First impression of a Mall Owner/Steps for success

[Nova Lustre]

Anyone can slap some prims together, and create a mall/shopping center. Why do some succeed and some fail? As a long time Merchant, I am not only a content creator, but also a consumer.

My first impression of a potential place to rent a shop is based not only aesthetics, but also how I am approached, and treated when considering putting money down taking the time to set up, and promote that venue.

Sending out a polite, personalized (not the usual 'hello renter') notecard clearly outlining price per week, prims allowed, who the Owner and Property Managers are, Events that are held, with clear, simple rules, and an ACCURATE landmark (not one that dumps you in in some other part of the sim), is appreciated and gets noticed. Sending Me a spam IM about your new mall will probably not even be seen, and will be closed if My IM's happen to not be capped.

Nothing is more off-putting to Me than logging on to find a zillion notecards with generic information about renting shop space. I have added a clear remark on My profile that these will be deleted, and the sender muted, but I can't teach people to read, or fix stupid.

Sure, we all get busy, and sometimes cannot respond immediately when issues with a customer arise, but a little bit of courtesy and common sense can go a long way in promoting a successful mall/shopping center.

Recently, I gave 2 mall owners a chance to have Me as a customer. I usually only pay a week up front until I know what type of business/customer service mentality they have, occasionally I have been offered a good deal for paying for an entire month.

These two failed. The first one, the owner has a start up mall, and sent out an annoucement listing the new Merchants in their Mall. I have the largest shop there,  but was not included on the annoucement. It may have been an oversight, but it tells Me My business is really not that important to them. A big mistake.

The second, I visited a friend with a new shop at a new-ish mall, and although the rent was suspiciously cheap, I decided to rent a large shop there.

The owner was online, and responded immediately when asking for a group tag. I also mentioned My friend rented a shop there, but the previous owner (giving their name) left some large prims that prevented Me from setting up, and the rent box was hidden inside a wall.

The owner responded he was busy. Ok, no problem, I set up what I could, and did other things outside of SL waiting so I could set up, and move on. Nearly two hours later, I IMed him again, and I knew he was online and on the sim.I asked him politely if he had a property manager that could help me if he was still busy. His reponse was: 'I'm busy with her'. I see them on the sim with others apparently sitting around talking. I ported off the sim.

He then asked if I was still on the sim. I told him no, as I have been waiting for over an hour and a half. He finally responded, questioning why I would want the rent box moved, since that's not what the last tenant wanted. I told him not to bother about that, but still needed their prims removed so I could set up. After a long wait, he responds  'done!' He apologized for someoneone else leaving their prims there, but not for wasting My time, and his rude attiude.

Is it so hard to push a button and return a couple of prims? A HUGE MISTAKE!!

If you provide exceptional service, word travels fast, but if you ignore your customers and decide to be a slumlord:

WORD TRAVELS EVEN FASTER!

In summary:

1. Read profiles to find out if a potential customer would consider shop space before sending a notecard.

2. Use common sense and courtesy. Respond in a timely manner, and give a timeline when you cannot assist immediately (I am busy now, but will send so and so to help you, or I will be back tomorrow evening SLT,) is perfectly acceptable.

3. Promote your Merchants, treat them fairly and honestly.

4. Treat your SL business like a RL business! How likely are you to give money to someone who is rude, or ignores you?

5. Know your limits- not everyone is cut out to run a business, and it takes time to learn and grow. Start out small, and build trust with your clients.

Regards,

Nova Lustre
NOVA's FemDom Fashions

[Talia Davidov]

Hmmm .  .I didn't think you accepted unsolicited invites at all.  When we recently added a couple of stalls to our mall, we specifically looked at sending you an invite but saw the following in your picks:

"I delete/mute all spam including notecards for random mall/new shop locations. "

So we didn't send you an invite.  I would say, instead of having it in the pick for your store, putting it the main profile description might cut down a bit more on the random cards you get, but as you say . .you can't correct stupid, so I am sure you will get many still.

As an aside, you do have lovely items.

 

 

[Sassy Romano]

10 Tips for mall owners