Sarah LaFleur: M.M.LaFleur's Resilience - Historical NPR Live Q&A (May 2020) — How I Built This with Guy Raz Summary

Sarah LaFleur: M.M.LaFleur's Resilience - Historical NPR Live Q&A (May 2020) — How I Built This with Guy Raz Summary | Galaxy of Podcasts

The Conversation Breakdown

Decisions come all at once

⏱ Untimed topic

Apart from store closings, she had made every other decision, such as cost cutting, restructuring and furloughs, in some other context. The difficulty of the crisis was that all decisions arrive at the same time and last week's decision is no longer relevant this week.

Shorten the time between decisions

⏱ Untimed topic

LaFleur says the decisions themselves were familiar, but their pace was different: what worked last week could stop working this week. The business needed to revisit choices quickly as circumstances changed. This account is specific to the early shutdown period, not advice that every decision should be rushed.

Build a calm executive team

⏱ Untimed topic

She credits a stellar, calm executive team, and brought in an executive about 15 years older who had lived through 2001 and Lehman and brings perspective.

Virtual appointments

⏱ Untimed topic

With stores closed, the stylists moved to virtual appointments. She says the conversations go deeper than clothing needs and that appointments are more working-mom friendly than asking a mom to come into a store.

Stay true to your customer

⏱ Untimed topic

Asked whether to chase customers of struggling retailers like J.Crew or Macy's, she says the most important thing is to stay true to the brand and not play to too many audiences. The commitment to women who work has not changed.

Power casual was already growing

⏱ Untimed topic

Power casual, aimed at freelancers and people in tech, marketing and media, was the fastest-growing category before COVID and is now 53% of revenue, up from the early 40s. A new Peruvian Supima cotton t-shirt became 5% of sales within a week of launch.

Marketing that acknowledges reality

⏱ Untimed topic

One of the best-performing ads and emails was the 'quarantine uniform: seven perfect pieces'. She says not pretending the world has not changed is not good for anyone, and recognising your customer's situation is marketing 101. They cut ad channels with long payback periods.

Sarah LaFleur: M.M.LaFleur's Resilience - Historical NPR Live Q&A (May 2020)

Executive Summary (TL;DR)

Key Takeaways

Decisions come all at once

Shorten the time between decisions

Build a calm executive team

Virtual appointments

Stay true to your customer

Power casual was already growing

Marketing that acknowledges reality

The Conversation Breakdown

Decisions come all at once

Shorten the time between decisions

Build a calm executive team

Virtual appointments

Stay true to your customer

Power casual was already growing

Marketing that acknowledges reality

Core Frameworks & Ideas

Keep the customer, change the format

Revisit the category mix

Marketing payback and relevance

Actionable Next Steps

Notable Quotes

The One Thing to Remember