[MUSIC] I'm here at LUSH with Nik. You've been with the company for six years, and you're Manager Developer at this stage. >> Yeah, so, I started in October 2009, and I've just been loving it ever since. My main role at the moment is supporting managers in their training. So looking at their reviews, looking at further areas of development for them, as well as looking at areas in the business we could be developing training as a whole, to roll out to them, for them then to be able to have really successful teams in their own stores. >> And you tell me, you started as a temp during busy Christmas period, and then you ran your own store, and now you're on the management team. Is that a traditional career trajectory? >> We've seen that work in a lot of different departments. There are many people in various different departments, whether you're talking about support teams, press team, design, even areas like accounts and finance, who have begun installs. Who have taken on maybe a temp role or a supervisor position. Something simple like that because they start off as customers. And then they love the company from the outside >> And you're growing quite fast, you're now in 49 countries. How has the people side of the business kept up with that pace of change? >> It's been tough at times, but it's definitely been the case of looking to how this progression's been rolling. Some of it's planned, some of it has suddenly ballooned, which is lovely. But it has been a case of making sure that we have recruited right for the support teams. We're listening to what the managers and listening to what the different teams are needing and looking to how we can be supporting them whether it's through development, whether it's through something like people support, or well being, so making sure that the teams are happy because they're working in safe environments. As things get bigger, what training they need, like how do we support them in terms of recruitment? So, as our sales grow as the business grows, we need to have more teams in the stores to really ensure that every customer coming through gets the perfect experience in every store. So if you're having loads and loads of people come through that door, you need those extra people. >> So what degree is the LUSH brand if you talk about it in those terms. How does it find its way into development? Give a concrete example of that. >> In terms of developing individuals or as it is? Well, I mean, if we start with recruitment because that's how you get everybody on board. It's very much looking at the right person for the right shop. So before we go into the whole interviewing stage of recruitment, we'd be looking at what that store needs, what that store is. So we're up in Oxford Street right now, the person that would suit here, the kind of staff that would suit here maybe might not be ideal for another store and vice versa. So we ensure that we're getting that right person from the very get go to suit the store itself. Things like conversations, interacting with customers. We'll never give them a script of exactly what to say because every single person that comes through that door is different. And that's what we want to celebrate. And that same goes with our teams. >> How does the brand travel? How does the concept behind LUSH travel around the world? What are some, maybe, success stories where the brand might have taken a bit longer to get traction? >> Well, I mean, it's worked really well. Where as, I see we are very much customer focused and we like to do things, like the demos we do. The whole idea is to replicate the whole experience the customer is going to have at home. So we do like to get hands on and get products onto the skin, to show them they work, how they feel. Some of the products here are incredibly innovative. That's why we need to get hands on. In some countries, that might not be the norm, might not be part of the culture. So, we need to work out that balance in that case. Not quite compromise, but, working out how best to insure that we are still giving out that LUSH experience. But still recognizing certain cultures want different things. >> You told me you don't have a marketing department, you don't have a traditional HR department. What kind of substitutes for that, or how do you build the brand if not through traditional marketing? >> Well, to go back to the start, where we grew from was very much a, it still is, a family run business. But in that case, it was just growing and as the company evolved, then steps were made to work into it. So rather than looking into the, maybe the structures that were already in place for corporate businesses, thinking we need a marketing department, we need an HR department. As those issues arose we evolved, we grew, we came up with it. For example with HR we have a separate recruitment team. Accept for the UK that's two people of Europe, it's more like five or six people as a whole in individual countries or maybe covering a couple of them. We have a group called people support, so that's looking very much at the well beings of the teams. We have a facilities department, so that's kind of health and safety as well as well being and making sure that the environments are safe. So that's why we didn't really have those traditional structures. Because we grew them, we developed them as the company evolved. And with marketing, we did very much focus on word of mouth, and for the most part we still do. So very much every store is experience. It's something we're always looking forward to, is to create a five star. We have an idea of guidelines of what a five star experience is. It's that whole above and beyond. It's beyond customer service that we feel it experiences normal resale. And making sure that happens. >> What would be an example of a five star experience? >> So a five star experience would be recognizing that the moment the customer comes in, very, very positive experience, very much tailored to them. So it suits them, it's all about their experience every single time. And that might change, so it might be the case of, one day they might be on a lunch break, they haven't got time, so they need to run in for those bits and pieces. But then the next day, they might finish early and have time to just browse around the store and take it all in. And it's giving the teams the skills to recognize when that is, to understand how to suit the way they are and suit their approach to that customer. So, there's always about that customer first or for most not about particular time. We also have our own in house version of mystery shopping, which is it's candy shopping. We've tried using mystery shopping in the past, but we haven't found the guidelines rigorous enough. So we've set up our own way that we use. It could be ex-managers, or it's all people that previously worked within a store, of some capacity, will then go into shopping stores all around the world. Looking into specific things like how they work, how the store looked from the outside, what the merchandising was, what the furniture was, how clean the stores were, what the approach was like. How many whole in-depth, really really in-depth, not just about how they were like the customer service side. It's looking into the fixtures, the fittings, how the store looks, how it represents the brand. Is it still looking fresh? Does it still represent the brand positively? And then from that we use that, not just as a judge of how the store's doing, but looking into areas that we need to maybe work on. Does that store need support in terms of for maintenance? Does it need, maybe, some further training in certain things, like product knowledge, or customer experience. Looking into those, does it need support from, maybe, a design team to go and help with a bit of the end training so that the products always look fresh and always represent it in a positive light. So we use those, and those are normally every six months. We get about a kind of biannual visit for every store, and those help us to look at not just individuals, as we look at a bigger perspective of is this reoccurring? Is this something we need to develop? So that's how we judge how successful it is. >> So, candy shopping would be your signature way of measuring the success of the stores, but also as a way to develop the stores. >> Yes. Definitely. >> So, final question. You are a manager developer. >> Yes. >> Would you consider yourself a brand developer in that role? >> I never thought of it that way, but I guess so because we are looking to ensure the standards are there, and looking to ensure the development of the company. This is why we do it. This is why the passion is there, is because we want the company to be successful. Not just financially, but because it does allow us to then support greater charities to work on even bigger and better campaigns that we can then develop and support those based on our popularity is at the moment. So, haven't never thought about it that way. I guess yeah, I'm also a brand developer. Yeah, working to ensure that LUSH is successful. >> Thank you for your time, Nik. >> No problem, thank you. >> [SOUND]
