August 2021
Volume #22 Issue #9

The event is over but the project continues

July has come and gone. The 19th edition of Independent Retailer Month is in the books. However, the "why" continues throughout the year.

We created the event in 2003 as a part of a presentation titled, "Power Promoting". In the presentation we explain how a business can draw a lot of attention by doing something other than "item and price" advertising.

Initially it was a week long and the date was selected to include my grandmother's birthday.

After a few years, we met Kerry Bannigan and through our discussions it was decided to expand to a month long event.

We gathered a lot of statistics about the benefits to a community and to residents when an independent business is selected over a mass merchant, chain store or large business on the Internet. This information is on the indieretailermonth.com website.

We cringe as we see efforts to shame people into doing business with an independent retailer. We have the same feelings for those who say you should do business with an independent so that "we save the independents".

We don't think either of these efforts is going to bring any business to an independent. Instead, when we share with communities that there are more jobs created and more dollars circulated because of a person shopping with an independent, we think we have people's attention.

Don't like the potholes in your streets or street lights that are burnt out? Want to see your fire and police departments properly funded? Spending dollars with an independent can do a lot more for your community than those we previously mentioned.

And that picture you see above? Well, Kerry gets the credit for that happening. That is Times Square in New York City, and the marquee has the Independent Retailer Month logo on it.

This is now a lot more than what it was originally created for; it is more than just pothole repair. It is strengthening a community and the special uniqueness that only an independent retailer can create.

Article of the Month - Which customer is theirs?

The article of the month, "Which customer is theirs?", was written as a result of my working with the National Main Street Program. As you read the article you will see it was speaking to people who are the directors of Main Street programs, downtown merchants associations and staff at a chamber of commerce.

Local businesses are not the easiest people to work with. They are very independent and frequently not open to a group effort. The article suggests two ways of helping businesses find the right customer to target.

There is a key reason why malls, lifestyle centers, strip centers and downtowns exist; it makes it easier to get a customer to move from one business to another. Hence it makes sense to businesses for work together for their common good. The original people this article was originally written for may be different, but we expect you can get a lot from the suggestions we are sharing.

Article of the Month

Book of the Month - Quiet; the power of introverts by Susan Cain

Loves to sell; doesn't like selling. Left brain; right brain. Extrovert; introvert. There are many personality traits in the individuals we work with as well as the customers our businesses have. For our businesses, you have likely picked which one in each of three examples you would want for your business.

However, you may be missing out in some of your choices. "Quiet: The power of Introverts in a World that can't stop talking" may give you the insight to see how you and your business may find introverts to be of value.

Book of the Month

Internet Tool for Your Business - the job application

We are not expecting that any of us know what is going to happen next with regard to the challenges we are facing when it comes to staffing. That part we cannot fix for you. We do have a suggestion and a tool to share.

The suggestion is that you do not get so desperate that you are willing to begin to use the "mirror test" in hiring. Not familiar with the mirror test?

It is when you ask a potential applicant to stand still and you place a mirror under their nostrils for 30 seconds. If the mirror fogs it indicates they are alive and if they are alive they are hired! Using this as your guide is definitely going to harm your business in both the short and long term.

We do offer a free tool on the Profits Plus website. This is a special design of a job description which we offer for you to use as a guide as you create your own job application. Note that every state, province, and perhaps community has its own laws regarding job applications. So, make sure you respect those laws. We offer this job description as a suggested guide for doing a better job of learning about prospective employees.

The link to the PDF is at the bottom of the page in the link below.

Internet Tool for Your Business

 

Staff Incentive for Your Business

Many of our suggestions for staff recognition come from Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton in their books. With the current employee shortage, finding employees is definitely a challenge. Sometimes we spend so much time looking for new employees that we forget to take care of our current employees. You don't want to lose employees to another business, much less to a competitor. When you have to replace an employee it is an expensive proposition interviewing, hiring and having that initial "break in" period of time until you have a valuable employee. Most of us do not have a 100% success rate in our hiring which adds even more expense to the challenge. You aren't going to lose an employee that feels appreciated. Sometimes it simply takes a few words; other times it can be as easy as providing lunch or an afternoon snack. One of our favorites involved the youth baseball team our business sponsored. Recognition involved a couple of hours off with pay, some money for the concession stand, and the employee going to the ball field to cheer for our team. After the game, the employee had the "responsibility" of buying the refreshments for the players and coaches. In big business we hear of companies that have "golden handcuffs" to retain employees. Simple recognition can be your own form of handcuffs for letting an employee know they are appreciated and not wanting to lose them.  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.