A New Kung-Fu

The secret punch to a cheaper, faster & better future in retail facilities.

I hope this frustrates you.

What I mean to say is, I hope the thoughts written below articulate what you have said or have wanted to say all along…the kind of frustration that leads to change. Industry change starts with an idea, then a mindset that begins to coalesce buyers and sellers over time.

But first, a riddle:

Second, a joke:

How many people does it take to screw in a light bulb at a retail store?

As many as 10.

1 — Store Manager uploads a work request

2 — Facility Manager approves a DNE

3 — Service Provider accepts the DNE

4 — Supplier sends bulbs to the store (possibly done at an earlier event)

5 — Installer is dispatched to the store

6 — Service Provider notifies the store of pending visit

7— Mall Management is notified of pending visit for clearance

8 — Manager on Duty signs off on the Installer’s work

9 — SP Admin Coordinator receives signoff and photos

10 — SP Admin Coordinator submits invoice and updates the “System”

11 — Installer Admin submits invoice to Service Provider

I didn’t say it was a funny joke.

For a long time I felt this was a streamlined model, one that any Six Sigma Black Belt would be proud of. Each layer of this supply chain is measurable and all layers ensure compliance. Many retailer scorecards benchmark the timing associated to each layer, and service providers mirrored their business models accordingly, however each layer costs money.

Common sense tells us that it costs more than it needs to and too much of the money spent doesn’t have a direct impact on the in-store experience.

I believe the overall gains of this process are reaping a diminishing return as retailers are grappling with a new consumer and the need for a more engaging customer experience; there is just not enough money in our current model to allow for that. The unrealized stack of “good ideas that would make a significant change” continues to grow because we can’t go without light bulbs. Is there a future that provides a cheaper, faster and better way to change lightbulbs?

It’s possible.

If you stare long enough, you’ll see that the gears do not turn — but they do.

Often times, the secret lies not in logic, but in perspective. Thinking outside of the box (yes, it is an over used adage) is often the key to unlocking a permanent shift in thinking.

Standard of Care Kung Fu

And the Triple Fingered Box Crushing Power Punch At A Distance

The Standard of Care is the digital encyclopedia of your brand standards, multimedia content that not only defines standards, but also brand learned best practices. Not a spreadsheet or 100 Mg Powerpoint file, an “app” on the smartphones of your brand ecosystem that is carefuly curated and managed by a Store Experience Strategist, currently known as a Retail Facility Management Professional. Retailers, lets pretend for a moment that you have an SoC and it is at your fingertips — now you’re ready for the punch.

The Triple Fingered Box Crushing Power Punch At A Distance is a real thing — and it has the ability to create an industry that is cheaper, faster and better because it attacks from a different position, one that most vendors don’t dare tread and most retailers don’t believe exists; a mindset of abundance and one that believes the best days are ahead of us.

Here is how you throw it:

Step 1 — Installer Empowerment

The installer is the most undervalued asset we have in the facilities ecosystem. I’m referring to the individual that shows up at the store with his tools and a fistful of paperwork that guarantees he will get paid when the job is completed. Unfortunately, most installers failed to adapt to the needs of retailers because they lacked the digital toolbelt required to maintain the appropriate update mechanisms required by retailers. This “inability” carved out an opportunity for suppliers and distributors to backfill and insert a layer into the supply chain that guaranteed compliance. This is no longer the case. Millennials (digital natives) have just eclipsed all other generations in the work force this year.

Carpenters, handymen and plumbers alike can update Facebook and LinkedIn profiles just as easily as they can comply with an IVR and Work Order Management systems — but our industry is built for a muted work force. One that relies on redundant layers and analog support, even our Work Order Management Systems still require a desktop administrator (the real 3rd party) to reach a full settlement of a work order. Software providers, I know you are punching your screen reading this…good, keep punching away. We need this bridge and only you can build it.

Imagine a regionalized ecosystem of installers that are digitally connected and empowered with the appropriate brand standards through a Standard of Care. More so, true innovation as it relates to the implementation of the trades will come from the field, not the office. Ever wonder where the trade innovation has been in our industry the past 10 years? We have disconnected the industry from the individuals that can contribute to that cause.

Step 2— Store Manager Empowerment

Facilities Managers, this is not your customer. Store Managers are colleagues with facilities departments, and they are the second most undervalued asset in the ecosystem.

There is an undertone found in the industry that believes a store manager is put at an inconvenience when included in the resolution of facilities work orders. But if we look at the retail landscape in the new digital lens, we realize that store experience is the sum of 3 parts:

Products + Staff + Environment = Store Experience

Great brands get all 3 variables right & surviving brands get 2 out of 3.

In this equation, we have to include a store manager in our world. Once again, a Standard of Care at the fingertips of a store manager can empower greater visibility into store conditions and a more robust audit mechanism against work orders. Who has the ability to empower this individual? The Store Experience Strategist who has carefully built a reference point for store manager decision making.

Facility managers establish standards and by socializing them in such a way that makes access low friction and user oriented, will achieve even greater impact for their brands. It’s not hocus pocus, it’s simple math and there is a pile of failed retailers that underestimated the merits of this new equation.

Step 3— CFO Empowerment

Yeah, I said it: “Chief Financial Officer Empowerment.”

The facilities industry has yet to conduct quantifiable research that correlates store conditions with store sales (will someone please start this business already!). There is a new langauge and vernacular that our industry needs to speak, and it’s not big data, self performing and volume discounting. It’s words like customer engagement, foot traffic, brand negative and adjacent competition. Total cost of ownership and emotional impact — how specific are a brand’s design components to its identity? These are the weights and measures of a new facilities department that connects its expenditures to an enhanced store experience.

An experience share that makes my point:

I was once asked to conduct field assessments of over 80 stores, qualifying the conditions of the wood floor. Prior to submitting my results to my client, I dug into customer research on the core demographic which happened to be professional females aged 32–50. Lo and behold, I discovered there was a buying behavior associated to this group. While walking through a mall, these shoppers had a strong tendency to avoid entering stores they felt were incongruent to their standards, in other words, they were risk averse and hyper sensitive. Here is how I translated that to the client:

Of the 80 locations you have, 65 of them have floors that are below brand standards. However, of the 65 candidate locations, 18 of them carry a greater risk to the brand as there are no visual obstructions from the store exterior (display walls or marketing), allowing passing foot traffic the ability to look into the store from outside and potentially be deterred from entering by the poor floor conditions. It’s not hocus pocus, the future of our industry has arrived before us.

A CFO with an SoC on his / her phone that enables the ability to see what the brand is made of is a sound platform for discussion and low friction inclusion into the facilities world. Empowering a CFO to weigh in on brand standards could chart the course of establishing the importance of facilities departments within the company and help brands make deeper connections through the stores.

Summary

Condensing our supply chain is the only way we can effectively reduce costs while improving EVERYTHING else, but this is not possible without a new way of thinking (Empowered Ecosystem) and a roadmap (Standard of Care).

3rd and 4th party business models divert far too much money away from the in-store experience, at the expense of our industry.

I have the luxury of being a small and nimble service provider to think this way, this was not always the case. The verdict is out on whether my firm will make it, but I feel I owe it to myself and this industry (which has provided for me nearly 18 years) to share these ideas, and I encourage feedback and critiques.