Show me a family business that has passed down through generations and I can show you some fatherly wisdom that was shared and remembered. In fact, check out this article from Forbes on some of the biggest, oldest family businesses and the fatherly advice the current owners received that they still remember today.
My father shared a nugget with me that I recall every year on this date.
“There are always twenty four days in December prior to Christmas.”
Mom and Dad and I at the Toy House 60th Birthday Party in 2009
Throughout the year we are constantly measuring ourselves against last year’s numbers. Week to week, month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter. But in these final days, it gets hard to measure. Oh, you can measure Black Friday Weekend to Black Friday Weekend, but because Thanksgiving changes every year, those last few days don’t always line up so perfectly.
I remember trying to figure out projections based on last year and this year and how many Saturdays and when they would fall and my inventory levels and and and …
Dad stopped me in my tracks. It wasn’t time to project any more. It was time to sell. It wasn’t time to compare. It was time to make hay.
“There are always twenty four days in December prior to Christmas.”
You can take that statement to the bank. Your job is not look at the numbers in comparison to anything else. Your job is only to go out there and find gifts, solve problems, and make happy customers. After Christmas you can compare this 24-day period to last year’s. But for now, quit looking at the numbers (other than to track them as they happen) and start looking for the opportunities to make sales.
It is December 1st. You have twenty four days left. Make them count.
PS I’m a numbers guy, so I still tracked them like a hawk, but whenever I got anxious about those numbers, I would remember what Dad said, take a deep breath, and go hit the sales floor.
Long before there was ever Cyber Monday, there was Letdown Monday. You worked incredibly hard gearing up for Black Friday (and now Small Business Saturday). You planned events, did marketing, trained the staff, decorated the store, and had a nice busy weekend. Then Monday hits and you wonder where all the customers went.
You feel a little letdown. You feel a little worried that you didn’t get enough momentum to carry you through the season. You worry that Cyber Monday is stealing your dollars while you sit there feeling helpless. You start to wonder why you didn’t put more energy into building your own website, or why you didn’t plan a lot of deals for Cyber Monday to keep the customers in your store, or that you have too much inventory, or that you don’t have enough inventory.
In the immortal words of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Don’t Panic!
I know the feelings of this week. I lived it for twenty three years, and lived with it for another twenty seven. The slowdown from the busy weekend gives you too much time to think about what you might have done differently, what you haven’t done, and what you’re afraid might happen.
That’s a natural reaction, but not all that productive. I’m here to put it all into perspective.
First, let’s talk about the slowdown. It is a natural ebb of the season. Happens Every. Single. Year. The busiest days of the year are typically:
Saturday before Christmas
December 23rd
Second Saturday before Christmas
Black Friday/Small Business Saturday
First Saturday in December
This year the 23rd of December happens to be on a Saturday making it extra special. Also you get a bonus of having four Saturdays in December prior to Christmas. Still plenty of big days to get the sales you need. You just won’t get many this week because there are too many days before customers truly get into that Christmas mood. This year, with Thanksgiving extra early, you have a long season. Expect a little customer (and staff) burnout.
The slowest week of your season is this week.
This is not the week to panic. This is the week to prepare.
In a marathon race everyone sprints off the line. That’s Black Friday. Then they settle into their strategy. That’s this week and next. Finally, they go into their kick down the homestretch. That is your last two weeks. Now is strategy time. Now is preparation time.
Put a little extra time into training your staff. Work on role play, on greeting customers, on working with multiple customers at the same time.
Put a little extra time into decorating. Sure, you got it done for last weekend, but now is a good time to tweak it, upgrade it, spruce it up. Make it extra special because for the next few weeks customers will actually have the time to appreciate it more than they did in the frenzy of last weekend.
Put a little extra time into merchandising. Highlight the high-profit stuff you really want to move. Put the stuff they come in asking for by name at the back of the store so that your customers travel past everything else to get there.
Put a little extra time into Social Media. Start polls. Compare two items side by side. Share heartwarming stories. Tell the backgrounds of you, your store, your staff, your vendors, etc. Don’t make it about discounts or drawing traffic. Make it human and interesting,
Put a little extra time into you. Do something nice for yourself this week. Your staff can handle it. Take some time to go shopping (if you haven’t already). Take some time to catch a movie or go to a show or go outdoors. Those little things will keep you refreshed for those last two weeks that will be busy enough.
If you are worried about your inventory, keep this in mind. The last week before Christmas will be approximately ten percent of your entire yearly sales. If you don’t have enough inventory for that, then do some buying this week. Other than restocking a few hot items that will sell well after Christmas, too, trust your inventory levels and go have some fun.
PS It is too easy to second-guess everything based on last weekend. Unfortunately, that’s the worst barometer you have. The only time to properly analyze the season is after it is over. Right now your only job is to prepare this week to make those last two weeks the best ever.
I have a bad habit. I like to play games in my iPad right before going to bed. I know I’m not supposed to have screen time before bed, but it settles me down and helps me clear my mind. My favorite game to play is Free Cell. It is a form of solitaire and extremely addicting. I’m on level 408. It takes about ten wins to get to the next level, so you can get an idea how often I play.
I’m also kinda stingy. It’s already expensive enough that I use my iPad primarily for playing Free Cell and as my alarm clock. I refuse to pay to have ad-free game play while playing Free Cell. So between every game I wait for the ad to pop up and then close it as soon as I can. Usually it is just an ad for another game they think I would like. Every now and then I get some annoying video ads—reason #1 why I keep the volume off.
Last night I got something new. I got a local ad. It was for one of our candidates for Mayor. Nice shot of him smiling at the camera and talking about something. (I had the volume off so I don’t know what he said, but I’ve seen his campaign material and known him long enough to have an idea.)
Here’s the problem …
I got his ad between every game I played last night. Every. Single. Game. I played about three-and-a-half levels. Do the math.
Please vote!
Worse yet, I don’t live in the city. I don’t get to vote for or against him regardless of how many times his video played.
I will definitely ask him how much he spent on that ad. I want to know what they told him and sold him, because I doubt he got his actual money’s worth.
Therein lies the rub with online advertising. It is a numbers game, they tell you. It is a cheap way to reach a lot of people, they tell you. It reaches all the right people, they tell you. I’ve been pitched by online advertising salespeople many times before. I know the script.
Yet here was a guy running for Mayor on a tight budget in a small city. He got that pitch and because he is a politician, not a business person, he fell for it. And for his money, he got his ad sent to one guy thirty-five times who doesn’t live in the city, can’t vote for him, and didn’t even have the volume on to hear what he had to say.
Imagine how many more people like me also were bombarded by his ad. If I would have had the volume on, I might have liked his pitch the first three or four times I heard it, but by version #35, I might have switched sides for the seventh time. Then again, I don’t get to vote tomorrow for or against him.
They tell you online advertising is cheap because it is targeted directly at the people you want to reach. False. He didn’t want to reach me.
They tell you online advertising is cheap because you can reach tons of people for a fraction of the price. False. You can’t control how many times the same person sees your ad, versus new people seeing your ad. Heck, last spring CNBC reported that 20% or $16.4 billion dollars of online advertising is wasted due to fraud, reaching fake people (probably with fake news).
They tell you online advertising is where the millennials are. False. Go ask your millennial friends how many times they have purposefully clicked an online ad. You don’t have to ask, because you already know.
Proctor & Gamble just cut $140 million from their online advertising budget because they realized how ineffective it was.
I’m telling you this now, because in the next few weeks you’re going to panic, just like every retailer does this time of year. You’re going to be afraid that you haven’t done enough to advertise your business. You’re going to get pitched by someone selling online advertising as cheap, targeted, and effective. You’ll be intrigued, partly because of your panic, partly because it is the shiny, new bauble in the advertising world. Then you’re going to spend like a drunk in Vegas on a gamble where the odds are not in your favor.
Think of this blog as your black coffee and aspirin to the rescue.
PS Want to reach a bunch of targeted people online incredibly cheaply and effectively? Take pictures or quick videos of your products and say something completely memorable and shareworthy about the products. Post those daily (at the least) on all your social media platforms and share them on your own personal pages. You won’t reach everyone, but the more shareworthy you make it, the more people will share it with their friends, which is exactly what you want to happen. Best of all, it is free! (It is all about “shares” not “likes” so you have to say things people want to pass on.)
PPS Enjoy it while you can, however. Facebook is experimenting with a separate feed for friends and for business pages, which will bury your posts completely unless you pay FB. I’m following this and will report back when I know more.
You bought your first car because you fell in love with it. You bought your first house because you fell in love with it. You married your spouse because you loved that person. Every major purchase in your life was ultimately decided by your heart. Facts and data play a role, but the heart opens the wallet.
So why do we fill our advertising with tons of facts and data?
Probably because you were told the best way to make the sale is to hammer home all the features and benefits. Yeah, I read that book, too. Yet features and benefits are for people in an analyzing mode. As long as they stay in analyzing mode, they won’t ever make the purchase. You want them in a buying mode. You have to speak to the heart to get them beyond analysis.
Maya Angelou said it best, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Your job as a salesperson is to get people to feel good about the product. Your job as an advertiser is to get people to feel good about a company. Your job as a small business person is to make people feel good. Period. Break it down like that and it simplifies your job.
I ran this ad as my sole radio ad for the 2005 Christmas season …
“He left Detroit 9am Christmas Eve. Some store somewhere had to have the one item his sweet little six-year-old wanted. Six cities, seven stores later he stood travel-weary across the counter from me. ‘I suppose you don’t have any Simon games either.’ As I handed over the last of my Simon games, he smiled and said, ‘God bless you!’ Believe me, He already has. Merry Christmas from the Toy House in downtown Jackson. We’re here to make you smile.”
It was a feel-good ad. It didn’t talk about our many services. It didn’t talk about our huge selection (heck, the Simon game wasn’t even on the market that season.) It didn’t give our extended holiday hours or our address, phone or website. It didn’t even mention the store until the very end.
But it worked.
We ran that ad in 2005 and had the busiest Christmas season ever! We ran it again in 2007 and surpassed 2005 by a wide margin.
Why did that ad work so well? It spoke to the heart. It made you feel good. It hit on four of the six principles in my new book Most Ads Suck (But Yours Won’t).
Don’t look or sound like any other ad
Tell a Story
Speak to the Heart
Speak to Your Tribe
You don’t hear radio ads like that. The opening line of most ads turns you off. The opening line here gets your interest. The story draws you in. The ending makes you feel good. The ad was also about Nostalgia, one of my Core Values. It spoke directly to the people who share my values-people who also are nostalgic. Did people remember the ad? Oh yes! Not the details, just the feelings. Just like Maya Angelou said they would.
PS You can pre-order the book MOST ADS SUCK by clicking the link. You can even get me to write a couple ads for your business (check out the perks for supporting the campaign.) Just ask yourself if your “best Christmas season ever” is worth the investment.
PPS That ad is based on a true story that happened to me back in 1980. It was one hour from closing time when this man approached my counter displaying all the hand-held electronic games. Only one minute earlier my mom had laid a Simon game at my feet from a canceled layaway and said, “See if you can sell this before we close.” Talk about timing! Besides saying, “God bless you!” over and over and over, this large, travel-weary gentleman hugged me right across the counter. Tears were flowing for both of us as he shared his story. I’ll never forget that man or that story (a story that hasn’t been embellished once in the last 37 years because it doesn’t need it.) You have a similar story that, once you tell it, that story will get people to fall in love with you all over again.
In these final days, the most common phrase spoken by retail employees everywhere is…
“No, we don’t have that.” Or its cousin, “No, we’re out of stock.”
Make sure in tomorrow morning’s huddle that you remind you staff that there is a better response…
“Let me show you what I do have.”
Learn to say that instead.
Before you say no, lead the customer over to an alternative. Put the alternative in his hand. He doesn’t want to drive all over in these last couple days for something that might be hard to find. More often than not he will accept the alternative.
Five Shopping Days left! Internet no longer a viable option. They have to come see you. Here are some things to remember to make this weekend HUGE!
Prep the Store
Get everything out of the warehouse and on the floor, even if you’re making creative piles in the middle of an aisle or off to the side of another display.
Load up on your giftwrap/bags/tape, etc. You don’t have time to go to the backroom and get more supplies.
Straighten the shelves and pull everything forward to the front edge of the display. It makes the shelves look more full and inviting.
Prep the Staff
Schedule breaks for them so that they are fresh when they are on the store.
Get food so they don’t have to leave to eat.
Healthy food so that they don’t have a bunch of sugar highs/lows.
Sell Up
Show the best first.
Limit the options.
Complete the sale by showing any and all accessories and add-ons that could possibly needed.
Ask this very important question…“Who else is on your list?” (nod to Bob Phibbs)
Have Fun
This is why we are in retail. This is our moment to shine. Be in this moment. Enjoy this moment. Have some fun in this moment. That is what retail is all about.
PS Other cool things you can do for your staff… Give them gifts – lottery tickets, gift cards to restaurants, gas cards, etc. Give them massages – hire a masseuse for the day to chair massages in the backroom. Feed them – order in pizza, or cater a healthy lunch/dinner. Put on Christmas Movies in the backroom to keep them in the mood.
We’ve all heard it. You can’t be a retailer with 4th quarter traffic without hearing that a few times. The problem is that we often let that statement ruin our own Christmas.
Why do we give it so much weight?
Why do we let one customer ruin our day, ruin our holiday, ruin our year? Chances are we weren’t even the responsible party.
Most often that statement is said when the customer had an unreal expectation of what you could provide. Or maybe your vendor let you down. Or maybe the customer was just bat-sh#t crazy. Or maybe you did make a mistake, but because your steps to rectify the mistake weren’t perfect, you ruined their Christmas.
Why let that get you down?
Unless you’re a real f#@k-up, you probably only hear this once every few years. And you’re a stand-up person, so you made it right to the best of your powers. Yet you can still remember the day that mom screamed at you in front of six other customers. The hairs on the back of your neck go up every time you see a brunette in a fur coat just like hers. It colors your whole perception of the season.
Why don’t we instead focus on the people for whom we made their Christmas?
Go count how many transactions you had between Thanksgiving and Christmas last year. Subtract from that all the ruinous statements. Now multiply the remaining number times ten. That’s how many Christmases you made last year.(Remember that people are in your shop not just for one person, plus, if you made their Christmas, you made the Christmas of those around them.)
Revel in those Christmases you made. Celebrate the Thank You’s. Exalt the I Love You Guys. Dance with the You Made My Day’s.
There are a lot more of those. Give them the weight they deserve. Pat yourself and your staff on the back. You all deserve that.
PS This goes doubly for the staff. They are going to make mistakes. You really can ruin your staff’s Christmas if you don’t handle those mistakes properly. I remind all my staff that I expect them to make mistakes, just not the same one twice, so when they make a mistake, I say to them with a smile, “Good, you got that mistake out of the way. What are we going to learn from it?”
Starting today, the guys are hitting the stores. We are last-second shoppers by nature. Ladies shop fifty two weeks a year. The men? Ten days tops. Although I won’t speak for all guys, here are three things you should do to maximize their transactions.
Limit their choices. Guys don’t want to make too many decisions. Bog them down with lots of options and choices from the get-go and you might not get them to go to the checkout. Show them the best in the category. If they balk at that option, find out why and show them one other option. Show them one option at a time until they buy. But always start with the best.
Make them feel smart. Don’t question their judgment. Don’t use big words or insider terminology. Explain things in a simple, but not condescending way. Ask only the necessary questions. Let them do as much of the talking as possible. Reinforce their statements and beliefs. You will win their trust and their wallets.
Offer them time-saving services. Do you giftwrap? Assemble? Deliver? Guys are willing to pay extra for time-saving services and conveniences. Tell them all that you can do for them. They won’t ask, but they will say yes when you offer. Guys are the reason the “convenience store” concept even exists. Anything to save a few steps, a few minutes, a few hassles.
Guys want their shopping trips to be smart, fast, and hassle-free. The best way to maximize these final days of the season is to be ready for the guys. They should start arriving this afternoon.
Christmas is just over two weeks away. Your inventory is running down. You know about the holes on the shelves that you have secretly covered up by spreading things out. You know what you’re out of stock and won’t be able to get back in before Christmas. You’re worried you won’t have enough inventory to make the sales you need that final week of the season. You grab your line lists to see who will ship the fastest and what deal they are offering this week. You crunch the numbers and start writing the orders. You get into a frenzy, one order after the other, loading up on anything that will ship right away so that shelves don’t look bare. You start to sweat. Panic grips you. One more order…
Stop!
Step away from the computer!
Don’t send those faxes or emails!
Take a deep breath and relax. I know that scenario above. Lived through it a few times. A lot of retailers make this same mistake this time every year. We panic. Did we buy enough? We think no and start writing orders for a lot of things that probably aren’t going to sell and we get stuck with a bunch of inventory in January and not a lot of cash.
Before you place one more order this week, ask yourself these three questions:
Will this product sell in January? Chances are really good that most of what you order this week will end up being shelf-fillers – products that make your store look full, but don’t completely sell through. Even the hot items rarely sell out that last order. But if it is truly hot, it will sell next month. If you know the product will sell after the holidays, proceed. If it is only a holiday-time item, count your blessings that you didn’t have any carry-over and move on.
Will this purchase put me over my budget? You do have a budget, right? You do have a projected sales number in mind along with an ending inventory number you hope to hit? You do know how much is currently on order and how much you still need to buy? Without a plan, over-buying is almost imperative. Plan your purchases around your Ending Inventory plus Expected Sales minus your Current Inventory.
Do I (will I) have the cash to afford this order? If you have been paying attention to your cash flow and, then you know whether you can afford this order. If the cash flow says you can afford it and the other questions are also answered yes, then go for it. But even if your budget says you need to buy more, but the cash flow does not, go with the cash flow. Better to have cash in January than inventory.
If any of those questions are even a shaky yes, talk yourself down off the ledge, push the pencil away, and go out on the floor and sell something.
Jeff Foxworthy cracks a wonderful joke about a financial planner who advises that you take half your earnings and shove them under a mattress and the other half down to the track and bet it on the dog “who does his business just before the start of the race.”
You laugh because you know there is some truth in that last statement. The dog who does his business is going to be better suited to run a fast race.
Your race is about to start. Have you done your business?
Have you looked around the store to see what is old and out-of-date, broken and need of fixing? Get it fixed now.
Have you identified the must-have items for your store? Order more of them now.
Have you crunched your numbers to see how much you need to buy between now and Thanksgiving? Get out the calculator and a pencil today and do a little math.
Have you sat down with each staff member to show them what it will take for them to get to the next level? Set aside some time in your calendar starting Monday.
Have you updated your website? Have you planned out your events? Have you ordered giftwrap and bows and bags? Have you crafted your message? Have you plotted out your staffing needs?
The race will start whether you are ready or not.
Your chance of winning goes up when you do your business before the race.
PS September is a great time for doing your business. The kids are back in school. There is a collective sigh in September between the Back-to-School season and the Holiday Rush. Make a list of everything you do this September. Write it all down. When you can look at what you did this month, you’ll quickly see whether what you are doing is leading you to a better November/December or not. Plus, you’ll have a good reminder for what to do next year.
I know the feelings of this week. I lived it for twenty three years, and lived with it for another twenty seven. The slowdown from the busy weekend gives you too much time to think about what you might have done differently, what you haven’t done, and what you’re afraid might happen.
So why do we fill our advertising with tons of facts and data?