Mall gives tenants value added experience

Mall of the North (MoN) management invited international brand experience consultant Stacey Wallaberger to deliver a motivational talk to tenants on Tuesday.
Wallaberger, who is from South Africa now makes her home in Switzerland and is known for having built-up famous brands such as Clinique, shared a lot of insight as to how to become the salesperson shoppers prefer to consult, how to make one’s brand the one shoppers will travel long distances to buy and the importance of luxury.
“In today’s world of brand choice, luxury is when your customers become attached to the brand, not the salesperson. Firstly look at the loyalty of the employee to their brand and team. If all staff members offer excellent service to the customers, they in turn will return more often than not. This is what you as the brand expect.
“To improve staff loyalty, the teams have to be acknowledged by receiving the best quality training, including follow-up refreshers to keep up the momentum. By acknowledging the staff member on the shop floor, your brand ambassadors, you in turn build a loyalty from your team offering overall professional superior service. In turn the customer returns to the brand and not the individual,” she explained.
She further said luxury is also only having eyes for the speaker. “Have you ever thought about those subtle cues our brain starts subconsciously picking up when in conversation?
“Our brain is always on the alert to start defending you against criticism, negative and threatening behaviours or saving you from embarrassment. It’s always assessing body language and the spoken word. Questioning if the two are aligned? When listening to someone, your eyes speak a thousand words! Looking away for longer than a few seconds, watching other people, TV or just looking elsewhere, in other words distraction. You are sabotaging the conversation. How do you feel when this happens to you?
“The positive conversation takes a turn and engagement is lost. Connectivity and trust is destroyed as the person speaking begins to believe, that, what they are saying is no longer relevant. Conversational confidence is questioned. That is why a good salesperson must only have eyes for the speaker,” Wallaberger further said.
MoN Marketing Manager Mari Delport said this is just one of the ways that MoN management assists tenants to have the edge above other stores.

Story and photo: KAREN VENTER
>>karen@observer.co.za