How M.M.LaFleur Scales White-Glove Clienteling With Appointments, Lookbooks, and Radical Transparency

It was good! We were really happy with the results. We saw good year-over-year wins, especially from some strategy pivots we made. We used the Endear Lookbook and the Appointments feature to really win on the retail side for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and we found that to be very, very successful.

We gave our retail clients early access to the best deal of the season and shared exactly what those prices were using Lookbooks. We put everything that was going to be on sale into the Lookbook, but it wasn’t clickable. So customers had to reach out, call in, book a virtual appointment with a stylist, or come into the store to shop it.

That was very successful, because once the deal goes online, it’s always harder for stores. We had to find a way to make her want to shop with us before that.

What I always challenge the retail team to do is create ease and be a value add. It’s really difficult to compete in [the customer’s] inbox right now. Everyone is sending multiple messages a day, so we need to make sure we’re actually adding ease to her life.

We tell her, ‘There are no games here. This is your price. This is what’s on sale. This is your chance to shop it before we go broad. We’ll come to you and meet you where you are. No gimmicks. No games.’

She was really appreciative of knowing that this was the best deal and that we weren’t going to come back later with an extra 10% off. They were able to just check that off of their list, know that they were working with us and getting what we promised.

So we are always adamant about not gaming our customers. Our customer is a busy busy woman, and we are always aware of how much she's juggling and where she is in her life, and so want to add that ease to her day to day by making sure she knows that she's getting a good product. We can help you with sizing so you don't have to worry about returns, or get it ready for pickup, or shipping it out from the store, or giving her free gift wrapping, and being transparent about promos and pricing.

Appointments are really important to us. They’re our bread and butter and a differentiator across retailers, so they’re a very precious strategy that we wanted to make sure to continue as we transitioned from one system to another. Endear was really about to support that.

Being able to bring appointments in-house to a platform we use daily was really fabulous. Before, we were doing CSV downloads, cross-referencing last order dates, and there was a lot of room for user error. Now we can really see our appointment business. We know who hasn’t booked in X days or months and who we want to invite back.

We definitely see strong loyalty from customers who come in for appointments. There’s confirmed intention. She really wants to work with a stylist and have that one-on-one time.

And what’s great about having this in Endear is that all of her information lives in one place. We have her appointment notes, we send a thank-you, and then we can follow up and help her build out her wardrobe. Even if she doesn’t come back for another appointment, she’ll come back to shop in-store or virtually because she’s built that clienteling relationship.

My message to the team is that anyone who walks into the store should basically get an appointment. If she’s a walk-in, give her the appointment experience. Sit her down. Slow her down. Give her that personalized one-to-one service in the fitting room.

We’re with her the entire time instead of just grabbing another size and checking in.

And we absolutely see a revenue lift. It’s because the customer better understands the development of her wardrobe. They’re not coming in for a quick injection, like "oh, I’m in town and I don’t have a blazer. Can you help me?"

But when she makes an appointment, she understands that there’s a recipe here and there’s a formula. She wants to partner with a stylist to really get it right, and she finds that her price-per-wear is really strong. She’s buying things that are strategic for her lifestyle and exactly what she needs, and she knows that working with someone from M.M.LaFleur helps her do all that.

I think all I do is recommend Endear to peers! I have an Endear sticker on my suitcase too. So when I'm doing store travel, I'm spreading the good word.