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Brick No81: Why Julian Richer ripped out the doors
By Matt Weston, Tuesday 13 July 2004 If you wanna be a record breaker I can think of easier ways to get into the Guinness Book of World Records . . . (cue Roy Castle) "if you wanna be a record breaker." Why not try to stage the world's largest custard pie fight (3,312 pies), grow the world's tallest celery plant (9ft) or build the world's highest jumping robot (29.5 ft)? Because in 10 years, no one has come close to beating Julian Richer's world record. Since 1994 his hi-fi retail chain, Richer Sounds, has held the record for the world's highest annual sales per unit area: a staggering£195,426 per square metre. Just picture the space: that's £535 every day, every square metre! How does he do it? Why Julian Richer ripped out the doors Retail is all about footfall . . . and getting that footfall in through your doors and buying your products. But Richer Sounds doesn't have doors. Julian Richer ripped them out! He wanted to remove every single barrier between his customers and his products. He acted like a man obsessed. He wanted his shops to be part of the street. So he ripped the doors out (they had to live with the big heating bills). Now, you don't even have to open a door to shop at Richer Sounds. You just step in off the street. If you want to build any profitable business, (not just in retail), you need the exact same obsession. You need to rip out every single barrier (or"door") between you and your customers. Under the microscope Put your business under the microscope. What "doors" are between you and your customer? (Clue: I don't just mean physical "doors".) How can you rip out those "doors"? Go online. How do you think sites like Netflix and the UK- equivalent Webflix turned the video rental industry on its head? They ripped the"doors" off. They removed the barriers to renting a DVD. With Netflix you don't have to worry about late fees. There are none. You don't even have to get the car out to rent a DVD. It arrives through your letterbox. And it pays: they charge you a monthly subscription for the privilege. The "door" ripping doesn't stop there. See how stripped down their websites are? (And look at the Richer Sounds site whilst you're at it.) Very few websites get to the point like these. I've said it before: you have (at most) 30 seconds to make your Elevator Pitch, whether you're in a lift with Bill Gates or communicating with your customers via the web. You need to keep it simple. What remarkable benefit do you offer? What single thing do you want your visitor to do? Rip out those "doors" that distract from your No1 message. (See brick #32.) Starting today, focus on ripping out the "doors" that stand between you and your customers. Who knows . . . you may not have to bake 3,313 custard pies to get in the Guinness Book after all! Remember to sign up: back to top |
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