E-ret@iler conversations conference call - past and future
We will be having Ron Friedman of Damomics return as our guest for one of the 2013 conference calls. He just has too many good ideas for your business; definitely a lot more ideas than we could fit into the one hour we had for November.
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Ron is so correct in saying that your business, selling product or services, needs to be utilizing gift cards and having a customer loyalty program.
In the conversations I have had with Ron since the November call, he is always sharing an example of another business that is, or could be, profiting, by doing just a little bit more to get a lot more business from their existing customer business.
If you missed the opportunity to be a part of the live show, you can visit the link below where you can listen to it online or down load it as an MP3 file for your portable listening device. As always it is free.
E-ret@iler conversations
December may be a busy month for most businesses and I know that makes for a challenge to get away to join the e-ret@iler conversations conference call.
So allow me to make the December call a big event by inviting Dr. Joseph Michelli as our guest.
Joseph is a New York Times best selling author having written, 'The Starbucks Experience', 'The Zappos Experience', 'When Fish Fly', and 'The New Gold Standard'.
Whether your business proposition is a product or service, here is your opportunity to visit with one of the great minds of understanding business.
Send your questions now so that we can make the conference call more valuable for you. People pay a lot of money to get to hear Joseph speak - even more to get to speak with him.
My Christmas present to all of you is the opportunity to do both on Thursday, December 13 at 8pm eastern. Directions for participating in the call will be coming to you on December 9 with a reminder on the morning of the conference call.
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Speaking of gift cards, allow me the opportunity to explain what you are going to be hearing about gift cards in the days just after Christmas.
The 'big' retailers will begin advertising on December 26, inviting customers to come and use those gift cards they received as presents. These retailers need this to happen because of the financial side of selling and using a gift card.
When a business 'sells' a gift card, it is not really a sale. You may ring it up at the register, but it is not a sale. It is simply an exchange of a 'deferred liability' - known as a gift card - for the cash the customer gives you.
It is not a sale until the customer exchanges the gift card for a product or service. As the stock price of these big stores is a reflection of their sales, the big retailers are going to do all they can to get the gift cards redeemed as soon as possible.
Let's look at your position in a gift card. A customer 'buys' a gift card at your business for $50. You have $50 in the drawer and the customer has a piece of plastic or paper.
While there are local laws that apply, as long as you are going to offer to accept that gift card you get to keep that $50.
You can take the position that you hope the customer never redeems the $50 gift card and you have all that cash. You can ask the customer to bring in the $50 gift card to redeem it, and as Ron Friedman pointed out, know that it is an 'odds-on' possibility that the customer will spend more than $50.
It is yours to decide.
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Thanks for taking the time from your busy day to read this edition of the e-retailer newsletter. This issue begins the 14th year of my having sent you something on the first day of the month. I take it as a compliment that you would take the time to read my observations and suggestions for business.
A blessed Christmas to you and yours.
