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October 2023 Diamond Jim Mills shares insight to what makes a successful small business We have been fortunate to have Diamond Jim Mills in our audience several times. Earlier this year he wrote and shared his observations from many years of being in business and his key ingredients to being a successful business owner. We shared the first four points in August; another four points in September; and today the remainder of the list. There is a lot of wisdom in what he shared. A small business owner would do well to make a list of all twelve points and keep them in a place where you are constantly seeing them as a reminder of what you should focus on. The final four are: 1 Always be fair and truthful to your staff. Always treat each person with dignity and respect. Remember the words, "please" and "thank you". Your staff is your most important asset! 2 Give every customer a "WOW EXPERIENCE" every day. It is far easier to retain your loyal customers than to continually look for new ones to replace the ones you lose due to apathy or indifference. Studies have shown that 68% of customers leave a business relationship because of a perceived attitude of indifference on the part of the company. Your loyal customers will send more customers to you, and faster, than you or your staff can locate new ones. 3 Remember the importance of giving back to staff, customers, community! 4 Understand the importance of being friendly, open, honest, and fair to achieve success...and you WILL BE a success. Success comes in many ways. Remain humble. Money is important but it is only one of the ways that success is measured. We offer our sincere thanks to Diamond Jim Mills for his time, effort, and sharing. Article of the Month - At some point, if not many occasions, every small business owner has to think about when they are going to get out of the business. There are many ways to do so; ranging from transitioning to the next generation in your family to selling to an employee or outsider; or perhaps, to simply shut down the business. We share some thoughts that may be of value to you the next time you think about your exit plan. Who is visiting Small Business Conversations this month? Credit card processing; how much are you paying in swipe and discount fees? Can you add a credit card acceptance fee as you see in many places? Can you add a debit card acceptance fee? How many different forms of payment do you accept? We see fast food places accepting 13 different forms of payment. Due in part to technology advances and the after affects of the pandemic, these are just some of the changes we see. Stu Keller visits as we ask him to share his insight in sorting this out. Book of the month - Upstream: The Quest to Stop Problems Before They Happen by Dan Heath
We love books with non-traditional thinking. It is what gets us going to be a unique business. We would hope that every small business would want to be attractive to existing and potential customers because the business is unique; that as compared to attracting customers based on a lower price for your service or product. Internet Tool for Your Business The last time we counted, there were over 430 articles on the Profits Plus website. Each has ideas and suggestions for helping you with your small business. We have a feature that is a part of every article that allows you to send that article to someone to read. Over the years we have noticed employers sending articles to employees (and vice versa), friends sending articles to fellow business owners, and several other combinations of individuals who have enjoyed an article wanting to share with another individual. It is a simple process. Put in your name and email; put in the recipient's name and email. Tap the "send page" button and the article is on the way. 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 scene, 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 A birthday; everyone has one. While some choose to not celebrate their birthday, surely a small bit of recognition is appreciated. Every job application we have seen asks for a birthdate. It should be a simple effort to simply keep track of everyone's birthday. And depending on the level of acceptance, the recognition could range from a birthday card to a cake to be shared with fellow workers or a meal for two for the employee. And speaking of birthday recognition. In October, at Profits Plus we say, "Happy birthday" to Amanda and my Mom. 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.
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DECEMBER 2024
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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
Whose job is this, anyway? Have you heard that before? The December Small Business Article of the Month offers ideas from those who have found solutions.
Small Business
Past our announcement that the December newsletter starts our 26th year, we are discussing what is and what is not a problem.
Starting with, all these announced closings of retail operations is not a problem indicative of retail. It is an indicator of chain stores trying to correct the problems they previously made.
We came across a solution of tasks not getting done as well as tasks not done correctly. We created an owner's manual for our business. Details in the Article of the Month.
Atomic Habits by James Clear. Have you ever caught yourself saying that you had gotten out of the habit of doing something? Perhaps it is something you need to continue to do? This book can be applicable to personal and business life.
