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News of the day - Independent Retailer Month With Profits Plus having been the founding organization for Independent Retailer Month, of course we have to make a special invitation to invite you to participate in the 2019 event. Starting in 2003, Independent Retailer Month has promoted on the basis of "WII-FM". Which, from the perspective of all our customers, stands for What's In It For Me. We are not asking people to do business with an independent business as a sympathy vote, or as a sense of loyalty to a town. Instead we fill the Independent Retailer Month website with information about all the logical and financial reasons that are to the advantage of the customer and the community. At the same time, we remind you that it is important the customer sees that your business is different. And that has to start with how your store looks and how the customer can interact with the business. As we ask customers to shop independent retailers, we ask you to take a very critical look at your business and see if there is a difference in the way they are treated in your business and what they experience in a mass merchant, chain store, or big box store.
Article of the Month - Your Passing Percentage Price; it is the "go-to" item for trying to be different for far too many service or product businesses. Trying to be different by way of your price is a sure way to becoming a commodity. Watching businesses during the past month, I am noticing a very high percentage who pass their customer from one employee to another; either in person or on the phone. What if a business wanted to be different by giving a bit more personal attention to the customer? This month's article asks you to look at your passing percentage. How frequently is the customer being passed from one individual to another. Unlike football, we should look at how low we can make our passing percentage.
Who is visiting Small Business Converations this month? - June's guest is Chris Ramey You are such a wonderful audience. Once again the guest expert for Small Business Conversations comes to us because a previous guest expert has suggested a friend for the program. Chris Ramey joins us as an expert in selling to the affluent. Having been a small business owner, Chris has leveraged his experiences and observations of many businesses selling to affluent and high net worth customers, to become one of the most quoted individuals in the trade. We have frequently observed businesses, and their staff, that have become intimidated and unable to sell big ticket items as well as items the employee feels is too expensive. Chris will explain how you don't sell to these customers but how you should fascinate and match values. This is a topic we have not previously discussed in a Small Business Conversations program. Join us for what is sure to be a most informative program.
Book of the Month - BOOM Just as our June Small Business Conversations guest deals with a niche of the marketplace, our book of the month does likewise. BOOM by Mary Brown and Carol Orsborn, PhD, are examining the baby boomer woman as a customer. The authors include case studies from 40 marketers which include cosmetics, cars, banks and computers. If this is a customer group you sell to, or want to sell to, this book can be a wise investment of your time.
Internet Tool for Your Business - What is your body language saying? Each month we highlight one of the 47 free tools on the Profits Plus website; we call them "calculators". While some provide analysis by numbers and ratios, some are assessments and others are self-examination questions. Many are downloadable while others, because of the complexity of the calculations going on behind the scene, are a part of the website and allow you to print your answers. None of them require you to give any personal information nor are there any "cookies" tracking you or your information. We have a presentation titled, "Advanced Professional Selling Skills". During the presentation we explain the importance of body language as you meet a customer face to face. This page on our website uses seven photos, each show in four possible attires (open collar, shirt and tie, suit, open jacket) so you can share with your staff what the customer is "hearing" from your body language as compared to the words you are using.
Staff Incentive for Your Business - Pizza Pizza; we have twice had experiences with our business in which pizza did a lot to get employees engaged. We had a business that was in a strip center. We wanted to do some minor remodeling and as with many businesses wanted to be economical. The grocery store near by had moved to another location in the center and their old location was to become a drug store. There were a lot of things in the old grocery store that we could use in our business. Visiting with the contractor, we asked for the opportunity to come into the building and take the things we needed. The contractor told us the items we wanted to collect were going to scrapped. Instead of turning us loose in the building, which would have taken several days for us to collect, he offered to bring everything we wanted to us. He told us how he would have a pizza party for all the construction crew on a Friday afternoon when certain objectives were met. If we would pay for his pizza party, everything would be delivered to us. Now we understood why his crew always worked so hard each week. The second pizza event was when we were having an event that far exceeded our expectations. Our staff did not even have time to stop and eat lunch or dinner. We ordered pizza and had it available in the office. It was amazing how much effort everyone put in to making the event even more successful. The next day there was no complaining about the work. Instead all we heard was how much fun the previous day had been and how delicious the pizza was. We think pizza is one of the "super foods"; maybe not the way a nutritionist would describe but definitely a super food with regard to work getting done. 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.
What's coming up that you can promote? Give your existing and potential customers a reason to celebrate. We collect information from National Day Calendar and share certain events that we know you could include as a part of your promotional efforts. Putting these together can be quick and easy, but should be planned in advance. As an example, as this is June 1 you should be looking at what you can do in August. Examples of August events include: August 1-7 Simplify Your Life Week August is:
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DECEMBER 2024
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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
Whose job is this, anyway? Have you heard that before? The December Small Business Article of the Month offers ideas from those who have found solutions.
Small Business
Past our announcement that the December newsletter starts our 26th year, we are discussing what is and what is not a problem.
Starting with, all these announced closings of retail operations is not a problem indicative of retail. It is an indicator of chain stores trying to correct the problems they previously made.
We came across a solution of tasks not getting done as well as tasks not done correctly. We created an owner's manual for our business. Details in the Article of the Month.
Atomic Habits by James Clear. Have you ever caught yourself saying that you had gotten out of the habit of doing something? Perhaps it is something you need to continue to do? This book can be applicable to personal and business life.
