Smells and Sounds

One of our Maverick Mastermind Groups met last week here in Wichita, Kansas, and a subject that gained a lot of interest was standardizing the smells and sounds that a client experiences when walking into our retail stores. Probably because we know that there is a wide variety of potentially negative scents and sounds currently, and that needs to be fixed.

A little over a month ago, I was in Sarasota, Florida, staying at the Embassy Suites. The hotel was nice, but there were some weird smells in the lobby, and then when I got off on my floor. What I realized was that there was an open-air trash can in front of the elevators on each floor. So, whether I was entering an elevator or leaving one, I could smell the trash.

For dinner one night, I wandered across to the Ritz Carlton because I heard they had a good seafood and steak restaurant there. Immediately when I entered the lobby, I was greeted with a very light and pleasant smell, and it almost smelled like I was entering a high-class day spa. 

Come to find out, many hotel chains, including Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, and The Westin, all have their own individual smell they infuse into the lobby.  The Ritz Carlton also had a very soft jazz playing in the background but was never to the volume level where it would disturb a conversation. 

Our Mastermind Group last week began discussing this, and we started to discuss how we could apply this to our retail stores. The most popular plan was a simple smell (fresh linen, lavender) infused in the air and sounds systemized to coming across XM radio (smooth jazz, Watercolors) on a low, set volume.

This standardization will avoid the uncomfortable rap or heavy metal playing if left up to our retail team members, but it will also avoid any negative smells. And our clients are very sensitive to smells from our industry. 

We are going to give it a shot. And I know that when it comes to attracting and acquiring our right-fit clients, presenting them with pleasant, light smells and sounds is an important part of our marketing plan and client journey.

Please email me at [email protected] and share with me what you do to standardize sounds and smells.

Have a great week, friends!

Dave