July 2024
Volume No. 25, Issue No. 8

The "why" behind Independent Retailer Month

It would have been somewhere in the summer of 2002 that I had the idea that became Independent Retailer Month. The initial purpose was to show how to create an event for your business, industry, or community. The event was registered with what was then, the authority on events - book publisher Chase's Calendar of Events.

While that was the purpose for the first celebration in July 2003, the focus changed after a few years. I began to notice how many efforts to steer business to local independent retailers focused on shaming customers to do so.

As one who grew up in a family business that began in 1924, our family wanted people to shop with us because we earned their business.

Complaining about what some CEO is making; how some big retailer is not sponsoring your kid's Little League team; or the "buy local or bye local" campaigns do not make sense to me. Those efforts are not going to earn your store any long-term customers.

Take a look at this page of statistics on the Independent Retailer Month website which tells the valid reasons for people shopping with you. This page will also tell you the picture of independent retailing is a lot brighter than a lot of those people on social media want you to believe.

Be proud of who you are! Be very proud of what you do for your community! And thank your customers for being your friend and your customers.

This is why Independent Retailer Month was created.

Article of the Month - Wind, sneezers and Marriah

You wish you had a Marriah working for you. I remember this experience very well; particularly when an experience in a business is less than desirable. As Marriah's tremendous skills in working with customers were not matched by her co-workers, it was easy to see this business hired Marriah; they did not develop her.

You can either take your chances or work to develop people like Marriah that cause people to want to do business with you.

Article of the Month

Book of the month - Grit by Angela Duckworth

Stacey Daughtrey, a close friend, saw this book and posted a photo of the cover on social media. She shared a compliment as she thought I had written the book; in part due to my involvement with True Grit Trail in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado.

No, the book is not written by me or about me. But I do like the content which I found to be fascinating. While the subtitle on the cover is a great summary of the book (passion and perseverance), I think you will enjoy the message throughout the book.

Book of the Month

Internet Tool for Your Business - Cash to current liabilities ratio

Just a coincidence that the internet tool for July is this ratio as I am thinking about a conversation this past week with a friend. This person is struggling in their business. Like many challenged businesses, the issue is a lack of cash.

If my friend had been paying attention to this month's Internet tool - the cash-to-current liabilities ratio calculator, the problem would have been seen several months ago.

Not paying attention to this ratio creates another problem. Trying to go to a bank to borrow money to get yourself out of this fix is a challenge because it is difficult to persuade a bank to loan money to fix a problem. Banks instead, loan money to build a business. And if you are trying to borrow money to fix a problem, you have already shown a lack of financial knowledge in your business.

It is going to be much easier if you follow the link below to learn how important this calculation is and how to perform the calculation.

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 scenes, 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.

Internet Tool for Your Business

Staff Incentive for Your Business - Could you celebrate a failure?

There is a story told about Thomas Watson, president of IBM during the depression. Business was tough and there were members of the board of directors who wanted to get rid of Watson.

Watson was counting on one of his salesmen landing a one million dollar contract with the government. The salesman failed.

The salesman wrote out a letter explaining what he had done wrong and concluded the letter with his resignation. However, when he gave the letter to Watson, Thomas Watson refused the letter of resignation.

Watson's comment? "Why would I accept this when I just invested one million dollars in your education?"

A couple of our favorite interview questions for potential employees is to ask, "What was the biggest mistake you made at your last employer? How much did it cost your employer? How long ago was the mistake made?"

Envision the answer being a mistake of several hundred dollars five years ago. Doesn't that say that employee had great value to their employer?

Perhaps we should celebrate and learn from some mistakes that help us to grow better employees. And no, I did not say to tolerate frequent and repeated mistakes.

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.