Who’s Economy?

I heard the “E Word” as a poor sales excuse today for the first time in a while, and I jumped all over it. The media continues to speak of the “economy” as if it were some sort of living creature effecting anyone and everyone and is beyond their control. I continue to maintain that “economy” is a state of mind, and that everyone has his or her own economy.
The word economy can be traced back to the Greek word oikonomos, “One who manages a household.” Note the word “One” in here. Each person must “manage” his or her own economy. Managing one’s economy does NOT mean NOT spending money. I often times see people “cut here” and “cut there” until they cut their own throats. 

Dead Sea in Israel
The reason the Dead Sea is dead is because there is no outlet. A live body of water has both an inlet and an outlet for water to flow. So must a business. I think of it as “Dollars Incoming” and “Dollars Outgoing.” You bring about what you think about, so think more about your dollars incoming than you do your dollars outgoing and your business will thrive. To quote my father, “Volume will make up for a multitude of sins.” Being a bit “sinful” with money, I have always put strong emphasis on the incoming side of my business, and it has worked. My economy is just fine. I hope that yours is too.

NOTE: The comments to this article were posted a while back on a similar article. I left them here because they are still valid. I hope you agree. Feel free to enter your own comment if not.

The sign on your door or window can oftentimes be your 1st (and lasting) impression. Since you never get a second chance to make a 1st impression, be sure that the one you are making is what you want it to be.

Help Wanted
If you choose to advertise for employees on your store door or window, be sure that the sign is professional, and implies that your need for help is because of growth, not your inability to keep employees.

Sales
People are not likely to believe that you are really offering an 80% discount. Signs offering huge discounts are more likely to communicate “huge markups” than they are “huge bargains.” Generally speaking, discounts should be used to close sales in the store, not to bring people in the door.

Be Back
When you have to close your store for some reason, accept the fact that you are going to miss some business while you are gone. Most shoppers will move on, and not return. The most expensive salesperson is the missing salesperson. If you ARE working alone, and MUST leave, be sure that your sign tells the precise time that you will return. A sign that say’s, “Be right back” or “Will return in 10 minutes” makes one wonder; “Starting when?”

Customer is King
You can get by without a lot of things in business, but your customer is not one of them. Never take customers for granted. Be sure that your signage shows appreciation and respect for the most important person in your store: the customer!

Clever???
Not! Too many times an attempt to be clever actually leaves the customer wondering just what you mean, if you made a mistake, or were just not thinking. Be smart because your customers are.

Another Record Crowd
I conducted my 1st Monthly Success Rally at Whalers Village in May of 1991. We had about 25 people in attendance. Today, 19 1/2 years later, we set yet another attendance record; 195 people.

The Line-Up
People line up early at Leilanis on the Beach to get their refreshments and favorite front or back row seats.

SRO
Today we had standing room only. My topics at these rallies vary from teaching Pro-Active, No-Pressure Selling to “Life Lessons” that can be used no matter what a person’s job is today or will be tomorrow.
Today’s subjects were “Handling Customer Discount Requests, Being Positive, Goal Setting, and Discipline.”
I am grateful to the management staff at Whaler’s Village, Leilani’s and General Growth Properties for extending this long time, ongoing opportunity for me to make a difference.

www.MasaeArtBox.com 
When Masae wanted a new car to deliver art and books, she needed a truck or SUV to qualify for a commercial parking permit. All of them were too big for her until she saw the Chevy HHR. It’s basically a small panel truck with windows that drives like a car. She bought it from Cutter Chevrolet, and to “brand” it, she took it to David at Kapiolani Signs and had her signature Pink Rose painting made into decals to put onto the windows on both sides of the car along with her website address below them. Almost immediately she received hits to the website along with a nice e-mail complimenting her on the art.
What are you doing to “brand” your business?

Long History
I was asked recently about my “service attitude” and where I got it. I dug up blog post from a couple of years ago to answer the question. As I read it I decided to re-post it for my new followers to read. I hope you enjoy it along with the comments. 
My father, pictured above (on the left) with his early partner, ingrained it in me. He owned several small meat markets inside local grocery stores, and I grew up raking the sawdust and scraping the butcher blocks. I don’t credit that experience with my vegetarianism, but I did learn a lot about hard work and customer service.
Dad, Marty as he was known, loved chatting with housewives about the meal they were going to prepare that evening. I never saw him cook, but you wouldn’t know that from the way he described menu possibilities which led to large purchases and happy customers. They loved his suggestions and credited him with the successful dinner they had the night before.
Those were simpler times; it was in the late 40’s and early 50’s, before fast food and self service. I remember when Market Basket opened a huge new modern store with the first self serve meat counter featuring packaged meats. Dad was recruited to run the meat department. He sold our house in Santa Monica and we moved to Lynwood, California into our fancy new home. Dad was very excited about this great opportunity, but he wasn’t there long before he began to hate the job. He complained about being stuck behind a glass wall packaging meat and being out of contact with the customers. Within a year he quit the job and bought a small meat counter in a local market where he could do what he loved; service customers.
That’s it; those are my roots.
NOTE: Dad never believed that I had really become a vegetarian in the 60’s, but that’s another story.

Everybody Loses
When salespeople argue over a sale there are no winners. There are too many available customers to spend time talking or fighting over who made the sale and who didn’t. Disagreements destroy teamwork and create a bad atmosphere for everyone. It must all be about the customer.

Karma is Real
I just received this copy of a note sent to a team of salespeople in a company with four stores, two of which are right across the street from each other. I asked the manager to send it to all salespeople in all four stores. As I re-read it, I decided to send it to everyone I could, thus this post. It’s a bit lengthy, and I chose not to edit it down, but if you are in sales, especially commission sales and have co-workers, it is well worth your time to read it.

——————————–  
Hi All,
I just wanted to share this with you all.
Last night Chad was helping a man and his family with some Titanium rings. We did not have his size, so we called over to the IMP store to see if they had it, and they did.

The family said they wanted to see what the IMP (International Marketplace) looked like, so Chad walked them over, and the man tried on the rings there. After a few minutes the man became engaged in talking with Daniel and Amanda, so Chad excused himself and came back to our store.

I received a phone call from Daniel saying that the man is buying the ring and he does not know what he should do regarding the sale. I told him I would have Chad call him right back.

When Chad returned, I told him that Daniel called and wanted to know how to ring up the sale, as it was clearly Chad’s customer. Chad called him and said, “Daniel, you take the sale!” 

OMG—I was blown away! Was Ron Martin standing there egging this young man on?

The customer asked Daniel if we work on commission. He said we did and the man, Steve, said he wants Chad to get the credit for this sale. So Chad walked back to the IMP store and escorted Steve and the ring back to our store to ring up the sale.

Incidentally, Steve and his family were waiting to be called for dinner at DUKE’S, so going back and forth did not bother him.

While Chad was ringing up the sale, Steve told us that we have the best people working here. Not only was Chad great, but so were Daniel and Amanda at the other store. Steve said that he has his own business and knows what it’s like to find good people!!!

Next came the befriending part:

Chad asked Steve what he does. It turned out that Steve is the visual effects coordinator for CSI MIAMI and the other CSI show. The bullet flying through the air in slow motion is part of what he does. He runs his own business doing the special effects.

An hour later Chad was helping another couple with Titanium rings, and again we didn’t have the sizes needed. Chad called the IMP store, and they had them. He told the couple this, and they decided they will go over there, as they too are waiting for their call from DUKE’S.

I asked Chad why he didn’t just go over to get the rings and he said, “They wanted to see what our other store had, and besides it’s Karma.” I knew it was, because of Daniel and Amanda’s actions when Chad was open to releasing this customer.

Five minutes later the couple returned with their friend. They too began looking at the rings. I offered to run over to the IMP store to get the needed sizes. When I got there I found that the sizes were incorrect, so I brought over 2 sizes that were the closest to what the man needed.

End of story; the couple bought 2 rings. Talk about KARMA! Well, I think it was the professionalism Chad displayed, and his willingness to think about the customer first, and not be that pushy salesperson we hear about in Ron’s talks.

I was sooooo PROUD of Chad! It’s fun to see the lessons we learn being acted out in real life. Good going Chad!

Mahalo,
Patty

Pretty Geeky
I once claimed that I would never use a computer personally. I realized how much that goal has  changed this morning when I was “caught” doing three different “computer things” at once; checking e-mail on my desk top, tweeting on my iPhone4 and watching Steve Jobs give a press  conference on my MacBook Air.

“We Have Come a Long Way Baby”
While it was my intention to never “personally” use a computer, I have owned them since the 60’s. We had a computer room that looked much like the photo above. My iPhone4 does more in the palm of my hand than all of those computers (and a few employees) could.
What a World! What’s Next?

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS
My specialties are Sales and Motivation, and I have been at it for more than 40 years. I read a quote long ago that stuck with me. It was, “You learn the most after you think you know it all.” I don’t recall who said that, but the concept makes a lot of sense. As someone who makes a living giving selling advice to retailers, I recently discovered that I had a lot to learn about some other important aspects of retailing. It happened when I read The Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Business, and it didn’t take long. Before finishing the first few chapters I started handing out copies to my clients.

Bob Phibbs
Bob got my attention right at the start by making the point that revenue isn’t necessarily profit. As mundane as that sounds, I realized that many of my own clients are making the mistake of marking down merchandise to get rid of it, or having needless, non-profitable sales that attract the wrong customers.
Then came lessons on the store layout, traffic patterns and case merchandising. These are also areas of retail where I claim no expertise. I now find myself looking at these things differently. Discovering how and where to put what you prefer to sell is vital.
I do possess deep experience when it comes to recruiting and interviewing salespeople, but here again I got my eyes opened up to several new (to me) approaches and philosophies to use. For example, I hate “Help Wanted” signs in store windows, but Bob shows a way to word and use them effectively, and points out who the target audience is.
“Aha Moments” continued for me throughout the book and I feel certain they will for you as well. So rather than try to learn from my sketchy review here, get down to your favorite bookstore or Amazon and get a few copies. I am certain you will want to share what you read.

I do not remember where I read that, but I surely do remember the meaning, as well as the impact that it had on me. I sometimes see an experienced salesperson land a new job with a company where a well established, proven selling system is in place, like Pro-Active, No-Pressure Selling. At the interview these “experienced” salespeople claim that they understand the “new” system and appear eager to learn and use it. Then, rather than do as promised, many of them will fall back on the way they originally learned to sell.
Learning is not an event; it is a process that never ends. Techniques and technology are always evolving. Everyone should always be open to newer and better ways to sell, or do anything for that matter.

Who Needs Traffic Anyway?
I often times hear a salesperson use “lack of traffic” as an excuse for not selling today. When I hear the “S Word” (Slow) I say, “Then speed it up.” Retailers and salespeople are always looking for new customers, and while that’s good to do, it’s no excuse for not selling more to the past ones. A past (satisfied) customer is seven times more likely to buy something from you than the new one is anyway. And, an unsatisfied customer is even more important to reach out to.

Ouch!
A broken bone once healed is stronger than it was originally. Do you have any “broken bones” among your customer base?
I have one client that consistently targets existing customers with special offers available only as a result of a special e-mail just to them. It works; big time. He is succeeding in an industry where I hear a lot of whining these days about the economy. It pays to reward ongoing customer loyalty. Make loyal, existing customers your “bread and butter” and new ones the “frosting on the cake.” You just may have an existing customer that has been meaning to come see you, but in this hectic world we all live in, has just been proscratinating. Your timely invitation can make the difference.

Somethig for Free
What are you doing to capture the data needed to build your a data base? The easiest way is to have some sort of drawing with an attractive, desireable prize or more every month. Make the entry form easy to complete. I suggest name and e-mail address only. Asking for too much information will keep people from entering. I like posting the winner’s names on your web site, and leaving them on there until the prize is claimed. Can you see how that will drive traffic into your web site?
Once you have the data on file you can launch all sorts of cool offers aimed directly (and only) at your best customers. You can e-mail easy to print coupons to bring into the store to claim bargains. This is much more effective than huge sales signs that people don’t believe anyway. The more special you make your ongoing customers; the more often you will see them in your store.