Learning How To Adapt During a Pandemic

Written By Pleasure Product Retail Expert Danielle Seerley — One thing about Covid, we have all gone through each phase of it together, and whether we wanted to or not. Watching retail stores combat their way of existence during these tough times has been an eye-opening and awe-inspiring experience.  Things I have learned…

We are much more agile than we think or claim to be.  So many rules existed before Covid that just do not apply anymore.  Like being able to take a credit card over a phone or skipping back checks upon employee exits.  It feels different for all of us, but arbitrary rules we put into place that in hindsight may have affected us more negatively than positively.  We always initially set rules for good intentions, to protect ourselves and our business, but also our customers.  It has felt like the absence of these everyday little rules we have in place, the arbitrary boundaries, has freed us to grow and develop where we would have otherwise not explored.  Watching businesses having booming online growth while they remain closed is amazing.  Employees shifting into new or temporary roles to be fluid with business needs as we cope and strategize to get through more retail virus life.  Think about some of the rules or policies you have in your store that may not serve your store culture or mission anymore.  Giving up rules does not mean losing structure, look at it from a perspective that enables you to reallocate those resources.  Policing policies and enforcing rules takes time and energy and can often result in making people feel devalued.  If you have a loss and prevention team leader, enable another employee to lead a team moral program.  Try to balance things that feel restrictive, with empower leadership creating opportunities in your store or industry place of work.  Think about if you were training for the first day as a new employee? If your day were spent learning what “not to do” it would leave you in a much different mindset than a day spent talking about employee development and growth to achieve business goals.  Both perspectives are technically seeking the same result, a better bottom line.  How these different perspectives improve that bottom line is up to them.  Be the positive change you can be while Covid allows us to spend the time and resources thinking outside the box!

It is a lot of work to convey to people you are smiling under that mask. I visited a small store this past weekend that reminded me it is the people and their energy that make the store.  This store was clearly low on inventory and did not have any other customers.  But the energy made me feel like I was hanging with friends.  The music was up, they were so kind about mentioning the rules, and then they just swept you away into their world of good energy and the flow of some normal conversation.  Was it earth-shattering, honestly a little bit, yes?  It was the most familial, VIP feeling shopping experience I have experienced in 8 months.  I did not feel like we could not express our personalities or were restricted by hospital-grade rules.  This store had managed to humanize what would have others been an incredibly quiet, awkward shopping experience.  I spent a lot of money in a store that did not have a lot of inventory because of the people, not the stuff.  It is exhausting to be in sales right now, but just remember you create your environment.  Does it feel like a clinic in your store, or does it feel like a clean, re-organized version of your old favorite?  Mandatory signage does not have to take away from store appeal, make it fun, and think of it as additional branding opportunities.  Try to think from the perspective of a first-time customer and let that guide you and your energy on the sales floor.

In the adult industry, we have so much potential to help people love themselves and their bodies.   Covid has made self-love a front and center health topic.  Our industry and its brick and mortar or online sites are better equipped than anyone to be the liaison between people and the tools they need to be the best version of themselves.  We have the products and knowledge to create personal confidence, teach much-needed sex education and tips to spice up people's lives, and finally the sales ability to gain a customer’s trust when it comes to vulnerable or sensitive topics.  These are a trifecta of attributes for a super sale and bringing a long-term customer to your store’s VIP list.

Essentially, I am suggesting a focus on creating a retail environment during COVID that reflects positive energy and brings some humanity to an otherwise sterile situation.  Sound tough? Nothing is tough if you have the right people around you.  That is the most important thing I have learned during Covid; the right people mean everything. My customers, coworkers, colleagues, “my industry people” mean so much to me.  Take some extra time to keep connected with your people, it’s worth the investment.

And finally, in a Covid World where you can be anyone behind that mask, be kind.