How I want to become better

Being a part of a profitability group

There has never been a hobby that has ever gotten my attention. When I have spare time I like to visit all kinds of stores. If my wife is with me, she notices as I walk through a store looking around and says, “You can’t turn it off, can you?”.

No, I can’t. A store fascinates me. As a fourth generation retailer, and today a writer and speaker on the topic, I continually want to improve. Where possible at trade shows, I want to visit with other retailers to hear of what they are doing. As I share these observations I am frequently asked where I come up with these ideas.

My answer is that I simply hang with great retailers and capture their ideas and experiences. This concept may be contrary to some who think that as an owner, getting better will come from working harder and more hours. That is simply just not true.

As compared to working with a consultant, we have found that looking for the best retailers to talk with produces the best results. In the years that I was a part of the association board of directors, as we met in various cities, a full day was spent in that city before the board meeting just to get with another retailer and visit as many stores as we could.

Working in this manner has produced good results. The store becomes more profitable and the owner becomes more of a master of their own time. This past fall we visited with a sizable percentage of store owners that were recognized as Beverage Dynamic top 100 retailers. To get to visit with them we mailed a letter and a follow up email to ask for a few minutes.

We were very surprised with the number of dealers who were unaware or could not find either of the correspondences. Finding time to visit with us was going to be a task. Many did not return a follow up phone call.

This is not written to admonish each of these dealers. It is written to express concern for what appears to be a dealer who is living a chaotic life inside their store and perhaps in their personal life as well.

We recognize there are many other things that can, and should be more important. We wonder if some of these dealers would be able to know detect these opportunities if they came into their store, called, emailed or were contained in a letter.

As one who has retired from active ownership of a store, I can clearly state that the time in the store is an aspect of my life that I greatly miss. Writing this article during the Christmas season, as I walk through stores I miss the excitement of talking with staff and vendors. I miss the fun of building a display, stocking shelves and hearing about those great seasonal parties that our customers are having. Now I relive those experiences vicariously through those dealers I get to visit with.

Retailing should be a very fun and enjoyable experience as the owner and manager of a store. If you are not among those whose life and business operates that way, perhaps it is time that you should consider joining a group that discusses and works for the betterment of their business and themselves.

Beverage Dynamics has such a group; the Retail Mastermind Group. Not being able to stop and look could be much like being too sick to go to a doctor. It does not make sense, and you definitely will not get better.

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This article is copyrighted by Tom Shay and Profits Plus Solutions, who can be reached at: PO Box 128, Dardanelle, AR. 72834. Phone 727-823-7205. It may be printed for an individual to read, but not duplicated or distributed without expressed written consent of the copyright owner.