Swallowing your pride and admitting mistakes can keep you from losing customers. University Rho in Fairfax, Virginia is proof.
University Rho is a merchandise and apparel retailer that serves the fraternities and sororities of nearby George Mason University. I managed the store for a year while I did some career soul searching.
That fall, as the GMU kids made their return to campus, we gave “The Rho” a makeover. We rearranged the merchandise, tried a few new vendors…nothing big. Or so we thought.
When you’re a 20-something guy, you tend to notice when bubbly, attractive sorority girls stop visiting you. Turns out the Greeks weren’t thrilled with our redesign. The new layout made finding their favorite merchandise difficult, they said, and our new products were available cheaper online.
Since the Greeks represented over 30% of in-store sales, we were in trouble. But how would we get them back?
Luckily, I had gotten to know the presidents of each chapter during their earlier visits. I reached out with a phone call to make amends. Several of the sororities graciously invited me to speak at their next meetings. Stocked with catalogs, product samples and small gifts, I met on campus with each group. I gathered valuable feedback, healed broken relationships, and made many new customers.
Customers flowed into the store once again, and we went back to the way things used to be…mostly. We did make one change: keeping customers involved in decision-making.