We Lifted the Lid ...
… on retail + COVID. Here’s what we found.
It’s incredibly hard to find words for what we’re all feeling right now.
I was talking to my longtime friend, partner and coworker, Sally Marrer. We met at Rue La La over a decade ago. Where HCC’s focus is creative/marketing, Sally’s is the business development and merchandising side. We often team up on in-person coaching sessions. And we put our heads together to think about how we could help now.
Mostly, we didn’t want to feel powerless. So we started reaching out to clients and friends and seeking out new ways to be helpful. Respecting budgets and fears, we went looking for new ways to be true partners that are fast and either low-cost, or just on us.
In It … Together
One of the things we’ve found is that in this crazy time, clients are longing to bounce ideas off someone else. Some of the questions we heard:
We don’t want to sound tone-deaf in our communications. Are we hitting it right?
We’re getting a lot of pressure to hit the ground running when things normalize(ish). But I don’t even know how to think about that.
We know that when we come out on the other side of this things will look different -- can we talk through some ideas to get ahead of it?
What we decided to do are short sessions we called Lifting the Lid. People are boxed in right now, literally and figuratively. In highly distilled, reasonably priced 3-hour, virtual sessions we started helping clients get out of the box, talk through ideas, and emerge with concrete next steps.
Because we know that there are small businesses struggling to survive, for whom this is a make or break, we made this a one for one; for every Lift the Lid session completed, we donate a session to those who need them.
Unboxing a Plan
Our Lift the Lid sessions so far have focused the retail and events spaces. We’ve worked with really skilled and respected leaders who have experienced a sudden and complete shift of their entire business landscape.
Here are a few highlights (and they form a common theme):
There are low hanging fruit solutions that are visible to us on their face but clouded to even the best leaders who are very invested and embroiled in the day-to-day.
It’s crucial to look at the things that work best for you as a business and find ways to rework them for the current climate (i.e. translate actual into virtual within the spirit of your brand).
Consumers can smell inauthenticity. If you’re speaking to your audience as if it were business as usual, you’re leaving opportunity on the table (and likely alienating them).
Telling the truth to employees and customers is really important right now. Just be straightforward. It gets everyone on your team.
The success stories in this climate are realistic about their priorities and where they can win.
This is not a time to throw up your hands, put everything on hold, and decide that there’s no place for your business to advance right now. We know from experience at Rue La La during a recession that there are people (lots of people) who want the joy of retail therapy. It’s a question of who will be creative enough to deliver on that joy in ways that resonate right now.
1 + 2 is … limitless
Sally and I wrap each session with a written game plan, which typically includes a prioritization of next steps (1s, 2s, 3s…)
And we have been grateful to also get feedback on what the experience means to participants. A few things we’ve heard:
“Insight, advice, and motivation to get new projects moving forward.”
“Your ideas have birthed more ideas!”
“It’s amazing to realize how much I could learn in those 3 hours!”
“In 3 hours you gave me a whole new perspective and concrete, actionable ideas I hadn't thought of on where I can take my business right now and make an impact.”
If this sounds interesting to you, or if you know someone who needs an assist right now, please reach out. We want to keep being helpful. It makes us feel less helpless.
*You can email rachel@honorcodecreative.com to get started or to suggest a small business who needs this kind of help right now.