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August 2018
Volume 19 Issue 9

News of the day - #225

We owe a lot of thanks to all of you. What started in December 1999 as the e-retailer has brought us to issue #225 of what is today the Small Business News.

While I do not remember how many of you were with us at the beginning, today subscribers number in the thousands. We are honored.

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Recently I wrote an article for a trade magazine in which I expressed concern from several personal experiences with businesses selling products and providing services. With each experience, the personnel working for and in the business clearly demonstrated they were working on an hourly basis. They were hired for an hourly wage as their actions demonstrated their job was to be in the business or in the case of the service business, they were on the job.

We are paying for the wrong thing. I know we are not going to change the law, but if we as business owners want employees that express concern for the customers, we need to be making some changes.

This is not to advocate you paying your staff on commission; instead we are suggesting looking at utilizing incentives to engage people. In retail, we are not hiring someone to be in the store for hours, but are hiring people to sell merchandise. In a service business, we are hiring someone to take care of the customer without a "not my job" attitude being displayed.

If we want our businesses to be different, as well as more profitable, we have to be different in the way we engage our employees.

Article of the Month - Visiting other stores

The article of the month for August shares some personal experiences gained by visiting other businesses. While often referred to as a "busman's holiday", there is a lot we can learn from visiting other businesses.

While we suggest your asking your accountant to confirm you can expense a trip to look at other businesses, we think you will find these trips to be a great investment of your time.
Book of the Month - Don't Bullsh*t Yourself

Those of you who watch television may know of Jon Taffer from the television show, Bar Rescue. I am told his style is rather abrupt so it should not come as a surprise that the title of his book is, "Don't Bullsh*t Yourself".

This book made its way onto our list because it was on the recommended reading list from someone I think of as a very good business person.

We just had our office remodeled which included a new library. We found fourteen books to add to the library, so we have plenty of suggestions to share with you for more than the next year.

 
Internet Tool for Your Business - Turn rate at cost

With most businesses with inventory, the largest investment you have is the inventory itself. That inventory can have a very positive effect on your profitability as you increase the inventory turn. This is a calculation of how many times over the course of the year your inventory "turns".

As there are two methods of calculating inventory turn, this month we are going to share the one that uses the cost of inventory in the calculation. Next month we will share the second method - inventory turn at retail.
Staff Incentive for Your Business - Goals

The unemployment rate is extremely low. While that may be good for our businesses by providing more customers and with more money, it creates a big problem of finding employees. The solution lies in part with our keeping the employees we have. A part of keeping our employees is helping our employees enjoy where they work and helping employees to have an appreciation for the job they have.


Our staff incentive for this month is our creating goals for each of our employees; goals selected for each individual that can be measured and are obtainable. It includes taking the time to coach each employee to success. When this is done, your employee will have a feeling of success as well as knowing their employer has worked with them to be successful.

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) 823-7205 | www.profitsplus.org



 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tom Shay
PO Box 128
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(727)823-7205

JUNE 2026
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Small Business

AdvisoriES


Marketing talks about finding your target customer. Unfortunately, those customers are not wearing a shirt with a bullseye on them to help you make that determination. The June Small Business Advisory offers an alternative method for understanding where your customer lives.

Small Business

NewS

Top Story

It is countdown to the start of the 24th Independent Retailer Month beginning July 1. We work to promote the celebration from a different prospective; that of telling the public of the benefits they receive because they shop at a locally owned independent retailer. We also share reseach that shows the many positive feelings that consumers have about locally owned independent retailers and why they prefer to shop with you.

Article of the Month

Remeber Struther Martin in Cool Hand Luke as he said, "What we have here is a failure to communicate"?

 

We are going to apply that expression to the software you use in your business. Are you getting what you need from that software?


Book of the Month

Think of how Harley Davidson, Apple, and Campbell's Soup are perceived. Each have a very devout following. We call that cult branding. This month's book we review is, "The Power of Cult Branding", by B.J. Bueno.

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

Marketing talks about finding your target customer. Unfortunately, those customers are not wearing a shirt with a bullseye on them to help you make that determination. The June Small Business Advisory offers an alternative method for understanding where your customer lives.

Small Business

News

 

Top Story

It is countdown to the start of the 24th Independent Retailer Month beginning July 1. We work to promote the celebration from a different prospective; that of telling the public of the benefits they receive because they shop at a locally owned independent retailer. We also share reseach that shows the many positive feelings that consumers have about locally owned independent retailers and why they prefer to shop with you.


Article of the Month

Remeber Struther Martin in Cool Hand Luke as he said, "What we have here is a failure to communicate"?

 

We are going to apply that expression to the software you use in your business. Are you getting what you need from that software?


Book of the Month

Think of how Harley Davidson, Apple, and Campbell's Soup are perceived. Each have a very devout following. We call that cult branding. This month's book we review is, "The Power of Cult Branding", by B.J. Bueno.

 

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