REDSEED BLOG

Should I really have to motivate my team?

December 9th, 2011

Yes, I know it’s part of my job description, but honestly some days it’s hard enough to drag myself out of bed and up the stairs (current office space post-earthquake), let alone motivate the rest of my team as well.

Call me crazy, but I think my team should motivate themselves, not expect me to do it for them. I want them to turn up for work positive, rearing to go and get stuck in, happy that they have a job to come to where we appreciate their energy and commitment. We’re lucky that we have a great bunch of people that are passionate about what they do – even when they’re sleep deprived (small children induced!). But is having a motivated team just luck, or is it a carefully manufactured state of affairs?

There is a good saying, “Hire for attitude, train for skill.” I like it because in my 20+ years of experience in the retail and hospitality industries I have seen my fair share of bad hires. People that ruin morale, cause conflict, give bad service and devalue your brand. So it’s one of my main criteria when I employ someone. I can’t work with someone that isn’t going to do their fair share, and that means contributing to the atmosphere in which I work. And I don’t expect anyone else in my team to have to put up with that either.

Motivation is an attitude, it comes from inside you. You bring it with you when you come to work. That means that you control it. Sure, you can’t always control what happens to you, I accept that, but you can control how you deal with it. I’m even prepared to cut you a bit of slack when life gets complicated, but not for ever.

What I will not tolerate is when that stuff upsets the rest of the team, impacts negatively on our customers or undermines our brand. We stick together, we watch each other’s backs, but we have high expectations about mood and motivation – it is just not acceptable to bring the team down, to be impolite and not do your best for our customers.

So, yes, the first part of the equation is hiring the right people. What are you looking for? Well in retail you are looking for excellent communication skills. A willingness to engage with people, passion about something that is people orientated, the ability to articulate your ideas and a willingness to serve customers and give them an outstanding experience. I have to see energy, spark, or the ‘x-factor’ as some people call it. I’m not looking for loud, attention seekers, just people who epitomise our brand.

Secondly, you have to make it very clear that motivation is their job, not yours, but you will not tolerate a lack of said ingredient. In Jim Collins words, “You are either on the bus or off the bus.” You don’t have to be trained to have a good attitude, a bad attitude can’t be blamed on someone else because it’s a personal choice.

And lastly you have to be prepared to put your money where your mouth is and take action if the need arises. It’s unacceptable for our customers to feel like they didn’t get 100% from us, to feel unloved or that we don’t care. Every member of the team must be accountable for their motivation and actions. There needs to be a very direct and straightforward conversation if anyone goes off track. In many cases the requirement to right the wrong with the customer will have a lasting effect on future motivation.

So take a good look at the motivation in your team. If it’s not what you would like it to be, think about what you need to do. If you hired the wrong people, then start the conversations now and make sure that when you hire their replacement you look for motivation, not skill.

While it’s not your job to motivate your team, it definitely is your job to hire people that embody your mindset, and do something about it if it goes missing in action.

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Sales Training vs. Customer Service

December 9th, 2011

A question that has been coming up a lot recently is why we teach ‘Sales Training’ as opposed to ‘Customer Service Training’. It’s an interesting question and one we’ve had many discussions about over our morning flat whites. Are they really mutually exclusive?

Have you ever gone into a store to buy an item, and then realised you didn’t get something that you should have; a vital accessory, or a complementary item? I have. And shouldn’t it at least be partly up to the salesperson to explore and identify those needs with you as their valued customer? Let’s say you walked into a bike store to buy your first bike. It would be logical for the salesperson to offer you all the products you need to get started right? A helmet for example, or a lock, or a pump. Surely if we’re training our staff to sell better they must be providing a better customer service experience in the process? It’s not about squeezing every last drop of money out of the customers that walk in to your store, but about providing a high level of service, engaging with them in a way that allows them to express their needs, and subsequently crafting the best solution you can for their unique requirements. And it can’t hurt to get a few more dollars in the till in the process…

Sales seems to be becoming a bit of a ‘dirty’ word, conjuring up images of used car salesmen in cheap suits and faux alligator-skin shoes. In contrast, many of you will be familiar with Apple’s solutions-based, ‘selling-without-selling’ philosophy (if not read this article by Anya), and it would be hard to argue that they’re on the wrong track having been recently valued at over $153 billion. So we know that the traditional model of a salesperson has changed as we’ve modernised, and that’s been a necessary reaction to the increase in savviness and pre-purchase research ability of the average consumer. And we all know an old-school salesman (or saleswoman) when we see one…they do tend to stand out. They follow a prescribed method, and this will often include having a myriad of responses to any objection you may have. The sales process will lack the personal touch, and you’ll find them spending more time convincing you to spend money than listening to you and finding a solution that is attractive not only at that moment but a week, a month, a year down the track. A really good salesperson however will place a much greater emphasis on listening to you and identifying your needs, finding out who you are and why you’re there, and less on leading you towards a big sale. These are the type of sales that inevitably prevent buyer’s remorse and create return customers, and in our current environment loyalty is key. Make them feel comfortable in your environment, give them a positive experience that meets their requirements, preferably exceeds them, and sell them all they need to meet those needs. That’s how you give them a reason to come back.

So I guess we understand the argument, but believe in selling with service as opposed to just offering service. A smile will only get you so far. Essentially I think this argument comes down to semantics; it’s what we associate with the word ‘sales’ that makes us feel uncomfortable, not the essence of the process. The reality is that customers enter a shop looking to purchase something, and it’s our responsibility as the provider of that product of service, to sell it to them in a way that is honest, informative, clear, and positive. The customer will associate the positive experience with the product, and your brand, creating a loyalty that can often be more valuable than the products you sell.

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2011: In Retrospect

December 9th, 2011

For the sake of positivity, let’s all agree to remember 2011 as the year we won back the Rugby World Cup, or if you’re not interested in rugby, perhaps the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton? Frankly, there’s been a lot of news from around the world and close to home that have really made 2011 a year that will be memorable for the wrong reasons. Earthquakes, London riots, the Euro crisis, Gaddafi, Egyptian revolution, tsunami, Bin Laden, drought, Anders Breivek, nuclear fallout…it can be hard to keep smiling when there’s so much going on in the world. Luckily we’ve had a bit of exposure to hardship in Christchurch this year, and have learnt some lessons in fortitude and hope along the way.

It’s been exciting at RedSeed this year, if slightly turbulent. We all found ourselves in the middle of the February earthquake, losing our office in the process (click here to read more), and subsequently shifted to Anya’s house where we are currently operating. We also had two unseasonal flurries of snow which interrupted business further, so we’ve all had a little bit of forced time off that we otherwise wouldn’t have had. Despite the interruptions, we’ve been busy-bees, developing new courses for existing clients, and working with some exciting new brands. This year we’ve been excited to work with Vodafone, Pharmacybrands (Life Pharmacy, Care Chemist, Radius Pharmacy, Unichem, Amcal), and Rebel Sport. And we’re currently working through the development of courses for Whitcoulls, Storage Box and Briscoes Homeware for launch early 2012.

We’re proud to have built a strong relationship with CureKids this year, helping them deliver their key messages around Red Nose Day and the Add a Dollar campaign using RedSeed technology. A lot of fun has been had filming with the CureKids family, and we were privileged to meet some of their ambassadors in the process. To find out more about CureKids and the incredible things they’re doing turning research into hope your young New Zealanders, check out their website here.

Another significant development we’ve been working through has been with the Retail Institute, to deliver their retail sales qualifications online and align and supplement our existing content to be NZQA accredited. This means our clients will be able to put their trainees through the National Certificate in Retail (Level 2) on the RedSeed platform, which consist of our existing course combined with a supplementary ‘bolt-on’ course. They can even cross-credit their existing training towards the qualification!

Some other highlights for 2011:

Getting to ride a YikeBike™
The NZ Web Development Conference
Presenting at the Retail Australasia Summit
The birth of Ben VT’s first child Maxwell

Many of you will know Ben Sleeman, who has worked for RedSeed since 2009, and was instrumental as our Sales Manager in developing relationships with many of our current clients. In August, Ben took a step in the next stage in his career, becoming a Territory Manager at Ricoh NZ. Although we’ve adapted to not having Ben in the sales position, we miss having him around and the energy he brought to the office. We know he’ll do a great job at Ricoh, and wish him all the best.

Looking forward to 2012, we have plenty of developments in the pipeline. We’ve made lots of changes to the system this year, and next year you’ll be seeing even more. We’re looking to expand the RedSeed team next year and priority one is finding an awesome web/iOS developer, so if you know anyone who fits the bill, let us know.On the drawing board at the moment:

Mobile application of our existing training
Push reporting
More sophisticated course and user management
RedSeed Management Programme
Enhancements to the trainee experience

So it’s almost time to take a deep breath, enjoy a little bit of time away over Christmas, and come back hitting the ground running. 2012 is lining up to be a big year, in Christchurch for sure, and it’s an exciting prospect to be part of that drive. Many thanks to the clients and people who have made this year so positive despite it all. We’re so grateful to have such wonderful clients that push us to improve and grow, and we’ll continue to strive to deliver exceptional training solutions to New Zealand retailers. Enjoy the festive season, be safe, and we’ll see you next year.

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Business As Usual?

November 3rd, 2011

It’s been 8 months since a 6.3 magnitude earthquake tore our city to shreds. Some of you may have read my account of that fateful day in an earlier blog post, and we’ve had 7,737 quakes in total since the first one back in September ’10. That’s quite a lot. Now granted, only a small percentage of those have affected my life, most of them I haven’t felt, but I could honestly say I’ve experienced at least a hundred quakes in the past year or so. That sort of thing takes a toll, and it’s an immeasurable toll because it affects us all differently. I can only speak on my own behalf, having become a father a month following the February quake, in which both my pregnant wife and myself were caught in dangerous spots in the CBD. I’ve found fatherhood brings a new level of awareness; awareness of mortality, the people you love, the risks in life, your priorities and dreams; so in a way it’s been a great learning experience. Something in losing your sense of safety and stability gives you an entirely new perspective on what you stand to lose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIlxoV6uG3Q

It’s been an interesting time. RedSeed as a business hardly faltered, and with our server being offshore our platform continued as per normal. Aside from us having a couple of days to get our heads screwed back on we dug out our laptops and cellphones and got straight back into it from Anya’s house. Luckily they had a space above the garage that we were able to commandeer as working space. We’re still there and for now at least it’s working pretty well. We miss the CBD, the people, the amenities, Hagley Park, the river, and the energy. Our office is still there, one of the very few, although it looks likely that it will be too expensive to repair so we’re facing a slightly different future now.

We know that nearly two-thirds of New Zealand businesses have suffered; the talent pool has shrunk, office/retail space is generally more expensive and hard to come by, employees have more going on in their lives: insurance claims, living conditions, lack of resources, increased stress, etc. It’s challenging and requires a level of thought that hasn’t been necessary in the past. There’s a few key things that we’ve always done well here at RedSeed that have really helped us keep things together, and we’ve perhaps improved on them in the past months:

Communication: We talk often. Whether it’s during the work day, sharing coffee/lunch etc. Not just office talk; we talk about what’s happening in our lives, our properties and insurance, our families, our experiences, stresses, hopes and plans for our city and our personal futures. Obviously we talk shop too, but we always share some time together to talk about life in a more general sense.
A team mentality: We make decisions as a team. Everyone’s voice is heard. It’s easier for us being a small group but it’s the best way to work. Something comes up, we talk about it, work out what to do, work out who’s doing it and move on. That makes us efficient and adaptable; very useful characteristics to have.
Flexibility: We’re all different, and our differences mean we require different things from our lives and our roles. During the tougher times when some of us wanted to be with our families we were given the choice to work from home for example. If someone’s late for work because they’ve had stresses at home with earthquake ‘stuff’, so what? A little flexibility can result in a lot more loyalty and long-term buy-in.
Support: We were offered professional support/guidance after February so we could get our heads back in the game. I took it, and frankly it was one of the best decisions I could have made; for me, my family, and my employers. Hard to measure again but I know it helped with my motivation, productivity and satisfaction.

Our city is slowly piecing itself back together, and so will our local businesses. We lost nearly 9,000 people from our population, but we won’t be going anywhere. We deserve to see our city recover, we’ve earned it, and so have the businesses that have survived. In a strange way we’re lucky to have had this opportunity to learn more about ourselves and the way we live, work and relate, and I for one will be teaching my son the skills we’ve learned along the way.

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Have you been seduced by the promise of a ‘global system’?

November 3rd, 2011

They said it could do everything, pull all our HR needs and tools together in one place. It sounded so tempting, is it too good to be true?

Yes probably, and many companies are just finding out.

Why is it so attractive to move from using specialist tools and providers to looking for a one size fits all solution?

Why do we think that we need to bring inhouse many of the functions that we have traditionally out-sourced?

For many years business consultants have told us to stick to our knitting – concentrate on what we do well. Jim Collins makes this point loud and clear in his book “Good to Great”, where he talked about the Hedgehog concept. He asked us, “What can you be the best in the world at?” Concentrate your efforts on that and be a specialist rather than a generalist.

So why has the online world created the mentality that we can do everything ourselves, and is it really so smart?

Not that long ago we were happy to engage a law firm, a marketing firm, specialist trainers, web experts and so on. We acknowledged their expertise and their skill, the fact that this was their knitting and they would know more than we do. And we paid for it, we might not have happily paid for it, but we did all the same.

So why have we changed our minds? What makes us believe that we can get the same type of outcomes that they can? Something strange has happened to our mindset in the online age. The online market is flooded with solutions, in fact so many that it’s hard to keep up. How tempting it is when a solution can pull together a number of functions and streamline them into one system. We are easily seduced, it seems like it will solve all our problems, the truth is that it doesn’t. It hasn’t and it won’t. What it will do is tie you into a system that you will be reluctant to move away from because you feel like it should work. You start spending your time doing something that is not your core business. You move from hands-on to hands-off.

Little wonder that the trend is moving back to specialists providers who provide their services online as a SaaS (software as a service). Couple specialist providers with no IT grief, no maintenance, no content building and you have a winning solution.

Just because it is on-line and accessible doesn’t mean that we should be doing it.

If it is not your core business, then leave it to the experts!

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Hiring Tips for the Silly Season

Making RedSeed Easier for YOU!

November 1st, 2011

Alot of our readers are customers, and many of them use the RedSeed platform regularly, whether they’re doing training or working in the Coach and Administration Mode. I’d like to start presenting a few simple ideas on how to get RedSeed working smarter for you, at the same time presenting some simple usability tips that will help any internet user.

Let’s look at accessing RedSeed (or any other commonly used page) first. How do you get to the login page? Do you go to our website and click login? Do you type in RedSeed into Google and go from there? Obviously the goal is to get to the login page without wasting too much time and there’s a couple of ways of doing this. The first solution is creating a favourite or bookmark, which is a way for your internet browser (the program you use to access the internet) to record a webpage for quick reference. Let’s assume you’re using Internet Explorer 8 for example (we’ll talk more about this shortly). Follow the two steps below, and you’ll have a link you can click no matter what you’re doing in your browser and you’ll head straight to RedSeed.

Step One:

Step Two:

Pretty simple huh? If you use another version of Explorer or a different browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.) the instructions will be slightly different but you should have that functionality. You may just need to do a search in the help menu for ‘Bookmarks’ or ‘Favorites’ (American spelling).

Maybe you’re the type of computer user who like to have everything on their desktop. No problem. Follow the steps below and you’ll get an icon that will take you straight to RedSeed.

Step One:

Step Two:

And finally, my third point for this helpful post is around browsers. I’ve given the previous examples in reference to Internet Explorer version 8; that’s because approximately half of RedSeed users access the platform via this browser, using this particular version. Approximately 25% use an older version (6 or 7). If you are using an older version, it would be worth considering either upgrading your browser, or ideally trying something like Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Without getting technical either one of these browsers have the ability to increase the speed and functionality of RedSeed, and they’re safe, free and easy to install. Why not try one of them out?

Google Chrome: http://www.google.com/chrome

Mozilla Firefox: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

We’ll continue this conversation at some stage, so stay tuned. If you have anything you’d like to ask post a comment below and I’ll try and address it next time round. See you soon for more helpful tips!

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Training Summary Release

October 12th, 2011

This morning we released a new interface to the RedSeed suite of tools, the ‘Training Summary’ screen. It is similar to the ‘User Detail’ view in the ‘Coach & Admin’ dashboard, but optimised and available for the Trainee. Some reworking of the RedSeed login was done to integrate this new summary screen. We have also released a password reset function and some other tweaks and fixes as part of the release.

Login & Password Reset

LOGIN

With this release we needed to add some tweaks to our login procedure. The initial login form looks quite similar to before but with the addition of a link for Password Reset. Once successfully logged in the following scenarios will occur:

Trainee with one or more course enrollments

These account types will be directed straight into the new Training Summary screen, where they can then choose their course (previously a drop down list of courses in the Login area). Note: even if a Trainee is only enrolled in one course, they will still be loaded into the Training Summary (in case there is new feedback to review). Previously a single enrollment Trainee was sent straight into training.

Manager with one or more course enrollments

These managers have a similar change as described above where the drop down list of courses/coach & admin option has been replaced by two buttons, ‘Coach & Admin’ and ‘Training’. The Training button will take them to the new Training Summary page where they can now go into Coach & Admin via the other button. The manager can switch between the Coach & Admin and Training Summary screens during their login session.

Manager with no course enrollments

Similar to the previous login mechanism, a ‘Manager’ with no course enrollment will be loaded straight into the Coach & Admin area. They (like all other managers) will be able to navigate between the ‘Coach & Admin’ and ‘Training Summary’ areas while logged in via the top navigation menu bar.

PASSWORD RESET

Due to the nature of user accounts in RedSeed, where we have some accounts using a unique email, some a shared email and others a non email format login – a ‘self password reset’ option has always been tricky to implement. In the future we will be adding a separate email field for each user account, so users can have the option of setting a personal email for their account, even if their login username is something else (or a shared office email). This will enable more robust delivery of notification emails and also the option to use this new feature for resetting their own password.

So from now on, if a user has a unique email address they can reset their own password via this tool. The link to initiate this action is now found on the main RedSeed Login screen (HELP: I forgot my password.) When the user clicks on this link they will go to a new Password Reset form. Here they can enter their email and request a password reset. If their email address matches a single account, then a special token link will be emailed to them. This token link is valid for 3 hours, and if clicked on during that time period will reset their password. The randomly generated password will be sent via email – they can then choose to update their password via the ‘My Account’ option once logged in.

If a user enters a non email format in the Password Reset email box, they will be told this feature is only available for unique email address set accounts. If a shared email address is entered, a message stating that their Manager is the person to see for their password reset will be explained. If there is any other problem resetting the password for the account, a link to support will be provided.

While this new Password Reset does not cover all account types, we hope it’s an important step in the right direction towards self management and a more automated processes, minimising the workload for all our Manager and HR users!

Training Summary

Why a new interface? We recently discussed the options for presenting some of what is available within the Dashboard at a ‘User’ level, to the trainee themselves. Access to print off a workbook, visually see their progress (with any highlighted events; workbook marking, inactivity alerts etc) and also a new mechanism for reviewing positive feedback. While the workbook could be accessed via the training interface and from there all comments (both for correct and incorrectly marked answers) – we realised good, notified access to new positive feedback from Coaches was all too subtle and very possibly overlooked. So the key focus for this interface was to enable easy access to this positive feedback (i.e. feedback given on workbook answers marked correct). See below for a description of the key areas of this new interface.

CURRENT COURSES

The current courses lists all the training enrollments for the logged in user. This includes normal enrollments and ‘Free Roam’ enrollments. The red GO button links off training for that course. Clicking on the course name will drop down more detailed information (start & last update date time, marking manager, cumulative training time etc). The other columns offer notification of feedback status, workbook pdf, exam result and also a notification link on how to get a certificate if the course has been passed.

FEEDBACK

The feedback icon (either red for new or dark grey for read) links to a pop up window which will show all questions, answers and coach’s feedback on answers that have been marked as correct. This is an important addition we hope will enable Trainees to keep track of the feedback provided and further realise the benefits of our workbook cycle. Previously these types of comments could only be seen by navigating back through the course, or via a generated workbook pdf. We now evisage the following type of scenario as a Trainee progresses through a workbook marking content course:

- Trainee works through a session and submits workbook

- Coach marks the workbook and sends back questions that need rework with feedback provided on both correct and incorrect answers as appropriate

- Trainee addresses those incorrect questions taking note of the feedback for those incorrect answers (as previously and still currently shown within the training workbook question section), then re-submits their workbook

- Coach marks new answers and potentially provides more feedback before unlocking the next session for the Trainee

- Trainee logs back into RedSeed, reviews any new unread positive feedback from that Session, then hits GO to get started on the next session

OTHER LINKS

The ‘My Account’ functionality is available within ‘Training Summary’, so users can update their name, email, password and video preference settings. The Help area is also available and if the user is a Manager, access to the ‘Coach & Admin’ section is available. These options are all available via the top menu bar, as per the other RedSeed Interfaces.

Other Revisions & Fixes

As part of the release we also included some tweaks to the ‘Coach & Admin’ and ‘Training’ areas:

Logout bug during Exam session. The new save on logout feature was causing grief logging out during an exam session in some scenarios. This has now been resolved.

The Coach & Admin level names (Companies, Regions, Stores etc) now have vanilla character formatting. Previously there were some rules making the first character names uppercases and this was not making sense for the way some levels were defined. The level names will now display in the Dashboard exactly as they have been loaded in RedSeed – please see us if you need any revisions to your level definitions.

The Programme and Session progressed percentages that used to be displayed at the end of the visual bars in the ‘User Detail’ view have now been removed. They were ambiguous especially in the cases of those who have passed the exam (as this percentage amount was not the exam pass mark). The next stage of this refinement will likely see the introduction of the same sort of information that is now available in the Training Summary view into this area.

Previously the User Details screen for any account with no enrollments OR ‘Free Roam’ enrollments had an ambiguous message regarding their enrollment state. This message has now been reworked for more clarification.

New certificate templates released.

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Fixed or growth mindset and how does it affect your work?

September 9th, 2011

Mindset – the new psychology of success by Carole S. Dweck.

I have to confess to being one of those people with a stack of books beside my bed. I read multiple titles at one time combining both work reads and novels, and will choose according to my mood on the day.

One that has just moved from my stack to my husband’s is Carole Dweck’s ‘Mindset’. Her work centres around our mindset and how some of us have a fixed mindset and others a growth mindset. Dweck uses many examples of both, and demonstrates how the way we view things has a profound effect on our lives.

Many people believe that we are born with a certain set of qualities that are set in stone and can’t be changed, for example our IQ. Others know that our qualities can be cultivated through effort, for example we can become smarter through practice, training and method.

If we have a fixed mindset we spend our life having to prove our ability over and over again. We try to hide our inadequacies when we could be spending our energy on getting better!

In a fixed mindset we only want to do what we know we are good at, what’s tried and true, instead of seeking out experiences that will stretch us.

The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it when it’s not going that well is the hallmark of a growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times of their life.

So how does this translate to work, and most importantly, can it add value to your organisation?

We can look at the growth mindset from a number of different points of view. Firstly from an organisational point of view. Does your business have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset? Are you willing to try new things, work hard to master them and to get better, or are you forever trying to prove that your product and your business model are successful? There is a risk that we get stuck in our ways and the world passes us by. We become outmoded and old-fashioned, chasing something that used to be good enough.

If the success of an organisation is based around the performance of its people, there is a real need to hire and to foster the growth mindset. You should be looking for people with potential, not natural skill. And then you need to have a system in place that will support their growth through things like apprenticeships, workshops and coaching sessions. If our skills are to be increased through practice, there must be an environment that facilitates practice. You need to focus on creating an environment that allows people to improve rather than having to prove themselves. If people worry that there will be disapproval for their ideas and actions then they are less likely to try.

Secondly, from a personal perspective; how can you make sure that you continue to grow and to improve your skill set? With no one pushing you outside your comfort zone there is safety in doing what you know and flying under the radar. After all who really wants to draw attention to themselves, particularly if you don’t even know if you are going to succeed. People with a fixed mindset are easy to identify through their unwillingness to try new things, to take a risk or to develop and be better than they are today. We can however change our point of view and look at things from a growth perspective.

Every person has the capacity to learn and to change. The key is making it an attractive proposition. What will I get out of putting myself out on a limb and admitting that I don’t know everything? In the end it is a release from the pressure of having to live up to a certain standard and having to prove your skills over and over again.

In businesses that fosters a growth mindset there is more positive energy, more ideas, innovation and more loyalty because people feel that they are learning and are supported in their role within the business. If you want some examples of successful growth mindset businesses check out Jim Collins book, ‘Good to Great’.

Take a look at yourself and your business. Do you feel special, superior to other people and entitled to more? – you have a fixed mindset. Learning enriches your life and the lives of the people you interact with. Carol Dweck’s ‘Mindset’ is not only a fascinating read, it’s knowledge that can change your life.

- Anya Anderson

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Music and Retail : A Complicated Relationship

September 5th, 2011

Most people love music, or at least appreciate it. The increase in consumption of personal music devices is testament to that, and I think you’d struggle to find someone who hasn’t heard of an iPod. We love it while we’re driving, doing housework, exercising, entertaining or relaxing, and we know this is because it ‘does something’ to us. Whether that ‘something’ is energizing, relaxing, motivating or mood-enhancing; the effect, generally physical or emotional, is undeniable.

Intelligent retailers understand the value of music in their stores. Research has shown correctly chosen music can keep shoppers in stores longer, and can slow their shopping pace allowing more exposure to product ranges, while poorly chosen music can cause aggravated customers or simply dissuade people from purchasing. Music can encourage our customers to relax, which in turn aids dialogue, making selling much, much easier.

So grab your CDs from home, plug your MP3 into your store PA, or flick on the radio and watch your sales sky-rocket. Is it really that easy?

Unfortunately playing music in your store is considered illegal unless you have a license, and being caught playing unlicensed music in your store can leave your store $3,500 in the red, possible more. Even the hold music on your phone system can land you in trouble if unlicensed.

There are two different copyrights at play here; one for the public performance of a song, and one for the song itself (its lyrics, composition, melody, etc.). The Institutions managing these licenses are Phonographic Performances NZ Ltd (PPNZ) and the Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) and licenses are generally required from both. The fee is dependent on the size of the store and the number of media players being used.

So how much will it set you back? Well as an example, let’s say your store was 300 square metres, you have hold music on your phone with up to 5 lines, and you had one CD player playing for the entire store. You’d be paying APRA approximately $145 per year for your license with an additional $131 for your hold music, and another $160 for your PPNZ license, with another $87.50 for your hold music. You may be thinking there’s some doubling up going on here, but don’t forget your paying for the copyrights for both the song itself, and the recorded version of the original work. That’s a total annual cost of $523.50.

For more specific breakdowns of costs, see the APRA Retail Background Music License application HERE, their Music on Hold License application HERE, and PPNZ’s rates HERE. Alternatively you can call PPNZ on 0800 88 77 69, and APRA on 0800 69 27 72. And for all you NZ Retailers Association members, you should find you qualify for a 10% discount on the APRA fee which should lighten the load.

So hopefully this doesn’t come as too much of a surprise to you all, and I’m sure many of you will already have your licenses sorted, but for those who don’t, save yourself some stress down the track and pick up the phone or get online. Or alternatively you could set yourself up as a ‘silent store’ and carve yourself a wee nich in the market. Good luck with that.

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