Perfectionism is different from the concept of perfection. Perfectionism is the idea of holding back because you don’t want to proceed and using imperceptible flaws as an excuse to hold back. This is different from saying something is "not good enough." The words ‘good enough’ simply means it meets the required standards and it doesn’t have to be better because if it was better, it wouldn’t qualify as "good enough." I think the way to develop good taste involves actively sharing creations with the world, observing what connects and what doesn't and it's through this process that one refines their understanding of quality.
Are you afraid?
Diversity is about differences, inclusion is about embracing those differences. The hard truth is that to find new solutions to old problems we must often work with people we don’t really understand. What makes matters worse is that we often do not appreciate the value of diversity when we see it. I won’t pretend this is easy, as I think that people are not afraid of failure, they are afraid of blame.
“Having an outsider around helped us solve problems, but don’t expect us to be grateful, or even to notice anything other than social discomfort.”
Simon Nygaard Hoff, co-owner and creative soul at Wonderland Agency
You and I met each other around 2008 when you had the WAS Gallery in Vesterbro even though we have not seen much of each other over the past couple of years. Last year we bumped into each other at Helle Mardahl’s ’vernissage‘ in Boffi and we both remembered that healthy relationships are nurtured by good conversations.
Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet me. As adults we often let the serious things in life suck all the joy out of our lives. We need to engage the younger side of ourselves to remember what it means to have fun. It’s important to let yourself be a juvenile every now and then, not everything needs to be so critical all of the time. During this interview, I will go with the flow and it’s totally unscripted 😊.
Can you tell me a little about your background?
It all began with the Wonderland Magazine in 2005 which kickstarted the Wonderland journey. In the first magazine we had a big article with Tal R and Jonathan Meese. We based the concept around dressing them up as Freud and his mum, as they were both in love with Freud. Tal R and Jonathan Meese said they would like to use the costumes, but we had to come over to Berlin. As we were still students travelling to Berlin was expensive but we managed. Subsequently, Tal R and Meese had a huge exhibition at Statens Museum for Kunst called ”Mor”, SMK had already made promotional material which they scrapped in favour of our images for the official press release, advertising and posters. Crown Prince Frederik and the Minister of Culture, Brian Mikkelsen, opened the exhibition. We were buzzing, this was an ideal start for us and the success was a big deal for us students, over the next couple of years we made 11 issues of the magazine, which were distributed in Denmark and Germany.
What are you up to nowadays?
Product design, furniture design and interior design.
Copyright: Please Wait To Be Seated
What made you choose to design the salt and pepper pots?
It was because I made the concept and interior design of a restaurant on the top floor of Illum. I was hired by Carlsberg to design the Bar Jacobsen restaurant/bar - I did the concept and interior design, and then I bought a lot of chairs from a company called, Please Wait To Be Seated (PWTBS). The owner (Thomas) came to the opening and asked if there was something I would improve. Now, as there is always one thing that you are annoyed about and it was the salt and pepper pots. Thomas said that is was really funny as he, wanted to add a salt and pepper design to the PWTBS collection and then I was hired as the designer. I told him that if he gave me 14 days I would come back with some great ideas and the rest is history.
They are made in wood and are being sold in cool shops like Illums Bolighus and Stilleben, but we think they still need a more commercial retailer as it's a royalty agreement.
How did you get into the art world?
My education is a pretty boring project management degree and I am an autodidactic graphic designer. I slowly moved into the art world when we opened Wonderland Art Space in 2008. Working with the room experience, collaborating with different artists to build and design art bars for festivals. In 2010, I was working on the visual identity for Roskilde Festival, making an art bar for Absolut vodka (Pernod-Ricard) with Helle Mardahl and Andreas Emeniusalso I was making a campaign for Diesel. I was subsequently hired by Roskilde Festival in 2011 to make another art bar, again it was sponsored by Absolut vodka but this time I worked with the artist, Anne Sophie Sandal on the project.
What were you interested in whilst at school?
I grew up in Svogerslev (small town outside Roskilde), I went to high school in Roskilde, but immediately afterwards I moved to Copenhagen as I was so tired of small city life. Even though I really like Roskilde and will probably move back one day...
I was interested in creativity and art whilst I was at school, I wasn’t interested in learning languages or mathematics, I just wanted to play football and learn about creativity. The only thing that I knew was that I had to move to Copenhagen as soon as possible. I attended a 6-month foundation graphics course at Copenhagen Technical School which was extended to one year and I attended film, drawing and graphic courses.
Afterwards, I started a small T-shirt brand called SLRP with Rasmus Blæsbjerg who was one of the first web design teachers at the Design School and was also best friends with Oliver Bjerrehus. I moved to New York for a few months with Rasmus and tried to build up SLRP over there with an American partner, but it did not work out.
Courtesy of W Magazine archives
Did you read comics or magazines? Who was your hero?
No, I read magazines and I was really inspired by the American W-Magazine that featured fashion, art, film and culture. I remember receiving some money from my aunt and immediately buying a retrospective book featuring W-Magazine issues from 1990. The book was huge and cost DKK 2.500. Then I knew that I really wanted to make a magazine one day.
I have never been a big fan of comics, Rasmus Blæsbjerg was the man I looked up to for many years, he was a character and very funny. The Wood Wood guys were also quite an inspiration, especially in the beginning when they had the shop on Krystalgade.
What was your first big career decision?
In the beginning of the 2000s, I started to learn a lot more about visual art and then I became a fan of a lot of artists because for me art is pure creativity where there are no rules. There are just your own rules, there is no client, you don't have to think of a brand, there is no brief. As an artist you can do what you like. The downside of all of this freedom is also the difficult part! I have been advising a lot of young artists about their career, they should know what they want to do, which direction they want to pursue, for example, sound, video, installations, etc. You cannot do it all, if you want to be an art superstar you have to think about your own brand - Tal R is a good example as you never doubt that it is him when you see one of his paintings. The way he combines the colours and figures, he has a childish way of painting with an edge. Tal R is also really good at speaking about his art, his work has a high level of quality, his motives are appealing - it's painting, it's childish, it's funny. He uses beautiful colours and he's really charming and good at networking. Tal’s also made a lot of right choices, e.g. he’s represented by Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin and I've met the owner, Bruno many times, he's also a lot of fun. There are so many characters within the art industry 😊
Everyone wants a deeper connection with their clients, how do you create an emotional connection with your customers?
We at Wonderland are a commercial agency but we combine our own projects e.g. salt & pepper, with more commercial projects. We have just reopened the gallery, we are making a podcast about the advertising business. We don't ask permission, we just do it!
It's really important to get your own experiences, for example, trying to make an event because it is really difficult. Getting people to come, creating the marketing and promotion, so if you have that experience then you know how hard it is when you have to do it for a client. Their client’s budgets also have to reflect that if they want to be successful.
It's difficult to get big budget projects, you really have to fight for them and then to have permission to be creative within your own field of expertise and that takes a lot of back and forth, briefs, meetings, etc. Now we are staffing up on the management side, as we know that we have a good reputation and the best creative freelancers want to work with us, where we have struggled in the past to get the big budget jobs.
Courtesy of Wonderland Agency
It appears as though you made a seamless transition from the art world into communication & design. What were the key drivers for you to make the move into the communications world?
The transition has evolved by taking small steps, going more towards a commercial agency and away from the art business. We had a tipping point at the end of 2011, where we had to make the decision whether we wanted to run a creative agency or to run a gallery. At that time the gallery was representing 5 artists and they wanted to be represented at international trade fairs. However, we were not prepared to spend our weekends trying to sell art when we knew that we made all our money from the creative agency. The gallery was more the face; it was definitely not the body.
We started to make small campaigns for Tuborg, we became the Danish advertising agency for Absolut vodka and Diesel, and they both liked the edge that we could bring by gathering the cool creatives. We could not give the artists the representation they deserved, so we decided to close the gallery and move in the city and run our commercial agency there.
In 2103, we landed our biggest job to date for Somersby. We created a sub-brand, ”Somersby Unlimited” specifically targeting young party goers in Denmark. Here we had our commercial breakthrough and a huge budget. We created everything for the concept (strategy, brand name, visual identity, packaging design, etc.).
Carlsberg sold out of Somersby everywhere during the first two years and this is really something phenomenal when a Carlsberg brand sells out, as they really produce a lot of units. There was so much hype created around the product, simply by adding animal print on the bottles - it was a really simple idea, but the timing was perfect. Fashion is really mainstream and it can move a lot of people, we needed a creative basis for the idea for Somersby to become fashionable. The following year we knew it would be floral prints and we knew that if we integrated that on the bottles it would be a hit and again it sold out. The third-year was really difficult to follow up on the iconic bottles, so, unfortunately, Carlsberg closed down the brand.
Courtesy of www.markedsforing.dk
What role has digital taken in your business model?
Yes, it does! We have two sides of the Agency, I am head of design & art and there is not much digital on that side. The other side is SoMe and digital marketing. Here there is a lot of digital, looking at online trends, Facebook algorithms are constantly changing but as we are doing all the SoMe for Fitness World we have to stay on top of the game. And my business partner, Sophie Hardinger is running that side of the Agency, she has become a SoMe nerd. We have 4 people in her department and hire freelancers if we need to work with Adwords etc.
What makes your brand stand out from the crowd?
I hope that this artistic creative edge we have is the reason why clients want to work with us. Pernod-Ricard recently contacted us again as they want us to integrate their brands in a creative and cool environment.
I realised that when you develop strong ideas and you invest in the creative process, for example, thinking about the materials, the look, etc. delete. then I am really good at taking a brand and taking it into a physical dimension with a lot of funny creative solutions. I prefer to work on interior designs rather than creating advertising campaigns! The work will last a lot longer than just a quick fix, but of course it's difficult to convince companies to invest money into a long-term solution than a quicker, cheaper one. I have managed, so far, to explain and sell to a supertanker like Carlsberg where the Hall of Carlsberg has been up for 5 years and the Carlsberg VIP Lounge at Parken has been there for 7 years
A Little About The Way I Think
1) I spend my time listening and making others feel special rather than telling them how great I am.
2) I understand that relationships are built on trust, and trust takes time to develop.
3) I think that the best way to differentiate is to be honest, caring and hardworking.
4) I usually identify areas of shared interest and create opportunities for everyone to be a winner.
5) I provide encouragement, show concern, listen with interest and instill a strong set of values.
6) I always treat my clients with dignity and respect.
Jack Ma at World Economic Forum (video)
"We really need to pay attention to people who are 30 years old, to the next 30 years and to companies that have less than 30 employees. What are you most looking forward to and most scared off in the next 30 years?" Watch the full interview here
Your Journey to Sustainability
Dr Martin Luther King Jr. once said: “The time is always right to do what is right”. This week I had a wonderful Q&A with the sustainable jewellery designer, Anna Moltke-Huitfeldt. When Anna asked me a few years ago about what I knew about sustainable gold, I had never heard of the phenomenon and had no idea that sustainable gold existed. What do you know about Fairtrade standards or Fairmined mining certification?
What made you start working in the jewellery business?
When I got divorced then it was all about doing the right thing for my children and in my opinion, it was to put their needs before mine. Now that they are grown up now I have the space to do things for me and focus 100% on my business. I will always be there for my children to ensure that their life is as balanced as possible, after my divorce I sat down and worked out my goals – and one of my goals was to build wide boulevards for my children to walk on and meet like-minded people. I was painting and attended a sculpture class at Holbæk Art High School in 2001, as for many years I wanted to work with my hands. I made a sculpture in wireframes, and I put all sorts of small things inside of it, that I welded together - I made friends with some women who were in a painting class – and when they saw my sculpture, they asked whether I had considered making jewellery? This sparked an interest, and as I had always loved jewellery I attended a workshop in Copenhagen and as soon as I started, I knew this is what I was going to do.
Why did you start your own brand?
I started my own company in 2004, working with both gold and silver as I was looking for transparency. In the beginning, there were so many things that I didn’t know so I was looking for transparency in gemstones and my designs were inspired by the spiral and the eternal movement upwards. The air that makes the form and how if there was no air it would all be a ball and things like that and it was during this process that I found out about sustainability and fair things.
When did you start investigating about fair gold?
It all began in 2008 at an art fair in Berlin, where I had a personal interaction which led me to exhibit at the Basel trade fair. I discovered a magazine with an article about Oxfam America’s No Dirty Gold (NDG) campaign, which sought to raise the human rights and environmental standards of the global mining industry. This led me to the Oro Verde gold mine a community in Colombia. I approached some Danish goldsmiths who were already working with Oro Verde, to see whether we could start buying gold together, they were not interested! So I contacted, Cred Jewellery, who were one of the first to start working with fair gold, and in 2010 I bought one time directly from Colombia.
How can the consumer know that the gold is fair?
In the past, the “big” mining companies came in with huge excavating tools to dig up and move the soil and when they were finished they just took their tools and left. Leaving and spoilt the landscapes, this stopped the local food farmers from agricultural farming for years. Oro Verde miners return the soil after excavation, which allows the land to replenish and is ready for agricultural farming after 3 years. Oro Verde (Green Gold) was a Colombian initiative working with Afro-Colombian artisanal gold miners in the Chocó bioregion, an area marked by high rates of poverty, social exclusion and a very sensitive ecosystem. Oro Verde has involved about 1,300 miners in the certification system and the premium they earn helps pay for local community development projects and diversification into other livelihood activities.
If you are a licensee from Fair Trade International, you are allowed to stamp your jewellery. You need to have a contract and that is expensive for small companies, as there is both the premium and license contract and this has to be factored into the price of the finished products. Nowadays, the Alliance for Responsible Mining bi-annual fee is US$60 p/annum and for each kilo of gold there is US$4.000 premium added for the miners, so now chemical free mined (ecological) gold is available at an additional US$2.000 per kilo premium.
What is alluvial gold mining?
Alluvial gold mining is the process of extracting gold from these creaks, rivers and streams and is generally considered to be the most environmentally friendly method of gold mining as a result of the reduced environmental impact when compared to underground mining. Using a leaf from a local bush that they crushed and mixed it with water instead of using chemicals to extract the gold.
Where are you nowadays in regards to sustainability?
I have stopped working with Fairtrade gold as my contract expired in 2017 and I chose to work with Fairminded as I wanted to be closer to the people who are close to the miners. I was advised not to quit by Fairtrade, but I did as Fairmined is a smaller organization, as it is important for me to have a personal connection to those who know how the miners are doing, and when I send my regards to the team, the message goes to the whole team.
How about your business, what are your sales & marketing strategy?
In the beginning, I attend a lot of lifestyle and art fairs and it was before the financial crisis of 2008, so it was easier with everything going up and being sold. After the crisis, everything went down and I focused on developing myself and my brand simultaneously during those difficult times. I’m not so good at marketing as it’s too personal for me – going out to shops is not my strength, as if they do not like my jewellery, I take it personally and get annoyed.
I sell through 2 shops in Copenhagen and a Dutch Fairtrade/Fairmined platform, plus you can find me on UK Jewel Street and ENIITO.com, an online platform for Scandinavian designers. And of course, you can contact me via my own website. Men usually come to buy engagement & wedding rings, I have young clients from early teens all the way through to late 70’s, and I have made products from Christening gifts to Golden Wedding Anniversary pieces. I also make collections where people can choose from, but it’s more important for me to do the right thing than it is to make lots of money.
I can see that your drive is not economic and you will compromise on your values, so where do you see your brand 5 years from now?
I look much further into the future and I expect one of my grandchildren (who are yet to be conceived) to take over my business, as I plan to continue working as long as I can. I anticipate that by the time my future grandchildren are at that stage of life where they can take over the business, they will have a really strong sustainable brand to build upon. I want to remain a small jeweller, I don’t want it to become a big brand, of course, I want to make more money and employ more people, but I like the fact that my business is personal. So when I make things for people, I have the time to speak to them and get to know them, and this helps me to open up a designed universe to the client and help them to create something individual together with all the possibilities that are available and in the best quality.
Photo: Sandra Aaberg
"Those who know, do; those who understand, teach." - Aristotle
It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It!
Apple doesn’t sell computers, they sell identity.
There is never a mention of screen resolution, how much memory, how many GB because it doesn’t matter. It’s all about what’s in the box, and you just have to have one! The product has to be good, but Apple doesn’t make the best computers and they do not make the best telephones by any stretch of the imagination, but they sell because people associate an aspirational identity with their products and this desire drives sales through the roof. And this shows that people buy into something that is deeply felt, and that is identity!
iPad Air advertisement featuring a clip of Robin Williams’ voice from “Dead Poet’s Society”
An Elite Customer Journey: Q&A With Lisbeth Dalgaard
Dalgaard Supermarket logo
Retail and the consumer are evolving, so the smarter we can analyze the data, clues and insights, the better we will be at leaving customers feeling wanted, respected and appreciated at every stage of the interaction. Competition is fierce in the supermarket sector and today I am having a Q&A with Lisbeth Dalgaard from Dalgaard Supermarket (MENY) in Hørsholm, who is doing an exceptional job.
Can you tell me a little about yourself?
I started out studying French in Geneva and then I returned to Denmark with the intention to continue studying languages, but stopped rather quickly and took my education within the insurance business whilst working for an insurance company. After completing my Merkonom in Marketing, I moved into IT industry with IBM Denmark and studied HD whilst at IBM, and was also educated in Business Psychology. I am the Chairperson of DSK, Board & Executive committee member at Danish Chamber of Commerce, Board member KFI, Dansk Handelsblad (media) and Scanseason (seasonal merchandise), plus I also sit on a couple of advisory boards. On the personal front, I am married with 2 grown up sons and am really good at prioritizing my time between personal and professional activities.
Was your father the founder of Dalgaard Supermarket?
Yes, my father began in Frederiksberg as a grocery store owner in 1954 and then in 1962, he started Dalgaard in Hørsholm, which was in those days a small shop of 80m2. We became Dalgaard Supermarket in 1971 with an 800m2 store and have grown exponentially since then.
My father and I
When did you take over from your father?
I started in the supermarket around the year 2000. In the beginning, it was a bit of a trial - neither my father nor I was certain, but after 3 months, I was sure that this was the correct decision. Before I started I discussed with myself about what was going to be the major challenges, e.g. negotiations with the suppliers, but actually, it was the people. The personnel, as it was a completely different culture from what I was used to at IBM. Here when we reached a goal the mentality was not to get excited if the reward was an additional training course. I had to adapt the different culture very quickly otherwise, I would have been out of business very quickly.
At what stage did you become part of the MENY group?
MENY used to be called SuperBest, and we joined the SuperBest Group in 2008. I was on the SuperBest development team trying to develop what we now have as MENY, but at that time many of the group members were not ready. We were very close to introducing a new kind of SuperBest but the majority of the small supermarket owners were against the reform. There were about 25 supermarkets (ca. 70% of the group turnover) that were very keen to reform, but as we have one vote per supermarket, regardless of the size, and the small supermarkets were reluctant to change as they thought that a price-focused supermarket would be best. Already then, there was a trend that either you are very discount focused or very specialized, there was no future in the middle ground, but they wanted to be there. Democracy prevailed and we remained in the “middle segment” for 2 more years, on hindsight, this was for the best as it proved to the small supermarkets that it did not work, and they came back and insisted that we develop what is now MENY.
Do you have a clear set of customers in mind when making decisions?
Not really, if I were to put a label on our customers, it would be “that they are conscious food lovers and foodies.” In the 90’s you categorized customers in blue, yellow, green, whatever, based on gender, income, occupation, etc., nowadays you cannot do that! A good example is a single father who has his children one week and then the next week he is alone and has a date, the buying behaviour in these two weeks for the “single father” is completely different. You cannot judge that by the customer appearance as to their buying power or preferences, it is much more about situation awareness and that is how we train our staff to remain open-minded and curious over for the customers. We focus on quality and personal relationships, as we believe that it is much easier to sell to customers when we have created trust. We are also very particular when we choose the products we put on our shelves.
When focusing on the customer journey throughout your supermarket, how do you create an experience that taps into your customers’ emotions and behaviours?
As human beings, we like to be seen and welcomed and that is something that we have really been training. It is very important that all our employees meet the customers, look into their eyes, smile and welcome them into our supermarket. Subconsciously saying I have seen you and I am here for you, and this something we are training on a continuous basis. Also in the front section of the shop, where the customer is met by the staff in the Post Office, kiosk or bakery who see all of the customers as they enter our store and they can smooth the path for their colleagues further in the shop by just smiling and welcoming them as they begin their journey.
Dalgaard Supermarket is stocked with great products, which are displayed in a warm and welcoming way, your staff are knowledgeable and the real-life shopping experience is still where sales are made. How do you think the online experience will transform the supermarket business in the future? And how will you incorporate digital at Dalgaard Supermarket?
In a way, it already has, if you look at how nemlig.com has been struggling and are showing huge deficits in their balance sheets, year after year. And they have invested over 1 billion DKK into their business, in the beginning, it was because they wanted to master online food sales, but the value of the company today, as they see it themselves is big data. It is the behaviour of the customers because I think that it will take some years to crack the code, if ever, for how to make money on delivering goods to people because it is more expensive. As you have to factor in the cost of the employee selecting the products, which are usually the job of the customer in the shop, and now, you have to pay someone to do that. So it is very difficult to get a break even or profit under these economic conditions.
We at Dalgaard are also building big data but in a personal way. We know that this customer has just come home from a vacation and you ask how was the holiday? You know that this customer has just had a grandchild, how’s your grandson? And that is much more important to people today, as we are very much alone on a day to day basis in front of our PC’s. It’s easy to buy non-food products online, as it’s easy and convenient, but people need people (connectivity). We have customers coming to the store and all they want is a hug (metaphorically) and that is what they get here. We, in our line of business, should focus on the fact that we have a huge advantage in being with people. So we have to create an environment where they like to come, where they meet nice people, where they are excited and surprised, where they can be advised by professionals, where they can taste new products. So I think that we have a future even though there will be a huge competition from the online stores. Many of my customer’s say we buy beer, cleaning products, all the heavy stuff because we can get that delivered to our door, but I want to buy the food myself. I want to smell the tomatoes, I want to feel the avocados, I want to speak to the butcher about how I should prepare this kind of meat, etc.
We are planning to use the digital platforms as an opportunity to be more specific in addressing the customers that today we have “this and that” and “if you come between this time and that time it will be ready”. Order online, and we will start working with “Your Local” and “Too Good To Go” to conquer food waste. It’s also a way to get in touch with customers to let them know that we have ready to eat meals in our store. We are using Facebook a lot and also our website, where we generate a lot of traffic and that is monitored every month to see where the users are going, and recipes are always popular, the weekly offers and then our tasting and our events.
Clockwise: Cheese dept., fish dept., butchers and delicatessen.
I can see that you have collaborations with Post Nord, Emmerys and Peter Beier. How often are you hosting in-store events?
We have weekly events/tastings every Thursday, Friday and Saturday plus we have spontaneous tastings throughout the week, and we also have a lot of partners coming in to present, mainly new products. So long as we like it, we are not afraid to give a new producer or agent a chance to present their products in-store. They need to commit to making the introduction of the product in-store for 3 to 4 months because then we are sure that it will be a success both for them and ourselves. If we introduce a product via an introduction price, we will probably sell the product the first time, but we do not know whether they will come back to buy the product again. If they buy after they have tasted the product at full price, this is a proper test, and then we know that they will probably come back, so this is how we introduce new products via tastings.
Then we have special events, typically around wine - where we invite winemakers to DK and then we have a partnership with some of the local restaurants e.g. some in Rungsted Harbour, Kokkedal Slot, Søhuset in Scion (DTU) and then we have a dinner where the chef will incorporate a menu that compliments the wine. We have had flower arrangement courses with our florist and we have also had a cheese and wine travel (5 evenings), where we started out with cheese & wine from Italy, and then from Spain, then to UK, DK and finally the Nordics.
Left: Tasting evening Right: Tasting with Jakob de Neergaard
At what stage do you share your vision for the future with your staff?
When we are ready! Many of the new ideas we work on together, e.g. launching of new products. When we started out with the “Free Off range” (e.g. lactose-free, gluten-free, etc.) we had to make sure that we understood the concept before we went out to the customers. So we do a lot of training ahead and when we think that we are ready we launch. This one of the things that I learnt whilst at IBM that you have to test things beforehand before you go out to the clients. Then again I am very open to inputs, and my employees are always free to come and have an open and frank conversation.
Are you the go-to person or is it middle managers who the shop floor would approach?
I am on the shop floor mainly on Fridays and Saturdays, but all my employees are aware that I am also a resource of 2 hands and 2 feet, so if they need my help, they just call for it - my door is always open, so just come.
What measurement tools do you use to ensure that your staff act consistently with the stated values?
We don’t have any specific measurement tools, but we use our staff Facebook group, where we nominate each other or just praise - “I have a colleague and he/she did this or that and it was very good”. And we use some of this feedback directly and then once a month we have a morning meeting with the leader group where we speak about the nominees and we acknowledge the best one with a reward. The most important is the peer to peer recognition!
Educated staff members
Do you have a training program to support your employees? And how do you obtain feedback from them?
We are very open to employees wishes for education, so if an employee comes to me and says they would like to improve their skills in a specific area, I will try to see if we can find a course, person or something that can train that particular skill set. We are planning to have more IT training over the next couple of months. We have had the management group on trips to London together with ZBC (Zealand Business College), as they have access to managers in some of the top retailers in London and we can learn from all types of retail. We are currently planning another trip for September, as it’s important to see something that you haven’t seen before and because of the volume of customers in London, the retailers have to make their ideas work. And these best practices I share with a handful of colleagues who I debate ideas with as they are facing similar successes and difficulties.
What systems do you have in place to measure, reward and reinforce desired behaviours?
When we recognise a member of the team who is doing a really good job of welcoming, smiling and acknowledging the customer, we praise the behaviour in front of their colleagues. And we encourage this member of the staff to take responsibility for spreading the goodwill amongst the team.
What methods do you use in order to connect your employees to the Dalgaard Supermarket vision and mission?
We use our employee Facebook group and we have weekly management meetings, and then the managers have departmental meetings, so we have many opportunities to review and control that we are on track. There are always GOALS, not necessarily economic goals and we visit them every 2 months to see if we are doing the right things or have we decided to grow in an area where the customers are not ready and if so, we stop using the resources there and change direction.
Every week there are special offers available to all MENY customers in Denmark, so there is someone making the decision of what should be discounted this week in Dalgaard Supermarket?
We follow the MENY lead and do not spend a lot of resources on it. We also make our own weekly special offers in our local newspaper, which is much more focused on our customers' wants and needs. Facebook followers are also presented with offers. There is no real contradiction between MENY and Dalgaard Supermarket, our tagline is “The Meal Starts Here” and MENY’s tagline is “We Care For Food”.
Meny v/ Købmand Dalgaard - Kongevejs Centret 6, 2970 Hørsholm
Does the MENY HQ have systems in place to measure how you deliver on these promises or is that left to the individual supermarket?
Dalgaard Supermarket is run independently, but twice a year MENY run NPS Scorecard and of course, they look at all of the results, but we get our own results and we act on them.
What are you doing to help all your employees to understand their role in delivering on these promises?
When we started out I spoke a lot about the MENY values and Dalgaard Supermarket values and how they actually supported each other. As before we started the MENY brand there were not any corporate values as such, the MENY brand values were good and we could use them.
Many thanks Lisbeth for taking the time for this interview, I am truly grateful. I can conclude that at Dalgaard Supermarket decisions are made through the customers' eyes and this ensures that they have the customers’ best interest in mind. Lisbeth Dalgaard appears to be an empathic leader and she is able to tell the right story and consistently match that story to the way Dalgaard Supermarket delivers the shopping experience. Making every customer visit count is amazing and significantly enhances loyalty, bringing customers together with a sense of community which is also socially powerful. For sure, there are lots of supermarkets that are run by Excel spreadsheet management teams with no thought about the customer, where the owners are just doing the bare minimum to follow the brand manual and only compete on price. Dalgaard Supermarket is by far the best supermarket I have seen in Denmark and hopefully one of many elite examples of business excellence within the supermarket sector.
Do You Treat People With Respect? Q+A with Martin Johnston from Crafted Society
John H. Johnson said: "There is no defence against an excellence that meets a pressing public need." This week's Q&A is with Martin Johnston whose new brand, Crafted Society has been built around the ethos of "keeping the crafts alive". Crafted Society is a luxury brand for the new generation of socially conscious consumers, exquisitely fusing craftsmanship with positive social impact, and they also donate 5% of their net revenue to Italian non-profit organisations.
1. What are the industry trends affecting your business?
There are several for example sustainability, transparency modus operandi, a shift towards luxury online selling, the Italian economy, Brexit, etc. We are an online-only brand, selling B2C to increase brand awareness that maintains fair prices by cutting out the retailer mark-up.
2. What are you doing now that you feel good about? Is there anything that you could be doing better?
Our business model was ambitious when we set it up, and we had no clue if it would work. But we are continually pleasantly surprised when not only new customers join our mission, but also when customers return a second, third and fourth time. This proves that our quality goods are value-for-money especially when comparing to the high street retail, and this is a real competitive advantage for us.
I honestly think "doing better" comes with time and organic growth! Every single penny we make has been reinvested into the business. Ideally, we would love to have multiple ambassadors/sales reps in every country putting on parties, going to football clubs, going to customers every single day to bring the physical/personal aspect of our brand which is more difficult to achieve when you are a digital-based business.
3. When you start a new project, how do you set yourself up to win?
Our first thought always is to find the best in class. This usually comes with a hefty price tag, but you cannot put a price on quality which is a major component of our DNA. Putting ourselves in the consumer's shoes so to speak, means that we must understand that there is a huge amount of choice, and our products need to be better in all aspects. We have 30 years of industry experience which helps a lot too.
4. We know that feelings and emotions drive human behaviour, but why do you think that storytelling is a powerful tool to build culture?
It's critical - but what is more critical than the art of storytelling, is telling TRUE stories and not fabrications as at one point it will catch up with you. In our luxury industry, the "Made in Italy" label has seen much better days. To the average person on the street, it still resonates and conjures up thoughts of best quality, artisans, exclusivity, craftsmanship, high price, sustainable, luxury……. but many of the leading luxury brands have been manipulating the consumer as to what exactly is MADE in Italy. For many luxury houses, "Made in Italy" today means only to attach a label, or add a component as the majority of the manufacturing process is done in a country with far cheaper labour costs. This is what is putting the pressure on the master artisans to survive, as those craftsmen and women who own the knowledge, skills and traditions are in real danger of becoming extinct. This is because the big luxury brands are publicly traded, meaning that every single quarter they are expected to grow top line sales and bottom line profits. Our brand purpose started because of the non-transparency of the leading brands in the industry, as they are the root cause of the threat to craftsmanship. We tell honest, compelling stories of REAL people who really exist and this endears us to our fans and customers, and even more so once they have one of our products in their hands.
5. Based on a prism of what's working and what's not from the customers' perspective, how can your organisation realign to meet your customers' needs?
Not applicable right now!
6. How does trust relate to the customer experience and customer relationships? And what about its impact on employee engagement?
Its massive - brands who don't see that will not last - but what constituted trust 10-20 years ago is not what will win the consumer over today. AS we have morphed into an age of EVERYONE's media (as opposed to social media) people like animals are quick to sniff out bullsh*t. Back in the days, you could create an advert which would portray your brand as everything you as the principal wanted to project. Today, as technology has provided access to more and more facts, advertising or monologue brand messaging is almost dead - the consumer is looking for brands to have a dialogue with. It's a complete paradigm shift. But the more trust in terms of giving and receiving as a brand is embraced, the more customer loyalty will prevail. The same goes for employees - the more an employee feels a real cog in the big wheel the more they will commit to driving - the skill is in enabling this.
7. How do you use customer experience in the battle to win the hearts and minds of your customers?
We take our customers on a virtual journey to the rolling hills of Marche in central Italy to meet our master craftsmen and women, choose the finest materials Italy has to offer, cut them, sew them, finish them. We have customers whom we custom make size 49 shoes with - you can only do that working with a small family run businesses who wish to help and support your customer's focused mission. We support the artisans by platforming them - so it's a true partnership and win-win. This is what we are driven to convey to the customers - this experience so that customers can truly appreciate WHY we have support not just craftsmanship but THE PEOPLE behind the crafts.
8. In your experience, are external consultants better suited to engage employees in dialogue when discussing risks and benefits of customer experience management?
Honestly - yes. They have no emotional ties to the employees, products or strategies and can look at things with a fresh perspective.
9. Engagement is a challenge, but in your opinion, when you bring the suggestion to hire an external consultant to your bosses, what questions do you expect them to ask?
Nothing! My wife and business partner, Lise Bonnet and I are the decision makers.
10. If your boss asks – "What extra value will this service bring?" How will you prepare for that from a business justification stand-point?
We would always approach it from a growth perspective - growth in sales, growth in loyalty, growth in repeat business, growth in opinions on new categories, etc. Brands which will survive will have to accept that the common norm moving forward will be to engage with their customers and continue developing trustworthy experiences to maintain engagement.
Many thanks, Martin and good luck on the journey.
For a full overview of the brand's offering, please visit:www.craftedsociety.com
Would You Like to Go for a Walk?
Photo credit: Lucien Pagés
People often say that "strength comes from within" but that doesn't mean that we don't need help from outside. One of the biggest threats to innovation is internal politics and company culture which doesn't accept failure. As Richard Branson said, “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and falling over.”
It's not about 'internet of things', it's about the Internet of customers - behind everything is a customer. Every great customer experience should start with the main principle that you need your customer more than your customer needs you! And failure to understand this principle will have dire consequences for your organisation. According to Ricardo Saltz Gulko, we should not lead with strategy when thinking about customer experience, we should always lead from a place of quality in all details, and then the strategy. "Quality should be the main pillar of any product or service, and definitely the main pillar of customer experience. If you take away the quality, the experience is going to suffer. This applies to all sectors, for example, if you remove the quality of a car, the experience of driving it and transporting your family in it will suffer, and subsequently, people will not want to buy it."
Using your resources more effectively than your competitors is a key to business success, to be the winner, you have to generate the highest pleasure for your customers. Make time and not excuses! Would you like to go for a walk?
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