Some Details About Retail
- Going out of business sales draw lots of shoppers; figure out a way to get them through the door before you are out of business. 39 minutes ago
- The placement of merchandise in your store can determine how quickly it will sell. In the front and to the right is prime real estate. 3 days ago
- People like to do business with people they like; smile, laugh and enjoy what you are doing and your customers will keep coming back. 5 days ago
6 Tips for Planning a Corporate Retreat on a Budget
by Shiva Levine
Team bonding via private jet to Lake Tahoe is the kind of corporate spending you just don’t see anymore. That’s a good thing when it comes to long-term job stability — but those were good times, no?
Well, here’s some good news for management: there are still plenty of ways to say “thank you” and “lets keep working together” to your staff and clients without blowing through next year’s budget. Corporate retreats are a special way to generate good will and unity amongst staff and management. Yet, if there’s nothing else the recession taught us, it’s that it’s important to be prudent. An office getaway does not have to max out your budget.
In fact, these office getaways are an opportunity for management and executives to learn leadership skills while exercising some renewed creativity in a way more relaxed environment. The corporate retreat isn’t a paid vacation. (Would you really choose to travel with all your colleagues for fun?) It’s more a breath of fresh air — literally — and a reprieve from the post-traumatic horrors of being over-worked and way stressed out.
A small business with a small budget can benefit from corporate retreats as much as a huge corporation with lots of money. In fact, with most large companies nixing their retreats because of budgetary concerns, many destinations are vacant and hungry for business. So look for discounts!
Here are a ways to think frugally when planning a corporate retreat.
Stay Local
There’s no need to fly your staff across the country when there are great locations merely a drive away. Take advantage of destinations in your backyard or in regions of the country that aren’t as costly, and are in need of tourism and business travel dollars.
Most states have an array of activities. Look into the great lake and Rockies areas, or, southwest through the Midwest — and don’t forget the New England coasts and the Appalachia region. Focusing on high-end retreat hotspots in California, Florida and Colorado isn’t cost-effective, and they can be limiting when fully-booked. Renting a van or bus, however, is mandatory. Packing everyone into cars for a three-hour drive is bound to be an episode of The Office — only those in the car won’t be laughing hysterically.
Don’t Head for the Most Popular Destinations
Remote locations and retreats with a small business mentality versus those that are part of a corporate franchise frequently provide five-star accommodations at a lesser cost. Sometimes they even throw in accoutrements like fine local wines and thoughtful spa services.
Consider Hobby Sports vs. Luxury Sports
Golf retreats are expensive, but canoeing, kayaking, fly fishing, mountain biking, rock climbing and the like can be less expensive, invoke more team-building, and are less likely to get so competitive that someone has a meltdown and ruins it for everyone. Leave the golfing and skiing retreats to the Fortune 100 executives.
Negotiate Prices, or Barter
With big corporations sitting out on the big spending, there are a lot of places with empty facilities. The owners of these spots want your business, and want to attract more business to their towns, so when negotiating a good deal, throw in a barter of services. Offer to include the retreat information in your company’s newsletter or pass the word on to clients about what a productive, creative and relaxing experience it was (if it was).
Make Sure the Deal You Got Has What You Need
Although you may be out in the boondocks, you’re going to need meeting rooms and the necessary infrastructure to get some work done. While you’ll need places to set up your computers and working Wi-Fi for sending emails, be prepared for what retreat centers won’t have. You probably won’t find office luxuries, like the tech gadgetry for Power Point slideshows and hi-res color digital printing, so be prepared.
Hire a Corporate Retreat Planner
It might initially sound like a waste of money, but their experience will save you a ton of time — as well as potentially save you money, since they’ll know where to find the best deals. Outside of the fee paid to the corporate planner, he or she will be responsible for calling around, negotiating, bargaining, setting up and finalizing details. A corporate planner also comes armed with a Rolodex of contacts that may offer excellent deals to often-used customers.
Team bonding via private jet to Lake Tahoe is the kind of corporate spending you just don’t see anymore. That’s a good thing when it comes to long-term job stability — but those were good times, no?
Well, here’s some good news for management: there are still plenty of ways to say “thank you” and “lets keep working together” to your staff and clients without blowing through next year’s budget. Corporate retreats are a special way to generate good will and unity amongst staff and management. Yet, if there’s nothing else the recession taught us, it’s that it’s important to be prudent. An office getaway does not have to max out your budget.
In fact, these office getaways are an opportunity for management and executives to learn leadership skills while exercising some renewed creativity in a way more relaxed environment. The corporate retreat isn’t a paid vacation. (Would you really choose to travel with all your colleagues for fun?) It’s more a breath of fresh air — literally — and a reprieve from the post-traumatic horrors of being over-worked and way stressed out.
A small business with a small budget can benefit from corporate retreats as much as a huge corporation with lots of money. In fact, with most large companies nixing their retreats because of budgetary concerns, many destinations are vacant and hungry for business. So look for discounts!
Here are a ways to think frugally when planning a corporate retreat.
Stay Local
There’s no need to fly your staff across the country when there are great locations merely a drive away. Take advantage of destinations in your backyard or in regions of the country that aren’t as costly, and are in need of tourism and business travel dollars.
Most states have an array of activities. Look into the great lake and Rockies areas, or, southwest through the Midwest — and don’t forget the New England coasts and the Appalachia region. Focusing on high-end retreat hotspots in California, Florida and Colorado isn’t cost-effective, and they can be limiting when fully-booked. Renting a van or bus, however, is mandatory. Packing everyone into cars for a three-hour drive is bound to be an episode of The Office — only those in the car won’t be laughing hysterically.
Don’t Head for the Most Popular Destinations
Remote locations and retreats with a small business mentality versus those that are part of a corporate franchise frequently provide five-star accommodations at a lesser cost. Sometimes they even throw in accoutrements like fine local wines and thoughtful spa services.
Consider Hobby Sports vs. Luxury Sports
Golf retreats are expensive, but canoeing, kayaking, fly fishing, mountain biking, rock climbing and the like can be less expensive, invoke more team-building, and are less likely to get so competitive that someone has a meltdown and ruins it for everyone. Leave the golfing and skiing retreats to the Fortune 100 executives.
Negotiate Prices, or Barter
With big corporations sitting out on the big spending, there are a lot of places with empty facilities. The owners of these spots want your business, and want to attract more business to their towns, so when negotiating a good deal, throw in a barter of services. Offer to include the retreat information in your company’s newsletter or pass the word on to clients about what a productive, creative and relaxing experience it was (if it was).
Make Sure the Deal You Got Has What You Need
Although you may be out in the boondocks, you’re going to need meeting rooms and the necessary infrastructure to get some work done. While you’ll need places to set up your computers and working Wi-Fi for sending emails, be prepared for what retreat centers won’t have. You probably won’t find office luxuries, like the tech gadgetry for Power Point slideshows and hi-res color digital printing, so be prepared.
Hire a Corporate Retreat Planner
It might initially sound like a waste of money, but their experience will save you a ton of time — as well as potentially save you money, since they’ll know where to find the best deals. Outside of the fee paid to the corporate planner, he or she will be responsible for calling around, negotiating, bargaining, setting up and finalizing details. A corporate planner also comes armed with a Rolodex of contacts that may offer excellent deals to often-used customers.
51 Ways To Reward Employees Without Money
by Mike Michalowicz
Sure, many companies feel strapped right now and may duck their head and run in the other direction at the mere mention of bonuses. But tough times don’t mean that you should just forget about rewarding your employees. There are many ways that you can reward employees without handing them money, and many of these are things you can do right now, with very little effort.
Here are a whopping 51 things you can give your employees that don’t include cutting them a check:
1. Let the employee dump the one project they like least to you.
2. Use of the president’s office for a day.
3. The front parking spot.
4. A handwritten thank you note.
5. Name the conference room or lounge after them.
6. Inviting their spouse in for a lunch on the company.
7. A reserved parking spot.
8. A video game for the employee to give to their child.
9. A vacation day.
10. Brand-new desk, chair, or other piece of office furniture.
11. Bouquet of flowers.
12. Prepare a short video montage that celebrates the employee’s accomplishments.
13. A public thank you.
14. Send a birthday card to them at their home address.
15. Pay for them to take a fun class, such as cooking or skydiving.
16. Find something they like to collect, such as stamps or coins, and give them one for their collection.
17. Let them suggest a way they would like to be recognized.
18. Write a note to their family, sharing how important the person’s contribution to the company has been.
19. Keep the break room stocked with their favorite drink or snack.
20. Buy them tickets to a concert, show or other event.
21. Give them a small gift card from their favorite store.
22. Pick up a book or CD for them by their favorite author or artist.
23. Pick up the tab for them to have a family portrait taken.
24. Pay for their child to go to camp.
25. Buy a few extra boxes of Girl Scout Cookies from their daughter.
26. Give them a pair of movie tickets.
27. Help them with gas prices by giving them a gas card.
28. Provide them with a formal letter of appreciation for their personal file.
29. Create a “day pass” that they can turn in to take any day off, no questions asked.
30. Find a deal on a couple of three-day cruise tickets and set them up with a short vacation.
31. Allow them to be flexible with their hours.
32. Let them choose one day a week to work from home.
33. Have a birthday cake delivered to the office on their birthday.
34. Get each employee to write something positive about the person on a piece of paper, and give them the box of collected sayings, or frame them for the employee.
35. Start a company “Wall of Fame” and add them to it.
36. Find out what they are passionate about and give them a gift that relates to it.
37. Create and give them an award that they can keep and frame for a job well done.
38. Surprise them with an outdoor catered picnic.
39. Have a mobile car wash come to the business and clean their vehicle.
40. Get them a subscription to their favorite magazine.
41. Pay for a membership in a trade association of their choice.
42. Have a staff appreciation day once a month to provide them with a catered lunch.
43. Give them and their colleagues a catered breakfast.
44. Give them a new, improved job title.
45. Provide them with some one-on-one mentoring.
46. Institute a “playtime,” where employees can play games or shoot some baskets.
47. Host an annual award ceremony and give awards to employees for their contributions.
48. Celebrate the anniversary of their joining the company.
49. Allow them to dress casually on Fridays.
50. Have a massage therapist come to the office once a month and give a massage.
51. Create a relaxation room, where the employee (and other people you are rewarding) can go during the day, to read or even play a video game on their break.
Clothes Makers Join to Set ‘Green Score’
Here’s an interesting article about some changes being made in the clothing industry.
By TOM ZELLER Jr.
With just a few clicks on Google Maps, anyone can call up a satellite image of blue dye and other chemicals washing downriver from textile mills in Xintang, China — the world capital of blue jeans production.
Enlarge This Image
Danish Siddiqui/Reuters
A fabric dyeing factory in Mumbai, India. A group is creating sustainability scores for clothes.
But American shoppers in a typical department store encounter no obvious connection between those polluting plumes of dye — or really any other environmental impact — and their favorite pair of designer blues. In many cases, the company whose name appears on the label is only marginally better informed.
But a new and prominent assemblage of retailers, clothing manufacturers, environmental groups and academics plans to change that.
Calling itself the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, the group intends to announce Tuesday that it is developing a comprehensive database of the environmental impact of every manufacturer, component and process in apparel production, with the aim of using that information to eventually give every garment a sustainability score.
Later, the coalition hopes to produce a label that would share some version of that score with shoppers, giving them a much more detailed view into the supply of fabrics, zippers, dyes, threads, buttons and grommets that come together to form the clothing they buy, as well as what impact the creation of that clothing has on both people and the planet.
The coalition includes middle-market companies like Wal-Mart, J. C. Penney, H&M and Hanes, along with more traditionally environmentally minded manufacturers of rugged outdoor clothing like Patagonia and Timberland. The 30 founding members also include Duke University, the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, the labor rights group Verité, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Americans spent roughly $340 billion on clothing and shoes last year, which is about 25 percent of the global market, and virtually all of it — 99 percent for footwear and 98 percent for clothes — came from somewhere else, according to the American Apparel and Footwear Association. And the various pieces and parts of any single garment — a jacket, say, or pair of pants — often come from such a diverse multinational chain of fabric mills, dye operations and assembly plants that quantifying the environmental impact of a single item is nearly impossible.
Initially, the coalition wants to help individual companies clean up their supply chains. Company members have all agreed to chip in some money to begin the effort, with the larger companies being asked for additional “seed funding” to support the development of a sustainability indexing tool. Rick Ridgeway, who heads sustainability efforts for Patagonia and is the chairman of the new coalition, estimated that the group would spend $2 million by the end of 2011 on developing the tool.
“People are at such different points on the sustainability journey, and working together can accelerate our ability to make change,” said Alex Tomey, a vice president for product development and design at Wal-Mart, which has worked closely with Patagonia to get the coalition off the ground.
The obscure nature of the global supply chain for apparel has long been a concern to many environmental groups, including Greenpeace, which reported on the Xintang textile mills in December. While individual manufacturers and smaller segments of the apparel industry have begun trying to quantify their effects, a robust study of the entire life cycle of the apparel and footwear industries is only now getting under way.
“The apparel supply chain is long and quite complicated, and many of our current apparel companies — brand companies — don’t really own all the production facilities and factories,” said Huantian Cao, an associate professor of fashion and apparel studies at the University of Delaware. “So even for a company that has a label or brand on the product, it might not be easy to study the whole life cycle of that product, because so much of that supply chain is out of their control.”
The coalition’s tool is meant to be a database of scores assigned to all the players in the life cycle of a garment — cotton growers, synthetic fabric makers, dye suppliers, textile mill owners, as well as packagers, shippers, retailers and consumers — based on a variety of social and environmental measures like water and land use, energy efficiency, waste production, chemical use, greenhouse gases and labor practices.
A clothing company designer could then use the tool to select materials and suppliers, computing an overall sustainability score based on industry standards. If the score exceeds the company’s own sustainability goals — or if competitive pressures arising from a consumer label are compelling the company to bring scores down — designers could revise their choices with the tool.
Such a tool is a work in progress. It draws heavily from two earlier efforts — an environmental design tool developed by Nike, and an “Eco Index” begun by the Outdoor Industry Association last year. But these afford only a partial or approximate look at the potential effects of discrete industry segments.
By TOM ZELLER Jr.
With just a few clicks on Google Maps, anyone can call up a satellite image of blue dye and other chemicals washing downriver from textile mills in Xintang, China — the world capital of blue jeans production.
Enlarge This Image
Danish Siddiqui/Reuters
A fabric dyeing factory in Mumbai, India. A group is creating sustainability scores for clothes.
But American shoppers in a typical department store encounter no obvious connection between those polluting plumes of dye — or really any other environmental impact — and their favorite pair of designer blues. In many cases, the company whose name appears on the label is only marginally better informed.
But a new and prominent assemblage of retailers, clothing manufacturers, environmental groups and academics plans to change that.
Calling itself the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, the group intends to announce Tuesday that it is developing a comprehensive database of the environmental impact of every manufacturer, component and process in apparel production, with the aim of using that information to eventually give every garment a sustainability score.
Later, the coalition hopes to produce a label that would share some version of that score with shoppers, giving them a much more detailed view into the supply of fabrics, zippers, dyes, threads, buttons and grommets that come together to form the clothing they buy, as well as what impact the creation of that clothing has on both people and the planet.
The coalition includes middle-market companies like Wal-Mart, J. C. Penney, H&M and Hanes, along with more traditionally environmentally minded manufacturers of rugged outdoor clothing like Patagonia and Timberland. The 30 founding members also include Duke University, the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, the labor rights group Verité, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Americans spent roughly $340 billion on clothing and shoes last year, which is about 25 percent of the global market, and virtually all of it — 99 percent for footwear and 98 percent for clothes — came from somewhere else, according to the American Apparel and Footwear Association. And the various pieces and parts of any single garment — a jacket, say, or pair of pants — often come from such a diverse multinational chain of fabric mills, dye operations and assembly plants that quantifying the environmental impact of a single item is nearly impossible.
Initially, the coalition wants to help individual companies clean up their supply chains. Company members have all agreed to chip in some money to begin the effort, with the larger companies being asked for additional “seed funding” to support the development of a sustainability indexing tool. Rick Ridgeway, who heads sustainability efforts for Patagonia and is the chairman of the new coalition, estimated that the group would spend $2 million by the end of 2011 on developing the tool.
“People are at such different points on the sustainability journey, and working together can accelerate our ability to make change,” said Alex Tomey, a vice president for product development and design at Wal-Mart, which has worked closely with Patagonia to get the coalition off the ground.
The obscure nature of the global supply chain for apparel has long been a concern to many environmental groups, including Greenpeace, which reported on the Xintang textile mills in December. While individual manufacturers and smaller segments of the apparel industry have begun trying to quantify their effects, a robust study of the entire life cycle of the apparel and footwear industries is only now getting under way.
“The apparel supply chain is long and quite complicated, and many of our current apparel companies — brand companies — don’t really own all the production facilities and factories,” said Huantian Cao, an associate professor of fashion and apparel studies at the University of Delaware. “So even for a company that has a label or brand on the product, it might not be easy to study the whole life cycle of that product, because so much of that supply chain is out of their control.”
The coalition’s tool is meant to be a database of scores assigned to all the players in the life cycle of a garment — cotton growers, synthetic fabric makers, dye suppliers, textile mill owners, as well as packagers, shippers, retailers and consumers — based on a variety of social and environmental measures like water and land use, energy efficiency, waste production, chemical use, greenhouse gases and labor practices.
A clothing company designer could then use the tool to select materials and suppliers, computing an overall sustainability score based on industry standards. If the score exceeds the company’s own sustainability goals — or if competitive pressures arising from a consumer label are compelling the company to bring scores down — designers could revise their choices with the tool.
Such a tool is a work in progress. It draws heavily from two earlier efforts — an environmental design tool developed by Nike, and an “Eco Index” begun by the Outdoor Industry Association last year. But these afford only a partial or approximate look at the potential effects of discrete industry segments.
Rethinking Customer Analytics for the Age of All-Channel Commerce
As the economy slowly emerges from recession, retailers face another obstacle: price-sensitive consumers who simultaneously spend less while demanding higher service levels. Surmounting this hurdle will require retailers to up their game in the areas of personalization, customer engagement, and most importantly, relevance. This requires not just gathering customer data, but performing the analysis that will yield actionable insights into who customers are as well as what, when and how they buy. And just to add another layer of complexity, retailers also need to understand how customer behavior differs from channel to channel, while still maintaining a single view of the customer and providing a seamless shopping experience across all of their touchpoints. More comprehensive customer analytics are a critical part of retailers’ transition to integrated, all-channel retailing.
The economic recovery depends upon consumers spending again. And consumers know it. When they do buy, they start by arming themselves with information gleaned from cross-channel, cross-retailer research, and then seek the best deal—including standout service. They gravitate to retailers that seem to offer just what they want, when they want it, in the way they want to buy it. Capturing consumers’ reluctantly spent dollars today demands three things from retailers: being engaging, personal, and relevant. To get there, retailers must attain a deeper understanding of customer wants and needs. They must be able to collect, analyze and act on customer information in near-real time, across channels.
The good news is the unprecedented tide of consumer data now available for this purpose. In addition to traditional sources such as demographics, psychographics, syndicated data, market research and loyalty/purchase history, retailers can tap
e-commerce searches, customer ratings and reviews, redemption rates and activity on social media sites by customers and those who influence them. “Never before has so much up-to-the-minute data been available about customer attitudes and intentions,” says Joe Skorupa, Group Editor-in-Chief, RIS News. “The challenge is wrestling all of this data into actionable insights to shapedecisions across the retail enterprise in time to capture customer attention when they’re ready to buy.” Relevancy is the ultimate goal of retail efforts such as analytics, personalization and loyalty programs. With relevancy,
retailers can go beyond simple customer satisfaction and into the area of customer enthusiasm. Shoppers who are enthusiasticabout a retailer’s products, services and overall brand will be more loyal to that retailer—and will be more likely to give
that retailer permission to learn even more about them, and increase their relevancy even further.
Yesterday’s analytics technology was never designed for this level of granular real-time response. Retailers looking to take their businesses to the next level must rethink their
approach to customer analytics in order to be continually relevant in the face of constantly shifting customer desires. The Currency of Customer Data Historically, customer data has served retailers in aggregate, helping to shape marketing programs and shed light on merchandise trends. The possibilities in all that data have long outstripped retailers’ capacity to make use of it. Staying ahead of the tidal wave of data is even harder today thanks to the addition of channels including e-commerce,
mobile commerce and social media. “Social media in particular presents a golden opportunity for retailers to capture,measure and influence customer intentions, but they must find a way to balance that with other sources of customer insight to gain true perspective and predictive capability,” says Skorupa. Adding to the complexity, retailers also need to understand how customer behavior differs from channel to channel,
while still maintaining a single view of the customer and providing a seamless and relevant shopping experience across all touchpoints. According to Aberdeen Group’s March 2010 “Cross-Channel Customer Loyalty” report, best-in-class retailers are leveraging these additional channels to retain their most profitable customers. For example, FreshDirect, an online grocer based in New York City, evolved into a high-growth, profitable company by capturing a wide array of customer data and applying it throughout the business, according to Forrester Research’s “Case Study: FreshDirect Drives Business Success Through Customer Intelligence,” November 19,
2010. FreshDirect is “intensely focusing on operating the business in real time by leveraging customer intelligence to improve customer experience and drive business success.”
Today retailers can’t afford to leave anything on the table. Customer data can inform decisions throughout the enterprise, including:
• Merchandising
• Targeted promotions/cross-sell opportunities
• Marketing
• Product selection/assortments
• Loyalty building
• Optimal location of stores and distribution centers
Retailers view customer intelligence technology as providing them with a number of hard benefits that relate directly toimportant business goals and performance indicators. A September 2010 RIS retailer survey reveals that 63.3% of respondents believe customer intelligence helps them increase customer wallet share, and 60% say it supports higher margins, increased comp store sales and reduction of wasted marketing dollars. RSR Research has found that 40% of retail winners rated using customer data to improve the business as a top three opportunity for customer programs, compared with just 7% of laggards. “Winners see the opportunity to use customer data not just for customer-facing activities, but as a launching pad to improve the entire business—to focus everyone on delivering on customer expectations, not just
channels,” according to RSR’s “The State of Personalization in Retail” (August 2010).
Unfortunately, access to customer data and the analysis tools required to make use of it has been limited within retail organizations. Many retailers still lack a central repository
for customer data that can serve as the basis for an enterprise-wide CRM system. Such a system is essential foractivities such as customer segmentation and for deep ad hoc queries into shopping behaviors—necessary for developing the most relevant
communication and promotions for each customer group. However, according to the RIS/RSR Research 2010 Cross-Channel Tech Trends Study, only one-third of responding retailers use a shared enterprise-level solution to support their customer behavior and purchase history analytics functions. Further, 54% of best-in-class retailers are able to analyze customer data across channels, versus 27% of average retailers and 20% of laggards, according to Aberdeen Group’s “The Roadmap from Multi-Channel to Cross-Channel Retailing,” (November 2010). Many retailer efforts to fully
integrate processes and systems across channels are in their
early stages.
(Excerpted from RIS Though Leadership Series)
Two Sets of Three
by Peggy Horne Taylor
Recently I was reading a magazine when I came across a few quotes from John Wooden, the famed basketball coach who was loved by all who knew him. I was so inspired by the article I purchased a book of his to add to my list of reading material.
Apparently John Wooden was fond of quoting his father as well, and the following caught my attention. John’s father’s “two sets of three”: never lie, never cheat, never steal” and “don’t whine, don’t complain, don’t make excuses.”
So how do these simple rules of life apply to you and your retail business? I often hear retailers complain about how hard it is to make money these days. They whine about how people aren’t walking through their door, so they can’t make the same money they used to just a few years ago. When I explain to them I am a retail consultant, and I would like to schedule an appointment to show them our services because we can help with those concerns, they start to make excuses about how they don’t need any assistance; they have gotten along fine for 30 years, it is the economy that is the problem, and their POS system gives them all the information they need.
Sadly, we have often passed by some of those same stores again, only to find them permanently closed. If the retailer had not lied to themselves and us, they might have been able to save their stores and still be in business. Those retailers cheated themselves by not finding out what services are available from outside sources to see if someone else could help them become more successful. Their dreams were stolen away by their fears or ignorance.
One big mistake small businesses make is thinking they can do everything by themselves or thinking they can’t afford to get outside help, when in reality the can’t afford not too. Where do you see yourself in this picture? The cost of holding your business together and making it run as a finely tuned machine is much less expensive than closing your door and walking away. Ignorance is not bliss in most cases.
Your life and your business are a result of the choices you make; if you buy too much inventory you are losing money, if you buy too little you are losing money. There is an optimum amount yo need to buy. Do you know what that is?
In the end, you are responsible for the choices you make, and only you are responsible for the outcome. You can’t go through life taking credit for everything good that happens and making excuses for all the failures. You have to bone up and accept responsibility for the greatness in your life and the failures.
Enjoy these quotes from John Wooden:
•”Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.”
•”Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you
should have accomplished with you ability.”
•”If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”
•”It’s what you learn after you know it all that count.”
“It will take focus each and every day to push a startup forward, even if you are working another job and developing your business in spare hours. But if you eventually want to get paid business wages, you can’t treat it like a hobby.”
~Keri Jaehnig,
Culturally Connected
A Great and Funny Open to Buy Planning Video
This video was made by some of our Management one associates. If you are in retail you should watch this funny video!
Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Lion or a Gazelle… when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.
— Source Unknown
Preventive Medicine for Your Retail Store
by Peggy Horne Taylor
You go to the doctor when you feel sick, but do you also go when you are feeling fine just to make sure you won’t get sick? If there is heart disease in you family, you would not consider missing an annual physical. When you were young you were subjected to all those nasty injections kids hated. Now you get a Flu shot every year just to keep the flu at bay. If you lived internationally at the time when disease was rampant in the majority of the world, and you would never consider leaving the country without a long list of shots. Let’s not forget mammograms, prostate exams and the unthinkable dreaded colonoscopy. We do all of these choices to protect our own health, so why don’t we think we need to protect the health of our business?
Most retailers do not have degrees in business, marketing, or anything relating to retail. For the most part, retailers are just ordinary folks who wake up one day with a “great idea”, they decide they are going to open a store. Or, it might have been someone who worked for Macy’s and thought they could do it better.
The number one reason small businesses fail is because they believe they are too small to do all of the things big businesses do to be successful. You need more than an idea to endure, you need a plan; you need a goal and a budget written down on paper; this is your road map to success. You need to sit down and assess what needs to be done in your business for it to be successful and endure. What jobs can you do, what jobs can you delegate and what jobs require outside help? Do you have a training program for your employees or do you just through them on the floor and hope they actually know how to engage a customer and sell to them? Do you think you can’t afford to do these things? It is must less expensive to stay well than it is to pay your hospital bill, and the same is true for your business. Success comes from being informed, not by sticking your head in a hole in the ground and pretending everything is fine.
If you have been in business for many years, you need to stop thinking you know everything, because you probably don’t. Do you have too much inventory, do you have to take deep markdowns to get rid of your stock? Do you have goods in your store more than 90 days old? All of these are signs of a store that is not healthy and not making the money it could be making if the owner knew what to buy, when to buy it, and when to mark it down. Idle merchandise sitting in your store, that is not selling, is money you do not have in the bank. This is a major cause of cash flow issues. Heavy markdowns lead to reduced profits.
There is a method to the madness of large retailers. It seems they are marking the goods down almost as soon as they come in the door. This is not just to get you in the door, but also to get rid of goods that aren’t selling, and to free up money so they can buy the next bunch of goods coming in. If you have merchandise in your store that is still there after the season is over, get rid of it any way you can. Shoppers are very savvy these days; because of the internet they know what is hot and what is not, and after a while, they don’t want your old inventory no matter how cheap it gets.
Give your business a check-up to determine what you need to do to keep your store healthy, or what you need to do to get it back to where it was in the good old days, so you can move on to even greater success.
You go to the doctor when you feel sick, but do you also go when you are feeling fine just to make sure you won’t get sick? If there is heart disease in you family, you would not consider missing an annual physical. When you were young you were subjected to all those nasty injections kids hated. Now you get a Flu shot every year just to keep the flu at bay. If you lived internationally at the time when disease was rampant in the majority of the world, and you would never consider leaving the country without a long list of shots. Let’s not forget mammograms, prostate exams and the unthinkable dreaded colonoscopy. We do all of these choices to protect our own health, so why don’t we think we need to protect the health of our business?
Most retailers do not have degrees in business, marketing, or anything relating to retail. For the most part, retailers are just ordinary folks who wake up one day with a “great idea”, they decide they are going to open a store. Or, it might have been someone who worked for Macy’s and thought they could do it better.
The number one reason small businesses fail is because they believe they are too small to do all of the things big businesses do to be successful. You need more than an idea to endure, you need a plan; you need a goal and a budget written down on paper; this is your road map to success. You need to sit down and assess what needs to be done in your business for it to be successful and endure. What jobs can you do, what jobs can you delegate and what jobs require outside help? Do you have a training program for your employees or do you just through them on the floor and hope they actually know how to engage a customer and sell to them? Do you think you can’t afford to do these things? It is must less expensive to stay well than it is to pay your hospital bill, and the same is true for your business. Success comes from being informed, not by sticking your head in a hole in the ground and pretending everything is fine.
If you have been in business for many years, you need to stop thinking you know everything, because you probably don’t. Do you have too much inventory, do you have to take deep markdowns to get rid of your stock? Do you have goods in your store more than 90 days old? All of these are signs of a store that is not healthy and not making the money it could be making if the owner knew what to buy, when to buy it, and when to mark it down. Idle merchandise sitting in your store, that is not selling, is money you do not have in the bank. This is a major cause of cash flow issues. Heavy markdowns lead to reduced profits.
Give your business a check-up to determine what you need to do to keep your store healthy, or what you need to do to get it back to where it was in the good old days, so you can move on to even greater success.
9 Tips on Managing Your Inventory for 2011
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Dec 20, 2010 - The holidays are in full swing and products are flying off the shelves.
But have you thought about your inventory strategies for next year?
Here are a few ways to manage your inventory in the new year:
Be careful with end-of-year purchases“The holidays are almost here, which means that unless you are looking at egregious holes in your assortment, sell what you have,” advised Ted Hurlbut, principal at Hurlbut & Associates, a business management consultancy in Foxborough, Mass. “At this point, anything that you bring in will sell in place of something you already own. Then, you will have to go through the clearance process on what you already own.
“One of the real margin killers during this time of year is bringing in last minute purchases.”
Mark down poor sellers“Identify your weak sellers and mark them down to move before Christmas, when your traffic is at its peak,” Hurlbut said. “If you wait until you take everything at 20 percent of after Christmas, you will have to take your weak sellers to 50 percent off, instead of the 20 percent off you could have done before the holiday.
“The markdown will cost you less now than it will later.”
Cycle inventory “Retailers have a tendency to fall in love with their inventory, so they keep it past the time they should,” said Peggy H. Taylor, co-owner of Progressive Profit, a retail consultancy based in Fairview, N.C. “If it doesn’t sell within 90 days, you need to get rid of it. If you’ve had something in your store for a year, chances are you will never sell it. Donate it to good will and you can write it off on your taxes.”
Use the garbage can“Identify your sludge and dispose of it,” said Hurlbut. “For example, if you have a rack filled with great clothes and one mustard yellow shirt, some customers will be turned off to the entire rack because of that shirt. Get rid of it. If you have it heavily marked down and it still isn’t moving, it has no retail value and could be dumpster fodder.
Want more financial management tips? Check these out:
“Then, you can take a tax credit for it. By keeping it, it is poisoning everything else.”
Record everything“Make sure that all of your material is properly recorded,” said Jon Schreibfeder, president of Effective Inventory Management, Inc., an inventory management consultancy based in Coppell, Texas. “Otherwise, you will have no idea what is in your store or warehouse, which means you would be forced to overstock to maintain a high level of customer service. You also might be reordering products way too early or too late.”
Display seasonal items“Don’t pack away any seasonal items unless it can’t be prevented,” Hurlbut said. “Maximize your cash recovery now. Cash is more valuable to you now than in six or nine months. If you put something away, new things will come along and make the item not as valuable.”
Forecast, forecast, forecast“Make sure you have the best possible forecast,” Schreibfeder suggested. ”A good forecast is made up of five different elements: past sales, trends in popularity of an item, external factors such as weather and the economy, collaborative elements such as events, and the time of a forecast—today’s date less a product’s lead time.”
Write a list“Develop an approved stock list and know what your customers want you to have in stock,” said Schreibfeder. “A lot of small business owners have stock and then they have stuff, which are the things the customers don’t want or don’t expect you to have. Liquidate the stuff; it will free up space and cash.”
Stay informed“Even if you’ve had a tough time in your business, you should be going to market,” Taylor advised. “You should go to market no matter what. That is where you see new things. Even if you don’t buy anything, you can be mentally shopping and ordering for the future.”
Katie Morell is a Chicago-based freelance writer specializing in small business concerns.
Dec 20, 2010 - The holidays are in full swing and products are flying off the shelves.
But have you thought about your inventory strategies for next year?
Here are a few ways to manage your inventory in the new year:
Be careful with end-of-year purchases“The holidays are almost here, which means that unless you are looking at egregious holes in your assortment, sell what you have,” advised Ted Hurlbut, principal at Hurlbut & Associates, a business management consultancy in Foxborough, Mass. “At this point, anything that you bring in will sell in place of something you already own. Then, you will have to go through the clearance process on what you already own.
“One of the real margin killers during this time of year is bringing in last minute purchases.”
Mark down poor sellers“Identify your weak sellers and mark them down to move before Christmas, when your traffic is at its peak,” Hurlbut said. “If you wait until you take everything at 20 percent of after Christmas, you will have to take your weak sellers to 50 percent off, instead of the 20 percent off you could have done before the holiday.
“The markdown will cost you less now than it will later.”
Cycle inventory “Retailers have a tendency to fall in love with their inventory, so they keep it past the time they should,” said Peggy H. Taylor, co-owner of Progressive Profit, a retail consultancy based in Fairview, N.C. “If it doesn’t sell within 90 days, you need to get rid of it. If you’ve had something in your store for a year, chances are you will never sell it. Donate it to good will and you can write it off on your taxes.”
Use the garbage can“Identify your sludge and dispose of it,” said Hurlbut. “For example, if you have a rack filled with great clothes and one mustard yellow shirt, some customers will be turned off to the entire rack because of that shirt. Get rid of it. If you have it heavily marked down and it still isn’t moving, it has no retail value and could be dumpster fodder.
Want more financial management tips? Check these out:
- Inventory: The Crucible of Success
- How Well are You Managing Your Inventory?
- Applying the 80/20 Rule to Your Inventory
“Then, you can take a tax credit for it. By keeping it, it is poisoning everything else.”
Record everything“Make sure that all of your material is properly recorded,” said Jon Schreibfeder, president of Effective Inventory Management, Inc., an inventory management consultancy based in Coppell, Texas. “Otherwise, you will have no idea what is in your store or warehouse, which means you would be forced to overstock to maintain a high level of customer service. You also might be reordering products way too early or too late.”
Display seasonal items“Don’t pack away any seasonal items unless it can’t be prevented,” Hurlbut said. “Maximize your cash recovery now. Cash is more valuable to you now than in six or nine months. If you put something away, new things will come along and make the item not as valuable.”
Forecast, forecast, forecast“Make sure you have the best possible forecast,” Schreibfeder suggested. ”A good forecast is made up of five different elements: past sales, trends in popularity of an item, external factors such as weather and the economy, collaborative elements such as events, and the time of a forecast—today’s date less a product’s lead time.”
Write a list“Develop an approved stock list and know what your customers want you to have in stock,” said Schreibfeder. “A lot of small business owners have stock and then they have stuff, which are the things the customers don’t want or don’t expect you to have. Liquidate the stuff; it will free up space and cash.”
Stay informed“Even if you’ve had a tough time in your business, you should be going to market,” Taylor advised. “You should go to market no matter what. That is where you see new things. Even if you don’t buy anything, you can be mentally shopping and ordering for the future.”
Katie Morell is a Chicago-based freelance writer specializing in small business concerns.
