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Would You Attend This Workshop?

The Jackson Retail Success Academy is now signing up retailers for our 2011 class that starts in January. This 8-week program has been a huge help for new retailers to get the foundation they need to be successful.

Some have asked if we could run this academy in their community so I put together a 2-Day Workshop format.

Would you sign up for this workshop if it was offered in your town?

Retail Success Academy 2-Day Format

Day 1:
8:00am Meet & Greet – goal setting, expectations
8:30am Understanding Your Brand – definition of branding, character diamond workshop

9:30am (break)

10:00am Character Diamonds Revealed
10:45am Traditional Advertising – Creating an ad budget, How Ads Work, Advertising ROI, Ads with Impact

12:00pm (lunch)

1:00pm Marketing on a Shoestring Budget – Word of Mouth, Social Media, Cause Marketing, Networking, Public Relations

2:30pm (break)

3:00pm Understanding Your Financials – Balance Sheets, Income Statements, Ratios & other important numbers
4:00pm Cash Flow Sheet

5:00pm (break for evening)

6:00pm Dinner/Drinks someplace fun in your town

Day 2:
8:00am Resources Breakfast – meet the local Chamber, DDA, Buy Local groups
8:45am Inventory Management – GMROI, Pricing for Profit, Turn Ratios, Open-to-Buy, Cash Flow

10:45am (break)

11:00am Customer Service – The Basics, The Best Practices, The Wow! Service

12:00pm (lunch)

1:00pm Hiring & Training – Identifying the Perfect Employee, interview questions that work, developing a training program

2:15pm (break)

2:30pm Staff Meetings/Training Sessions – hands-on workshop to learn how to plan and run successful meetings & training sessions
4:15pm Final Q&A
4:45pm Evaluations

5:00pm Go be successful!!

Tell me whether you think it would be worth two days to you to attend a business-altering event like this and how much you would expect to pay. (You’ll be surprised when I reveal what it would actually cost.)

-Phil

PS All those links take you to free eBooks I’ve already written on those topics. The eBooks are extremely helpful but not nearly as much fun and motivating as the live presentation.

Don’t Alienate Your Fans

At the Michigan Downtown Conference two speakers talked about sign ordinances. The first was Sheila Bashiri, City Planner from the city of Birmingham, MI, a well-to-do suburb of Detroit nestled in amongst the other wealthy suburbs.

Because Of or In Spite Of?
Birmingham has the most strict sign ordinance in Michigan, so strict that some of the slides Sheila showed us of attractive signage wouldn’t even be allowed in her city. Yet many retailers want to be part of that bustling downtown. And Sheila claimed that her sign ordinance was a main reason for their success.

I guess the dense population of millionaires is only a secondary cause of the businesses thriving there.

The next speaker, Robert Gibbs, mentioned how much he liked the Birmingham sign ordinance and how all communities should adopt it for their business districts. In a private conversation afterwards, he went so far as to tell me that all existing businesses in those districts should be given 5 years to change their signs or move out.

Does he really believe Frankenmuth should tell Bronner’s and their two million visitors a year to take down the billboards or get the f*** out? Or that Ann Arbor should give Zingerman’s a remove the ugly trailer and all that neon outside the Roadhouse or else ultimatum? Hugely successful, yet eccentric retailers are what give our cities their character.

Businesses do not thrive because of sign ordinances. They thrive in spite of them because the city has the population base to support them and the stores are taking care of that population. Period. End of story. Sure, a well-crafted sign ordinance can give a city a uniform characteristic and look, but that does not draw traffic or grow business. The stores draw the traffic because of who they are and what they do. And signs are what help you find those stores.

It is no wonder that most downtowns are struggling. There is a huge disconnect between the city leaders/planners and the businesses that pay their taxes. Both of these speakers advocated not having businesses in the discussion for things like sign ordinances. Both believed that only city leaders should make decisions on what they want their business district to be.

A Business Lesson
That would be the same as you not listening to your customers. You wouldn’t do that would you? Of course not! You will value some customers’ opinions more than others. But if you aren’t listening to your best customers, they won’t be your best customers for long.

Don’t make the mistake others are making. Listen to your best customers. Include them in your plans. Not only will you make better plans because of it, you’ll empower those same customers to become evangelists for your business. By giving them a say in the matter, they will be your strongest advocates, and give you incredible word-of-mouth exposure.

Not everyone has an unlimited supply of millionaires. Take care of those who are taking care of you. That’s a lesson for retailers and for cities.

-Phil

Your Actions Tell Us Who You Are

A friend and colleague of mine had an experience using Groupon, a company that sells discounted coupons online to your store, that went horribly wrong. Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor, did a Case Study on his blog. (Go ahead and read it… I’ll wait)

In a nutshell, Kim made an incredible offer that sold in far greater quantities than anyone expected and will end up costing her tons more money than she will recoup in new business.

It is a cautionary tale about discounting that Bob Phibbs so eloquently points out. There are so many lessons that could be learned from this, but I want to bring up something that stuck out like a sore thumb, especially in light of all the comments made by Groupon supporters (plants?) putting all of the blame on Kim.

Yes, Kim made mistakes, but the company did nothing to help her.

Two Mistakes
Kim’s first mistake was to make such a big offer with so little restrictions. But the people at Groupon allowed it to happen. They had the power to say, “Hey Kim, you might want to re-think this.” But they didn’t. They knew they would sell a lot of coupons and make a lot of money with the offer Kim was making.

The second problem happened when the coupon sales took off. Kim noticed the problem, asked Groupon to halt sales and they refused. They told her it was her mistake and she had to live with the consequences. Of course they didn’t want to halt sales. They were making a mint.

Your Actions Give You Away
Look at the signals Groupon sent through their actions to Kim, and subsequently everyone who knows Kim.

First signal… By not helping Kim write up a proper offer, they said that the almighty dollar was far more important to them than the success of the client.

Second signal… By not halting the process in the middle when it was known by all parties that something was wrong, they said that the profit from this one transaction was worth more than any repeat business could generate. They certainly weren’t going to get repeat business from Kim after treating her that way.

More importantly, you can pretty much infer from this encounter that they already know their model is not good for their clients and don’t expect repeat business, so they are willing to do whatever possible to maximize their own return on what they believe is their one and only shot with you.

Bad News Travels Fast
Between Bob’s blog and Kim’s telling everyone she knows about this experience, Groupon is getting a lot of negative publicity and people are seeing from their actions what Groupon truly believes. Their actions speak loudly of their credibility (or lack thereof).

Do you ever have customers who don’t shop with you “the right way”? Do you ever have customers that make mistakes? Do you ever have customers that want to make changes half way through? Do you help them get it right or do you let them fail just so that you can keep the sale?

How you treat your customers when things go wrong speaks loudly to them and their friends of who you are and what you believe. Groupon showed it’s true colors. What are yours?

-Phil

Credibility Shown

Tom Wanek wrote a book, Currencies That Buy Credibility.

The new CEO of Step2 Company – Jack Vresics – is an embodiment of that book.

Last Thursday I was in Streetsboro, OH for a meeting of Step2 Center dealers – the retailers who sell the vast majority of the Step2 line. Step2 is the largest manufacturer of toys still being made in the USA. But they’ve had a shakeup the past year replacing the CEO, the CFO, and the Director of Marketing.

I was looking forward to meeting the new CEO, but at Wednesday night’s informal gathering we were told that he wouldn’t be at our annual gathering because he had to drive his daughter up to Ann Arbor to move her in for her first year at the University of Michigan. Understandable excuse. I have every intention of being there to help my boys on their first day at away at college, too.

But right before we broke for lunch Thursday a new face entered the room – Jack Vresics was in the building! He drove 3 hours back from Ann Arbor after moving his daughter in just to spend 90 minutes with us before driving back another 3 hours to be with his daughter again.

You have heard that actions speak louder than words. That one action spoke volumes of how important we dealers are to Step2.

He paid the currency (driving an extra 6 hours) to earn credibility, and he earned it big time in my book. He showed me what he was willing to do to make sure I knew how important my business was to him.

What actions are you willing to do, what price are you willing to pay to show your customers how important they are to you?

Read Tom’s book (no, I am not affiliated in any way – just a fan of the book) and you can learn some simple ways to earn that credibility.

-Phil

How Much Marketing Does it Take?

Here are some of the ways I have decided to market my new book…

  • Face-to-Face Sales – I do speaking engagements all around the country and get opportunities to sell my book one at a time to attendees. Plus, I sell it in my store. And I always have a few copies with me wherever I go (sold two at a recent birthday party!)
  • Web Marketing – I have it for sale on my website
  • Blog Marketing – Yeah, this is the fourth time I’ve talked about it to you.
  • YouTube – already one video review online about the book, more coming…
  • Facebook – The book has it’s own page, positive reviews starting to come in.
  • Friend Blogging – I have given away a few free copies to influential friends who have blogged about it or at least given it some link love (one of those links increased my blog traffic by a factor of 15!)
  • Direct to Buying Groups – There are retail buying groups made up of independent retailers to whom I am reaching out.
  • Radio – I already did one radio interview, working on setting up more
  • TV – Ditto
  • Newsprint – I will be profiled soon in the local paper as a local author, working on getting profiled in other papers, too.
  • Human Resource Professors – this is tougher nut for me to crack, but I am working on making contact with HR Professors to try to get this book into their hands and into their classrooms
  • Human Resource Professionals – I have been following HR groups on LinkedIn, posting where applicable, getting involved in discussions, and getting to know other people there. Soon I will be enlisting their help in spreading the word.

As you can see from this list, there is a lot I am doing to market one tiny little book on Hiring & Training.

How does this apply to your business? Simple. All of the above marketing techniques are basically free. They only cost me time and a few free books. If you don’t have enough business, then you have enough time to get cranking on any one of them. (Yes, they are all applicable to your business – email me if you can’t see how.)

-Phil

Here’s Something I’m Watching

Yesterday’s paper had an article about a new strategy Wal-Mart is rolling out. They’ve decide to do… wait for it… price cuts. Yeah, they’re cutting prices again (you’d think with all the price cuts that their prices should be zero about now, right?).

Here’s the interesting part of the article… They are only cutting prices on 20-30 key items – mostly groceries like cases of Coke. Twenty to thirty out of 100,000!?! And that’s gonna change people’s perception and drive traffic to new levels?

Either Wal-Mart thinks the general public is really gullible, or perception truly is reality.

I predict they’ll get a little bit of a traffic bump from people who only want the specials, but with such a small selection of price cuts, I also predict their competitors will have no problem matching them. (In fact, according to the article, Target and Kroger already had.)

But in the long run it won’t move the needle. But if it does…??

Yeah, that’s why I’m watching it.

-Phil

PS Apparently Wal-Mart has run out of ideas. Hopefully you haven’t.

Winning Gold for Your Business, Olympics Style

While watching the Olympics with my wife I came to a startling realization. In the three hours of an NBC telecast there is probably only about 45 minutes of actual sports taking place. The rest is background stories, analysis, and commercials.

Since my wife and I tape it on the DVR, we quickly forward through the commercials (note to you TV advertisers, there is still a way to get my attention even as I fast forward.)

But while I want to get right to the action, my wife loves all the backstories on the different athletes. She eats that stuff like chocolate. Being the dutiful husband, I watch along with her.

The other night we saw a story about the Chinese Freestyle Skiing Aerial Team and their American coach. After the story, I found I was almost rooting for them to do well. The Chinese team? Yeah. The story gave them character and personality, and helped me relate to them.

Time and again, after hearing unique and compelling stories, I found myself rooting for whichever athlete was featured.

There is a business application here. TELL YOUR UNIQUE AND COMPELLING STORY. Tell the world who you are and why you’re here. Let the outside world into your inner thoughts and feelings. Show them the human element behind your corporate business, the faces of the people behind the name on the sign. Give people your backstory, your reason for entering the competition, and they’ll root for you, too.

Here’s an easy way to do it:

  • Get a Flip Camera or some other inexpensive way to shoot videos.
  • Set up a YouTube account (they’re free).
  • Shoot video tours of the store.
  • Shoot short video interviews of the staff (2-3 minutes).
  • Tell as much personal stuff as you’re willing to share.
  • Talk unscripted about why you opened your store or what makes it so much fun to you.
  • Post the unscripted/unedited videos to YouTube and Facebook and your website.
  • Play the videos on a loop in your store.

Do this and you’ll make connections with customers that will turn them into fans rooting for your success. They’ll be cheering you on to get the gold (in many cases, their gold:-).

-Phil

PS Two reminders on videos…

Make them short (2-3 minutes tops) so they load quickly. Nothing worse than waiting 20 minutes for a ten-minute video to load. For some, that will be deterrent enough to never watch.

Make them unscripted and unedited. This way they show off the real you, not some phony poser that everyone will see right through. The real you is good enough if you have the confidence to be that person openly. The real you is who we want to root for, not some corporate image of you.

Tooting Your Own Horn

My son plays trumpet in the 5th grade band. He’s been tooting his horn since October and has improved greatly. The school pointed us in the direction of an online program called Smart Music that has helped his practice time immensely.

In fact, he has even taught himself how to play Happy Birthday and Hail to the Victors. He loves to toot his own horn both literally and figuratively, willing to show off his talent for anyone within earshot.

Sometimes it makes my wife and I uncomfortable the way he brags and boasts about his accomplishments. Which begs the question… When is it okay to toot your own horn? When does it cross the line from importance to arrogance?

There is a new book coming out this Thursday by national retail consultant and best-selling author George Whalin titled, Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores in America. Toy House and Baby Too is one of the 25 best.

Is it bragging and boasting for me to highlight this accomplishment? Is it arrogance to shout to the world about being in this book? Believe me, we are humbled to be included. But at the same time, I have an opportunity with this book to make some noise.

If my son doesn’t blow his horn, it makes no noise. No one is going to blow it for him. Likewise, as a business owner, when presented with a trumpet like this book, I need to toot loud and clear. My son will play for any audience anywhere. Shouldn’t businesses do the same? Especially when you get a chance to reach a new audience.

No one remembers the seventh trumpet in the back row quietly playing along with the rest of the band. We remember the soloist who stands up and plays loud and proud.

Yet too many of us are afraid of the spotlight, afraid of what some might say about us. Every soloist has his critics. But far many more praise his talents and enjoy his music.

Should you toot your own horn? Of course you should! Play it loud and proud. You’ll gain far more fans than critics.

But don’t forget to practice.

-Phil