Oh the channels that don't always talk. Where is the customer in this drawing?

Building the perfect multichannel team

I spoke several months ago at a conference hosted by Drapers, on the topic of developing the perfect team structure to support your multi channel business.

While it seems now like e commerce has been around for ever, multi channel is the official badly behaved child at a birthday party. It creates a ruckus. There are differing ideas on how to treat it — ignore it, and it will sort itself out. Coddle it into behaving by giving it treats. Put it in a time out. Infrequently do these methods work with children, and they don't with multichannel.

The key with multichannel is to view everything you do, and everything you are considering doing from the customer’s perspective. That means you need to leave your territory at the door. You can't worry about what this means for your retail store, and losing mail order sales, or how click & collect orders will take up space. You can't worry about bonuses and how this impacts it. The customer doesn't want friction, they want ease. So when hiring, I ask lots of questions that may seem to come from left field, but I am trying to get a sense of how they view channels, and customers, and which one is paramount to them. I will take a less ‘traditionally’ trained retail applicant every time if they talk about the customer more than they talk about the channel. If someone has been in a retail business that isn’t multichannel, it is a big leap to try and get someone to give up that mindset, and there is enough to worry about in a business than having internal divisions fighting against each other for the customer. There is one brand. There is one customer.

So what is the perfect team? Perfection is overrated in a team, because needs and goals are always changing. But I have a short list that I always use:

1. It is based on current needs, and needs for the next 12–18 months. It evolves. And if you picked right, hopefully the team evolves with you and the business.
2. It isn't only based on skills — it is based on personality too. Don't underestimate this. People spend a great deal of time with their co-workers. Teams that get along get more done, vibe off each other, and produce better work, fact.
3. Ask yourself, and ask your team, would you want to go for a drink with this person *and* talk about something besides work? Be stuck on a 8 hour flight with them? These things matter!

A great team clicks both skill wise + personality wise!

We toss around the ‘omni, multi’ etc too much. We are retailers. Just ones that are open 24 days and happen to interact with our customers differently, and if we are doing it right, we know a heck of a great deal more about them because we have analytics, buying history, CRM, and even binary modelling running. We are the geeks of retail, and we love it.

And the geeks of retail, with their access to all the data, don’t need to touch the data to tell you the following — there is only one channel — the customer channel. This has become a bit of a mantra with me.

Frankly, all the buzzwords and stakeholders confuse the most important point in retail; the only point if you want to be successful, which is the end result. The end result of multichannel is having the right product in the place of the customer’s choosing, quickly & easily, to ensure ease of sale.

Not so hard. We make it hard, but it isn't that hard. And some brands are doing it right, so it can be done. But systems, processes, and 27 stakeholders usually stand between the simplicity and truth of that sentence, and the reality of why so many retailers still fail at this — or haven't even tried it.

So, when building a team, think ‘what/who do I need to ensure an amazing customer experience, no matter where it happens?’

I love this cartoon, I think it sums up where many retailers go wrong.

Typical silo-based business issues. Bad customer experience!

So now that I have been banging on, you are probably thinking I will unveil the magic of the perfect multichannel team. Sorry, no. It really is in some ways unique to each organisation, based on where they are in the journey, the strategic placement of their brand, what staff they have, etc.

But there are some keys that have to be done to align a business to get to the point where multi channel and customer are the focus for everyone.

1. Coffee/tea. Lots of it.
2. Patience. Or the ability to use a stress ball lots, or I recommend buying a Whack-a Mole off of Ebay. One of my teams found it did wonders for us.
3. An enormous amount of Power Points. And a passion to teach. Those power points will be used for you to go out like a fledging religion newbie spreading the word, and literally explaining what it all means, and what is in it for them (sorry, people always want to know what is in it for them.)
4. If your business has several locations, Skype or your teleconferencing facility will be come to be your reason for being on some days (hint: if you are making a cup of tea, and are surprised to find someone in 3D, take a day or two off from the video chats.)
5. A willingness to believe you can make this happen, and therefore a willingness to keep banging your head on certain walls. Again and again. Wearing knitwear helps soften the blows on your head, FYI.
6. And a VERY good multi-skilled team.

In the early days of ecommerce — at the risk of being one of those people who says— ‘I remember when we had to walk to school uphill, both ways, in the snow’ I was the ecommerce department. Anyone in their late 30s or early to mid 40s probably was. We were commonly known as ‘the person in the corner/under the stairs/the strange one with the computer/I thought they were an intern but they've been here quite awhile now, perhaps we should find out their name.’ In those early days, the halcyon days of ecommerce, we were lucky to see daylight (usually you were sat next to the mouse traps), lucky to be more than two of you (misery loves company, as you can’t get a sale catalogue to upload for the 9,002 time), and lucky to even be recognised as a department. Which, once the money started to be made, and customers asked if you had a website, you most definitely were.

If that was the past, today is about:

1. Content is EVERYONE’s job. If you don’t know what that means, you are in the wrong area.
2. Customer service is EVERYONE’s job. Same as above.
3. Departments that are successful at this have melded into each other, or at least work synergistically and communicate and co-function well.
4. Ecommerce / multichannel teams not only get daylight, but a seat at the table.
5. The focus — the primary focus — is on the customer and their journey. How they shop online. How they walk the store floor. How they interact with you across social, and other measurable means such as in store wi-fi. Sales attribution in a properly aligned business should be the last thing discussed. Sales yes, attribution, no. Don’t be the people fighting for the last bit of meat on the carcass left on the ground. It just isn’t attractive, and if you are doing that, it is a clear sign you are in trouble.

So what else do you need now? In the past, by necessity, people (like me) became ‘specialised generalists’ because we were the department. My experience is broad and deep. From supply chain, to B&M to finance, to marketing, to operations and 12 other skills sets I am not mentioning.

But as e commerce & now multi channel has grown up, and it is big, people chose a path early and stick with it — merchandising, marketing, logistics, etc. But I think this is going to leave us with a bit of a lost generation. I get loads of calls from headhunters for Head of Ecommerce or Multichannel roles, and can I recommend anyone, and I get stuck. Because that totality of experience is missing, and it is required. We need broad experience, and deep experience. And I am not talking about ghosting someone for 3 months in each area. This is complex, and it is a big tapestry, and if you pull the wrong thread…..

So we need to get to a flip where we go back to specialised generalists. People will always have some area they like the best, and are naturally strongest in. However, with the challenges of multi channel commerce almost make it impossible NOT to do this.

But, we need to keep in mind it isn't for everyone. To be a specialised generalist, to focus everyone on the customer first and foremost, to change the way a business has done business takes moxie. And sometimes a business says they want this, but when they realise what it takes, they suddenly go off it. You need to like juggling, quite a bit of crazy, and be willing to delegate and un-delegate in the same minute.

So I will leave you with this. Which, frankly, is me, most days.

Multichannel moves fast. Take notes so y0u remember what you have done,or delegated. Don’t do that at your peril!

Have any comments or feedback? Please feel free to email me at kristine.kirby@btinternet.com. And if you like it, and find it interesting, please hit the little ‘ol recommendation button at the bottom. Thanks!