You want your customers to tell a story about their experience with you. What’s the best way to ensure it’s the story you want them to tell? Reverse engineer the customer experience to create a positive emotional outcome.
You don’t have to look any further than the stock market to see how positive emotional outcomes can lead to positive financial outcomes. Generally speaking, when people feel positive and optimistic en masse, the stock market goes up. When they feel anxious, negative, or threatened en masse, it goes down. At an individual level, this happens during our customer interactions. It’s how you make people feel that makes them want to work with you and buy from you.
Emotional outcomes are so essential that luxury automaker Lexus now measures them through a survey instrument. “Emotion is an important measure for loyalty,” says Peggy Turner, vice president of Lexus guest retention and satisfaction. “People talk about customer satisfaction, but that’s a given. We want to know: How did we make the guest feel?”
So, how does one reverse engineer a sales experience for a positive outcome? While every buyer is different, a good start is to recognize that customers often fall into two distinct buying styles: transactional and holistic. Transactional buying is known colloquially as the surgical strike. This is when you have a customer who thinks, I know what I want. I just want to get it from you and get on with my life.
Holistic buying refers to a “big picture” buying style in which the customer is engaged in multiple aspects of the experience beyond product and price.1 These elements include such things as their enjoyment working with you, the appeal of your sales environment, and long-term considerations, such as service after the sale. Here’s a snapshot of transactional versus holistic buying styles:
Transactional vs. Holistic Buying
Transactional Buying |
Holistic Buying |
Shop for a single item |
Shop comprehensively—what else goes with this item? |
Evaluating the product only |
Evaluating the product and the sales experience, including the salesperson interaction |
Thinking, “Will this work for me?” |
Thinking, “Will this work for everyone else too?” |
Lower expectations for attentive service |
Higher expectations for attentive service |
Information seekers |
Information and inspiration seekers |
Someone can be a holistic buyer one moment and a transactional buyer the next. What “mode” that buyer is in when she’s with you can depend on everything from how busy she is that day to how emotionally invested she is (or isn’t) in your product. Frequently, women find themselves in a holistic buying mode for two reasons. First, because their role as chief purchasing officers for their households adds layers of complexity to their decision-making.
Women may be thinking about factors such as time constraints, due to the “second shift” of unpaid work they perform in their households and for their extended families. They’re often considering other people’s wants and needs and view buying decisions through those lenses. They may be thinking about the potential that they will have to return a purchase if something goes wrong—even when the product is for someone else in their household—and what that will mean in terms of further time expended, and perhaps a negative experience after the fact. So as they approach buying, women want their purchases to go right the first time and will look for ways to make these responsibilities as pleasant and productive as possible.
The second reason women are often holistic buyers is that from an early age, women are taught a “big picture” buying style. For example, a woman may think about buying not just a shirt, but an outfit; not just a main course, but side dishes and dessert; not just a bedspread, but matching sheets and pillows. This is why many women will be interested in learning about other products or services that “go with” what you’re selling. This buying style has a highly practical aspect: it’s more efficient, and often more satisfying, to buy complementary products together, rather than make separate trips or multiple transactions. Women also may perceive that the value of such purchases is higher, because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
If you master the experience for holistic buyers, you’ll naturally please your transactional buyers too, by giving them an experience they may not have been looking for or expecting, but are happy to receive nonetheless. Appealing to holistic buyers means adjusting your style accordingly, with an approach I’ve developed called The Four Motivators® Framework.
INTRODUCING THE FOUR MOTIVATORS FRAMEWORK
There are so many things you can’t control about your work. To name just three: the economy, the pace of technology, and the weather. You could probably come up with fifty more. Happily, you are in control of what is arguably the most important factor of all: your customer’s experience.
Based on more than a dozen years of consumer research, I’ve identified four key motivators that influence women’s buying decisions. Following the framework of these four motivators will help you develop strategies to appeal to women consumers more effectively. Ideally, your customers want to feel:
• connected to you, your brand, and your business,
• inspired to buy from you,
• confident in their buying decision, and
• appreciated for their business.
These motivators can serve as your guidepost for winning women’s business. While you may never hear a customer use these specific words, they are the positive emotional outcomes that can help you earn more sales and referrals when they’re achieved. Throughout the rest of this book, you’ll find dozens of strategies for activating the four motivators, which you can consider your “toolbox,” to mix, match, and add to at will.
As a professional, you already know there is never one way to win someone’s business. Sales is a different job every day, every hour, and with every customer. Success involves a combination of knowledge, savvy judgment, and your own personality and style. With that in mind, I’ve included tips and best practices from big businesses, small businesses, and individual sales professionals, all designed to inspire your creativity. To get your ideas flowing, let’s start with a best practice from an unexpected source: a professional football team.
BEST PRACTICE
Minnesota Vikings
Champions of Emotional Engagement
Most people may not think of a professional football game as a customer experience, but the Minnesota Vikings sure do. In 2016, this National Football League team completed construction of U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, which was the site of Super Bowl 52 in 2018. In addition to building an architectural marvel, the organization made it a priority to create an inclusive fan experience at every touchpoint. A look at how one professional sports team delivers an experience that encompasses all four motivators is a compelling example for any business.
Most professional sports fans will never set foot in a stadium, which poses an interesting challenge for teams with global fan bases. “Only 4 percent of all the people in the world who call themselves Vikings fans will ever come into U.S. Bank Stadium,” says Kevin Warren, chief operating officer for the Minnesota Vikings. “So when we are fortunate that a fan decides to spend their resources and come support us, we have to make sure that we capture their mind, their spirit, their heart and their soul by over-servicing them, because that might be the only time they ever enter our building. We need to create an experience that lasts for the remainder of their lives. It is an incredible responsibility.”
Warren thinks big about the fan experience. He strives to make every game day at U.S. Bank Stadium so remarkable that it could inspire someone from out of town to move to Minnesota. He has what I would call radical empathy for fans. “When someone comes into our stadium, it is not only them coming in,” says Warren. “They are bringing all these other people with them, in spirit, who are not physically present. When they go back home, they are either going to say, ‘This was the best experience of my life,’ or they will say it was an awful experience.
“That said,” he continues, “we need to make sure that we have the proper food; that the seats are comfortable; that we accommodate any fan regardless of their income level or background; that we accommodate families; that we have merchandise and apparel for everyone, and that the apparel fits right; that we have places where women can breastfeed their children in privacy. We have built a sensory room in the stadium for young people who are dealing with autism and other sensory challenges. We want to make every member of our diverse fan base feel comfortable and enjoy what it means to be a member of the Minnesota Vikings.”
The Vikings do an exceptional job of engaging with the various demographics within their fan base and, in particular, their female fans. Women make up 45 percent of the National Football League fan base2 and nearly 50 percent of Vikings ticket holders.3 It makes sense, then, that there is an emphasis on delivering experiences that delight this group and cater to their needs. For example, the Vikings made history by becoming the first team in the National Football League to place Mamava lactation pods in their stadium to provide private nursing areas for breastfeeding women. The pods were a hit: demand was so strong that the initiative was expanded to include a dedicated mother’s room in the stadium. “Having witnessed the positive response and increased demand for the lactation suites, we strongly believed the addition of the Mother’s Room was another critical step in building a family-friendly environment at U.S. Bank Stadium,” says Warren.4
The organization has also been intentional about elevating the voices and participation of women within its business operations. In 2016, a women’s advisory board of leading female executives (yours truly is on it) was formally created to maximize the team’s engagement with women fans. The Vikings organization counts women among its senior leaders. A twenty-one-year veteran of the Vikings, Tami Hedrick, has a director-level role dedicated to driving full inclusiveness of women throughout the organization, both internally and externally, through an initiative called “Vikings Women.” “It’s a holistic approach to engaging women, who are integral to the Vikings’ success,” says Hedrick. There are Vikings Women events held regularly throughout the year; Vikings Women merchandise and apparel fills the team stores; and there are ongoing social media efforts to reach women fans. Hedrick and her team also run a year-round calendar of engagement and leadership activities for women in the Vikings organization.
The result of the Minnesota Vikings’ inclusive strategy is the four motivators in action: women fans feel connected, inspired, confident, and appreciated because the organization
• connects through the visible way the team reaches out to women in the stadium, the community, and internally within its organization,
• inspires by creating an inclusive fan experience,
• instills confidence that attending a game will be worth the ticket price and effort to get there, and
• shows appreciation by offering amenities and accommodation for every type of fan . . . even newborns!
BRINGING THE FOUR MOTIVATORS FRAMEWORK TO LIFE IN YOUR PHYSICAL SPACE
The Vikings activate the four motivators in multiple ways throughout their business, but one key focus is the intentionality they take with their physical space. This is something every business can work on. Stadiums notwithstanding, there are plenty of ways your physical environment can bring the four motivators to life, whether you operate a retail space or work in a professional office that customers visit.
The décor in professional offices is often overlooked, but it can make an enormous impression on how you’re perceived. Scratched-up metal desks, bulging file cabinets, and bare walls can leave customers feeling that a business isn’t current, or even competent. For proof of how much office design matters, look no further than the success of the co-working company WeWork. It’s achieved a $20 billion market cap5 (as of this writing) by not only tapping into the desire for flexible workspaces, but also by elevating the décor, ambiance, and community feel of shared offices, creating spaces that are so appealing people are willing to pay a premium to sit in them all day.
Everything in your physical space is either a customer-experience builder or a detractor. Consider stores: at their most basic, they’re four walls and a ceiling. What makes some of them so enticing that we want to experience them again and again, while others we only visit under duress? It’s the environment, of course, that stew of ambiance created by lighting, textures, colors, merchandise, scent, cleanliness, sound, comfort, and the energy given off by employees. Women especially tend to notice and value the details in retail environments.
As one woman told me, “When I walk into Whole Foods, I feel an immediate reaction. I’m not sure if it’s serotonin or dopamine. The store is so colorful and organized—it’s a total 360-degree feel-good experience.”
With so much of our time spent staring at devices, compelling physical environments are more important now than ever. Just as movie-theater owners are creating new experiences by providing amenities such as restaurant-quality table service and pre-reserved reclining seats, every business with a physical environment must evolve its space so that women feel connected, inspired, confident, and appreciated. How do you get started? Here are four important principles to follow:
1. Provide a sensory experience. For the most part, it’s still difficult to touch, taste, or smell anything through a screen. This means brick-and-mortar businesses have what I call a “home-court advantage”: the opportunity to engage all five senses within a physical environment.
2. Bring your brand to life. Research shows that a strong brand and physical environment make a significant contribution to converting sales, even when a transaction is eventually registered online.6 People who feel inspired by a great in-person experience may ultimately decide to execute their purchase at a company’s website after they’ve left the physical store or place of business. This brings a new imperative for stores and professional offices to become the physical embodiment of a brand experience, more than simply a place to buy things.
3. Demonstrate hospitality. Physical acts, such as having staff members walk a customer down an aisle (instead of merely pointing them in a direction), offering refreshments, and engaging them in conversations that help them make better buying decisions, leave customers with an indelible memory of appreciation, long after the purchase was made.
4. Facilitate show-and-tell. Most of us learned about the power of show-and-tell as kids. The concept can be applied successfully across all kinds of physical spaces. Sephora is a great example of a brand that leverages show-and-tell. The brand’s stores are a playground for experimentation and a radical departure from a century of locked-behind-a-counter beauty experiences. In an industry where trial is such a crucial part of the purchasing decision, the experience at Sephora leaves customers feeling confident about committing to a purchase in a crowded category. We’ll learn more about how Sephora wins women’s business in chapter 6.
Maybe you’re thinking, Well, sure, Sephora can create an engaging experience for women, because they sell beauty products. I don’t sell female-specific products. What can I do? Let’s look at the transformation of a truck stop for more insights into the value of strategically incorporating the four motivators in a physical space.
BEST PRACTICE
Pilot Flying J
When a Truck Stop Is Worth the Stop
When I say the words “truck stop,” what image comes to mind? I guarantee it’s not the one you’ll see when you visit the newly redesigned travel centers from Pilot Flying J. Pilot Travel Centers LLC, better known as Pilot Flying J, is the largest operator of travel centers (also known as truck stops) in North America. Many people started paying closer attention to the company in 2017, when Berkshire Hathaway, led by Warren Buffett, announced that it would be making a significant investment in the firm.7 The Tennessee-based company has 750 locations spread across forty-four states and six Canadian provinces that cater to both professional truck drivers and “four wheelers”—regular car drivers like you and me. Most of us “four wheelers” don’t think about making a roadside stop until we need one. But what if a travel center was so appealing that you looked forward to stopping in?
Pilot Flying J recently embarked on a five-year, $500 million customer-experience makeover to broaden its appeal to a growing customer base that includes more women and “four wheelers” than ever before: traveling families, married truck-driving teams, and business travelers. I toured one of the company’s newly redesigned Pilot travel centers in Lebanon, Tennessee, and what I saw was the four motivators in action.
“People want to emotionally connect with how they feel in your store,” says Whitney Haslam Johnson, chief experience officer for Pilot Flying J, who served as my tour guide. Haslam Johnson is a member of the Haslam family that founded, and still runs, the business. “We don’t want it to feel like a truck stop,” she says. “Life is hard enough, busy enough, crazy enough. How can we make it easy and efficient for you?”
Like U.S. Bank Stadium, the refurbished Pilot Travel Centers are designed to create a positive emotional connection with every customer who walks in the door. However, unlike a football stadium, Pilot Flying J stores must cater to the needs of transactional buyers—people who want to get in and out quickly so they can get back on the road—as well as holistic buyers—people who might come into the store to engage in the only relaxing break, hot meal, and social interaction they’ll have all day (these are often professional truck drivers). For our purposes, we’ll focus on the changes made in the store to enhance the experience for the four-wheel crowd, which increasingly includes women.
Throughout history, food has been a conduit for emotions, and in the new Pilot Flying J stores, food offerings are front and center—only not the kind you would imagine from a “truck stop.” The first thing you see when you walk in the door is a “chef,” an employee wearing a chef’s smock, who is standing in an open kitchen, stirring large pots on a stove and personally serving hot meals to customers. After absorbing that pleasant surprise, you hear the unmistakable sound and notice the scent of coffee bean grinders. Pilot Flying J has installed bean-to-cup coffee machines, which means that every cup of coffee is made with freshly ground beans. During each morning’s rush hour, a “coffee host” stands nearby to assist customers in making selections.
Fruit and healthy foods, such as salads and wraps, are in prime position at the store’s entrance, under the brand’s label, PJ Fresh. LED lighting brightens the display cases and makes the merchandise pop. The lighting sounds like a small thing, but it’s a big thing: it makes the store feel bright, modern, and fresh.
The attention to detail extends to the restrooms, which are a critical amenity for women. “If the restroom experience is bad, we may lose a customer,” says Haslam Johnson. “It’s their first impression. When we look at customer feedback, we know that the bathroom is really important for women and people traveling with children.” I toured the bathroom and saw a warm, immaculately clean space filled with Italian glass and tile, a full-length mirror, hooks for hanging bags and purses, and child seats. I noticed the sign for the women’s bathroom wasn’t a sign at all: it was a large photo of a woman at the wheel of a car, hair blowing in the breeze.
Another element Pilot Flying J has invested in is LED lighting in both its parking lots and its canopies to create a well-lit atmosphere and increase safety and comfort. The company has also invested in buying real estate near highway exits. As Haslam Johnson puts it, “No one wants to exit and then drive for miles in the dark.” These are the kind of innovations that show women that you’re committed to providing them with a positive experience. When you incorporate insights from women, such as safety concerns, you elevate the experience for everyone. After all, men want to be safe too.
To complete the customer experience, Pilot Flying J has the goal of sending off every customer with a personal goodbye. The store’s general manager, Hunter Brock, describes it this way: “We make sure there’s a greeting when you walk in, a departing comment when you leave, and a conversation in the middle.”
The newly redesigned stores at Pilot Flying J are an example of the four motivators in action. Through their physical space, Pilot Flying J
• connects by having staff members greet customers as they walk through the door and say goodbye as they leave,
• inspires by providing an unexpectedly high level of food and drink choices, cleanliness, and in-store ambiance,
• instills confidence by lighting travel centers well and locating them close to highway exits, so customers know they won’t have to drive too far off the road to get there, and
• shows appreciation for its customers by providing healthy food options, immaculate restrooms with thoughtful amenities, and women-specific merchandise on store shelves.
By looking at practical examples from industry leaders like Pilot Flying J, you’ll be able to use your creativity to infuse the four motivators into your own business. The next four chapters will provide you with dozens of tools and techniques to make your customers feel more connected, inspired, confident, and appreciated.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Customers often fall into two different buying styles: transactional and holistic. By aligning the buying experience for holistic buyers, you’re likely to increase the appeal to women consumers, who often find themselves in this mode. You’ll also be giving transactional buyers an experience they didn’t expect but are happy to receive.
• The Four Motivators Framework can serve as your guidepost for creating positive emotional outcomes for your customers. Ideally, customers want to feel
• connected to you, your brand, and your business,
• inspired to buy from you,
• confident in their buying decisions, and
• appreciated for their business.
• The Minnesota Vikings and Pilot Flying J show us that providing an inclusive experience for women enhances the experience for every customer.
ACTIVATING YOUR INSIGHTS
• Thinking about your own business and sales style, which motivators are your greatest strengths? Which need the most work?
• My ability to connect
• My ability to inspire
• My ability to make customers feel confident
• My proactivity in showing appreciation
• Imagine your customer is talking to a friend. Your customer tells her friend, “You have to work with [YOU], because ______________________________.” What are the reasons you’d like the customer to give? How many can you come up with that don’t involve price?
• Evaluate your business environment by seeing it through the lens of women customers. Answer the following questions, which reflect some of the things women may be noticing when they enter your place of business:
• Does this place feel bright and modern?
• Is the space clean?
• Did I get a friendly welcome when I walked in?
• Do the people here make me feel comfortable (i.e., are they polite and respectful)?
• Are there any women working here?
• Is there a place for me and/or my companions to sit down?
• Do they cater to people with kids?
• Do they show an interest in helping me?
• Do the people here seem knowledgeable and trustworthy?
• Do they offer good value for the price?
• Can I count on them if something goes wrong with my purchase?
• Would I want to come back here?
• Do I feel compelled to tell my friends they need to come here?