An emotional business – Liam Kelly

Independent retail consultant, Liam Kelly explores how spreading some love on the shop floor can help the bottom line

Those of us of a certain age will remember John Lydon singing about anger being an energy in the post-punk 1980s, and although I’m quite sure his words were to do with the usefulness of that emotion in social and political commentary and action – a meaning far away from the world of business and retail – it’s fair to say that emotions are at the fore of almost every business decision too. Even in those where it isn’t overtly perceived or displayed, you can be pretty sure there is at least a fragment of sentiment sitting deep beneath our choices and reasons for reaching a certain conclusion. None of us are completely immune to our feelings, so no matter how much we like to think that we are making cold and clinical decisions, we are really all slaves to emotions.

The study of emotions, their interaction and intensity have been discussed in great detail from a psychological point of view by many, but here I want to discuss how certain emotions can influence retail, in particular, decisions you make and your contact with others, from customers to colleagues to suppliers. If you wish to explore the intellectual side of the topic, a good starting point would be someone like Robert Plutchik who describes emotions as being in a threedimensional, varying intensity, interconnected world. He breaks emotions down at a mid-intensity level to anger, anticipation, joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness and disgust, and I’m sure that everyone has experienced all of these in their business to various degrees. From here on we will leave Mr. Plutchik out of the discussion and just use his emotional descriptors, although I would urge you to check out his Wheel of Emotions, which is coincidentally quite flower-like, as we see how these emotions interact with the various areas of retail.

Heading back to my post-punk reference starting point, I must agree with Mr. Lydon, as I have always found anger to be something useful and mind-focussing, although I can appreciate it certainly affects different people in different ways. I think a key point is how we use any emotion and the need, at the very least, to attempt to turn all emotions into a positive force, as anger can be a great driver towards success as well as something debilitating and dangerous. Anger in its purest form can be channelled into productivity and make you more focussed to succeed, and in that achievement, you will find a release for that anger. This can be a successful modus operandi in dealing with what can be an incapacitating emotion, it should be used in a controlled release to drive projects and a desire to prosper in the face of naysayers and those who wish us ill.

The next emotion, anticipation, is a useful driver for marketing projects when trying to build up to various events or seasonal openings in retail. Selling the concept of the opening of a new department within any store should include external marketing on social media -and elsewhere – that involves releasing teasers as to what will be for sale. You need to make the customer want to visit by building up in their minds that sense of anticipation, playing on their fear of-missing-out which has become such an important factor in advertising. One of the most important traits in marketing is empathy, as you need to think like the customer and even move beyond that want to an actual need to enter your store to see your Next Big Thing.

Joy as a feeling might be better twisted into passion here but in a non-licentious sense of course, and in many ways this is the most self-explanatory and easy to apply for any of our emotions. This kind of passion should be part of everyday life in any business but is sadly absent in many. There should be a joy for what you are doing instilled in every person working in retail, a tall ask I agree but we should at least be striving to achieve this goal, no matter how pie-in-the-sky the idea might be. The role of management should be to strive to achieve this type of emotion within the organisation, in order that it is then passed on osmosis like to customers, many of whom have a love for plants and gardening anyway, and once again this is another emotion that works well when marketing to the masses.

The feeling of trust is self-explanatory, as it should be part of the ethos of any organisation, but it does require earning, or so they say. But perhaps we should start with that position of trust in one another and look at it as something that can be lost instead of earned? It’s an issue that I’m sure many have struggled with in the past when being let down by those who you thought would understand or empathise with you, but as I discussed in previous writings that empathy is sadly lacking in many organisations, where egos and self-serving rhetoric take hold. But it’s important that even with all of this in mind, it is still best to at least strive to commence any business or interpersonal relationship from that default position of trust.

Unlike anger, the trinity of fear, sadness, and disgust I would class as negative emotions and ones that should be eradicated from the workspace and from our lives in general, which is a no simple task I can appreciate. While many would lump anger in here too, I personally don’t see them in any way similar. No one should run an organisation based on fear, and sadness needs to be dealt with on an individual basis. Disgust, which in truth can highlight issues that need addressing, and that can – and should – be talked about in an open and frank way. All of these emotions need to be talked about in order to neutralise them, so once again – as with so many issues – it comes down to communication within the workplace.

We will end our journey through Plutchik’s emotions on a high note, as the feeling of surprise is surely one of the most important emotions to elicit from customers. We can call it The Wow Factor or whatever another term we like but it is the one feeling you want everyone who enters your store to have, and if you only take one message out of this article then that should be it. This surprise can be brought about in many ways such as your exciting range of plants, your wonderful Christmas shop, the range of cakes in your restaurant or just giving the customer a little gift when parting the store. In truth, it does not matter how, where or when you do it so long as you do it.

As ever I have simplified much of this and I would urge you to delve deeper into the science of emotions if you want a more rational – if such a word can be used when dealing with feelings – and balanced insight into how all of the above play with the psyche. But, from a purely business and retail point of view, I think you can see how vitally important all of this is in having a successful and healthy business, both in the financial sense and in the business-wellness point of view – if that’s not too trite a point.

Get to know the emotions that influence the dynamics of your workplace; nurture the positives and confront the negatives… just don’t forget that anger is energy! ✽

LIAM KELLY – Liam Kelly is one of the leading specialist consultants on the retail side of Irish horticulture. His in-depth knowledge, experience, and no-nonsense approach are highly valued across many businesses in this sector, including garden centres, nurseries to hardware stores. He can be contacted at 086 8221494 or via lksolutions@eircom.net