WHAT TO DO IF YOUR RETAIL BUSINESS IS IN TROUBLEWritten by James A. Nannen
January 2002SMARTRETAILERS.com RETAIL E-TIP OF THE MONTH: WHAT TO DO IF YOUR RETAIL BUSINESS IS IN TROUBLE A prelude: For those of you who are into Internet and know something about search engines and search results and for those of you who are not, and before I get into this month’s tip, I wanted to show you something that makes me feel and look pretty good. Log on to one of following search engines: Yahoo, AOL, Altavista, Hotbot, Directhit and at least 10 others that account for 75% of all searches on Internet and do a search for any of following terms: retail advice, retail consultants, books on retail, retailing and dozens of other pertinent and similar search terms. Guess who comes up at top, in some cases out-placing millions of other listings on Internet? I’m not going to tell you. You either must look or settle for a guess. Hey, if you haven’t bought my book $MART RETAILER$ RETIRE RICH! yet, what are you waiting for? It could help make you hundreds of thousands of dollars. Seriously. Turn over a new leaf this New Year. Get serious about your business. Get THE book on RETAILING for serious RETAILERS at http://www.smartretailers.com. I’m telling you there’s a reason IT’S EVERYWHERE ON THE INTERNET. Now for my January 2002 Tip. Not to scare you, but this information should be interesting even if you are perfect retailer, have been in business for 40 years and have everything running as smoothly as you could imagine or hope for. My topic this month is one that not enough people plan for, must be considered yet is seldom discussed. What should you do if you are ever confronted with a time when your business is not doing well enough? When you are so close to breakeven expenses that you are facing a cash crunch and having difficulty paying your bills on time? I said what should you do “if,” but it is more likely that I should say what should you do “when” you find yourself in a difficult financial position. It happens to best. Few are those that have never been in that position before. Don’t despair. From my experience there are a myriad of things you can do when confronted with this situation. Let’s look at some ideas one at a time. 1.First, when someone quits don’t rehire. I know what you’re thinking. You can’t do without that person. If you didn’t need him or her you wouldn’t have hired him in first place. Right? Well guess what? You don’t have cash to pay that person, or if that is one of expenses you choose to pay then something else will go unpaid. So get over it. One $15,000 per year sales person represents $40,000 in sales for most of you to cover salary. That’s $800 a week in sales that you can place directly into your company checking account…$320 or so in profits not spent at 40% GP. Big bucks when things are not going well. 2.Work longer hours yourself. Well, if you have someone quit you may quite possibly be forced to work longer hours, but even if your staff remains same I’ll bet you $100 that if you spend more time in your store on sales floor that you will see positive results. Customers love to see owners of retail stores when they shop. It’s good for your business for you to be on sales floor.
| | Thinking About A Public Relations Career?Written by Robert A. Kelly
Without a solid, well-designed foundation, few buildings successfully withstand ravages of time and weather. And so it is with public relations, ever-dependent upon how well its practitioners understand discipline.Yet, some public relations people manage to go through their entire career without a firm grasp of what public relations is all about. Their response to crises, or to requests for well thought-out solutions to public relations problems, reveals a serious lack of understanding. They confuse basic function of public relations with any number of tactical parts that make up whole, such as publicity, crisis management or employee relations. Understandably, they feel unsure in approaching public relations problems, then uncertain about what counsel to give their clients. Many, relying on career-long miscon- ceptions about public relations, forge ahead anyway advising client ineffectively sometimes with damaging, if not dangerous counsel. If you undertake a public relations career, you can take steps to avoid this sad waste of your talent by discussing public relations’ strategic role in any organization with professionals whom you respect. But do it early, do it seriously, and do it now so that you create that solid foundation of understanding about this business that will help you make a meaningful contribution to field of public relations for many years to come. My core belief about basic function of public relations has allowed me to feel right over years about my assessment of public relations problems and opportunities and about counsel I give client. It also provides tools I need to defend that advice if necessary.
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