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e-ret@iler
August 2001
Sent at your request by Profits Plus Seminars & Tom Shay

What you will read in this month's issue of the e-ret@iler:
1. A new article on the Profits Plus Seminars website
2. e-ret@iler advisory of the month: gambling at the local level
3. Your free subscription to the e-ret@iler
4. Contacting Profits Plus Seminars and Tom Shay

1. The Opposite of NO
That's the name of the new article on the website this month.
"The Opposite of NO".
While giving examples from the pool and spa industry, the technique can be duplicated with anything you sell. The opposite of "no" is not a "yes"; sometimes when a customer asks us if we have something, we give the "no" because we don't stock that product. When you read this article you will find out what is the opposite of "no" in retailing.

2. Gambling at the local level

As often as I have the pleasure of traveling to a trade show or conference in Las Vegas, I have never found the gaming areas to catch my attention. The same is true when I have traveled to Biloxi, Mississippi, New Orleans, Louisiana, or any other city with gambling. My comment to folks was that I consider retailing to be enough of a gamble.

Actually, as retailers we all need to become gamblers - at least within our business. I recently worked with a group that I had presented an idea to some 60 days previously. Their merchandiser immediately contacted the supplier and enlisted them to appear in their trade show. After the show, I was told some 40% of their stores decided to try the idea. The cost of the idea was only $100. Some folks said they did not want to gamble. Yet, they gamble every day.

As an example, you expect a certain Saturday to be a very busy day, and you schedule plenty of help on the sales floor. Instead, after you have been open for an hour, it begins to rain. And it rains a lot all day long. You have wasted a sizable number of dollars in unproductive personnel unless you can get everyone working using your "rainy day project list".

Wayne Gretzky, the great hockey player, said, "you will miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Have you taken any shots today?

3. Your free subscription to the e-ret@iler
Was this issue of the e-retailer a hand me down to you? No one likes to read second hand news, so send a note for your own free subscription.

4. Contacting Profits Plus Seminars and Tom Shay
Thanks for stopping to see us. There is a whole lot more information on the website.

Last, and most definitely, thank you for inviting us onto your desktop, and taking the time to read our newsletter.

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Tom Shay

 

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Tom Shay
PO Box 128
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(727)823-7205

MARCH 2026
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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.

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.