Harnessing Creative Strategies to Grow Your Business
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Harnessing Creative Strategies to Grow Your Business
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This episode’s guest is Valerie Chan. Valerie is the founder of Plat4orm, a multi-million dollar privately held communications company, a seasoned business leader, a technology communications expert, and a TED X speaker. She is known for helping companies succeed by shaping their narratives. Her writing can be found in Forbes and Entrepreneur. Through her own story of resilience following a horrific accident, Valerie comes to the podcast to talk about how we can rise as retailers moving forward. How can we continue to find new ways to execute, to dig deep within, and thrive; how we show up each day for ourselves, how we show up for our business. How we can ask ourselves what we can create and how we will do it while truly allowing ourselves to listen to our inner voice.
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Harnessing Creative Strategies to Grow Your Business
Tue, 6/15
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
retailers, bicycle, people, clients, valerie, work, business, customers, listening, company, conversation, thinking, vendors, absolutely, question, store, story, staff, notebook, listeners
SPEAKERS
Heather Mason, NBDA , Valerie Chan
NBDA 00:10
You are listening to bicycle retail radio brought to you by the National bicycle Dealers Association.
NBDA 00:17
texting while biking is a bad idea, texting while running a bike shop is a great idea. Get reviews to schedule repairs and even get paid through text by hooking up your bike shop with powerful business messaging tools from podium. Visit podium.com slash bikes for more.
Heather Mason 00:35
Welcome to another episode of bicycle retail radio brought to you by the NBA. This is President Heather Mason. Thank you for listening. Be sure to check out our previous episodes if you’re a first time listener and do us a favor and leave a review. Today we have a very special guest, Valerie Chan is here. Valerie is founder of platform which is a multi million dollar privately held communications company. Valerie is a seasoned business leader, a technology communications expert and a TEDx speaker. She is known for helping companies succeed by shaping their narratives. And her writing can be found in Forbes and entrepreneur. Through her own story of resilience following a horrific accident. Valerie comes to the podcast today to talk about how we can rise as retailers moving forward, how we can continue to find new ways to execute, to dig deep within and thrive, and how we can show up each day for ourselves. How we can show up for our business, how we can ask ourselves what we can create? How will we do it and truly allow ourselves to listen to our inner voice. All this and more ahead in the conversation. I can’t wait to get into it. But first, a very special thanks to MIT socks for teaming up with NBDA for the month of June to highlight retailers excellence. MIT has a special place in my heart. They are my go to stocks for all of my rides, runs and athletic pursuits. I’m a huge fan and you should be too. So to learn more about mint and offering mint socks and your retail store, go to the website freshly minted.com that’s freshly minted.com Okay, without further ado, I want to welcome Valerie to bicycle retail radio. Thank you for joining us. How are you?
Valerie Chan 02:22
I’m good. Thanks. I’m good. Thanks for having me.
Heather Mason 02:26
I’m really excited about today’s chat. It’s such a telling time for the bicycle industry. And in my opinion, it’s not a better time to have this conversation directed, like this movement forward and rising up and listening to the inner voice that we have. And Valerie I listened to your TEDx talk and your story is moving and inspiring. And I know your background, but for our listeners who maybe don’t know much about you, would you share a little bit about who you are and a little bit about what happened to you?
Valerie Chan 02:54
Sure, I’d be happy to just by way of by way of background, I actually am a very avid biker and runner I grew up running. And about, actually, it’ll be about eight years now I got into kind of a horrific accident on the freeway, I was driving in rush hour traffic and a large white van hit me. And instead of just smashing into me on the left hand side, a driver’s door, I ricocheted across the freeway and hit for more cars before my car finally stopped and I was able to climb out of the backseat, but my car was totaled. And about a week later, I realized how much I was injured. I had difficulties speaking, I had difficulty processing my higher head cognitive function. And I had to learn how to walk and walk and talk again. So it was a period of over two years where I had worked with a range of physical therapists, occupational therapists, acupuncturist doctors, as well as homeopathics, as well as PT to learn how to walk again talk again, and then also counsel clients and as the CEO of business back then, and even now, there is no quitting during this time. And I I actually, during the time, had a smaller company, and I was kind of the person in charge leading the charge. And yes, I had stuff but at the time, I couldn’t talk. And so I relied and actually trusted my staff to kind of speak up and rise to the occasion and help counsel our clients and communication strategies and had to find a different way of communicating with both my staff as well as Are clients because I couldn’t talk. And when I did talk, I didn’t mention this, but I did have a stutter. And I sorted my words. And even to this day, because of the accident, I have difficulty stuttering or even slurring my words when I’m really, really tired. So going back to how I communicated with both my staff and the clients and the world around me, I found this inner voice that kind of guided me and I was able to communicate with them in a different way. It’s a way where you don’t rely so much on your speech, or even writing it out. Because even then I had difficulty writing words, it was more like actually articulating and listening in a way that really spoke to the needs of understanding what my staff wanted, and needed as well as what the clients needed. So
Heather Mason 05:52
like the worst fear ever, that I could think about driving down the road and getting an accident like that. And, you know, thank you for sharing, it’s easy to talk about that. And we have these moments, right? It’s when we come out even stronger, and the way that you now can work with your colleagues and the way that you express things differently and the strength that you found from it. I mean, it seems like it’s really giving you some new tools, you know, you can take some positives out of a bad situation, before we get too much into you know, how the incident really changed your outlook. I just give our listeners some background, about the company you founded and you’re now the CIO platform, it’s Plat4orm comm platform. Valerie, the tagline of the company, it pulls me in, it says every company has a story to tell from what I learned online, your business guides companies to tell their stories and reach more markets. Can you tell us our listeners a little bit more about your current role, and maybe some like who your clients are?
Valerie Chan 06:54
Sure, sure. So essentially, platform is a communications agency. And we help emerging growth companies, either startups or mid sized companies really who need and want to pivot kind of tell their story in a way that resounds with the market as well as helps them with their business goals. So some of the clients that we have served, actually, they’ve been startups, they grow from, say, 10 people to over 500, or, you know, more than that, like 10,000, and then they get acquired or other clients that we work with, have basically pivoted and rebranded and are thriving now. So they were they were brick and mortar businesses who went in through digital transformation that kind of emerge on the other end. And, I mean, I could name drop, but I like our relics. LexisNexis as well, as we’ve, we’ve worked with Microsoft, and companies that have eventually become Microsoft, and those types of things.
Heather Mason 08:03
So it’s such an amazing experience to, you know, work with these companies, some large scale, you know, with their brand building, you know, really tell their story, we’ve been trying to get across the bicycle retailers, we’ve been talking a lot about SEO content recently, email marketing, I’m just wondering if this is very broad, but can you maybe quickly, like adapt some of your best tips over for bicycle retailers that you know, is there anything that you could, you know, say should be some key focus points for bicycle retailers?
Valerie Chan 08:32
Absolutely, absolutely. I think there’s a couple of things that people don’t do from a retail perspective and even from a you know, b2b perspective, so to speak, it’s PR is huge. leveraging social media and getting your face out there and getting your brand out there and a variety of different ways is kind of necessary in today’s economy. That includes getting yourself known from Instagram creating messages around Instagram, YouTube, tik tok, you know, for for the social side, sometimes facebook, facebook ads but also like and also making sure that there are advertorial out there What I mean by that are writing like small snippets that and maybe tips and that sort of thing where you can syndicate it on different publications or work hand in hand with a an affiliate agency so that you know, you could get and share in some of the revenue but also build your brand that way and get more people to you. So just some of those strategies would work for some of the bicycle retailers. On the other thing that I don’t see being utilized as much especially with a smaller retailers are digital marketing and being able to get your name out there in a wide variety of ways, both paid and unpaid. That really, really helps and in utilizing email, list and campaigns and contacting your customers on an ongoing basis. Believe it or not, those are small little things that every bicycle retailer can actually do right now.
Heather Mason 10:11
I think those are great. And you talk about, you know, telling your story and something we’ve been trying to communicate often is the mission vision. And then I think it’s important that does it kind of start there, I would almost think that if a retailer doesn’t have a mission vision, that’s really a great place to start. Is that corrector?
Valerie Chan 10:29
Absolutely correct. That’s absolutely correct, actually. And it goes back to the pandemic. And last year, one of the things that we’ve seen, especially with successful companies who have come out the other end, now that we’re getting out of COVID, is like, they actually took a step back and looked at their mission, their vision, their values, and basically looked at every single channel of marketing, as well as the representatives that represented them, their employee base, and they looked at how they managed clients that you saw were areas of authenticity was and consistency. And were areas that were lacking of IE like mission values, vision weren’t part of the communications that they have with customers, communications that they had with employees, or maybe employees were saying something differently. And so when they took a real life assessment of who they were as a company, and whether or not they were going back to their original mission and values, they were able to correct that as well as invest in areas that were able to communicate that to become a more authentic business. And that resounded a lot with clients, like prospects, as well as the greater community, those companies that we represented who actually did that exercise came out ahead. They’re doing really, really, really well that now.
Heather Mason 12:03
Not only imagine it, you know, I feel like this past year, many retailers have been, we’ve been using this word a lot called pivot, right. We’ve been pivoting continually. New vendors, new policy, new staff, new ours is like it’s never ending, like, circle of adapting and possibly somewhere in there, we got a little lost, I’m not quite sure. And now, here we are, wouldn’t it be a great time to step back and recognize Okay, I mean, how do we adapt to that retailers are just like, this is a lot on going on going on? It’s almost like we have to get comfortable with us now.
Valerie Chan 12:36
Absolutely. I mean, like, one of the things that we counsel clients on right now is like, get comfortable with the uncomfortability. Because we represent a lot of technology clients manage services, the idea of digital transformation on an ongoing basis is constant. And that’s the only thing that is constant, right change. And, like nature, you either thrive or you die. That sounds really trite, but it’s true. And if you don’t adapt, the change will eclipse you. And if you can’t adapt, it’s because something within you. And maybe it’s something where you’re not aware of what might happen if you make the next move, or you can’t see the action plan or the blueprint in front of you. What you could do is take a deep breath, and seek within you like what is your inner voice actually telling you to do? You know, how can you grow? And honestly ask yourself the question, are you doing the things that you want to do now, to have this business grow? Are there areas where you can expand, that’s a natural progression for what you’re doing. Now, there’s been, I’ll just give you an example. There was a retailer that I work with Intel, Cisco, who not in the bicycle industry, but who basically pivoted from actually selling just shoes, running shoes, running shoe company to corralling and paying and actually setting up groups of runners during COVID, where they had competitions, and just like you would races and that sort of thing, but people paid to actually be a part of this community so that they can be connected. And it’s a way it was a way for this particular retailer to actually make money. And they had a great community on top of it, which actually led to more sales for their company. So like there’s all this organic growth that can happen, but you need to take a step back, take a deep breath and think creatively about what you can do to make your business work.
Heather Mason 14:45
I can picture many bicycle retailers out there who are listening to us and you know, okay, well, I think that the example you gave of the running company, that’s a huge pivot, you know, going from being a you know, a retail environment to now offering races or Group run, there is a huge new skill set. And it could be scary, right? Any tips for retailers that maybe are listening? And they’re like, man, I don’t even I’m afraid, right? That’s a big change. Or if they feel stuck, maybe they’re, you know, they don’t even know how to begin.
Valerie Chan 15:16
Right? You know, all of it through education, like maybe talking to people around you talking to your customers, what do your customers want? Like? That’s the one thing that we did counsel to our clients, when, when some of them felt really stuck, like, what do your customers want? What do you want to offer? What’s been on your bucket list for? You know, 510 years that that is a low cost item, right? So you could figure out the list of priorities of what you want offer? And then what do people do all around you? And what do you think, you know, in your heart or heart, you want to offer people as part of your business, these things might not come easily to you like, it’s a little bit I don’t counsel clients on this, but we taught my friends and I talk about this all the time, which is, you have a notebook, put put a notebook at the side of your bed every single night and ask yourself one question. At the end of the night, when you wake up, right? Your subconscious will tell you the answer to that question. Or you’ll just know. And maybe the answers might not come to you, right away one or two nights, but by the third or fourth or fifth night, those answers will start coming to you because your subconscious will understand it’s okay to talk to you. And that’s when you get your most brilliant ideas. Because it’s not just you thinking from your head, it’s actually your subconscious talking to you. And it’s a way to have an inner life, to come up with the best strategies that work for you. Rather than listening to everybody. Even though you’re finding out what your customers need is you have this wish list, and you’re getting probably advice from other people, right? And then when you have all of that assessment, then you can make a decision, just take a deep breath and make a decision, it may not be the right decision the first time, but you’re making a decision that will ultimately lead you to the right decision.
Heather Mason 17:17
I love the notebook next to the bed and you’re so exactly right. You know, we take all the information we can we gather it from all sources and you know, analyze it and and look at our business, you know, look internally in our gut is going to almost always lead us to the right spot. It’s been such a trying time for bicycle retailers. And so many conversations are just all about the unknown. Valerie, it’s like, we don’t know, if we’re going to have bikes to sell. We don’t know, if we’re going to have money to pay the bills. We don’t know if we’re going to keep these new cycles engaging in retailers are worried and, and I get that. But if we go back to trusting our own instincts, remembering why we started our store, our authentic story of our store, but it’s also time, you know, Valerie, I’m hearing from retailers that they’re nervous about vendor relationships, they want to be they want to make sustainable business investments, they want to have power in negotiating delivery dates and terms on bicycles as they come. But they’re feeling like they’re falling a little short, and they might not have any power. Do you have any advice for retailers dealing with these moments when they feel powerless? Or maybe they’re, you know, they just need a little bit extra, I don’t know, strength in themselves or what they need, you know, to actually use their voice to ask for what they need for the retail establishment?
Valerie Chan 18:33
Yeah, absolutely. You know, it’s important to remind ourselves that we’re the cause of our own feelings. And, you know, a negotiation or conversation is a two way street. One person doesn’t necessarily have to have all the power, it’s, you know, it’s about an ongoing dialogue. And it’s about understanding what the vendor can provide you with. And if there’s alternatives to what the vendor say. And and what I found just through through the job, being a business owner, myself and hearing the know, and negotiating with vendors, you know, a no does not always mean no, right? Or I can’t have that bike for you this, you know, or your shipment on this time frame, being able to negotiate Okay, what can you have? What can you offer me right now, what are the possibilities? And maybe there’s alternatives that you can turn to, and thinking that vendors don’t always have to dictate terms on what that looks like. And I have known some bicycle retailer, especially in San Francisco that have, you know, just specialize in certain brands. And there’s always been different distributors, even though they’re supposedly it’s just one distributor, believe it or not. Now, they’re just asking the right questions. But like, I do know that and this is something that I’ve been counseled Especially when I work with employees or vendors going into the conversation, not with your goal in mind, which you probably already have, but to, to step back and take an objective point of view and just saying, Okay, let me just ask the questions and collecting as much information as I possibly can right now that I can digest. So I’m here to listen in this conversation. And then, you know, schedule a negotiation for later in the week later in, you know, we in two weeks when you could compile a bunch of information, and have a real conversation where it can be a two way dialogue, not just a one way type of dialogue.
Heather Mason 20:47
Yeah, that’s fantastic advice. It’s an ongoing conversation, right? Yeah. It happens in stages. And it starts with listening, you know, and collecting the information. I love that. So you work with so many companies, and I’m wondering, you know, you’re seeing a very big picture. Is there any specific area that retailers should be investing now?
Valerie Chan 21:07
Yeah. So it’s funny, I, when I was looking at this question earlier, I was like, okay, investing in stocks, or investing in marketing, like, honestly, it’s important to understand where the future is headed, and what people are purchasing now. So, I mean, I, you know, I’m answering this question, hopefully, in the marketing way. But if you are interested on where to invest, I probably not the best person for stock advice. But for investment in the company itself, I would be looking at trends, right? What are customer trends when it comes to purchasing? Where are they buying? What are they buying? How are they buy? Right? Is it online? Is it through peer groups? Is it through races? Like, where can you actually have the most visibility, I would spend more time looking at digital marketing and digital marketing strategies to find out ways of reaching new new audiences, I would look at my customer base and seeing whether or not there’s opportunities to either have them purchase again, or, you know, have them purchase accessories, or have them be an ongoing part of the dialogue that you’re having with other potential clients. And maybe there’s something that’s symbiotic in terms of working with them, you know, and then the other thing is, I would take time to get creative on how you can expand your business because there’s a lot you can do. You just a lot of people just don’t think about it, because they’re stuck in the day to day operational part of it. So just take the time to get creative, and sit, maybe sit in a room and take a whiteboard and just start noodling out what you want to do and see your business in five years, 10 years from now, you know,
Heather Mason 23:05
yeah, we talked about retailers really having an opportunity to play such a vital role in the writer experience, and the transformation process comes in, and they want to get into our sport. And so such a great time to really set yourself apart from other other bicycle stores or anything online is those services you can provide the writer.
Valerie Chan 23:23
Absolutely. And then also, like, I often counsel, a lot of clients on this, the often miss sale are your existing customers themselves. And that may sound trite, but your existing customers have a way of doing word of mouth, right? And they’re excited about something they bought at your store, they’re going to tell other people, and maybe there’s a way to incentivize them, so that they, their friends can be part of your larger community. So you know, thinking about different ways of like a cultivating your your clients now and then be making sure that your clients can invite their friends to be part of the community that you’re building, because every bicycle retailer has a story, right? So just draw them in just by being you and actually sharing, you know, some of the wisdom that you have, we actually draw people to become more and more part of your community.
Heather Mason 24:25
Yeah, this is exactly what came up in a webinar we were doing earlier today that ascent 360 was this using your loyal your local, your loyal customer base, they they’re really your best ambassadors, right, and they can be a very valuable tool in reaching new people. Valerie, can you talk any, you know, on SEO at all, and how that could be a really useful tool for marketing. It’s something that, you know, we’re trying to get retailers educated on and do they need to hire a service to help them with that. Is there any information you could offer to our listeners on SEO?
Valerie Chan 24:56
Yeah, so I have someone on my team that that is an extra SEO I’m not an SEO expert. But I can tell you that people who have actually invested in SEO and had paid people or they have even looked at looked at how to have, you know, conservative SEO strategies have done really, really well. Google is your friend. Right? All the search engines are friends. And what a lot of people haven’t done, especially since websites are your friends. By the way, I know that sounds a little bit trite again. But you could do a lot with your website in terms of making sure that your website’s properly coded and whatnot, it’s not just throwing it up on a WordPress site and making sure that you know, people can find you, you need to properly tag all your pages, making sure that like additional content that you put on your site is properly coded, has right hashtags, etc. So I can’t stress that enough, because that’s how you’re found.
Heather Mason 26:03
Yeah, and that’s something that I know that people can do a quick Google search on it, too. But it’s definitely something that, you know, as retailers, as I think any industry right now needs to really be focused on because people are spending so much time online and finding stuff, you know, locally, or whatever’s available to them.
Valerie Chan 26:19
And there’s virtual, you know, it sounds silly, but there are virtual services, that that marketing services that are available at a low cost that will help you with coding, as well as helping you with SEO and marketing strategies. You just need to know the right ones. And I’ll give it to you, Heather after this podcast so that your listeners can at least go to those services that are actually really good versus the ones that are not so yeah,
Heather Mason 26:46
thank you. Fantastic, we’ll definitely pass them along.
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Heather Mason 27:43
Valerie spoke earlier about the power in the positive and you know, I know following your accident, you know, you took you I can’t even imagine the strength and the courage and where you are at throughout your the journey there. But in thinking of terms of specifically bicycle retail, this past year, like we’ve talked about already has left a lot of leaders and owners and managers and staff just you know, kind of like how do we keep moving? How do we keep doing this long hours trying to keep up with consumers demand and there’s so much to be worried about right now. Just thinking about how we can keep a positive outward, you know, look at our future. Is there any tips you would give to people who might be listening and struggling a little bit you know, each day they wake up and it’s like, Okay, back to the grind the hot bicycle store on my feet all day. Anything you could share it, that might be a good tip for people to stay positive.
Valerie Chan 28:33
Yeah. So this is a tip that I heard from a bunch of people. And it actually kept me going is like, basically taking an inventory of the things that you’re you’re grateful for and being you’re grateful for your health, right, you’re grateful that you’re active, you’re grateful that you have a store, right, you’re grateful that you have inventory, you’re grateful that you have payables because that means that your business coming in the door, you’re grateful that you have the staff, you know, and just taking that inventory every day, it might take a couple of tries. But having that air of gratitude really does make a difference and realizing if you didn’t have the position that you have now, if you didn’t have the shop that you had now, would you be somewhere else? Or would you want to be somewhere else and for a lot of people they wouldn’t want to be anywhere other than where they’re at right now. granted a different type of financial picture or different worries, but worries will solve themselves. The question is what are you going to do with your time and can you put it to something’s a little bit more productive, where you can actually make a difference and focusing your energy on the things that make a difference? That will definitely We change your perspective because that means that you can actually have a tangible result afterwards versus worried about something that will eventually take care of itself. If you put the proper things in place, take stock and what you’ve done and how you made it to now and then also, which is the gratitude piece of it. And then also put a process in place to correct the issues that you’re having difficulty with. Leave it alone, knowing that those processes that you put in place will solve itself and then focus your energy on something that will matter, right matter, and that you can wrap your arms around and be passionate about, that’s what I would recommend.
Heather Mason 30:42
I’ve been trying to like, convince bicycle retailers, you know, we’re in the bicycle industry, right? I’m like, go for a ride, give yourself a minute just to let it all go. Let your brain think while you’re pedaling. And you talk about the inner voice, like how do we allow ourselves to tap into that? Like, how do we truly do that? Is it the note? Like what do we do about it? How do we tap into our inner voice?
Valerie Chan 31:06
Well, that’s a really good question. So the notebook is a good first step. Especially I like to think that people have used COVID to really think about the things that they wanted, and ask themselves the hard questions, you know, am I showing up for myself? am I showing up for my loved ones? Who do I want to be? Right? A lot of people actually some people have you use the time to do that other people haven’t? Right. And the way to to actually listening and finding that intuition or finding that inner voice is just by sitting with yourself. So you know, first step, the notebook. And then people say use meditation, especially when you’re writing or when you’re, you know, running, which always helps. But if there’s a way to sit still for five minutes, 10 minutes, which is very uncomfortable when you first start, but ask yourself one question, just like you did, you know, like with the notebook, but ask yourself one question during the day, like, what gets me inspired. And your voice will start talking to you, if you listen to it. And you need to pause enough to actually hear that voice and what it’s telling you. And it will show up differently than you absolutely think it might be, that inner voice is never going to tell you no, by the way, that’s your busy brain actually talking to you, your inner voice will always tell you yes. Or this is where you need to be, or this is how you need to be. Or this is something I’m giving to you that you never really would have thought possible, but it’s possible now. So just asking yourself, those questions will definitely help. How can you show up for yourself? How can you show up for your loved ones? And what can you create? Who do you want to be? That’s when your intuition starts kicking in?
Heather Mason 33:15
Yeah, you have to be ready for it. Like, you know, I get so frustrated sometimes because I want it to come quick. I want those answers to come quick. But you can’t put a timeline on this, right? Like, you know, finally, you know, it’s June. Now, the pandemic happened in March 2020. And I can tell you, with all honesty, in June 2021, I am a more complete person than I ever have been in my life. But it took a long time. You know, it took time to sit with myself to envision where I want it to go, you know, I’m thinking maybe bicycle retailers should just open up their store, you know, walk into their store when their stores closed and just sit in their store and just take a deep breath and just let it let it absorb it a little bit, right? I mean,
Valerie Chan 33:57
absolutely, absolutely. Environment makes a key difference in how you show up and what gives you pause for what might come next. I can’t stress this enough, like the environment that you surround yourself in the people that you surround yourself in, it kind of infiltrates who you are, right. And so sitting in the spot that you’re creating with the question then becomes, okay, have I designed this store to be the exactly the way I want it to be? And is there an online component to it? If I had designed it differently, what would it look like? And then there might be things if you let yourself just sit in that space that will come up that hopefully you have a notebook next to when you do this exercise, but just write them down. Like maybe it’s changing a particular area or getting rid of a bunch of, you know, inventory that hasn’t been used, right or maybe it’s you know, getting more inventory on a particular bike, a lot of ideas come from the space that you’re actually yeah. And there’s a lot that can be said to actually listening to it.
Heather Mason 35:10
I’m thinking when we used to do, like, we would, you know, maybe once a week, I mean, it was more like, once a month, we would switch up the displays at the store, you know, we would, you know, shift to something, make a whole new display. And when customers came in, even when my staff came in, everyone felt, you know, you could tell there was new energy, there was new life, and it wasn’t a big thing, it was just making a little bit of a change of x were displayed, but the energy it brought into the environment. And so in this, I would think any change is good, right?
Valerie Chan 35:40
Change is good. Any change is good. Maybe it just like, maybe you’re in the space, and you’re like, Oh, my gosh, I could use a fresh coat of paint. Any energy is good. Anything that changes the energy that’s keeping it still is good.
Heather Mason 35:56
Yeah, it’s been tough. You know, we’re definitely there’s a lot of retailers who are showing up to our member networking, meetings, they’re leaning on other, you know, peer to peer moments have increased, we have a lot of retailers looking for strength from other retailers. I think that that’s such a good sign, right? That you need to have someone to lean on, right? Like, you know, there has to be a backbone to everyone, you can’t just, it’s not just you, at the end of the day.
Valerie Chan 36:19
Absolutely. Making sure that you’re not alone, I think it’s the biggest thing, reading on your peers. And being authentic in a conversation like it behooves nobody to jockey is that that’s the best way I could put it to be better than the other person and not have an authentic conversation, especially now, having the most authentic conversations. Now, with your peers, as well as their customers, you learn so much, not just about you and the other person. But maybe there’s areas to collaborate in, maybe there’s areas of sales that you never thought possible. And your colleague inspires idea that you can take the ball and run with, but you won’t know that until you have a real conversation with someone. And I think if COVID has taught us anything, that is what we should take away from it like that authentic conversation, sparks ideas, sparks new sources of revenue and new opportunities that we never thought possible. nor would we, because we never took the time to listen and be our true self.
Heather Mason 37:24
When you’re guiding businesses and companies. Do you feel like you know, when you go to a website and you see like the About Us page? Do you feel like that’s an important thing for retailers to make sure that they have an About Us page and that they’re portraying to their customers who they are?
Valerie Chan 37:38
Absolutely, absolutely. People want to hear your story. People want to hear your roots, like, why did you actually create this business and what makes you so passionate about it? Right, they don’t want to hear the average Joe story. People want to invest in the businesses that have the most amount of passion, as well as a mission and value statement that serves the broader community, not just themselves. So, you know, if you go go in mind and create a little bit more about why you created your store, why you decided to do the things that you did, the offerings that you have, and what it really means you’ll have more of a resonance with your consumers and your customers and prospects,
Heather Mason 38:26
you know, outside of an About Us page, other other ways that retailers could tell their story that could communicate their story. I’m thinking social media, any tips there.
Valerie Chan 38:37
Social media is really great having it’s great to tell your story. Facebook conversations are great. The community page, I’ve seen Facebook and we’ve told clients actually Facebook communities in addition to LinkedIn communities, you can tell your story by now there’s like so many ways to
Heather Mason 38:58
think like Facebook Live Events, I’m thinking like, yeah, and yeah, yeah,
Valerie Chan 39:03
the key here is consistency though like make sure you have a consistent look and feel across different mediums but instead is always great. Tick Tock people are having real conversations in oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I’m totally drawing a blank on there’s there’s other ones as well. Um,
Heather Mason 39:23
I don’t know I’m only there. I think my daughter is 13 knows.
Valerie Chan 39:27
I know right?
Heather Mason 39:29
The up on all this.
Valerie Chan 39:30
So um, visual customer stories also really kind of make a difference as well. clubhouse sorry, people are having a lot of clubhouse so make sure that it’s visual. Make sure that you know there are different hinges to your story to like what I have noticed is that the on the about page is important tell you tell why you created the store in addition to like the offerings that you have but like in your blog, in Your Insta in your LinkedIn etc, telling different pieces of that story and then having the customers tell their story. And then the other thing is to have the the community speak for itself. People like to see that your narrative, and your story is accepted by other people. And that has has really made a big difference for our clients in towing their narrative and different pieces. So a piece of apart a little bit maybe just had, maybe there are some not perfect accidents, but like some things and some tips and tricks that that can help people or maybe there are some mistakes that you’ve made on the bike that you can share on how to correct those mistakes. Or maybe there’s some falls in you’ve gotten up and decided to handle things a different way. When I was on the bike I like the first time I the first or second time I actually wrote it was 45 miles I fell, but I learned how to fall. So it was just an easy, it was an easier fall than I ever anticipated even though it was a fall, you know?
Heather Mason 41:07
Yeah. Oh my God, my brain is like everything, your thing I’m just latched to because you might not know this right now, Valerie, but we’re doing a bicycle retailer Excellence Award program at NBDA. And part of that is that consumers can nominate their local bike shop as being a retailer of excellence. And morning, I just was reading through 500 consumer votes, you know, casting their votes, giving us comments about why they’re voting for their local shop. And what struck me is I would say about a third of those responses mentioned the shop owner or manager or staff by name. And to me, that was a huge telling thing. I mean, the responses were fabulous, amazing. Congratulations, bicycle retailers, you’re excellent. But the ones that by name, I think that’s just a really good spot. We talked about sharing our true story and being authentic. But really, we want our customers to know our name. Put, don’t we like we want them to know who owns our business, right? Like,
Valerie Chan 42:01
exactly, personalization is everything, you know, you keep coming back to the same store time and time again, because you want to see them, you want to see your mechanic you want to see the owner you want to see, see the people that you’re familiar with, and who know you that makes all the difference in the world. Absolutely. Having the right people and just having the right demeanor, clients services, everything. It’s everything, even in my world.
Heather Mason 42:28
You know, I love your feedback, it’s okay to share your failures and how you found success. I mean, that that true story, that’s what we’re all after, right? We want to, you know, know that we’re okay. Right? That we don’t always have to be successful that the everyone has a down day, right?
Valerie Chan 42:46
I ever say absolutely, the more, the more you can actually share about yourself, you know, the good, the bad, the ugly, like, the more a person wants to get to know you, and actually wants to invest in that person wants to invest in that business, you know, I personally have, you know, had my shops and and I, you know, I go back because the people not because of the merchandise, that’s something that we all can kind of take into stock. And I do have to say though, like during the time of the pandemic, where it was just online, or you had to call in whatnot, those who didn’t have a shopping cart, we’re kind of at a disadvantage. And so being able to scramble and find different ways of serving the client, the most successful retailers have I saw, you know, found a way to get online and to pivot gracefully in that and then made sure that the people that were there to serve and have been always there to serve, were still there. that mattered a lot. And that’s, you know, it wasn’t let that’s what kept a lot of a lot of retailers going. Absolutely,
Heather Mason 43:59
yeah, this past year, I think the bicycle industry definitely came to terms with eecom. And adapting to being online. And, you know, it was amazing to watch our industry catch up with click and collect. And, you know, shipments. And, you know, I congratulations to the bicycle industry for taking that giant leap forward this past year. As we move to the future, we’re going to continue to just have to be really relevant in that category valued and
Valerie Chan 44:25
by the way, I know that I’m jumping in really quickly, but the relevancy is huge and having sentiment analysis, we call it sentiment analysis. But understanding what’s being said out there is actually super important so being able to have going back to showcasing your narrative showcasing your authenticity, being able to listen to what customers are saying or even what some of the trends are by seeing what people are talking about, on say next door which is local, you know, which is a local app in different communities or just hearing what’s happening local communities is very useful to engage with, you know, future audiences as well as your current audience. So just want to throw that out.
Heather Mason 45:13
Yeah, you have to have your ears open, right? Like and what did you call it again, since sunset?
Valerie Chan 45:19
Oh, it’s called sentiment analysis and sentiment analysis. Yes. You could do a keyword search, and then just look at some of the key trends that impact you. Then the other thing is, by looking at your local newspapers by going on next door, by actually engaging in some of the community dialogue, you’ll get to hear a whole host of different trends of what’s going on. But you’re also be able to engage in ways that you never thought possible, both online and offline.
Heather Mason 45:51
So I love that little nugget you just gave there going on next door, what a great idea to learn about what’s actually happening in your community, right? And how you might be able to be a valuable resource. That’s fantastic.
Valerie Chan 46:02
Yeah, yeah. No, it’s really, especially during COVID it’s really helped quite a bit.
Heather Mason 46:08
Valerie, are you a cyclist? I mean, you said in the beginning, very briefly, your biker, but you are.
Valerie Chan 46:14
So I have a did a couple triathlons, I do cycle on weekends, I used to cycle a lot. But I, you know, after the car accident, I had to bide my time a little bit. And I didn’t do much, I just went through physical therapy and even like walking and running, again, has been have been interesting. And even though it’s been a series of years, like I’m still I am super active, but I’m just not as active as I used to. So my distances are under 40 miles. Now, when I go for a ride, it’s, it’s not the long distances I used to, but
Heather Mason 46:48
definitely changes over the years like, like, I’m happy to know that you’re still writing and you’re still able to get out on the bike as you’re able to. In the beginning, when we first started chatting, you touched briefly on, you know, how you had to learn to communicate with your staff in a new way. Can you? Can you expand on that at all? A little bit?
Valerie Chan 47:08
Sure. I had difficulties speaking and, and really communicating difficult concepts. And so I was formerly a lawyer, and then a communication strategist. And so a lot of the companies that we advise are more technical in nature. So the way that I communicated with my staff is through writing, and it wasn’t always in complete sentences, right. And so the conversations that we had were over the phone, or if, say, for example, we were on a client call, I could hear our client, but I couldn’t articulate what I was trying to say. I would email my staff on key concepts they could articulate for our clients, it was come about, it was one of those things where my staff had to really step up. And like, Eric, and Carolyn did a really amazing job at counseling the clients, and then the key things that I and the key concepts that I want to articulate, I gave to them, and they articulate to the clients, or I wrote it out, I actually had to insert an editor as part of the process now, versus what I had done before, and then I would get it edited. And then I would send it to the client. And that’s how I actually managed to work for about two years, I actually got my cognitive thought back and my you know, to be fair to even get any that back, I did have to work with an occupational therapist and a speech pathologist. Right. So I did do memorization, visualization and audio movement techniques, and pattern recognition skills so that I could get those neural pathways in my brain working again, and to be able to, to talk the way that I do now and even even now, even during surgery, you could tell I still have somewhat of a slur.
Heather Mason 49:06
I can’t imagine that seems like such a long path. And I mean, I’m thankful for you’re sharing it and um, just you know, again, you get those, you know, adaptability, you get the continuing to push on, you get the Leaning on your support. I mean, all the things we’ve been talking about is what you did again that time.
Valerie Chan 49:23
Absolutely. And, you know, going back to, like the team, going back to even being a business owner, right? It takes a village is not just one person, to create a community. And that’s everybody, as part of the team who’s within your organization, as well as the community at large as well as your peers, to be you to actually be an entrepreneur to be a retailer in this day and age and to have that motivation that keeps you going. It’s not about your gut like we would in any particular race that we go through. sheer willpower, it’s about whether or not you’re passionate about making the success, just like you would with a race. You know, it’s not just about finishing the race, it’s about how you’re feeling at the end of the race.
Heather Mason 50:13
Yeah, you have to, like, truly dig in. And like, I know the days when I wake up, but I’m gonna, you know, when I used to have my story, I’d be like, Alright, today is gonna be a fantastic day, we’re gonna have the staff motivated, the customers are gonna come in, everyone’s gonna be happy. Those are the days where I like kick butt all day, you know, cuz I was like, already there in my mind. Right? So we have to commit to it first.
Valerie Chan 50:34
Yeah, definitely have to commit to first. The other thing is to and this is something that we saw with other vendors. I’m not sure it’s as applicable here. But a lot of people were when they negotiate with vendors, there were different ways of handling terms. And there’s different ways of handling, inventory and payment. So it’s working with going back to the vendor question, it’s just being able to look at things like five different ways and looking at contracts five different ways that could, you know, that like restructuring a vendor contract, I would consider a win, right? And not just someone walking in. So like, you stack up your wins, and you’re like, Okay, this is a really good day by and even if nobody showed up in the store, being able to look at everything with a holistic picture.
Heather Mason 51:27
Yeah. portant to, you know, have those wins, write them down, you know, remember, we I around my dinner table, I asked my kids, what was your favorite part of the day, when we share and it’s a big thing, because it makes you think back over your day and stack up those wins, you know, stack up those good moments.
Valerie Chan 51:46
Mm hmm. Absolutely.
Heather Mason 51:48
Valerie, I can’t believe we’ve been chatting for almost an hour now is the time always just flies by any thoughts for retailers, you know, as we move post COVID now into this next chapter, any thoughts for fighting success for fighting, you know that to listen to that inner voice anything, you just leave our listeners with their,
Valerie Chan 52:07
this is the opportunity to really thrive, you know, not, not to look down but to look up and take an assessment and where you find areas of where you want to grow. COVID was a time for introspection. Now, it’s a time to really find the opportunities that present themselves either through partnership through, you know, customer collaboration through new inventory through actually fulfilling what you want to do in 510 years and incorporating it now in store and steps for reaching the five to 10 year mark of your goal, you’re going to find successes no matter what you are going to do. So the key now is just to act like that.
Heather Mason 52:49
That’s great advice. Isn’t the action time for sure. You know, and this one is a question. I’ve been asking all our guests as we talk about excellence in retail, what does that mean to you? If I say excellence in retail? What would that mean to you? If someone was an excellent retailer? What are they doing?
Valerie Chan 53:04
They’re showing up 110% of the day. I mean, sounds it sounds funny. Yes. 80% is, is about showing up? You know, it’s an extra 20 or 30%. That that actually commands. Excellent. So if a person is truly being excellent at everything that they’re doing, looking at their sales, am I showing up? 100% for actually selling right now, if I’m not, you know, how can I show up? 100%? What does that look like? Do I need to hire more people? Do I need to employ different strategies? You know, what does that look like for client service? Am I doing everything that I can at, you know, at 100% or 110%? You know, and asking yourself the same questions. What is 100% excellence in client service was 100% excellence in actually making sure that our clients are completely satisfied. You know, same thing for employees and if you can’t answer the question, I am showing up 100% for my business, then it’s not true excellence.
Heather Mason 54:08
Oh my gosh, I love that. Now Now you’ve given me goosebumps. It’s the first time I’ve heard that as a response showing up 100% but it’s so true. It’s so basic. It’s so simple. It’s so hard to do. Right? It’s so hard to do. Valerie I’m so thankful for you for coming on the show for sharing your story and you know, some insights with our listeners and the bicycle industry. If our listeners want to contact you or learn more about you, do you have some information you could provide?
Valerie Chan 54:35
Sure just feel free to email me at Valerie at platform PLat 4 ORM comm Valerie VA l e r i e at PL a T the number four o r m.com.
Heather Mason 54:50
Thank you so much. Really appreciate this a fantastic conversation. I’m definitely getting that notebook next to my bed tonight, which I actually used to have. I’m a list person but you know We definitely need to resort back to this to show up 100% salary. Thank you again.
Valerie Chan 55:06
Absolutely.
Heather Mason 55:06
Alright, so that is it. I invite you to connect me and come on bicycle, retail radio, share your story with our listeners. You can contribute to our blog and become a feature on our member spotlight. Lots of love for our industry. There’s lots of great webinars coming up in those Monday member networking meetings. Don’t forget to share the episodes that you love on your social feeds and with your friends. Thank you for listening. See you back here soon. And with this we go.
NBDA 55:32
This has been bicycle retail radio by the National bicycle Dealers Association. For more information on membership, and member benefits, join us at nbda.com
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The NBDA has been here since 1946, representing and empowering specialty bicycle dealers in the United States through education, communications, research, advocacy, member discount programs, and promotional opportunities. As shops are facing never-before-seen circumstances, these resources offer a lifeline. Together, we will weather this. We at the NBDA will not waver in our commitment to serving our members even during this challenging time—but we need your support.
Now is the time to become a member as we join together to make one another stronger. Whether you’re a retailer or an industry partner, your membership in the NBDA is one of the best investments you’ll make this year.
Learn more about the benefits of being a member and join now.
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