Why Assumptions Are Your Biggest Roadblock - After the Show

Well, hello, hello, and welcome to After the Show. I'm your host, Crystal Vilkaitis, and I hope that you loved Ulla's episode. Her FAVES app is super cool. She's doing some really cool things. I loved getting to know her more and my big takeaway that we're going to talk about today is Ulla said "question your assumptions," and that is so powerful. So I wanted to go a little deeper in today's episode on that.

And I also have a little exercise that we can do when you have certain kind of assumptions. The one we're going to use as an example, in today's episode, is the assumption that foot traffic is down because of this post COVID hangover and because of the rise of e commerce shoppers.

As you're listening to today's episode, it would be great for you to think about an assumption you have and for you to kind of challenge that and question it and go through this exercise I'm going to take you through today. Before we dive in, this is being filmed and released in December 2024. And if you're listening to this in December 2024, we have the ultimate EVOLVE experience giveaway happening right now. You can enter to win a free VIP ticket to EVOLVE.

A $500 flight credit and three nights stay at the Gaylord Rockies. To enter to win, go to rootedinretail.com/giveaway. There's a lot of different ways you can get points. The more points you have, the better chance you have at winning. And maybe that's a hint hint. So be sure to register if you want to come to EVOLVE in Denver. I would love to see you. You can also learn more about EVOLVE. If you want to see our speakers, we have over 15 speakers. This agenda is fire.

You can go to crystalmediaco.com/evolve. Learn all about the event, but enter to win. Okay, let's talk about questioning our assumptions. So what happens when we have these assumptions is, I mean, a lot of different things can happen, but one of the things that I think a lot about is that it can stifle our creativity. When we just assume that things are a certain way, then we're not going to be thinking creatively. We're not going to be thinking differently.

We're not going to be evolving, creating, innovating, adapting. We're just staying still because we have a certain assumption about something. And maybe that assumption was true a year ago, six months ago, two weeks ago. 10 years ago, depending on what assumptions we're hanging on to. It might've been true at one point. But if we don't question these assumptions and really understand where they're coming from and understand if they're true or not, we could get left behind.

And this is where I have a conference called EVOLVE. The importance of evolving. We have to in retail and as small business owners, it's the name of the game. You're just not going to do business the way that you did 50 years ago and have no online presence and not integrate any kind of new, fresh experiences and new ideas, just always doing, selling the same products you did back then. It's just not going to happen. So we have to evolve and we have to question our assumptions.

Oh, one thing I want to add too, is that I often say to my team, just because that's the way we've done, it doesn't mean that's the way we should do it. So I want you to also question like the things that you're doing. So maybe they're not assumptions, but just like the systems that you have in place, how you're doing things, the technology that you're using. That doesn't necessarily mean that that's what we need to do. We can change, we can evolve, we can adapt. And you should.

So it's very important in my opinion to create a culture of that evolution, of that questioning, how we're doing things and looking for ways that we can do things better and really challenging those assumptions.

So the exercise that you can go through, that I did some research with ChatGPT. You know me and AI, I mean, my best friend here. You know, we did some digging in some brainstorming here to give you a great exercise for questioning your assumptions. So there's five things to do and I'll take you through a specific example. One, ask why regularly. Challenge why you believe something to be true. This is so important that we take the time and stop and ask, why? Why do I believe this?

Where did this come from? You know, asking why five times, I taught this at EVOLVE this year, 2024. You know, you ask why, why you go deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper. And actually, if you do this with AI, it helps you really get to the root of something. So that five why, asking why really great thing to do. Two, seek evidence, verify whether the assumption is based on facts or just a belief.

I was just recently at a mastermind, one of my friends, she is a retailer and she's been thinking that sales have just been sucking. So she logged in to get some evidence to get the data and she had her best month ever. In her 10 plus year history of having her store had her best month ever, but she thought she's been doing terrible. And I'm just like, Oh my gosh, why do we do this to ourselves? Cause I do it too. I'll get down to myself. And all of a sudden I'm like, well, is my feelings valid?

Like, is this true? So I'll log in, I'll research, I'll look, and I'm like, "Oh yeah, we're actually fine." You know, or in this case of this retailer, "she's crushing it." So seek evidence. Make sure that that is in fact based on facts. Then three, consider alternatives, think about other possible explanations or perspectives and have fun with this. Like, what's the complete opposite of your assumption? You know, how could I make that assumption more fun, more enjoyable, totally different?

Like how? Creatively brainstorm here and have some fun with these alternatives. Also, you can be very practical too, depending on what works best for you. Four, get feedback, discuss your assumptions with others to gain different viewpoints. This is a beautiful thing to do with your team. Really get their perspective. You might even do this with customers, with vendors, with rep agents. You know, like your reps that you work with.

So get that feedback so you can kind of have an outside view, right? It's hard. I say this a lot. It's hard to see the picture when you're in the frame. So step outside, get that feedback. And finally, fifth, stay curious. Cultivate a mind of curiosity rather than certainty. I feel like one of my superpowers might be curiosity. I'm just a naturally incredibly curious person. I'm constantly questioning and want to know why and how and all the things.

But there are certainly things in my life that I am like very certain about. And it's funny cause Dustin, my husband, he works for the company and we'll have these brainstorming meetings and he'll come up with ideas. He is very much a curious, think outside the box, has this great marketing mind. And he'll say things sometimes that I immediately shut them down because based on my assumptions, and I'm very certain.

And when I move, all of a sudden I find myself like shutting it down and I'm like nope, get curious. So I'll sit there while he's talking and I'm like, could this work? How could that work?

Even though that didn't work, could we do something different to make it work? Like just get curious. Man, it's done wonders for me, as well as for those conversations with Dustin brainstorming. So get curious. So let's go through an exercise of the assumption that foot traffic is slow because we had this epic couple of years with COVID. Now it's the post COVID hangover. Sales are really down. Maybe they're even they're further down from before COVID or maybe you're even from before COVID.

And you're feeling like that's happening with this post hangover, as well as with the rise of e comm. So number one, we're going to ask why. Why do you believe that foot traffic is down due to post COVID changes and ecomm growth? So, you might even pause, you might like be driving. I do this when I listen to podcasts, I'll pause and I'll think about it. I'll talk to myself out loud and and I'll process some of this. You might journal on this as well. So it could be because of broader trends.

That are reported in the media, it could be feedback from your customers. It could be personal observations of just these fewer shoppers you're seeing. You may find you're relying on a general narrative. Or anecdotal evidence which might not fully explain the issue, right? So just question why. Ask why. Maybe you can resonate with some of those things that I just said. Then we're getting into kind of our investigator mode and we're seeking evidence. So what data supports this assumption?

So you can look at your store traffic for the past two years. You know, what is going on? In the case of the retailer I just talked to this week who thought, you know, sales were down. And actually she had her best month ever, you know, get in there and really see, is foot traffic actually down? Like I can't tell you how many times I've heard things like this from retailers. And then when I actually start talking to them, they're like, well, actually we did have a really great event.

Actually, I think maybe we were up. So look at the metrics, compare your data with local retail trends. Are other stores in your area experiencing the same drop, or is this unique to your business? We are an investigator. Let's figure this out. And then research industry reports on post COVID retail behavior and e comm growth. Are they truly the main factors? Or are there other drivers like inflation, changing consumer priorities, things like that.

Now, inflation very well could have been something if you saw the decline this year. Especially in 2024, right? We definitely battled that. Many did. So, you know, we're just seeking some actual real evidence here. Look and find that. Then three, we are considering alternatives. So what other factors might explain the decline? Like what else is going on that maybe foot traffic is down? So, yeah. Has your stores location, like the area you're in, or the neighborhood you're in?

Is there construction? Is there parking issues? Has the neighborhood been changing over the past couple of years? Like is that more what's going on? It's an area thing. Or are your competitors driving your shoppers? Like your customers into their stores, because maybe they have better promotions. They've got, you know, really fun experiences, cool events, different pricing. Maybe a strong online strategy, where are these customers going? Are they being pulled to the competitor?

Could your marketing strategies be updated? Is it a little dated? Are we not really focusing on the call to action to come in the store? Are we talking to them enough? Are we inviting them in? Do we have experiences, events, things that are happening that we could really drive them in and localized marketing campaigns. So we're considering these different alternatives to help support. The issue, this assumption that we have. Then we're going to get some feedback.

So what are your customers and peers think? Let's ask them. Survey your customers about their shopping habits. Are they shopping more online or do they prioritize convenience and proximity? So have them send out a survey. You can have them enter to win a $50 gift card, $100 gift card. Just to incentivize them to fill out the survey. Cause you want this data. I would send it via email, post it on social, remind them.

Like maybe you send it via email a couple of times just to encourage people, "Hey, last chance to enter this five question survey." Maybe it's a three question survey. You know, like name, email, and are you shopping more online? I would use ChatGPT to get a couple of really great questions. Or, you know, PO or Claude, whatever AI tool you're using. I would say, I want to create a survey to get feedback from my customers about.

Because I'm questioning my assumption that my foot traffic is down because of the post COVID hangover and the rise of e comm shopping. I want to know if that is in fact, what's happening with my customers, or could there be another reason that they're not coming in and buying from me? What survey questions would you write too? Give me great questions so my customers give me the answers I'm looking for to question this assumption. You know, I do something like that from a prompt perspective.

Also, you know, so we're serving our customers. We're just getting that insight. And then we're talking to our neighborhood retailers, other businesses. Like I said, your reps, I would really be leveraging your reps. The good ones have good information for you. And then maybe even like chambers or different boards or main street associations.

Things like that, that you could just really have a conversation around what they're seeing and what their assumptions are and what kind of data do they have. And then finally, we're going to stay curious. So what if the assumption is only partially true or entirely false? What if I am not right at all? And something else is actually happening here. If foot traffic hasn't recovered, could new strategies like in store events, exclusive products, or partnerships re engage my customers?

You know, maybe it's not the fact that those things are happening. Like maybe it's just the fact that I haven't been doing enough to really show up for my customers and provide opportunities for them to come in and shop with me. So I'm going to try those things. I'm going to be curious. Will this work and see if I can raise my foot traffic, explore ways to leverage e comm rather than seeing it as a comp as a competitor.

So for example, you could do click and collect, social shopping, or email marketing that's driving those in store visits. So get creative on how you are leveraging omni channel, social, ecomm, to still drive foot traffic in and still drive purchases. You know, maybe you decide that I want to be a part of the ecomm game. So I'm going to play a little bit of a bigger game there to just really drive. Website traffic as well. You know, we're staying curious. What's going to make sense for our store?

Now, here's the deal. So you might have, by questioning this specific assumption, you could discover that foot traffic is down for reasons beyond this hangover and e com competition. It could be changing local, you know markets that are happening things that are happening from an operational perspective different factors that are not those. So if we realize that they're actually these things, now we can address the real things going on.

Maybe you've overestimated the impact of e comm, which I think that happens a lot actually for retailers. They think that they're losing a lot of business. And depending on your categories and type of retailer and location, like you very well could be losing business to ecomm. I'm not saying that at all, but I think that sometimes we overestimate the actual impact.

At a conference I was recently at, they were saying that there was a recent study that was saying that still 80 percent of consumers still, it was somewhere between 70 and 80 percent of consumers still wanted to come in. They were shopping in store. Majority of consumers are still shopping in store. So we might overestimate that power there. You know, new opportunities could emerge new ideas, the omni channel strategies for you, things that can really help drive more local foot traffic.

So that was my big takeaway from Ulla's episode. I think that she had phenomenal advice for us on questioning our assumptions. I really want you to take action on that. This becomes a change in behavior. This isn't a, "I question one assumption and I am done." It is a "I'm having this assumption. I'm having this thought. Is it valid? Let's go through these five things."

I hope that you found today's episode helpful, and I hope that you listened to Ulla and if you, especially if you're in, you know, gift home fashion, I hope you check out her app. It's super cool. And you know that I am rooting for your success. Have a wonderful rest of your week ahead. And just a reminder, I'm going to be for my gift and home peeps in January. I'm going to be at America's Mart in Atlanta, World Market Center in Vegas, and the Javits in New York city for NY NOW.

So I hope to see you at one of those markets. Let me know, let's connect. All right. Have a great week ahead, bye. Okay, I have exciting news to share. The Rooted in Retail Mastermind is launching this January. It's your chance to connect deeper with me, the retail pros from the show and an incredible community of resilient retailers, both online and in person with several meetups throughout the year. Get on the waitlist at rootedinretail.com/waitlist and don't just listen to the show.

Be a part of the magic and grow your store with us. I hope to see you there.