Numbers and Narratives
Numbers and Narratives bridges the gap between the marketing/customer experience and data - come listen to marketing and CX experts talk about how to use data to better engage with your customers and provide a great experience.
Numbers and Narratives
Elevating Marketing and CX In Luxury Retail - with Juliana Evangelista
This week, we had a fascinating chat with Juliana Evangelista about what makes luxury customer experience actually luxurious. Juliana comes with a really interesting perspective from working with brands like Swarovski on how to train retail teams and create those "wow" moments that keep people coming back.
Three big things that stood out:
Discovery before transaction - don't just ask "what are you shopping for?", learn about the customer first
Consistency matters more than fancy perks - you'd have someone spend $100 ten times than $5k once
AI should enhance human connections, not replace them - use data to empower staff, not automate them away
Juliana shared horror luxury shopping experiences, which drive home her points that every interaction matters, especially in luxury. You can find her at jewelsempre.com if you're looking to level up your CX game.
I'm ibi syed I'm shah khans and this is numbers and narratives how have you been, juliana?
Speaker 1:I've been good. I've been really busy. Actually, this is the last time you guys at content square, I've been really involved with rossky and a few other luxury brands coming to me to really help improve their CX experience, whether it's doing coaching and feedback for leadership. How do we really analyze data differently, create these action plans or just even facilitation as well, and really combining that with not like adult learning methodologies? But how do we create the content to be very much registering and relatable that they would want to sell this product and also inspired by it too? Can you?
Speaker 2:kind of set the stage, for I think this will probably just be a pretty good clip. But talk to us about the whole kind of like how you work with brands, the whole journey, all that kind of stuff. Just as one it'll prove as like a pretty good reminder for us.
Speaker 1:I'm like I'm sure we can have a great conversation either way, but just so we can maybe scope something in for the listeners and after working and learning and development and luxury sales and luxury marketing for about 10 years, and something that really propelled me to do it was I wanted to see more of the opportunity and more of the market as well and work with a variety of brands and really connect with these people individually, because the most luxury thing someone can give to you is your time and I'm a connector and I love connecting that too.
Speaker 1:And what I find with client experience and actually I remember when we first met you're like you know, I don't remember you know why would I at a CVS, not expect a certain type of service? But if I go into a luxury space, I expect that and to me, that's something that I pride myself on, whether it is the most expensive brand or the most renowned brand or it's an up-and-coming brand, where you spend your time should be valued. And that is something I take pride in with Jules Sempre and work with my brands, having this more human-centric element in the evolution and the evolution not the evolution but sort of in terms of the world of AI, but always having that human-centric form of connection to really lead that. And so working with in terms of facilitating workshops, designing workshops, working with leaders, work with the field team, working on the corporate end, anything that's really client focused and client facing are. These are the areas I really specialize in okay, that's super cool.
Speaker 2:One sort of question, I guess for you and we we have a little bit of this conversation when we met at Comet Squared. Okay, there's kind of a couple different verticals, right. So of companies, right, there's your kind of regular consumer brands, like CVS, the ones where you know you don't really expect a specific type of service. Then you've got like your, I'm walking into the Omega store on Fifth Avenue and maybe they're actually not that nice to me because like I look like this and like I clearly I'm not going to buy a nice watch, but like you know, like for the sake of, for the sake of it, those are like for the sake of it. Those are like the I'm sure there's even bigger ones right. Like you can walk into like a Rolls Royce dealership or I don't know if they call them stores or dealerships or whatever, but like there's like that right.
Speaker 3:I had a friend who was in marketing and called it sort of like the premium mediocre brands. Maybe we just, maybe we just lop the word mediocre off and it's it's like standard premium luxury, right, yeah?
Speaker 1:and then I mean, because one client I want to name, but one client I work with, you know, I kind of describe as a lunch attainable luxury brand and I think that's kind of because they're in that middle market between being fashion and that luxury price point as well.
Speaker 2:Where does Aesop I don't know if I'm pronouncing this correctly Somebody gifted me this really, really nice soap, aesop, aesop. I'm a plebeian, I buy non-name brand CVS soap and fill it up with this pre-made thing and they gave it to me and I was like, oh, this is nice, not knowing what it was. And it is clearly nice soap. But I put it in my kitchen and he kind of just looked at me and he goes you're just going to put it next to the dishwashing detergent. And I was like what is this? And then it turns out it's like a $50 bottle of hand pump soap. But I'm like this is bananas. That me it is notorious for yeah, is that like that? That's, that's like a pre. Let me call that a premium brand, right?
Speaker 1:yeah, I mean, I don't know if there's like 200, so I'm sure there is but like yeah, they go all the way up there, but I think, especially for beauty, like that's a pretty I mean. It's like the same thing with the tea candles, you know, like you see, like all the big ones that are like starting out at like 500, um, yeah, those are like kind of more like luxury, like home accents for sure. But then Eastside is definitely known for their soap. Okay, got it.
Speaker 2:Got it, got it, I forgot in the back. Yeah, I guess what my question is is how does like how you explain how the customer experience should go across those three like verticals, and maybe we keep it simple and say there's just I'm sure there's more, but what are the kind of biggest differences that you see?
Speaker 1:Well, I think the biggest difference is within a luxury, premium household. I think it is more viewed and we're really changing the mindset that it's a luxury for you to be able to afford that and to be here, and it's really changing it in terms of it should be a luxury that I'm gifting you my time to be here and invest my time into experiencing your brand, learning about your brand and maybe purchasing it now or at a later time date too, and I think it I mean with COVID also. When COVID initially happened luxury brands, gucci and then they all skyrocketed because they didn't have to focus on service anymore. It was we have the product, and the demand is actually outreaching more than the product supply of that, and I think it's been a hard time to really change that mindset, but it really comes down to the dedication of training and the dedication and the retention and the accountability when it goes to that Something. Actually, with ESOP specifically, though, have you ever been to one of their stores?
Speaker 2:There's one like two blocks down from my office and I walked past it and I was like, oh, I should go in there.
Speaker 3:So that doesn't answer the question. Have you been to this store? Ibby Not. Do you know where one is?
Speaker 2:I know where one is. It scares me a little bit. Like it scares me a little bit. It's like one of those things where it's like nice and beautiful and I like. I just kind of like, oh, I'm not worthy of this.
Speaker 1:It's funny because all their stores it's very utopian but also like militant as well, like they have a very specific like design to it, but also it can also feel like you're in a spa, but they all have these things there.
Speaker 1:And so, for example, the esop experience is to really try, like they make it engaging, or they're supposed to at least um, you know, the try on of the different scrubs and they have like this whole step process when it becomes more than soaps and for skincare, they take pride in being I think that's 100 natural, but also the regimen of how often you should be changing your skincare, even based on the seasons too. Like I actually learned from them that you know you're supposed to be using foam cleanser, like during summer, and in gel, like you know it's just like the base of it and so, but they have this. What is that experience is like really delurging and stuff like that. That you know something if you went to a department store, you're going to get a different experience from a department store because they're not going to have, like you know, like the stink of the try on element, but then the third department store. What's our experience? That still connects with esop this is really interesting.
Speaker 2:This is super interesting. It I don't know. I don't know if this story is going to go anywhere. Um, I don't know if the story is going to go anywhere, but like one time, one time alright. So at some point early, early in my career, I did like a mystery shopping for for I don't know if I'm. I think I think an NDA percludes me from. It was 10 years ago. How long do NDAs last?
Speaker 3:just don't say it. Just a big brand, a big brand. Don't get me to go over your stupid story it's okay.
Speaker 1:Sorry, no, because I've worked for a company that facilitates those mystery shoppers.
Speaker 2:So we did mystery shopping and it was for engagement rings. It was for engagement rings. This was like five, six, seven years ago and they had us go to competitor brands and they had us go and they gave us backstories. I had to walk in. I walked into one version of their store and I was like me, a regular guy, I had like a regular budget. And then they were like, hey, like, go in, and your backstory is that you have a lot more money to spend.
Speaker 2:And the difference in the experience between the two like the first one, um, the first one it was, you know, oh, like it was still great. They showed me all the rings, they walked me through it. I was very young. They clearly were like, oh, this guy does not know what he's doing. They walked me through financing and all that kind of stuff. But then when I said, hey, like my budget is like $500,000, it was a completely different experience. They took me to the back, they poured me a little bit of champagne, champagne. They like, they did the whole, like dog and pony show. Is that right? Is that the right? Yeah, something like that. They did the whole. They did the whole show and and and it's really interesting how kind of those you know. One would be maybe considered upper premium and the other one is considered like true luxury. Like you, you know we're giving you the hard sell.
Speaker 1:You haven't actually given us any money yet, but like we expect that you will, and so we're going to give you a very different I mean, it's very similar to, even if you're picking up codes, um, when someone walks into your store, you know, or even if, like, just out and about, if you're like we're friends and you're at a party, you notice them walk in, you notice their watch, notice what bag they're holding, you can tell the quality of their jacket, what glasses they're wearing, how they're speaking, their, et cetera, and you kind of already kind of get these social codes, that kind of tell you you know the bandwidth or the spending power and within that too, also, if you know they're in that more premium luxury like threshold, you know that they're getting this type of elevated experience someplace else.
Speaker 1:And that's also the opportunity too, because we're investing so much of our time in these people that we think or have maybe dropped that 50K in one visit and then it's so hard for them to get back. Well, there is a value in someone and giving them that premium experience If they come in. I would rather someone comes in 10 times and spend $1,000, because we're showing the longevity with them and we're building that relationship further. And so your point of your example just really shows like oh, we're leading by the transaction over the service, we're leading by the potential of how much this can be a one time over the lifespan of someone and their time.
Speaker 3:When you're going in and working with these brands and doing this, consulting and training, how much of your time is spent focused on kind of the in-person, live in-store experience versus how much is the digital experience?
Speaker 1:So it's predominantly in-person experience, working with store leaders and field teams in terms of either regurgitating that brand DNA, those selling skills and that storytelling, but also making it really relatable to them as well and creating real-life moments in terms of how and why this information is important, moments in terms of how and why this information is important and really also really reigniting that fire that comes to them for to work for the brand or to sell the brand as well. I always like to say, especially when it comes to that, you can be a purchase, you know, a customer of a brand, for you know one minute, one month, 10 years, et cetera. There's always something new to learn about that brand too, and it's up to us, as the field team, to really relate that to them and to really enhance that client experience. There's some more. I always think the transfer of knowledge really shows your work. I mean how invested you are with someone, or with a company too, and whether that's an investment of learning and development or just as a client being the end receiver. When it comes to that too.
Speaker 1:On the digital side, I will regionalize the content and the messaging, so a lot of that comes from. If they've taken assessments, online assessments. What do they retain from that? Also, what's been a big focus is coaching and feedback for leaders as well, and utilizing digital platform to really organize and be like okay, this is where my team needs like optimization on their skillset. How can I create this action plan when it comes to that, too? But what I'm really excited for when it comes to AI and more digital platforms, when it comes to that, is how we utilize the data and creating more opportunities for data to be captured in a larger quantity. That on a learning and development end entity, we're able to create the content faster and more precisely to what the needs are.
Speaker 2:So how do you see AI being used across some of the sort of like different verticals? Right, like I assume that there is actually a place for luxury brands here. I'll give you kind of an example. We had Justin Crosby Justin Crosby as a guest on the podcast a couple weeks back, and one of the things that he talked about is like they're actually the brand is really really important to them, right, like the way that folks interact with the brand, the way that people interact with their customer success. People like use them not just for hey, I need help with my order, but they're also asking for advice. They're asking for those skincare tips. And so he is like hey, like we haven't actually implemented a lot of that. We do have like a place that we want to implement AI, but we're kind of like being a little bit more careful because we don't want to ruin that brand experience.
Speaker 2:How do you sort of think about the place that AI has, especially when it comes to so many people at least trying to AI-ify away that sort of first tier of communication? Right, like a company that's a little bit more inbound heavy when it comes to customer success or customer service traffic volume? They're like all right, it makes sense. Right, they're using AI to try to come answer those common questions, or they're using a platform like decagon, or they're using a platform like us to be able to like help them understand. Hey, what are the biggest questions that people are asking? So we can kind of like put that out on faq page or have the ai bot respond and give them, like, the order tracking status. How, how does that change for, sort of like, more consumer, more pedestrian brands compared to, like, those folks that are operating in the luxury space?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I think the example that you just brought up, when it comes to that, especially for digital, it's more about scalability to be able to, you know, reach a larger audience with the utilization of AI. But you also probably really got a really good factor that I mean, if I'm on a phone call and I know it is, you know, an AI bot, I'm immediately like oh my God, Like, and it could just even just be like what's your name? Blah, blah, blah. I'm just like. This is just going to be so annoying. I just want like a real person, Like Xero and Agent for me are like on repeat, and so I think that's the way. Like to your point, there's a way to utilize it for scalability, but it also can be used for personalization as well On digital platforms, which that's like at Content Square, they really did a really great job in articulating the site mapping and how they utilize AI to kind of capture that data.
Speaker 1:So when it comes to that data part, they can see that a lot of the trends within that, a lot of people are asking about this or a lot of people are going this is where the journey really lies and utilize that in terms of going to their support team and maybe not heavily utilizing automated forms of Zendesk, but really just diverging more of that training and development when it comes to their call centers, their client services team and also in-person teams as well.
Speaker 1:I think it just comes back to how the information is being utilized, and I mean to your point with Tula especially people are really conscientious of the brands that they support as well. It's not even just about, oh, the brand recognition, it's also what does that brand really symbolize? How does that brand make me feel too? And that's something that AI can work with us humans. Really, it's supposed to be of common support and to, not to replace, and that's it. It also should just be used to elevate that 360 cycle when it comes to the consumer, but also as employees that is really interesting because they're.
Speaker 3:It's interesting to think about. What are the tools that you could use from a digital side that would enable and empower the in-person team too? Right, because especially this premium you know not premium, mediocre, just actual premium and luxury. Like you do expect a different experience in the store, right. Like you don't go into Walmart and expect to be able to wash your hands with the soaps and be like I, like this one, you do expect that at ESOP or uh, I don't know other soap stores you guys haven't mentioned anymore, so I don't know any others. But like a jewelry stores, you expect people to try it on. Like I went it was watch shopping with a buddy and they brought us out like espressos and like it was like a nut you talked about the kind of watches you. Like it was like a full concierge experience.
Speaker 1:Like you do expect more and there's got to be a way that that digital can feed into that I think I mean, if it's a human kind of helping on the back end, just having that human-sensory mindset, or maybe it's training the AI bot to come, I mean real-life time and kind of make my problem with AI when it comes to certain bots, is it very much feels like this is what I'm dealing with.
Speaker 1:And when you're frustrated and when you have questions, you know you want to know that there is a mind behind that immediately. You know you want to know that there is a mind behind that, immediately. That form of empathy that an AI thought at this point in time is not being utilized that way. But I don't think. Also, I think that's the beauty of the combination of the two the human's going to be human-centered and be able to add like empathy and to have a different real-life answer and to really like match, match your pace, match your tone, um, while ai is not going to be able maybe to immediately decipher that an online chat a lot of the ai tools right now that are like predictive, in in nature, right like predicts when, what your ltv will be, predicts your likelihood to come back and purchase, predicts whatever.
Speaker 3:There's got to be some way to get that like, how do you get that? How do you close the loop from the in-life experience? Uh, and how do you take what you have and your predictions and your, your knowledge from the ai and pipe that into your in-store teams and be like hey, like, if they're asking these questions, they're they're kind of trying to lead themselves this way, but if you can lead them to this one, your likelihood to close it goes up. Your LTV or repeat purchase goes up.
Speaker 1:I think that's actually the easiest part is utilizing it for the data and then being able to create the training for that in-person training as well, or whether it's even a virtual training too. I prefer in-person, but even if it's just not just living on a digital platform. I mean, when it comes to retention of any training, the likelihood is going to be between 70 to 90% if you're having a real-time training, opposed to relying on the assessment too. But that's also something that AI can really assist with is getting that data being like okay, these are real actions, these are real issues, or these are real opportunities we can try to rectify or elevate further. Right, and being able to utilize AI to help create the content too, while you being the one that really facilitates it and drives it home, and within that action plan as well.
Speaker 2:I think that integration is really coming to play here too, where there's a lot of sort of tooling that people are using, and as long as you can give the information to the person and the product that they use like for a customer support agent it's a lot easier if, like, because this is interesting, right, because, like, so many people are utilizing the customer success or customer support team to like, understand and ask questions before making a purchase, and if you can say, hey, like, this customer is actually highly likely to buy this based on what they're talking about, like, that's actually really, really interesting.
Speaker 2:It kind of gives that you know, it basically empowers the human rather than tries to replace them, which is pretty cool. One kind of one question and this is something that we've been thinking about a little bit at Cotera is a couple of our customers have bought, like, a QA model from us where it sits on top of the conversation between the agent and the customer and tries to basically say, hey, like, here is how you know, here's how they did, right, like, did they say the customer's name, did they try to show empathy or whatever, and that kind of wait, sean, why are you laughing?
Speaker 3:The phrase show empathy or whatever is like the least empathetic statement.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's definitely the least empathetic statement ever. Sorry. Customer success and customer experience have like a decent amount of turnover, right Like they are usually like slightly more entry-level jobs. There isn't like a ton, like a lot of companies see them as a cost center, so therefore there's not really a ton of room to grow. Sometimes people will move to other parts of the org. Sometimes people move to other parts of the org and so training and maintaining that really high merit entry and that high level of quality and that high level of knowledge, especially for a company that is in the lottery space, must be pretty challenging. No.
Speaker 1:It is, and I think too I mean to your point I sometimes would have to train call centers or Zendesk employees, and I sometimes feel like I'm doing this every two months because of the turnover, but it's like, ok, we maybe weren't investing in terms of why are they leaving? Is it a performance element? Is it? You know, what is that? Is there a lack of connection between them and the company as well? But the importance of what call centers? Or even with retail employees I mean, there's one brand I was talking to and their turnover within their retail spaces is about 70%, which I was like, wow, that is really really high, and so it doesn't really matter in that regard to me if we have to build this consistency and what the experience should look and feel like to the customer, based on what the brand is trying to advocate for. You know, with to love, for example, that you said I'm sure to let this have retail stores. I think so I think so.
Speaker 2:I mean a lot of their retail. It matters is like in target or they're mainly like in big box retailers, um, and a lot of the people that like work there.
Speaker 1:But but I know, for example, sephora or Ultra, they will work with them and they'll have like a brand ambassador, but they will train the entire team and that's why it's, you know, the emphasis of regular visits and regular simulation and training in that way is super important because it's going to keep them engaged and excited and feeling invested in that sense. And it's just the cost of the job, but I feel like the higher component of you doing this regular business and training and demonstrations, your retention will increase as well. So it won't be the so cost of it won't be actually end up being more cost effective than just not investing in it at all and the cost of constantly having to onboard and etc and regurgitate the verbiage, et cetera.
Speaker 3:That's really interesting because you know Ibu was talking about how Cotera can sit and kind of QA live chats and provide feedback and it's kind of scoring and help you understand how accurately and how well people are doing. Obviously, that's much different in freaking field sales team or something like that. Yes, the people on the chat know functionally that they are being evaluated by this tool, but there's not like someone standing next to them watching them type, whereas so like, how do you do something similar? How do you QA? How do you? You know when you're coming in to do an initial training? I would guess there's some level of like pre assessment to understand what the current level of quality is, or something like that. How do you kind of do in-person QA, qc, figure out where people are, identify where people are struggling and where they're doing well?
Speaker 1:So it's a combination of a few things. There is a client evaluation, whatever host that you have. There's a variety of different programs. Now even AI is coming. Ai based programs are kind of using that coming more about to be accessible for luxury brands and sectors to really be able to gauge the opportunities in that client experience and what they're really good at as well, even on for observations.
Speaker 1:I think I'm very keen to the kind of really just have your own perspective of what is really happening here and where the client experience is really strong at and also where they really lack. I mean, I think something that is a constant reoccurring element is just asking what brings you in today, what are you shopping for? And instead of learning about the customer, we're learning about their transaction first. But also when it comes to if I'm saying I'm just going into a store and I'm doing a training, it's also nice to know where that base level of foundation is in terms of the brand knowledge as well. You'll be surprised at any time. I've been to a store, say, five times within the last year and I'll go in there trained and the next time I go I'm like, okay, the level of information is a little better. But now, by the fifth time, you're like, oh, we remember the brand, is this, this and this? And I'm like, okay, so it's also again investing in the time to really build that foundation too. But it's always good to have that scope in terms of what do we know about the brand? Um, how are we relating this new experience to in terms of experience metric, in order to treat training solely based on that? It's just based on the metrics and I personally like to combine the client evaluation metric well also with kpis, because usually that kind of goes side and side. So if're say, like your product proposal for is very low and your UPT is low, okay, like that is a direct correlation, that there's an actionable that's supporting why your UPT is not, you know, at a 1.5 or 2.0, et cetera.
Speaker 1:Units per transaction. So KPIs are key performance indicators. So ADT is average dollar transaction, upt is unit per transaction. Oh, sph is sales per hour. That I don't worry as much about. That is just like in general. I mean it ties in, but I'm more, I'm more. Look at UPT and conversion. So obviously conversion is the amount of people that walked in and then purchased.
Speaker 3:But if you're, if your product proposals I mean your ADT, your UPT and your conversions low, but it is so counter to what I would have assumed was the right thing to do, like I never would have thought about. Like you know, discovery is something we talk about all the time in like SaaS sales or enterprise level sales right, the conversation starts with discovery. I don't really enjoy meeting new people. I'm pretty shy and quiet, and so when I go to a store, I actually do kind of assume that the first question is like how can I help you? What are you looking for today? Let's get to the point.
Speaker 3:I'm not coming into a store just to look around. I know that some people do, I do not. But you're right, when I think to the times that I do and the shopping experience I remember, it is like the one I remember is my local Trek store. The owner was there and he was like why, you know, are you, have you been riding for a long time? We started just talking about biking. He didn't ask me what I was shopping for. We just chatted about biking for 10 minutes and then he was like oh, if what you're looking for is this, then like here's the bikes we should be talking about, and it flowed seamlessly. But in my head, yeah, of course. I walked in, asked me what I'm shopping for and get me some product in mind.
Speaker 1:I always remember my one of the worst experiences I ever had in a luxury store. I ended up working for one of their brand one day, but it was my first luxury purchase. I was 20 years old. I was buying this purse in order to go study abroad and it was a big deal for me. The purchase was like $500. It was a lot of money money for a 20-year-old and it's still. That's a decent amount of change right now just to spend on one thing. And I walked into the store. I stood in front of the bag and no one came to me for 35 minutes. Yeah, I'm standing. I just kept walking around and coming back to it and I had a one hour lunch break. I gotta go, I need to eat. I thought this would be a little bit more, and I've still never walked into that store to this day.
Speaker 1:And it's just like your experience, whether it's good, mediocre or subpar really does affect more than you might even realize.
Speaker 1:And especially when it comes to a negative experience, it has seven times more impact than someone raving about a great interaction as well.
Speaker 1:But the thing is too, those are the types of things in terms of metrics when you're even looking more analytically it's like how is it actually being articulated? And that is because we have to change the mindset to really learn, and it's really you would be, I mean, maybe more surprising for you, but it is the biggest challenge when it comes to retail, especially luxury retail, right now, and I think we're seeing that too in the climate of these top luxury brands that have, you know, not really had to work for their customer. They've been saying they've been really client-centric, but clearly not They've been really relying on the hype and the desirability of the brand to really lead that. And now I honestly personally think this smaller luxury brands or premium brands to really take that center stage, because you're not expecting that level of service from them and if they hone in on that more, oh, they're in the right, they're truly in the running that's really interesting what is your?
Speaker 1:what is your favorite clothing brand? I know guys okay for favorite.
Speaker 2:Okay, so favorite all around. I don't actually own that many things from here because I'm inherently incredibly cheap, but it's probably Vori.
Speaker 1:I keep seeing them pop up around too, I think I just I don't know.
Speaker 2:I have to fly a decent amount and I'm always looking for the best thing to fly in and I can't really. Again, I buy things for like five dollars from a thrift store, like 15 from target yeah, like thrifting is. Oh, actually, I brought, I wore this shirt today um in in honor of this conversation this is givenchy.
Speaker 1:I bought it thrifted, that's sick um.
Speaker 2:This is a, this is like a shirt, it's just like a Comfort Colors t-shirt. You know it's Gucci. It's basically this guy who recycles old Gucci bags and he like cuts or recycles old like luxury handbags whenever they get ripped or whatever, and he like makes clothing out of.
Speaker 1:Wait.
Speaker 2:He like makes clothing out of them.
Speaker 1:Wait, sorry, you just like cut out for like two seconds for me. Does that say Gucci?
Speaker 2:Did you just like cut out for like two seconds for me.
Speaker 3:Does that say gucci, did you? Yeah, it says gucci um, and he's a cheap guy. He just like, he just wears gucci stuff no big deal.
Speaker 2:No, no, it's not actual gucci. It's not actual gucci. I bought this for 15 or 20, 20, um, at like a, at like a uh, sort of a farmer's bracket. Basically it's this guy who takes old handbags, recycles them and then makes like, puts like the logos on, like the logos on like regular clothes. So this is like a Comfort Colors t-shirt, so it's like.
Speaker 1:Dapper Dan really did have such an impact when it came to stuff like that. The funny part about him is like I mean he got arrested for doing that and then Gucci was like okay, we'll do a little collaboration with you.
Speaker 2:Ooh yeah, if you look on, wait Sean, what is this brand? So that's? Oh sorry, dapper Dan.
Speaker 3:That's my favorite clothing brand. I don't know if it's Onion, onion, I don't know how to say it?
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:But I love their shirts. They're so great.
Speaker 1:So I mean the train people like learn three to five things at a client, like, and even I was in Georgia. I was actually supposed to be in Miami last week but then obviously everything the hurricane happened. But I'm actually going to Florida in a couple of weeks too, and it really is about focusing on coaching and feedback for the leader, but also giving insights in terms of how you can do that for your teams. And something that I noticed within this one individual who was their strongest seller.
Speaker 1:I was just doing role play and I was telling a customer that I'd never been there before and the brand has such a rich history but they're new and ready to wear. They're newer, they're known in a different category, but they have such an enriching history that they have these visual representations within the front of the store and their biggest challenge is how do you connect this with running to it? And so I just kept going over and over those key questions like, for example, have you ever experienced a brand or a store before? Or asking something like that, or just even like compliments really honestly go a long way, but learning more like is this your first time here or what, if it is, it's so easy to do a story tour or just really enthrall people and be like oh, what is your favorite part about this? So what like more open-ended questions before you really start learning, I mean start focusing on why are they there?
Speaker 3:Man, that's so cool.
Speaker 1:But you would think these are basics when it comes in sales. That it like for me. Honestly, I'm like, oh my God, if I went back into the retail sales floor I would own it. But that's how I started, actually, I started off in the retail sales floor and I realized that an actual gift of being able to connect with the brand but also the client too, and it was motivating.
Speaker 1:I was motivated by meeting my quota and I was motivated by also just genuine connections that I would make in the people that I got to work with and my team, but even the end consumers the amount of times that you know I made someone's birthday extremely special, or Christmas or holidays, et cetera. I actually this is a G-Skate tour back in 2007 on Newberry Street and it's still one of my favorite jobs to this day and I mean I had about a million dollar book from a $2 million store and it was like a 500 square foot space. The things that I've learned I just enhanced throughout my career and the one thing is connection. It's really building that connection. It's super important.
Speaker 3:How do you coach someone to try and build connection? I feel like that's and this could be completely off base, but I feel like some people just inherently get it and kind of thrive off of making that connection, like you were saying. You do you know my wife like just in her mom, they'll be out at dinner and they'll become friends with everyone around us and I'm just like I'm trying to eat my burger, like leave me alone. How do you teach someone to care and to make that connection and ask those questions and think about empathy over kind of?
Speaker 1:sale.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's quite a few training exercises that focus on discovery too, and also, I think it's also being mindful and having that sense of awareness as well.
Speaker 1:I mean, the thing that you mentioned earlier was about you know. You know if you go into a certain type of store, you expect to be in this type of luxury service et cetera. But you wouldn't expect that like a Walmart, something that a store like a Walmart or maybe more fast-paced, just being a sense of awareness, acknowledging someone with nonverbals or just verbally saying hi, how are you, hi, how are you Like the morning, et cetera, can really enhance an experience too. But when it comes to discovery, it's just matching also that pace too. I mean, if I can sense that you are not really trying to have this open conversation, I'm not gonna try to force one as well, but that doesn't really have anything much to do with creating a comfortable environment as well. This is adapting. But I think just being very conscientious, really putting the customer first, is how you will lead that service so it doesn't feel transactional and it meets both parties at the meet.
Speaker 3:Parties need I have one more, one more question, just to to kind of like close the loop. So I think that that was interesting. I want to take it back to that awful experience you had the first time you went luxury shopping. So no one spoke to you for 35 minutes. Obviously, I wasn't there. I'm going to let's, let's pretend for this situation that there were other customers in this store, and so they were. You know, all the, all the salespeople on the floor were helping somebody else. What is the right way to when you're, you know, giving this one person a premium experience and really trying to connect, a new person comes in. How do you of handle that and say, like hey, I see you, I promise I'll take care of you, but I need to, like you know, give this person also their due experience. Like, how do you kind of handle that situation?
Speaker 1:of course. So I think I've come okay. So most client advisors should be trained on terms of handling multi-customers at the same time, and that sense, too, is also really important why store leaders need to be on the floor. Sometimes we find, in the struggle with store leaders being so tied in operationally that they'll be behind, they'll be in the back and they prioritize being on the floor on weekends. But this is where a store leader or supervisor or someone kind of what we call experienced leading is really modernizing the floor. And so there was a leader. I mean, I'm sure there was, but I didn't talk to them.
Speaker 1:You know, it was important to really kind of check in and be like hi, how are you, are you being taken care of? Or, if I'm right, if the client advisor is helping another client be able to demonstration, they can do that while also just taking a moment to be like hi, how are you? You know that sense of acknowledgement. You know you don't want anyone to feel isolated and just alone. And something that was even mentioned before when you did the engagement ring of mystery shopping was just the level of treatment was very different and maybe I didn't look like I was going to spend a lot of money there, so that's also why I was getting the treatment. You don't want any client to feel that way as well. I've had clients that you know didn't buy anything that day but because of the levels experience I gave came back and they remember that. And I've also, very early on in my career as actually doing retail marketing, I was doing more brand activations to create these client experiences, and one of them was I was on a music tour and we were partnering with a sneaker brand and a journey's location for this teeny bopper. Well, he's not a teen anymore, but his name is Cody Simpson. He was like the Australian Justin Bieber. I mean, I honestly will say I mean he's a very nice guy. He was like a baby teenager when I met him. His pull on females and dating is just like absurd. He's dating Kylie, gigi Hadid, like now he's dating like the best Olympic swimmer that come from Australia.
Speaker 1:I'm like so we're doing a meet and greet and we start setting up at 7 am and this mother and daughter come right up there and the meet and greet started at noon, and so after a while I start talking to him and I'm like oh, like, do you have your? You need a proof of purchase of the sneaker at a journey store in order to meet him, and I kind of sense that the mother didn't have one and she's like, oh, I don't, I don't have. Mother didn't have one and she's like, oh, I don't, I don't have it. And so I took this as an opportunity to be like let me make this brand be something that really connects in as well, monumental for a long-term and be a part of this, this long-term memory. And so I just asked what her size she was.
Speaker 1:I had a whole band of sneakers, like got one, put them on her and I just said enjoy. And it's like those types of moments that you can also cultivate. I mean not saying give up product for free, but you can really, if you just focus on being an empathetic human and really making someone feel seen, because that opportunity I mean that timing kind of makes them feel so isolated, so not valued, and I'm like this person has been waiting for five hours. How is this not as valuable than just someone spending $50?
Speaker 2:on a pair of sneakers. That's really cool and actually probably a pretty good place to end. Before you jump off, I need a couple things. One is where can our listeners find you online and where can they, you know, if they're interested in your services? If there's a luxury brand out there listening, how do they find you?
Speaker 1:So I'm very active on LinkedIn, first of all, so you can just find my name I think my handle is Juliana Evangelista and my website is JewelSemprecom and my website is JewelSemprecom and so we can do anything from facilitation, workshop design, content creation, retail safaris as well, which is more about store observations and kind of giving our feedback and anything more personalized to enhance your CX.
Speaker 3:We'll put all that in the show notes. Thank you, and it was so good chatting.
Speaker 1:But no, it was good to see you guys as well. Thank you guys so much.
Speaker 2:Of course, and yeah, before we jump off this, who was this episode not sponsored by Sean?
Speaker 3:I mean, I'll tell you who it really was. Decagon sure didn't sponsor it.
Speaker 2:Congratulations on their massive series beef.
Speaker 1:Wait what.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no, definitely not where we work. This episode is also not sponsored by the company who should be nameless that Juliana did not have a great experience at All. Right, thanks so much, juliana.
Speaker 1:No problem, Bye guys.