallin: it sets a precedent, and then it's going to happen again, and then your staff looks at you as a manager and an owner and says wait a minute, they didn't really stand up for me, they didn't have my back, they didn't, you know, they went against policy.
22:35
Deanna Wallin: So there's a very fine line there, because that's a bigger issue then.
22:38
Deanna Wallin: Yeah, you know, you've been through this with people trying to return things.
22:43
Deanna Wallin: And so that customer service experience journey.
22:47
Deanna Wallin: It goes many directions.
22:48
Deanna Wallin: So she got super nasty with my stuff.
22:52
Deanna Wallin: Then I got on the phone.
22:53
Deanna Wallin: She got super nasty with me and I was like, okay, now we're done.
22:56
Deanna Wallin: We're done here.
22:56
Deanna Wallin: So this person elected to go onto our Amazon account and post reviews all over Amazon and you know this is just drastically unfair because it wasn't an Amazon purchase Right and it's abusive to the system of reviews there.
23:14
Deanna Wallin: So now you're harming a business that really hasn't done anything.
23:17
Deanna Wallin: You're trying to scam the business really.
23:19
Deanna Wallin: And you're being rude and nasty to people.
23:21
Deanna Wallin: Yeah, so it is a delicate balance because, like you said, that one person.
23:26
Deanna Wallin: So now we have to go back and mitigate those reviews and try to build up that again and, and you know, I don't wish that on anyone because it's, you know, it's, it's hard, it's hard as a business, it's hard enough.
23:41
Jennifer Johnson: It's hard enough.
23:42
Deanna Wallin: Yeah, so that's just like.
23:44
Deanna Wallin: Those are just example, one example of walking that fine line of customer service, but you still have to maintain your business and and stand up for your employees at the same time.
23:56
Deanna Wallin: It's very true, went down a rabbit hole, sorry.
23:58
Jennifer Johnson: It's we.
23:58
Jennifer Johnson: You know what.
23:58
Jennifer Johnson: That's what happens?
23:59
Jennifer Johnson: We go down rabbit holes.
24:01
Deanna Wallin: Yeah, it's not a podcast.
24:02
Deanna Wallin: It's fun.
24:03
Deanna Wallin: It's not a straight line.
24:04
Jennifer Johnson: None of this is a straight line.
24:05
Deanna Wallin: Anything that we're talking about business all of it, and these are challenges people have all the time.
24:10
Deanna Wallin: I mean you know you get people try to return stuff or bring stuff back or whatever, and you're like no, that's not happening, or people get mad because you won't take their stuff.
24:21
Jennifer Johnson: That's what we see.
24:21
Jennifer Johnson: We have both ends right, because we have the person buying and we have the person selling to us.
24:26
Jennifer Johnson: So it's yeah it's tough.
24:29
Deanna Wallin: Or they want to know why their stuff didn't sell or why it's marked down now and you're like well, you know we don't have answers for them.
24:36
Jennifer Johnson: I don't know what to tell you.
24:37
Jennifer Johnson: It just you know, we don't know, but if you had three things that you could say would contribute to building strong customer loyalty, what would those three things be that a business could be like?
24:51
Jennifer Johnson: We're focusing on these three things that I know are gonna move the needle in our customer loyalty because ultimately we want our customers to return because it costs us more money.
24:59
Jennifer Johnson: I know there's facts and figures out there.
25:02
Jennifer Johnson: I am sure.
25:04
Jennifer Johnson: How much it costs each individual business to get a new customer versus keeping them.
25:08
Deanna Wallin: I think one thing that we excel at is communication with a customer.
25:13
Deanna Wallin: We do have an email database.
25:16
Deanna Wallin: I always ask other business owners I said are you capturing emails?
25:19
Jennifer Johnson: Are you?
25:19
Deanna Wallin: communicating with your customers.
25:22
Deanna Wallin: They want to know if you've got promotions going on.
25:24
Deanna Wallin: You don't have to over email, which we try to be extremely cognizant of that, but we want to communicate.
25:30
Deanna Wallin: During COVID we saw all these letters from the CEO and, quite frankly, we started doing that because people wanted to know Our customers might.
25:42
Deanna Wallin: We're in a highly seasonal snowbird area in Florida, Most of our stores are and they wanted to know how are you guys doing down there?
25:50
Deanna Wallin: They might have been locked up somewhere in New York or Michigan or where else.
25:53
Deanna Wallin: So I started doing these letters from the CEO, updating at least once a month, and you would not believe the amount of response that we got heartfelt messages from this, that communication, so using email communication.
26:10
Deanna Wallin: I'll give you one other example of email communication that after Hurricane Ian we had so many people just randomly emailing us to info at our info, just our general email Are you guys okay?
26:22
Deanna Wallin: We're so concerned about you.
26:23
Deanna Wallin: We're in Chicago, we're in Ohio and I couldn't believe it just people randomly reaching out.
26:29
Deanna Wallin: So Hurricane Ian was a huge hit for our entire area.
26:33
Deanna Wallin: The roof of our warehouse was ripped off, 40% of our stores had gone four feet or more underwater.
26:39
Deanna Wallin: It was a very devastating event and talk about customer loyalty.
26:44
Deanna Wallin: This still touches my heart to this day.
26:47
Deanna Wallin: We moved the warehouse into a new facility that we had been working on and we had been.
26:54
Deanna Wallin: We didn't have power for the first five days.
26:58
Deanna Wallin: The roof is ripped off, the other one we've.
27:00
Deanna Wallin: Whatever we can, whatever right computer equipment we can get set up.
27:03
Deanna Wallin: We were back up and shipping in nine days and excuse me, and so what they did is they we?
27:10
Deanna Wallin: We sent out an email and we said thank you so much.
27:12
Deanna Wallin: We can't even answer all the emails that have come to us.
27:15
Deanna Wallin: If you would like to help us, here's what we're going to do Place an order and give us some time to fill the order.
27:22
Deanna Wallin: 40% of the stores are shut down.
27:23
Deanna Wallin: Go ahead, show your support, place an order, and my staff was literally in tears with these stacks and stacks, not hundreds, thousands of orders.
27:36
Jennifer Johnson: Wow, that's awesome.
27:37
Deanna Wallin: Thousands of orders that came in and guess what that kept jobs going.
27:41
Deanna Wallin: It did.
27:41
Deanna Wallin: I had to bring all the people that were out of work or their stores were closed, which we got.
27:47
Deanna Wallin: All of those stores cut down to studs and reopened within 67 days, all except one.
27:52
Deanna Wallin: It was a massive undertaking, but when you're closing a location, where did those people work, so we brought them all into the warehouse.
27:58
Deanna Wallin: So now they're filling these thousands of orders and they were happy.
28:04
Deanna Wallin: They're like, hey, we have jobs and after that type of an epic event, you don't know who's going to reopen and who's not, because no one's hiring at that moment and we were going into Christmas season at that time because that happened September 28th, and you think about those two months going into Black Friday.
28:19
Deanna Wallin: So so number one communication that is absolutely critical.
28:26
Deanna Wallin: If your customer's in and out and then they never hear from you again, you are going to have a very hard time and you're going to have to replace that customer.
28:33
Jennifer Johnson: And I love what you said because people do.
28:35
Jennifer Johnson: I mean, I've done the CEO letter too.
28:37
Jennifer Johnson: People love that because they want to hear from the owner, they want to hear from the founder, the person that started the whole thing.
28:44
Deanna Wallin: Yeah, so we started that during COVID.
28:46
Deanna Wallin: You know it was a way to to reach out and, um, you know a lot of major companies dealt with it, they all did it and and I read them.
28:53
Deanna Wallin: I would read them all because, especially as a business owner, I want to go.
28:56
Deanna Wallin: What are other people?
28:57
Jennifer Johnson: doing.
29:10
Deanna Wallin: Yes, we don't know.
29:11
Deanna Wallin: We were all looking around.
29:11
Deanna Wallin: What are they doing?
29:12
Deanna Wallin: We don't know what to do, so we didn't.
29:12
Deanna Wallin: We don't want to say too much, but we're like, help us.
29:14
Deanna Wallin: And so we learned from each other as leaders during that time period.
29:15
Deanna Wallin: Um, but that outpouring uh post Ian was just that was a massive um attribute to our customer loyal, loyalty of our customer base.
29:19
Deanna Wallin: And they didn't care.
29:21
Deanna Wallin: And every order that came through there was a note with it.
29:24
Deanna Wallin: There was a personal note with it saying some people would send in a $500 order, some people might've sent in a $25 order and said this is all I can spend right now.
29:33
Deanna Wallin: I'm sending you prayers and love, that kind of stuff.
29:35
Deanna Wallin: Or please, please, never close.
29:38
Deanna Wallin: Your stuff changed my life and my skin.
29:40
Deanna Wallin: The messages that we got were unbelievable.
29:42
Deanna Wallin: So that communication goes both ways.
29:44
Deanna Wallin: It does, and it's about fostering the relationship.
29:51
Deanna Wallin: So, that's number one.
29:53
Deanna Wallin: Quality in your product number two.
29:57
Deanna Wallin: There's nothing that goes on our shelf that I do not try on my body extensively.
29:59
Deanna Wallin: I reject tons.
30:00
Deanna Wallin: My bathroom looks like Willy.
30:01
Jennifer Johnson: Wonka's science lab.
30:02
Deanna Wallin: It's embarrassing.
30:03
Deanna Wallin: It is embarrassing because I get body care samples, shampoo samples I mean, I have samples till the cows come home.
30:11
Deanna Wallin: But it's about providing quality product.
30:13
Deanna Wallin: If you have a great product, people will come back.
30:16
Deanna Wallin: They will continue to use it, they will buy it if it works.
30:19
Deanna Wallin: And making sure that you have quality product is paramount, because I could have the best customer service.
30:24
Deanna Wallin: But if my product sucks, I'm done.
30:26
Deanna Wallin: I'm done it doesn't matter.
30:29
Deanna Wallin: And then, third thing that we've talked about so we've got communication, quality and consistency.
30:34
Deanna Wallin: So there's your little rhyme for me.
30:37
Deanna Wallin: So consistency when they come into the store they know what to expect.
30:41
Deanna Wallin: And I am very particular even in our merchandising In the south.
30:47
Deanna Wallin: Here we have a grocery store chain called Publix.
30:50
Deanna Wallin: I'm a huge fan and I study Publix.
30:55
Deanna Wallin: Okay, publix knows what they're doing from a grocer standpoint.
30:59
Deanna Wallin: Their customer service is exceptional.
31:00
Deanna Wallin: They are consistent, the quality.
31:03
Deanna Wallin: You don't go into Publix and find something that's funky right, you just don't.
31:08
Deanna Wallin: And during any type of crisis or catastrophe they are so um community oriented and philanthropic and I have taken so many cues from Publix heart, love you.
31:19
Deanna Wallin: Publix, but they are.
31:20
Deanna Wallin: You know they're a retailer, they're a grocery but you're still a retailer.
31:24
Deanna Wallin: They're a mass retailer.
31:25
Deanna Wallin: They've expanded up into the East and the Carolinas and stuff.
31:27
Deanna Wallin: But I study Publix and I look and I it's really funny because I've moved a couple of times in the last 10 years and I have gone before and driven past the closest Publix to my old Publix.
31:40
Deanna Wallin: Why?
31:40
Deanna Wallin: Because I knew where stuff was Sure.
31:42
Deanna Wallin: I knew where stuff was Sure.
31:43
Jennifer Johnson: I knew the map.
31:44
Deanna Wallin: So when I merchandise in my stores we have core product and then we have what I call ancillary, so that's kind of like the cute seasonal stuff that rotates in and out.
31:53
Deanna Wallin: But when we place core merchandise I try to keep it consistent in the same spot.
31:57
Deanna Wallin: So when people come in, it's not necessarily boring, but they know what.
32:00
Deanna Wallin: If it's a regular customer, it's not confusing, because I go into some boutiques sometimes and every time I walk in I'm like completely disoriented, you moved it all.
32:09
Deanna Wallin: Yeah, I'm like, where's the such and such?
32:11
Deanna Wallin: It used to be on the left wall, oh no, we moved back here.
32:13
Deanna Wallin: And so not that you have to leave everything exactly where it is, but ease of navigation and that consistency.
32:21
Deanna Wallin: Whether it's consistency in your floor placement, in your fixtures, even your lighting, like I look, if there's a light in the front that's a bulbs a different color than in the back that break in.
32:34
Deanna Wallin: Consistency.
32:34
Deanna Wallin: Whether it's training, it is your training as your customer service consistent.
32:39
Deanna Wallin: So those are the things that I look for.
32:42
Deanna Wallin: Is that consistency in the experience, because they know what to expect Exactly.
32:46
Deanna Wallin: It's like coming home.
32:47
Deanna Wallin: My daughter comes home for Thanksgiving.
32:49
Deanna Wallin: She's 30 years old, she's a plastic surgeon at Stanford.
32:52
Deanna Wallin: Anytime I get a chance to throw it in, you just throw it in.
32:55
Deanna Wallin: It's great, I just threw it in.
32:55
Deanna Wallin: But the funny thing is she's this wonderful, successful person way out in the world and she comes home for Thanksgiving.
33:02
Deanna Wallin: Why?
33:04
Deanna Wallin: She knows it's familiar, it's consistent and for her that's personal.
33:08
Deanna Wallin: So I think when you make that connection with your customer and they walk into your place and it feels like home, it feels consistent, they know it and they're comfortable there, I think that's really a huge testament to the business owner and that is going to form a connection and all these, all three of these are scalable, correct, with you know, within your company and how you do it.
33:30
Jennifer Johnson: I love our conversation.
33:31
Deanna Wallin: I know that our, our, we have great we do, we have a great conversation.
33:36
Jennifer Johnson: Our listeners are going to get a lot out of this, Deanna.
33:38
Jennifer Johnson: If our customers want to get in touch with you, they want to shop your store and they don't live in Southwest Florida.
33:44
Jennifer Johnson: How can they do that?
33:45
Deanna Wallin: They can visit us online at NaplesSoapcom.
33:47
Deanna Wallin: That's N-A-P-L-E-S-S-O-A-P.
33:51
Deanna Wallin: Naplessoapcom.
33:52
Deanna Wallin: Everything is on the website.
33:54
Deanna Wallin: There's some ancillary stuff that are in stores, but we've got a store locator there.
33:58
Deanna Wallin: We've got 13 in the state of Florida.
34:00
Deanna Wallin: But we ship all over the US, not to Canada or outside the US at the moment.
34:05
Deanna Wallin: But yeah, you can visit fabulouscom, wonderful.
34:09
Jennifer Johnson: Thank you so much for being on today.
34:10
Deanna Wallin: Well, thanks for having me.
34:11
Deanna Wallin: I love talking business and helping other business owners as well.
34:15
Deanna Wallin: Absolutely, and thank you to all of my listeners.