Interview with Kreo Inc

Describe what you do in 5 words

Social Media strategists & Shopify

Finish this sentence: Your customers love your business because...

We offer a fun, no BS approach backed by over 20+ years’ experience helping business grow and transform!

Why do you love what you do?

It’s a geek thing! Solving complex problems through the effective use of technology has always been our jam, but nothing makes us happier than delivering solutions to businesses and becoming part of their journey, watching them grow and prosper, this is why we love doing what we do!

Something we might not know but will be grad we found out about you/your business:

We initially began as an online homewares retailer before making the switch to become a digital consultancy, recognising that our key strength was in helping business solve small and complex problems and helping coach and guide them to their goals. Both Chris and I have had rather diverse careers and have amassed considerable experience between us. Chris has been an IT executive for some of Australia’s most prominent household names, having worked closely with CEO’s and executive leadership teams to transform and shape businesses into profitable and equitable enterprises. Maggie is a qualified interior designer and social media ninja, who spent all her time early on learning the in’s and out’s of social media, she didn’t envisage she’d have landed here, but it’s true what they say, pick something you’re good at, put in the work and watch it grow and grow it did! When working with Kreo Inc, you tap into a well of experience that’s proven, trusted and backed up by demonstrated results time and time again.

Your one piece of advice to retailers right now?

Every crisis is also an opportunity to earn the trust and credibility of your customers, partners and community. It is a time to plan, prepare, collaborate and pivot to a new way of doing business. There’s never been a time in our lives where there’s a need to become very clear about your product or service and most importantly your customer and inherent branding. We must change our way of thinking and look for ‘fit for purpose’, innovative solutions in order to stand out from the crowd and identify the opportunities on the road ahead. It’s also extremely important to remain vocal on the current climate, offering your advice, products and services via your social media platforms, email marketing, blog posts etc. Share your experiences, your frustrations, your wins, your losses, remember people fall in love with your story and your journey, so we encourage everyone to connect with your audience as much as possible and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, your future self (and us) are right there with you cheering you on!

How have you had to innovate your customer experience?

We have had to work fully remote during this period, leveraging Zoom, Skype and Google Hangouts. We are living in a hyper connected world and the technology during this time is thankfully already there and waiting to be used. We spent a great deal of time reviewing our products, services and have adapted new services to align to the current business landscape, offering relevant services and value in an efficient and cost effective manner. With over 20+ years of experience and having lived and worked through both prior GFC’s, those experiences were immediately transferrable and we have been instrumental in helping businesses and their leaders navigate times of uncertainty helping them overcome some serious challenges and tailoring services to suit the moment.

We’ve spent more time listening to truly understand the state of play out there and from that we can learn from each and every interaction. The remote nature of our work has bolstered relationships, deepening them in some way, we know how challenging times are for some right now, but often times a really rough plan is all people need to take steps forward and improve the plan from there. From our perspective it’s all about mindset, work ethic and doubling down on proven experience to help anyone through these challenging times and most importantly, we love doing it.

How are you managing your team at this time?

We have changed our normal routine up a little, we’ve incorporated daily morning standup meetings done via video conferencing, working from our usual task lists and weekly brainstorming sessions to promote creativity and encourage ideation at all levels, both for our customers and to improve our internal back office processes. We have spent a great deal of time automating a lot of our back end so we can spend all our time in the business. There’s a whole different take on measuring productivity and we focus on outcomes and our customers’ needs drive, motivate and inspire us to keep going and to always find ways to improve a little more each time.

What feedback have you got from your customers on how it is to be in retail right now?

Unfortunately we have seen many of our existing clients closing down, an unfortunate statistic, but very real and sobering to the current state of play. A lot of our customers were not only been affected by Covid-19, but were heavily impacted by our recent bushfires, it’s a devastating situation for many having been dealt some serious challenges. This made it almost impossible for them to continue. Other feedback includes a decline in sales for both products and services along with a rapid decline in customer sentiment, it’s part and parcel of the shock people are working through in their lives, we do expect some level of normality to return in months ahead.

Business today and more than ever, needs to go back to basics and its ‘why’, spending more time thinking about who their customer is and if their service or product is reaching them with the intended intentionality. The whole situation has caused so many people to revisit their value propositions to the extent they have had to look really hard at how they were doing things, the capital needed to continue on and the impact that slow trade has had to their bottom lines and livelihoods. Retail is a challenging sector, however with every challenge rises plenty of opportunity and it’s incredibly important that businesses begin planning the path ahead now, starting today, don’t leave this too late, strategise, test, explore options, collaborate, consider new ways of generating leads, sales, flex relationships, work together closely with customers and restore some faith in yourself and those around you in every conversation that beneath the veil of uncertainty lies a bounty of opportunity, but as cliched as it sounds to ‘know yourself’ we keep coming back to this time and time again and believe this is key to making forward progress in the ‘new’ world that’s about to recommence,

On a positive note we have had clients who have taken this time of crisis to reinvent their brands and deliver innovative ways to sell their products and services. Where bricks and mortar have really suffered is through lack of online presence, for many we have rescued their businesses and re-instilled hope to what was once an unimaginable, unscalable challenge, to becoming a source of inspiration, certainty and the unfolding of a new chapter. Many have reached out to Kreo Inc to assist them on their new journey and we have been working day and night 6 days a week ever since!

How to plan for retail reset in the downtime

Planning for a retail reset is something not many have done or had to do but is more necessary now than ever. As expressed more and more, not a single person has playbook right now but in the absence of anything, it’s important to take a methodical approach to resetting your business. This includes flexing on your suppliers, perhaps developing new terms of trade together, another is to spend more time in the business than just running the day to day workings of the business, so automating your backend is of prime importance.

With the changing retail landscape, it’s key to pivot and adjust to the changing needs of the consumer where we see spending behavior change where purchases are left very late in the sales cycle, so it’s important to find ways to get them to trust you and find more ways to defer spend where practical. Ultimately if someone wants something they will find it, so it’s key to ensure your products and services are easily discoverable and most importantly relevant.

Spend some time analyzing your supply chain and see where the risks lie, especially around delivery times lagging due to the spike in parcels, how can this be eased? If there’s way too much resting on one particular vendor, now would be a good time to explore contingencies and other options, the entire world’s supply chain was chocked, so it’s important to pay attention and spot the opportunities as they relate to you.

Your teams are what help drive the business so if you employ staff, making sure you have the right talent in your business to grow and thrive is critical. Reassess the roles, are they relevant, what’s missing, can those responsibilities be absorbed, where are the opportunities to expand your operation or perhaps bolster and support further the existing.

What consumers need from you right now is guidance from experienced practitioners, it’s important to have the right team working on your problems. We have been involved in far too many a ‘project rescue’ that have been caused by 3rd party providers unable to deliver on their promise and abandon the project entirely to our surprise. Your promise is what you’ll be remembered and measured from, if you aren’t delivering now, you’ll never survive a single second in the ‘new world’, so spending some time to really iron out things you never had the time to focus on, is probably the most important process you’ll ever go through, you’ve got this!