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small business news
June 2018
Volume 19 Issue 7

July 2018 - Independent Retailer Month


The idea started in 2002. One of the presentations I give has multiple mentions of special days your business can celebrate - Small Business Week, Mom and Pop Business Owner Day - along with events like Chocolate Cake Day (a great event for every local restaurant). I gave a suggestion of businesses and communities creating their own special events and listing them with Chase Calendar of Events which is a book that the media uses to tell us of all these events. Chase first published their event book in 1957.

As an example, I created one for independent retailers. The month of July was selected because I wanted to honor the month of my grandmother's birthday and later the month my Dad passed away.

The event has made tremendous strides ever since Kerry Bannigan called and said she wanted to be a part of making the event grow. She has done an awesome job. Here is a photo of the event being promoted on the billboard in Times Square. And the folks who create the national day calendar have made it the theme for July.

Join us and be a part of this exciting time for small business.  There is information and free tools that you can use for your business, chamber of commerce, Main Street program, merchants association and other organizations comprised of independent retailers. Just follow this link to the Independent Retailer Month website.

And we welcome your ideas of how we can grow this event. It has already expanded to England and Canada. Help us remind the world what an awesome and special experience it is to do business with an independent retailer - starting with your business.

Article of the Month - Timing the technician

This month's article is directed to businesses that offer services. Our experience has been that many of them do not know if they are making money from the services they offer; they just believe their business has to offer service.

One of the areas that could be improved is knowing how many hours the service technician is billing each week. Again, experience has shown there is a big discrepancy in how many hours you pay a technician for and how many hours they bill to customers.

This month's article will share an idea of how you can make a couple of small changes to get your business to having the amount of hours you pay for get to the point of being much closer to the amount of hours billed to your customers.
Book of the Month - One buck at a time

The full title of the book is, "One buck at a time - An insider's account of how Dollar Tree remade American retail", by Macon Brock and Earl Swift.

While there are multiple chain stores, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree and others in this niche, it appears it is Dollar Tree that is leading the pack. This format of retailing is definitely changing how brick and mortar retailing is working. Looking at other chain stores, mass merchants, and big box stores, you see where they are creating aisles, if not sections, in their stores that are their attempt at getting a piece of this market.

This book tells of a dime store in Virginia some thirty plus years ago, became the basis for Dollar Tree which now has over 14,000 stores. Macon Brock is the co-founder and he provides the fascinating story of how it was done.

We offer this book to get our creative thoughts going of how we can use our businesses to become disruptive; it is market creation - not just market share.
Internet Tool for Your Business - Small Business Knowledge Test

When I get to work in communities with Main Street programs, downtown development authorities, business improvement districts, chambers of commerce and similar organizations, there is a special tool I ask be given to every small business owner.

The tool is a self evaluation. It invites the business owner or manager to take a deep look at their business and answer a series of questions. There are not "right or wrong" answers. Experience has shown as the questions are answered you gain a lot of insight to what is going on in your business and with yourself as the owner or manager.

This month we want to share this tool with you. Here is the link:
Staff Incentive for Your Business - What employees want

Some things never change, or so the saying goes. We read a survey that asked employees what was most important to them about their job.

Wouldn't you expect the top two items would be "money" and "job security"? That makes sense to us. Instead, the two highest ranked answers were "appreciate me on the job" and "keep me posted on what is happening in the business".

If these are the most important incentives, we ask you how you are doing at delivering what is important to your employees.

We want to recognize A Carrot A Day by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, whose book provides the basis for each month's incentive idea.

Profits Plus | tomshay@profitsplus.org
(727) 464-2182 | www.profitsplus.org

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MARCH 2026
Have the Small Business Advisories and News sent to your inbox. Subscribe HERE

Small Business

AdvisoriES


Every time I see the logo for Target stores, I think about small businesses and the need to know which people to target as their customers. Of course, of most importance is the person who has spent any money with your business.

 

I ask businesses if they know how much the average person spends with their business. Most offer a quick response with a dollar amount. That answer is incorrect as they are telling me what the average existing customer is spending. The average person in any community spends no money with that small business.

 

Looking for new customers without any plan of how to do so is just spending money. That is why every small business needs to know how to find and use information. Find ideas in the March Small Business Advisory.

Small Business

NewS

Top Story

Employee retention; is it important? Or is it easier to lose an employee and wait for the next applicant to walk in the door? The Small Business News for March shares some statistics of the expense you incur when you make the change instead of working to retain a current employee.

Article of the Month

It is baseball season and we use the sport as an explanation of the cost of growing your business. In Boston's Fenway Park, left field has a wall that is know as the green monster.

 

And that is what growing your business is - a monster! You can't successfully grow your business without a plan and knowing you will have the cash on hand to pay for the growth.


Book of the Month

Are you selling something or persuading the customer? With your employees are you repeatedly telling that employee or are you persuading them to excel?

 

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Ciaidini is our suggested book for March 2026. Most definitely an appropriate read.

All this plus the Internet Tool for Your Business and a staff incentive idea for your business.
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BOOK US

With over 25 years of frontline experience Tom Shay is America's leading Small Business Management Expert. He's a "Must Have" for your next event.

Small Business

Advisories

Every time I see the logo for Target stores, I think about small businesses and the need to know which people to target as their customers. Of course, of most importance is the person who has spent any money with your business.

 

I ask businesses if they know how much the average person spends with their business. Most offer a quick response with a dollar amount. That answer is incorrect as they are telling me what the average existing customer is spending. The average person in any community spends no money with that small business.

 

Looking for new customers without any plan of how to do so is just spending money. That is why every small business needs to know how to find and use information. Find ideas in the March Small Business Advisory.

Small Business

News

 

Top Story

Employee retention; is it important? Or is it easier to lose an employee and wait for the next applicant to walk in the door? The Small Business News for March shares some statistics of the expense you incur when you make the change instead of working to retain a current employee.


Article of the Month

It is baseball season and we use the sport as an explanation of the cost of growing your business. In Boston's Fenway Park, left field has a wall that is know as the green monster.

 

And that is what growing your business is - a monster! You can't successfully grow your business without a plan and knowing you will have the cash on hand to pay for the growth.


Book of the Month

Are you selling something or persuading the customer? With your employees are you repeatedly telling that employee or are you persuading them to excel?

 

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Ciaidini is our suggested book for March 2026. Most definitely an appropriate read.

 

All this plus the Internet Tool for Your Business and a staff incentive idea for your business.