Why I love the indies

A quote from today’s AMIBA newsletter:
“When Sandy hit, none of the chain stores were open for over a week. Only the local bodegas (and bars/restaurants) were open to serve the community that was much in need. They used flashlights to guide customers through the aisles, generators brought in from their own homes, and drove hours to other boroughs to bring back ice. They extended credit to their customers and other local establishments as ATM and credit card machines didn’t work. They offered free hot drinks since it was freezing. These are just recent examples of the service bodegas provide the community which cannot be replicated by chains.”

This is one example of why I love the indies.

Spending money to look bad

Today is June 1; National Donut Day. This is a natural and easy to promote event for anyone in the industry. Walking into a Dunkin Donut, I observe a customer in an agitated discussion with a counter person who is trying to explain how the ‘Any drink free with purchase of donuts’ sign can exclude the soft drink he has selected.

After losing his point, he has his son pose for a photo – holding his Pepsi and a donut with the sign in the background. The picture, and comments are headed for Facebook.

The next customer asks for maple donuts. This counter person has to ask the customer to help them find the maple donuts on the rack. The counter person has not worked there only a short time.

It amazes me how little effort businesses put into education; how an incorrect sign and a dollar is allowed to be the cause for losing a customer.

More amazing is how often I have to watch this bad customer service.

This ain’t no Southern thing – why ‘training’ is wrong

‘Good morning’ came from about six of the nine people working in this small Southern diner. And then all nine stood there as I sat on a stool to order breakfast. The person whose job it was to take care of patrons at the bar was waiting on someone else.

The other eight, having no customers to wait on, simply stood there and watched. After all, they had said ‘Good morning’ as they were likely taught by the manager. (That’s the manager who was likely told by his district manager to have the employees say ‘Good morning’ to everyone entering the diner.)

This very situation happens in many businesses. It is an indication of ‘training’ a person to do something as compared to educating them.
Training consists of telling the person what to do. Educating is having the person understand what you desire as an end result.

Are you training or educating your employees?

Newspapers or Facebook – no contest in this community

This is a note I received this morning from Rob Edwards. Any questions?

If you are also reviewing your year-end expenses like me, I offer this lesson learned: I gambled and spent $20,000 LESS on print advertising in our regional newspapers to promote our special events AND saw attendance at these events increase of last year … thanks to Facebook and aggressive collection of emails and use of Constant Contact targeted emails. Patch.com has helped too. The only print ads we did were in micro-newsletters to targeted groups like elementary schools announcing our holiday events. For $250 we had access to the parents of 20,000 kids which yielded the highest ever attendance at our December tree-lighting ceremony. Thought I’d share that just in case your boards are still addicted to print ads in newspapers. But keep in mind we are in Silicon Valley.
Rob Edwards

Defining an Independent Retailer

Traveling between my two home towns, you pass through communities that can be defined as small, smaller, and very tiny. Within these communities you will see signs of those who believe in their community; not just by their words, but by their actions and their money.

Not unique to these small communities, these believers can be found in large cities and mid-size cities; these believers will step into action anywhere there is a number of people who are looking for something. In a community or neighborhood, you will find these individuals and the results of their efforts.

These are the people who have opened a small business. This person, who has chosen to open that small business, is saying to their community, “I see a need and am going to help. I will create that business, take the gamble, and help my community.”

The business may be a pharmacy, a hardware store, grocery store, auto parts store; one that sells clothes, shoes, toys, bicycles, lamps or any number of items that people use. The business could be a hairdresser or the person that cuts the grass or landscapes your lawn as the independent retailer takes on many shapes and sizes.

The business they chose to create will be unique as the products and services they offer are tailored to the wants and needs of those that live in the area. The owner of this business will ask the residents what they are looking for and how that business can make the lives of customers more enjoyable. The business is likely to change as the community changes as well as when the residents develop new wants and needs. The owner of the business is easily adaptive to the community because that business owner lives in the community.

The person owning that small business is also going to be active in their community by participating in the merchants association. This person will be among the first to join in any effort that makes the community better for those that chose to live there. It may be creating a park, supporting a youth sports team, doing something for the children attending the local schools, or helping a local house of worship; this person will be there to support and help their community. Their investment in the community goes far beyond the business they have opened.

The independent retailer is a cheerleader for the community. This person can find the good in everything; they are proud of, and a proud member of their community.

Another word for ‘belief’ is ‘gamble’, for opening this business is truly a gamble. There is never a guarantee that the new business in the community will succeed. The owner expresses their belief by taking their personal money and investing in the creation of the business. The money may come from what has been saved over the years; the money may come from mortgaging or selling their home to make this investment in the community. It is an investment that says, ‘I believe in this community’.

Unlike those that have jobs working for a business, these people have no guarantee; no promise of a paycheck at the end of the week. They are doing what they do because they want to help their community. They do it because they are very talented individuals that have a strong sense of being an entrepreneur to their endeavor. Owning the business is a challenge they thrive on. You can see the enjoyment of the challenge in the smile they greet their customers with as the customer comes into the business.  You can hear the excitement of their business in their voice as they visit with the customer.

Doing business with this independent retailer is sheer enjoyment because that retailer truly appreciates and enjoys their customers; their neighbors.

As consumers within a community, there is no responsibility to shop with a locally owned business. It is not ‘the duty’ of residents to support the business. Instead, the locally owned business works hard to invite individuals to visit the store; to be greeted and waited on by their fellow residents.

This shopping experience will be one that is unique to each locally owned business – you won’t find the same products, services, staff, or atmosphere in any other business. It will be like walking through a forest and listening to all the birds that live there. What a dull world it would be if all the birds sang the same song!

This is what the independent retailer brings to the community.

Tom Shay observes a sharp store manager

The July e-ret@iler conference call is going to discuss how some businesses pay attention to details of their customers to get them to come back. While this falls in a slightly different category, notice how this manager of a beverage store in Minnesota has done some many small and easy-to-do things to impress his customers; to help his customers; and garner additional sales.

Summer Tips

The heat is here and that means people get thirsty.

Here some tips I have learned over the years.

* Keep the facility and comfortable. You want to keep them in the store shopping as long as you can.  If it’s hot out and they walk into a place that’s an oven the customer may conceive the idea that the beer is also not that cold.

* Plan ahead with your beer cooler so you are not hauling warm beer into the cooler and sending it directly down the rail.

* Ask your vendors for the waterproof bins that go by the front counter to hold iced down single serve refreshing summer cocktails. Your ice vendor will usually cover the cost of the ice.

* Have signs offering ice with the purchase and have your cashiers get into the habit of offering the ice with every sale.

* Plan sampling around busy summer times. The heat make people thirsty and they will be more willing to try something. If they taste a sample the chances they will buy it go way up.

*Offer carry outs for people whenever you can. Customers will appreciate they extra effort when the weather is sultry.

* Offer a selection of wines already chilled that go well in summer, like sauvignon blancs and pinot grigios.

* Also consider premixed drinks in the cooler like mudslide, long island teas and strawberry margaritas.

* During humid times, cooler doors like to fog up and drip. Check with a cooler vendor they can offer solutions to avoid this issue.

* Try to arrange an area in your parking lot for campers and boats trailers to have easy entrance and exit.

* Offer items on your sale flyer that work well in the heat.  You may not want to offer brandy, big cabernets and Russian imperial stouts this time of year.

I hope these ideas help with the busy selling season.

Stay cool and refreshed!!

Tom Agnes, MMBA President

Done right by Tom Shay

Readers of this blog know I experience plenty of businesses with bad service. I like to tell of the good; it just doesn’t happen that often. Today it did.

I called Burns Florist in my hometown of Fort Smith Arkansas. I was ordering flowers for the funeral of my great uncle, Van Brown who was the oldest living letterman for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

The staff asked questions about him and our family. As I explained of Uncle Van, this fellow Razorback said she would be honored to take care of my requests. Her closing words were, “We will take care of him as if he were one of our own”.

Wow! Just remembering our conversation brings the tears back to my eyes. Some people just sell products and services; the good ones affect our lives.

What do you do?