Case Study: 5 Star Cellular
Understanding the Value of People –
5 Star Cellular’s Secret to Retail Success
Bill Figueroa understands the principles of good management. But the co-founder and president of 5 Star Cellular didn’t cut his teeth in the mailroom of a large corporation; Figueroa is a former Naval Air crewman. For 10 years, he worked in helicopter search and rescue and eventually trained new in-flight crewmen.
"During my time in the Navy, I learned a lot about bad management – just telling people to do something because it needs to be done," he recalls. "When people do a good job, they need to be commended."
Today, after taking a one-location Jacksonville operation to a lucrative 10-location Sprint Nextel dealer serving Northeast Florida from Fernandina Beach to Orlando, Figueroa makes sure his employees get the recognition they deserve.
In past years, Figueroa and his co-founder, C. David Mills, have taken top sales performers and their families on vacations to resorts, on cruises, even trips to London and Paris.
"At 5 Star, we’re mindful of people’s efforts, beyond compensation," says Figueroa. "We understand the value of people and we want to offer rewards that broaden people’s lives – show them things they wouldn’t likely see on their own."
‘Real goals’ Boost Sales Performance, Competition
To determine who goes on 5 Star’s posh annual ‘company vacation,’ Figueroa depends on RetailiQ.
"RetailiQ allows you to have very defined measurements, right down to previous months or years. So instead of measuring our employees’ performance against a goal they can’t see, we’re measuring it against their own past performance," he explains.
"Sometimes in sales, people complain that you’re setting the sales goals too high, but RetailiQ helps make it real. The goals you set for them are visible."
Figueroa was blown away by the change in sales culture he witnessed at 5 Star. Suddenly his salespeople weren’t only working towards meeting their own targets – they were competing to exceed each other’s totals as well.
"RetailiQ spurs competition between co-workers and friends. They call each other at watch their numbers in real time; sort of egg each other on. Friendly competition is better than money," he says. "If you’re playing poker for nickels and dimes, it’s not about the money – it’s about beating your friends."
Up with Customer Loyalty, Down with Churn
Just as 5 Star values its employees, it also values its customers.
A major concern among Sprint Nextel dealers is improving customer loyalty and reducing churn. To address both, Figueroa adheres to the following customer service mantra: "Start out right and finish right."
He trains his staff to get off on the right foot: greeting customers within the first 5 seconds, not stopping at hello but offering a handshake ("When you shake a person’s hand, you break down the ‘false walls’ that exist between you," he says). 5 Star takes a similar approach to its post-sale follow-ups, facilitated by RetailiQ’s integrated CRM system. Staff sends customers a thank you card within 30 days of a purchase. They also send personalized e-mails about promotions, sales and accessories for the product the customer actually bought.
"RetailiQ maintains the database: you can print out all the mailing lists directly from the system," says Figueroa. "We make sure all the addresses are correct. The thank you cards that don’t get to the customer come back to us and we can fix it. It gives us an opportunity to wow the customer – we call them up and say, ‘It seems we have your address wrong and we’d like to keep in touch with you.’ People like to know you went out of your way to deliver good service."
Real-time Information for Real-time Results
Since going live with RetailiQ in November 2004, Figueroa has seen a dramatic improvement in efficiency, productivity and profitability.
But what are the most obvious advantages for Sprint Nextel dealers?
"Real-time information, through all locations, is absolutely huge," he says. "Even when I’m away from the office, I spend hours at home on RetailiQ, watching the numbers come in."
What else?
"Not storing your data in your own hard drive is important because if you crash, you don’t lose any data," he adds.
"RetailiQ is the best wireless retail management system because it’s the first system built by people in the business, for people in the business – they knew what our issues were. This if the first truly ‘wireless program.’"
Figueroa pays such close attention to the sales and profit statistics that he recently came across a bizarre phenomenon: sales of Bluetooth accessories were going up but total profits off accessories were going down.
As he investigated the data further, he discovered that while his salespeople began upselling Bluetooth accessories (as instructed by management), they were neglecting to sell the conventional, popular accessories (car chargers and phone cases), which caused total accessory profits to decrease.
"We focused on the issue with our salespeople and did some training to ensure they do both (sell Bluetooth AND conventional accessories), and now our numbers are back to normal," says Figueroa.
"But if it weren’t for RetailiQ, I wouldn’t have been able to recognize as easily why our accessory dollars were disappearing. We got right to the root of the problem."