Target Your Product To A Growing Customer Base Teens represent one of fastest-growing segments of consumer population, registering a growth of 16.6% between 1990 and 2000. Teens also wield significant buying power - both in their own right and in context of their family purchasing decisions. Recent studies have shown that teenagers age 15 to 19 spend as much as $100 per week, much of it on clothing and accessories. That's why this expanding segment of buying public is increasingly being targeted by smart marketers like Old Navy, The Gap, The Buckle, Pac Sun, and many others. As old business saw goes, "Sniff for money, then follow your nose."

Provide Great Customer Service I've preached this sermon before. Know what your customer expects and always over-deliver. Cater to their whims. Ask their name and use it with respect. Make them feel like your friend, not your meal ticket. Make their experience a good one and they will return.

Good Employees Make All The Difference Hire enthusiastic people and train them well. The manager of this store, who looked sixteen but privately professed to be twenty-six, was one of best salesmen I have ever seen. He dressed like his customers. He spoke their language. He knew their likes and dislikes. He was well-versed on fashion trends. He pointed out things that might be of interest to them and immediately agreed with whatever their opinion was.

"You'd look great in this shirt," he told a giggling gaggle of girls. It didn't seem to matter that he wasn't speaking to any one of them in particular. They all giggled some more and trotted off to fitting rooms to try on shirts. You could almost hear cash register ring.

Upsell, Upsell, Upsell Millions of dollars have been made by asking one simple question: Do you want fries with that?" When it came time to checkout young manager went into upsell mode by saying things like, "That's a great shirt you're buying… we have a really cool pair of shorts to match that! These earrings are on sale. They would look awesome with that necklace you're wearing!"

My daughter giggled and blushed with each compliment - slash - sales pitch and if I had not been one holding credit card, she would have bought everything he was selling.

During ride home Chelsea made defining comment of day.

"What a great store! I bet they sell a lot more stuff because of that cute sales guy!"

Business wisdom from mouths of babes. I should've had sons.

Here's to your success!

Tim Knox Tim@smallbusinessqa.com

Naturally you will want a clean, comfortable room. Since you are on business, you should also look for other things such as an internet connection. More hotels nowadays are offering this facility but you should check what is available and how much it will cost. It's no fun arriving at a hotel only to find that only broadband hotspot is already packed with other business travellers. Whilst it is possible to use latest mobile phones to get an internet connection, they charge by Mb and this can start to get expensive very quickly.

At end of day, it's probably your business department's choice what budget you have for overnight travel costs. Of course, if you're on a tight budget like an increasing number of cost conscious business travellers nowadays, you may not have too much of a choice of where to stay. But with very few exceptions there are almost always acceptable places to stay when you are travelling on business.