A Shirt Shop, A Game Plan, and The Power Of Two

When we met Malik at a keynote event a while back, he was desperate for direction. He was a hardworking young man with big dreams and a strong work ethic, but his retail store was drowning. We started coaching him one-on-one, and the first thing we did was identify the two things he felt needed the most attention, which were customer acquisition and retention. We talked about the Power of Two and how our challenge for him was to move all of his focus and energy into these two areas. His first response was “But what about everything else?” and our response was “Delegate!” 

So we worked through each of the details of the business and he found ways to delegate these tasks to free up room in his day to focus on customer acquisition and retention. Here’s the plan we came up with:

• Malik hired someone to help with online ads and social media to get more people to notice his store.

• He brought in a part-time helper to answer phone calls and set up appointments, so he could focus on talking to customers and going to events.  
• He got a local shop to make flyers and brochures for his store so more people would know about it.
• He empowered some of his trusted employees with more responsibility around the store (and fired one who was bringing everyone down) 

This helped him in his effort to find new distributors and customers. 

Part of his strategy to retain current customers included: 

• Making sure his staff was well-trained to give customers a great experience every time they visited.

• Hiring someone to keep track of loyal customers and send them special offers to thank them for their support.
• Working with a retail expert to teach his team how to be even better at helping customers find what they need.

The result? More people started coming into the store because they heard about it online and through friends. After six months of dedicated focus, Malik noted that customers kept coming back because they felt valued and appreciated. In the end, sales went up, and his store was in the green for the first time in a long time. 

While our coaching involved more than implementing the Power of Two, Malik reported that putting this strategy into place allowed him to trust his team to take on more responsibility and gave him the time and space he needed to focus on the two areas that were going to most significantly impact his business. 

This week, we challenge you to identify a pain point in your personal life or your business and ask yourself:

“What two things, if done consistently, would help me solve this problem the fastest?”  

Then make a plan to focus on those two things and watch what happens.

If you’re feeling brave, email us and let us know what two things you’re going to focus on so we can help keep you accountable and cheer you on!