The March issue of the e-ret@iler contains:

1. The article of the month: Polishing the
Crystal Ball
2. e-ret@iler advisory of the month: Characteristics
3. Our Power Promoting idea of the month: May 10
4. Book of the month: Call of the Mall
5. Your e-ret@iler subscription and contacting Profits Plus and Tom Shay

=> Print the March issue of the e-ret@iler so
you can read it at your leisure.

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1. Article of the month: Polishing the Crystal
Ball

There are only two essential rules of retailing
according to Shay. The two are staff education
and cashflow management. In the March article of
the month, we are discussing the value of, and
the need for each and every business to have a
cashflow chart. The enticement for you to read
this month's article is to let you know that if
your business had a cashflow chart today you
would not only know the inventory on hand and the
cash on hand for February 29, 2004, but you would
also know those two answers for February 28, 2005.

Does this sound like some valuable information to
you? If so, read this month's article. Click on this
link to visit the Profits Plus website to read the
March article of the month.

Polishing the Crystal Ball

O <= After printing the March e-ret@iler, check
here if you plan to read the article of the month.

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2. e-ret@iler advisory of the month: Characteristics

Those of you who have attended a Tom Shay
presentation at a trade show or conference know
that each participant is invited to send a
postcard to themselves as a reminder to put some
of the great ideas into action. There is a place
on the card where you can ask questions and make
comments.

Last year a participant asked, "What do you
consider to be the characteristics of a successful
business?" From that question has come a magazine
article, and a new presentation that has become one
of our most popular topics. In the presentation, we
list the ten characteristics that we observe in these
people and in their businesses. Beginning with this
month's issue, and continuing through the rest of 2004,
we will examine these points.

Characterisitic number one is having a clear image
in the minds and eyes of the customer. The image
begins when the customer can first make contact with
the business. The contact can be when they come into
view of the business, call the business or when
someone from your business visits them.

What they experience of your business must give a
one and clear image. This will include the
exterior of the building, the fixtures and displays,
the packaging that your products are placed in, and
the advertising.

As an example, think about seeing an orange apron;
you think of Home Depot. Think about walking in the
mall and seeing someone carrying a pink and white
stripe bag; you know there is a Victoria's Secret
in that mall.

Continuing, when a person walks into the store,
how long is it before they see something with
your name on it? Or do they instead see a lot of
displays with manufacturer's names on it? The
successful business is selling their name above
everything else.

Not wanting to always use a mass merchant as an
example, but look at the advertising from Home
Depot. Notice the prices? They are always shown
in a very unique 'font'. The font is the style
of type. If you saw the ad without seeing the
Home Depot name, you would very likely be able
to recognize the ad as coming from Home Depot.

Two books you may want to read on this topic are:
"Why we buy" and "Stop talking, start doing
retail branding".

Next month's topic is defining the marketing
position.

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4. Our Power Promoting idea of the month: May 10

There is a major holiday coming soon: National
Small Business Day. It is Monday, May 10, and you
need to celebrate.

Create some posters to hang about your business,
have a sale and tell your customers that you are
celebrating the special event for the whole week
with special prices and offering them refreshments
as they come into your business. Invite other
businesses in your community to participate and
contact the media to tell them of this special day.
You can likely get them to promote the event as
businesses advertise for this day.

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5. Book of the month: Call of the Mall

This is the newest book from Paco Underhill. There
is quite a difference in this book and Paco's
first one, "Why we buy". This one reads more like
a novel, and while not all businesses are in the
mall, every business will get a lot out of this
fascinating book. It is available in hard cover
and sells for $24.95 US. When you go to buy this
book, do yourself and all of the other small businesses
a favor - buy it from a locally owned book store as
compared to going online or shopping at one of the
mass merchants.

If you have already read this book, or are wanting
to find other interesting titles, follow this link
to the Profits Plus website where you will see
a list of suggested reading.

Book Referral List

O <= After printing the March e-ret@iler, check here
if you plan to read the book of the month.

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6. Your e-ret@iler subscription and contacting
Profits Plus and Tom Shay

The subscription is free. Just remember if you
are changing your Internet service provider, you
will need to visit enter your new e-mail address
to keep the e-ret@iler coming.

If you received the e-ret@iler by way of someone
that passed it to you, then you can easily get your
own subscription.

Contacting us is just as easy:
The phone is 727-823-7205
The fax is 727-898-3179
The mailing address is:
PO Box 128
Dardanelle, AR 72834 USA

Thanks for visiting with us this month. We
appreciate your taking time from your
busy schedule. Our goal is to help you and
your business to become more profitable. We hope
we have done that.

We encourage you to seek out and do business
with other independently owned businesses. If
you are wanting people to do business with you
because you are a locally owned business, then
it stands to reason that we should be doing
what we are asking others to do.

Get your Profits Plus. May God bless you and yours.
We will see you in April.

Tom Shay