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Article of the Month |
The Value of a Good Employee
by Tom Shay
For September 2007, our monthly article outlines the topic that led me away from front line retailing into what I now do with you. This article shares ideas about building great employees. Unless you are going to go exclusively after the price customer and completely ignore the rest of them, you should be making a commitment to develop the best employees possible.
You can either hope they walk in, try to hire them away from the competition for more money, or you can develop them yourself. I think the third idea makes the most sense. Click on Article of the Month to view and read this article. |
Book of the Month |
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Coaching for improved work performance
by Ferdinand F. Fournies
Fournies wrote one of the books I had suggested several years ago, Why People Don't Do What They're Supposed To Do and What To Do About It. I think you will enjoy and get a lot from this one.
Have you seen how we have rearranged the book referral list? In addition to alphabetical, books are now listed according to topic. Thanks to the gentleman at a recent trade show for this suggestion.
We have more books to suggest for your reading. Click on Book Referral to visit this page on our site.
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Contact Us |
Profits Plus
P.O. Box 128
Dardanelle, AR
72834 USA
(727) 823-7205 Voice
(727) 898-3179 Fax
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Save the Pitch
Baseball season is winding down to the final 30 days of the regular season. For the teams that are expecting to be in the playoffs, you are likely to hear the manager talk about saving certain pitchers for the playoffs. For us however, I am going to follow the advise of an e-retailer reader who is suggesting that as salespeople, we learn to save the pitch.
Actually, her suggestion is that we abandon the pitch all together. What if you made a point to practice giving a 'sales presentation' instead? Agreeing with the reader, I envision a higher degree of professionalism being demonstrated by each of us.
This is meant to be more than a play on words. When you attend one of the presentations I give, we have created for you a set of presentation notes. They are not handouts; they are notations about the presentation.
Your presentation, and my presentation notes; both are designed to add a higher degree of professionalism to what we do. Let's save the pitch for the baseball playoffs.
| Internet Tip of The Month |
Break Even Analysis
How much does it take for you to break even in your business? Often, the calculation is made by only totaling the expenses that are 'fixed'; those expenses that you cannot change from month to month. Others include certain variable expenses. Actually, there is a lot more to determining the how much you have to sell before you can begin to make any money.
This FREE calculator on our website, like the sales presentation idea, was suggested by a reader. Use the numbers from your business to help you determine what it takes to make money in your business.
Break Even Analysis Calculator
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The Power Promoting Idea of the Month |
Say 'cheese'!
Taking a trip? You are likely to be taking a camera with you. Myself, I travel with one all the time so that I can capture new photos for the presentations I share with you.
The power promoting idea of the month is to invite your customers to utilize their cameras. As they travel, have back yard cookouts, attend school events, and participate in other activities, invite them to take pictures to submit for your monthly photo contest. The one requirement is that the picture must include at least one person, and a product that you sell.
Post all of the photos submitted for the contest in your shop or store. As other customers see the submitted photos, you will be inviting more to participate. And as we found with the business that submitted this idea, with more photos and more unique photos, the number of participants and engaging photos will increase.
It is a great way to get people to think about your business, what you sell, and to visit more often.
It is the end of summer, and the busy season of fall tradeshows and conferences is in full swing. Want to see a Tom Shay presentation when Tom is in your area? Give us a call or send a note; we will be glad to tell you what you need to do to gain admission at one of these events. Here is Tom's current schedule for the next two months:
September 4-6 St. Louis, MO
September 8 Yakima, WA
September 12 Sacramento, CA
September 13 Seattle, WA
September 16
Indianapolis, IN
September 18 Springfield, MA
September 19 Chicago, IL
September 20 Philadelphia, PA
September 22 Orlando, FL
September 28 Las Vegas, NV
September 29 Newark, NJ
October 2 Salt Lake City, UT
October 3 Denver, CO
October 4-8 Mexico City
October 15 Vancouver, BC
October 17 Portland, OR
October 18-19 Las Vegas, NV
October 20 Los Angeles, CA
October 29 Mason, OH
October 31 Las Vegas, NV
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