We were lucky to catch up with Lisa Kline recently and have shared our conversation below.
Lisa , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?
I always believe it is important to appreciate your customers who support you and your business. When I had my stores I showed my appreciation in many ways from a discount for shopping to holiday gifts with personalized notes. When I felt connected to a customer and they shopped and loved my store I gave them at least 20% off along with a VIP gift card tag they could put on their key chain. It made them feel special and they always were loyal to my store and shopped with me. The tag had my logo and it was something to be proud of that they could show off. Some customers who were really VIP would get 30% or 40% depending on their annual spend.
Another thing I did was pull boxes and bags and deliver them to their homes in Los Angeles or ship them out of state, or go to their hotel room and style them. Each outfit was wrapped in Lisa Kline tissue and closed with LK stickers with notes on how to wear the items and style them.
I offered free alterations on everything especially denim where I insisted on the original hem which was $25 each pair at the time. I would have my beloved alterations person named Sofia come daily and pick up or even come hem customers in the stop. My annual spend on alterations on the house was at least 60K a year.
I had the best packaging and wrapped all gifts so beautifully that were bought at my store. Each store had a different color bag and tissue all branded and in several sizes.
We stayed open late if people were shopping, and I am talking till after midnight.
I had a bar in my men’s store with top shelf liquor and wine and the store was a hang and we offered all customers something to drink which was a touch they all loved.
Every Saturday I would have a DJ to get the vibe going in the store and that was always a blast and got my customers even more excited to shop and at the same time I supported and promoted local DJ’s.
I also took clients out to very expensive fun dinners at the best coolest restaurants in LA along with my staff just for fun or to celebrate moments or they stayed late and shopped. A lot of my appreciation was spontaneous and on the spot.
I loved gifting my clients things as I am a very generous person. I hosted many events in my stores during the day or night and created a lively atmosphere with a bar, a DJ, red carpet, sometimes even a tattoo artist and gift bags. I also produced and threw huge fashion shows all over LA and special venues that were always a hit and brought everyone together for a good time. Lastly over the holidays I would send out Christmas gifts to all my vendors, designers and customers along with a personalized note from me about how much I loved them and appreciated their business and support and always wishing them a wonderful year ahead.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Lisa Kline and I had 6 very iconic stores in Los Angeles, Malibu, and Beverly Hills in the 90’s and oughts that bared my name. I started with women’s, then opened men’s and then kids. I have a very famous logo that I printed on huge black awnings outside my stores with 2 LK girls (my rendition of a trucker girl inspired by the Vargas Girl) back to back cupping my name.
Lisa Kline was one of the first women’s clothing stores to open on Robertson Blvd. putting that street on the map with celebrities shopping from day one and a place where up and coming brands could launch into the marketplace building them into household names. Theory, James Perse, Splendid, Vince, Juicy Couture, Seven Jeans, True Religion, Joes Jeans, Michael Stars, Cosabella and hundreds more were built at Lisa Kline from inception.
Myself and the stores were in the press constantly but before there was social media. I was in every magazine from Glamour, In Style, People, and Lucky, and in Newspapers like the LA Times, WWD, Apparel News, the NY Times and on TV spots like Fox News, Hell’s Kitchen, E! News Live, KTLA, GMA, TV Guide, MTV, VH1, Mel B It’s A Scary World, and Punk’d. I was dubbed “The Queen” of Robertson in Vogue magazine, “Fun Fearless Female” in Cosmo, “Best Lingerie Store” by Los Angeles Magazine, and voted one of the “Top 10 Men’s Stores” in the US from Forbes Magazine. People would come to Lisa Kline from all over the US and the world to get the hottest trends, latest brands and coolest clothing in the marketplace. They were also pretty much guaranteed to run into a celebrity. There was always action, great energy, synergies and magic that happened at Lisa Kline. Even to this day when I run into my peers, customers, or colleagues I am called “The Queen”, a “Legend” and “Institution.”
I was fortunate to be born and raised in beautiful Los Angeles, the land of dreams and wanted a store since I was a little girl. That is all I ever dreamed about and visualized. At first I wanted my own store with my own designs so I majored in fashion design at Syracuse University. We used to go on field trips into NYC and go to trade shows. Walking my first show I realized immediately that I wanted to buy other brands and sell them instead of designing my own. I am an excellent curator, mixing brands and color stories together and have an eye for trend and what’s cool and what’s next. And that is exactly what I did. When I graduated college I moved back to LA and worked in retail while I looked for locations and got organized with my plan of how I was going to open at 25 years old which was my mark and deadline.
I opened my first flagship store August 5th 1995 when I was 25. My store looked exactly how I envisioned it from when I was a child. With my decision to have a multi branded store, I became a brand myself and Lisa Kline is known in the industry for cultivating brands, a place to be seen, to launch and get exposure. To this day my concept has never been recreated and everywhere I go people always ask me if I am going to open another store.
I closed my last store in 2012 and I was part of the LA landscape, retail and fashion culture for almost 2 decades. It was the most joyous and magical time of my life. People always ask me why I closed my stores, and the reasons are the last writers strike in 2007, the crash of 2008 and then my husband dying of a freak accident in Jan of 2009 leaving me with a 2 and 4 year old. My volume also dropped 90% in a year after the crash and I really had no choice but to close all my stores one by one which took about 3 years to do gracefully. I also had 85 employees that I supported. It was a lot to say the least but I have seen the full cycle of life of business and life.
I had no down time as a single mom I had to keep going, so while I was closing the last 3 stores I was hired to be the Chief Fashion Officer to a new start up company called Vault where I curated over 350 brands onto the platform, where brands sold direct to the consumer.
I casted for a TV show on Bravo called Launch My Line and got selected to be a panel judge that had 9 episodes, I was featured on HSN and designed several loungewear collections under my label, Lisa Kline and sold live on TV for a few years and then started to consult for other businesses.
Now I am busy doing a variety of the following jobs for very interesting, dynamic, wonderful clients and businesses alike.
1. Retail Consultant- I use my 30 years of knowledge helping other people, businesses and hotels to bring their visions to life by way of buying, curating, merchandising, doing branded merchandise and coaching them on the business of retail. My clients range from stores, to celebrities, to brands, as well as interior designers.
2. Image Consulting/Styling-I help clients clean their closets out, take them shopping, or bring clothing to them, create outfits for them, pack for them and reorganize their closets so they are merchandised beautifully like a store so it is easy for them to see what they have and to get dressed. I shop for men, women and kids.
3. Brand Placement- I have a brand placement company that places brands on deal segments on networks like CBS, NBC and ABC.
4. Brand Development-I consult for brands either launching into market, or that need a revamp, including celebrity brands. I help them with their designs, merchandising, assets (line sheets & look books), style and manage photo shoots so they have proper assets to use to promote their brand and use on their website, redo their websites or set up new ones from scratch, logo design, graphic design, set up pop up stores and curate experiences.
5. Buyer-I attend several trade shows a year in all categories from women’s, mens and kids apparel, swim shows, golf shows, gift shows, home shows and several beauty shows.
6. Merchandiser-I go into peoples stores and merchandise for them to make it easier to shop, easy on the eyes, organized and create newness for not only the shopper but for the staff as well.
As an entrepreneur I am open to all business opportunities and love to work and help other people in the industry be a success and execute their vision. I love the fashion industry and lifestyle space and play in all categories. My gift is seeking talent and cool brands, and bringing them to market. It is my heart and soul and gives me pure pleasure to be so immersed in such a cool creative career.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
I decided to choose this question in particular because as I consult for other businesses and talk to my peers and colleagues the main topic that comes up is how hard it is to find good help today. It seems that a lot of the kids and young adults of today have no work ethic and don’t like to work or feel entitled and on and on.
I never had these issues with my staff and I had a lot of staff. I managed over 85 people for over a decade as my company grew so did the staff. Each store had over 6 employees if it was a small operation and the women’s flagship had at least 20, the men’s had at least 12. I had a corporate office on Melrose and La Brea that had a buying office, shipping and receiving, a web store, an outlet store and the accounting office. Each area had its own team that I managed and as much as that was one of the joys of my business because I love connecting with people and making them feel special, it was also the least fun and hardest part of my job.
There were always problems and issues and drama daily. That is what happens when people work together and all the different personalities and dynamics start to happen. Combined with what is going on in the world today it is getting even harder to keep things under control.
To manage a team and maintain high morale you need to be a “Social Genius”, a people person, read people and appreciate people that are working for you and making money for you and helping you run your business. It is a really simple concept. I always use this saying as an example to my managers and people I am coaching, that “I could say the same thing to all 85 employees separately and I would say it in a totally different way, manner and tone depending on who I was speaking to but I was getting the same message across.” There is a way to get your message across where it benefits you, and the other person you are asking to make them feel guided, lead, safe, secure and taken care of. You must learn how to get people to trust you and you trust them. It takes 2 to tango is a true statement, it is all a dance and a game and if you look at it that way it actually becomes fun. Turn the challenge into something rewarding and a learning experience as everyone is different and as your business grows, evolves and changes you need to as well. Your team can make you look like a superstar if you let them. I certainly did and they knew it because I told them often how I felt, what a great job they were doing and how they were helping my business. This in turn keeps them on course and exhibiting the same positive behavior.
I think it is important to make people feel special, and smart. A way to do this is by putting them in jobs, functions and roles that they are skilled at naturally, things that come easy to them or things they are interested in. But you still must coach them and meet with them and guide them and let them know they are on the right track, what they are doing great and what they need to improve on. If you do this from the get go and give them the time and attention they deserve which can be a weekly meeting or every month or every quarter. I think annually is too long to wait to discuss it all, but if you meet all year the annual is just a review of it all and just another quarter, day or month in the scheme of things.
It is very important to have one on one meetings with your team, to let them know how they are doing, to thank them in all ways daily and at the end of the day most importantly. It is how you talk to them, engage, interact, react, how you look at them, how you approach giving direct orders, how you discipline and your tone. Having so many employees in all divisions I realized how important each of their jobs were and that the shipper was just as important as the bookkeeper and the person entering orders in the buying office was just as important as the people working on the floor and the driver who delivered all the goods was as important as the sales assistant helping the sales girls so they could sell. You must have every aspect of your business working properly or it will fail. You need all pieces of the pie functioning and on point as they all matter. When it is a well oiled machine you will experience and have a high morale.
Managing people is a human experience, an intuitive experience and you must operate on a higher level and be able to put yourself in other peoples shoes to understand how they might feel when you are conversing with them and asking them to do things that you want done for your business.
The schedule matters, the pay matters, the bonuses and commissions, the hours, the dress codes, and how it all magically comes together. I had so many levels at my company that started with me and my late husband at the top and I managed my district manager, my managers, my assistant managers, the sales people, the sales assistants, the buyers, my merchandisers, the shippers and receivers, interns and greeters to make sure they were all doing their jobs properly. I coached, educated, motived and cheered on my team. I had weekly meetings, gave them tools to sell, brought speakers in, gave them products, I gave them gifts, paid them well, had parties and celebrations, took them to nice dinners, but most of all I created a community that everyone felt a part of. I am still proud to say I am close to so many people that were a part of making Lisa Kline what is was and the reputation it still has today. I am proud of the roles, jobs and careers they have moved into using the knowledge they learned at my institution.
Managing people is really hard but I would say one of the most important aspects of your business. If you aren’t skilled at it then hire someone who is. I understand we live in a different world and time than before but people are still people, and emotions are emotions and we are all human beings who deserve respect love and appreciation when they give their time and energy and skill set to help your business grow. And you must remember that they are working for you because they need money most likely and are supporting themselves or their families. I always believe in paying well, being overly generous, and paying more than my competitors. At the end of the year if you think how much more it will cost you, I assure you it is worth it for the loyalty it brings and the respect you get from your staff and worth every penny. There is a trust that must take place and a level of connection you need to have with your team. And always remember it is the little things that make the most impact. Acknowledgment, compliments, praise, noticing, thank you notes, thank you texts and emails, honoring that people need personal time and days off, a hug hello and goodbye and actually caring about their wellbeing. Think about how you would want to be spoken to before you speak, or just think before you speak, plan meetings out, guide your team and give them a map so they feel secure and have a road to follow. No one is a mind reader so you must put the effort in and make things very clear of what you want, need and expect out of them and also be sure they are getting paid what they are worth or they will never be happy in your place of work. Combining all of these skills into your own recipe that fits your personality and business is how you obtain a high morale.
I can tell you that I use this same method as CEO with my children and how I run my home and I am proud to say I have 2 great kids and as a single mom since they were both under 5 it worked in my favor and I am grateful I have these skills.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
This is another question that speaks to me as to this day 30 years later I still have a stellar reputation in my market and industry. I have always taken pride on my reputation and made sure to keep it above par and on point my entire career. Even at the end the reason it took me so long to close each store is because I didn’t want to ruin my reputation or name because to be honest that is really all you have. My husband died, I could have easily walked away and used grief as an excuse to give up, but I exited my company gracefully dissolving the company, as I thought that was the best thing for my reputation. I put money out of my own pocket that I didn’t have as a single mom with 2 kids to make sure people still had jobs and my doors stayed open as I slowly closed one store at time. Who you are as person and the decisions you make in personal and business reflect greatly on your reputation.
I did and still do several things to keep my reputation up from not taking advantage of people I do business with, being a person of my word, being generous and thoughtful of other peoples time, work and work ethic, saying yes instead of no, paying people on time, being open to trying new things, taking risks, making things happen, following through, being easy going, and easy to approach with ideas and products, making money with fellow colleagues, reps, brands, designers and companies. Being responsible in all aspects as well as reliable. The most important thing I think is being nice and someone easy to work with. Talking instead of yelling, listening instead of talking over people and thinking before you speak, and I will reiterate putting yourselves in other peoples shoes. And of course the customer is always right!
It is interesting that in life having your reputation personally is no different than business. At least to me, as I have the same life skills and standards in being a friend, a wife, a girlfriend, a daughter, a mother, grand daughter, sister in law, cousin, and niece and I am proud to say it has served me well and will continue to for the rest of my life. Keeping your reputation up is a job and a daily practice just like everything else. Be aware, be mindful and use your intuition, brain and heart to guide you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lisakline.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisaklineofficial/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisa.kline.10/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/likline/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lisa+kline