I had a couple of hours before I was to speak at the Providence, RI Convention Center one night when the client informed me there was a mall on the other side of the Westin.  That’s all I needed.

As I strolled the Providence Place Mall, I noted the abundance of very high-end prosperous retailers on three levels. I was just about done when I spotted what I thought was a cosmetics counter.

I did a double take when I saw the Benjamin Moore logo.  It was a kiosk in a high traffic part of the mall featuring small samples of Benjamin Moore paints along with design ideas.

What I particularly like about the design was how open it was and inviting.

A quick Google search found this description from Benjamin Moore about it, “The Color Station is a customer friendly and interactive mall kiosk offering this Premium Brand and its quality products in a whole new way.

Prospective candidates should demonstrate a passion and understanding of color, believe in the Benjamin Moore brand and be able to motivate our customers to choose colors and provide the confidence to complete a project. They also need to be ambassadors of the brand – advocating the retailer channel and driving their customers into our retail stores.”

This kiosk is an example of what the best brands are doing, looking for market share in unexpected places.

Others will tell you paint is now only about “value,” “discounts,” and “frugality.”

If that’s the case, then out the window are the words, “long lasting,” “easy to use,” and “quality.”  You can’t have both; we all know that.  That’s why I’ve only used Benjamin Moore for many years.

But many hardware and paint stores are not there to help you really pick out a color, but to mix one you’ve already decided on. I know, I must have 18 versions of white I had to try before finding the right one for my house.  That’s why these kiosks are so revolutionary to provide the education of their brand to entice people to think of repainting their rooms.

As a premium brand, Benjamin Moore has set a new direction for grabbing market share.  Judging from the activity around the booth, all women – some with kids, it seems to be working.

Oh yes, no “2-for-1,” “buy now and save $5.00″ and no coupons in sight.

Have you discovered premium brands in unexpected places lately? Do you think this could work for other retail brands? Please comment below.

I was speaking at the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Houston last week. After I checked in late Thursday night the front desk agent came around the counter, he personally handed me the key cards with “Welcome,” and pointed me toward the elevator.

Nice, similar to what some high-end retailers have implemented in recent years.

Once in the room, I opened the closet to grab the iron and noticed a can of spray starch. Nice, I’ve never seen that in a hotel.

I went to fill up the iron and noticed that this model let you hold the iron flat so as you filled it, you didn’t dribble the water all over the handle/ironing board. Big deal, you may be thinking.

It is a big deal when you wet the ironing board and in turn, your shirt.

I was surprised that night at how quiet the room was until I walked out the door the next morning. That’s when I realized there was a spring that stopped the door from slamming shut after you, yet it closed firmly and quietly.

I met the staff to setup; all professional and polite. Blake Ogilvie, the AV guy chatted while I sipped a Diet Coke. The hotel events manager then personally walked me down to the room I would be using later. I learned how he had been the cameraman for Anderson Cooper during Katrina. The manager still lives in New Orleans and commutes on weekends because he likes his job so well. Windows of Contact in action longtime readers!

The keynote went well and we broke for lunch. Most of the crowd had already been through the buffet line. The server Genova turned and asked if I would like some soup. “Sure,” I said. “How did your speech go this morning?” she asked. Really nice.

I had lunch with a group of dealers who were all positive and stoked, then off to a breakout meeting on the second floor. As Blake met me at the table to escort me to the room he said,
“Just one question Mr. Phibbs, don’t you need a projector for your internet marketing session?”
Yes.
“I thought so but one wasn’t ordered, I’ll just go up and take the one from your presentation this morning in the ballroom.”

As I set up my MacBook Pro, the room filled with people and we were up and running. Blake asked if I had a moment and showed me how to start the recording in case he was called away. “But I’ll be here to start so there shouldn’t be a problem, I just wanted you to know.”

We began the session to an overflowing room of standing and seated dealers. It went very well, very engaging with great sharing of ideas. I had about ten people asking questions afterward and only had a 15 minute break before I was to start the other session.”

Time slipped away and I didn’t even get a chance to get something to drink when I realized the room was again at capacity and time to start.

I turned around to start the recorder when I noticed Blake had miraculously delivered a Diet Coke and a bottle of water for me – without asking. A few seconds later he was there smiling, pressing the Record button.

Afterwards, Blake handed me the two CDs and told me that if for some reason they didn’t work, he burned a file onto his computer – just in case.

I finished and checked my voicemail, I’d wanted a massage at the spa but they were booked.

I walked around outside the hotel a bit but not much there. That’s when I spotted a huge new Hilton by the Convention Center. They had to have a spa. Sure enough they did. It was 5:10. “When do you want to come in?” Anytime tonight. “I only have one opening at 6, can you make it?” Sure.

I went back in to the Four Seasons restaurant. The host greeted me and asked, “Would you like something to read while you’re dining?” then pointed to a display of about five different papers I could read.

Well sure…

I told the server I had a 6pm massage at the Hilton. She tried to figure how long it would take her to walk to it – about 10 minutes. She understood, recommended either the fish or pasta, put the order in then got my drink. She suggested I come back for dessert and she closed the check to save time.

I got to the Hilton at 5:55 for a great massage with Travis and a facial from Evelyn, both super.

When I got back to the hotel I figured a night cap would be fine and went into their lobby bar which feels more like a comfortable den, dark but cozy. A pianist played easy tunes and the obligatory plasma TV had no sound on. It was very peaceful.

The server took my order and brought back the glass which was filled about 1/2 full of Sapphire gin and a bottle of tonic. Nice- usually you have no idea how strong a drink is – and that was strong. He came back about ten minutes later and asked if I would like a magazine to read.

I returned to my room and started to pack. When I got to the closet I noticed the dirty clothes that I had thrown on the closet floor had been put in a plastic bag by the maid.

The shuttle driver to the airport the next morning went to two Starbucks – yes Starbucks – until we found one that was open and I could get their oatmeal since there would be no food on the Southwest flight home.

In all there were about 20 things I didn’t set out to notice but did; I’m sure there were more.  If you’re looking for a great conference hotel, the Four Seasons Houston should be your choice.

The reason so many luxury brands are having such a tough time is because you can’t find any of the reasons they got a reputation for greatness.

Legendary service made Neiman Marcus, now it’s just a warehouse of very expensive items.   There isn’t one thing special – let alone a host of special things like the Four Seasons- about shopping there.  And there are plenty of other retailers trading on their former glory.

Truly great brands like Apple or Mercedes, are a sum of many co-ordinated fluid parts that shouldn’t draw attention but exceed the customers’ expectations. It’s no mystery Apple had their best quarter ever recently.

Perhaps I noticed all the little things at the Four Seasons because I travel a lot. Maybe it is because it’s an occupational hazard – I know how hard it is to make a brand. Maybe its because I’m a people person and could appreciate the vision of such a level of customer centricity and the team that made it a reality for me. It was a remarkable level of hospitality.

I’m reminded of the time a new COO was brought into a company I was working with. He told me in all candor, after seeing the culture I had been working 8 years to nurture – one of exceptional experiences – first-hand, “Bob, that’s a very high mark that I don’t think can be maintained.”

Of course a culture of exceptional experiences is hard to create, nurture and strive for.

But what’s the option? Accept defeat hiring only people who will stand in front of the counters, or be like the Best Western I saw with a sign at their free breakfast, “One piece of bread per registered guest.”

I can hear the naysayers now, “Bob, in this economy no one will pay a couple hundred dollars a night at some fancy luxury hotel – it’s just a bed.” No,a Best Western is just a bed.

Luxury is nothing but quality. It is greater than each individual part. Those who pooh-pooh such standards usually can’t imagine such a level of service so they don’t treat themselves to first class.

Also notice how Four Seasons doesn’t advertise “we put a can of spray starch in every room.”  They know the sum of the little things that you may not even notice at the time is what makes the experience exceptional.  It’s in the doing, not the saying.

And that brings me to the point of this post.

If you can’t appreciate it, if you can’t bring yourself to experience it, how will you develop the muscles you need to give it in your business?

When “settle” is your mantra, how can you possibly “exceed”?

I’m not saying you need to go to the Four Seasons, buy a Tiffany pendant or fly first class to Buenos Aires; though that may not be a bad idea. But I am saying if you only go to Wal-Mart or Costco, how do you know what great customer service even is?

When great customer service is getting a Big Mac in under 30 seconds for most of our employees, it is up to us to strive for a better way. A better way to anticipate and deliver what our customers want.

It’s not business as usual. It’s not downsizing. It’s not discounting. It is about doing better, not less.

It’s striving every day to exceed in a meaningful way – like Blake did by connecting the dots from what would a harried speaker want, to how could he deliver it, to finding it and personalizing it, to what he’d seen me drinking when we first met hours earlier.

So what do you strive for? Watching the bread or delivering the Diet Coke when no one’s watching?

Find out how to sell luxury with my  Quick Guide To Selling Luxury Goods.

Paying a sister to advertise

I recently posted about kids receiving a trophy so as not to make a distinction between “winning and losing.” I said in that post it was what was killing America.

One of the comments I received was, “I agree, how can we fix it?”  My response: with lemonade.

Lemonade Day, started by Michael Holthouse in Houston four years ago, shows youth K-12 how to become entrepreneurs. I am the Lemonade Day champion for Greene County, New York with a goal of registering 500 kids to open stands May 1.

When hundreds of thousands of kids in over thirty cities register and pickup one of the bright yellow backpacks this month, they will embark on one of the oldest methods entrepreneurs were exposed to early in life – opening their own lemonade stand.

But this isn’t about opening a Lemonade stand. Anyone can do that…

Through a series of ten lessons that include setting a goal, budgeting, site selection, advertising, opening a bank account, and giving back to charity, and others – they learn more than 40 skills they’ll need in real life.

They have to open whether it is raining or sunny. They may make enough money to pay back their investors, they may not.  If they have a partner, they have to pay them or split profits in some way. If they want their sister to wear a sign by the road (like the one in the picture,) they’ll have to pay her.

Kids will learn in life that they won’t get credit just for showing up—they get rewards for showing individual initiative and pursuing goals and dreams. They have to overcome their fears and follow a path they may never have taken, but that has great rewards.

This isn’t a project for a troop, class or club.  Entrepreneurs are individuals. It’s not trophy day. Students participating in Lemonade Day aren’t given anything but a workbook. They have to do the work to earn the money for themselves—just like in real life.

And that’s great but there’s more…

Lemonade Day’s mantra is “spend a little, save a little and give a little.” Last year kids sold 6.8 million dollars worth of lemonade were sold with the kids giving back 2 million dollars to charities of their choice.

And that’s really great but here’s why you should give a damn.

American Business. Small businesses, big businesses, non-profit businesses, you name it, have been devolving lately.

Where once they were the ones creating a world of abundance for employees, for communities, and indeed for America itself, many have become increasingly focused on, “What can be given to me?”

That gimme attitude has created a true “lack” mentality in our culture and most importantly trickled down to our youth. Just becuase they want something, they feel they should have it. Not due to hard work, to being clever or taking risks; that the answer to their golden future was in someone else’s hands.

Lemonade Day became important to me while I was chatting with a contractor’s assistant working on my house. He shared that he hoped his son could grow up and get a job at the local prison because “that’s the best job he could get.” No one ever tripped the entrepreneur switch for him, so he figures the same fate probably waits for his kid.

I was lucky. On my own I discovered entrepreneurialism…

Back in 1967 I wanted the new More of the Monkees LP which cost $2.99. I was able to find a way to get the money, by becoming an entrepreneur and getting the money. I went door-to-door selling flowers from my mom’s garden. I was 9. This was at a time when kids were encouraged to go to college and get a safe job working with a big company.

In a world where “safe” jobs are disappearing, it will be up to the individual to make a living for themselves. If we don’t turn on that entrepreneur spirit in kids, we are looking at generations of people who won’t be able to start anything.

This is not a charity mindset of giving. It is an entrepreneurial mindset to social responsibility that means teaching kids they have to be able to think on their feet and be welcoming to others.

If they spend their Lemonade Day looking at their shoes because they are shy, they’ll find out no one will buy from shy, quiet kids. Lemonade Day provides ways for them to overcome that before it becomes a life pattern.

We have contests for the best tasting lemonade, the best stand and best business plan. The prize is one iPad for the person; if two kids open a stand, there is still only one prize given. It’s not trophy day.

If we as business owners could change the mindset of kids early, they’ll learn they can be rewarded for their minds, their creativity, indeed their entrepreneurism.

There are so many kids out there planning to do nothing when they graduate. Kids turning to drugs becuase they are bored, they are uninterested, unchallenged or given a chance to change their future.

If participating in Lemonade Day sparks them to eventually go out and open a business, we’ll have succeeded. If they learn people skills, we’ll have succeeded. If they better understand costs and profits, we will have succeeded.

But if we as business owners miss the chance to show youth that making money is a good thing and takes work, not something to be vilified like in the movies and on TV, then we as a society have truly failed.

And those are some of the reasons you as a businessperson should give a damn about Lemonade Day , Sunday, May 1. Here is a list of the participating areas for 2011:

• Alamance County, NC
• Anchorage, AK
• Austin, TX
• Bakersfield, CA
• Boston, MA
• Bryan/College Station, TX
• Champaign, IL
• Denver, CO
• Detroit, MI
• Durham/Greensboro, NC
• East Hartford, CT
• Essex County, NJ
• Glendale, AZ
• Greene County, NY
• Houston, TX
• Indianapolis, IN
• Killeen/Fort Hood, TX
• Lafayette, IN - Baton Rouge
• Mankato, MN
• North Coast, CA
• Northeast OH
• San Antonio, TX
• San Francisco, CA
• Saskatchewan
• Shippensburg, PA
• South Louisiana
• - Baton Rouge
• - Lafayette
• - New Orleans
• Terre Haute, IN
• Omaha, NE
• Twin Cities, MN
• Portland, ME
• Wayne County, IN

Check out www.lemonadeday.org to find out about joining, supporting or championing your city’s Lemonade Day. You can also follow my county’s progress via our Facebook Fan page.

The following week she found out that 120 of those 652 didn’t actually graduate, they didn’t get a G.E.D.; they were able to get something that essentially said they went to school during that time. The thinking is they didn’t want those 120 students to miss out on all the festivities.

My friend was and still is incredulous. This is a continuation of what I call the “new sports.”

When I grew up in the sixties, you either won or lost a game. Simple. Now there are no winners or losers – “everyone’s a winner.”

They don’t keep score because they don’t want to make a distinction between winners and losers. They get a trophy not because they deserve it, did anything special or won the game but – you showed up – BRAVO!

Don’t notice that you didn’t win the game. There are no consequences. There’s no problem that’s your fault. But its not just in sports…

The high school administrators say parents pressure them by saying, “My kid did the work, you have to pass them.” Administrators give in because it is easier. But ignoring reality has a price; stupid kids who can’t compete in the world.

#1 doesn’t mean anything when everyone gets the same thing. When people aren’t being rewarded, they aren’t going to do everything they can do succeed.  Do you agree?

The only way for America to be competitive is to acknowledge there are winners and losers. You don’t get rewarded for bad service.   You have to do a better job with the people who come in your doors, call on your phone or click on your website.

You can’t use the economy as the reason you aren’t doing better. It would be like a quarterback missing a pass and telling the coach, “It’s the weather’s fault.”

No, it still would be the quarterback who missed the pass. The skipped practices, the distractions, everything that influenced him taking his eyes off the ball contributed, but it was up to the quarterback to make the pass. Make sense?

Nothing has changed in the past five years about how you have to do your business. What has changed is we have been beaten back into a cave with fear; everything from the price of oil and credit to corn, wheat and milk is “rocketing” to new “all-time” levels.

We seem to feed on the rotten idea that something even worse is right around the corner.

That’s not what made America great and its not what we need to turn the tide on the economy. Are you getting your share?

If not, it is time for you to fight for what you do. But you don’t get a trophy for showing up.  You’re going to have to change. Only if your eyes are on your customers, are you going to be able to survive and thrive.

Unlike many kids out there, you won’t get a trophy for showing up.

Are you willing to change to win? If not now, when?

Bob Phibbs is the Retail Doctor® an industry authority on customer service and sales, professional speaker.  Phibbs has helped hundreds of businesses in every major industry, including hospitality, manufacturing, service, restaurant and retail. Find out more about how he can help you at http://www.retaildoc.com

The  final week of the month is frosting on the cake.  By proactively deciding to grow sales you will have a better mindset and your crew will keep from feeling overwhelmed.

Here are  seven tips to grow your retail sales after Christmas:

1) Greet at counter; even if someone greeted them as they came in and you have signs everywhere saying, 20% off. When customers arrive at your counter with their recipt and a return,  greet them with something like, “Good morning. The whole store is 20% off, would you like to look around first?”

Even if customers tell you they only want another size, still mention your sale.  Look at this as an opportunity to get a second item; not to have your employee give them 20% off a return.  You can tell the customer your sale “makes their gift go farther.”

2) Tag. Make sure every return is immedately tagged.  You don’t want to lose sales because someone threw it into a big pile to “get to” at the end of the day.  Price it and get it back on the sales floor with the rest of the items quickly.

3) Knowledge. Make sure everyone knows how to do all types of returns, sale items, closeouts, layaways, checks , etc -employees and customers don’t want to wait for a manager.  Patience is gone this time of year for everyone.

4) Bend. Don’t get into it with someone doing a return against your policy. It isn’t worth the aggrevation – give them a refund if there is any way possible. Remember our goal is to BUILD sales, not antogonize customers. Battling over a $20 sale item ruins your day more than the customer’s – move on and build sales.

5) Greet at door. Greet people as soon as they come in and let them know what is on sale with, “Good morning. The whole store is 20% off.”   You want to interrupt them before they get to the counter wanting their money back. The goal is for them to, “Look around.” Even if they tell you that’s what they want, you can counter with, “We can certainly do that for you as well, we just don’t want you to have to stand in line twice.”

6) Hustle. You want to touch as many people as possible.  Now is not the time to let someone lazily size a rack or lazily hang merch. or lazily do a return.  Now is the time to actively get onto the floor and minimize those returns. If employees are too slow, customers will give up, get angry and just say, “give me my money.”

7) Grab ‘em. Get them on your mailing list so they can signup for special deals throughout the year.  If you have to, post a sign at your register like this one for one company’s “Buzz Club” e-marketing list.

Encouraging people to buy more is easy when you are already offering discounts whether on clearance or store-wide. Getting their information now will come in handy in 2011.

Good selling!

Phil Town, author of “Rule #1,” and I answered several viewer questions on franchising, adjusting prices, and advertising on MSNBC’s Your Business.

While you can watch the whole clip, here is the answer about franchising and what you should be aware of:

Bob Phibbs and Phil Town

Q. I’m interested in franchising, what are some of the steps to do that?

• Franchising can sound like a dream come true with hundreds of franchisees paying your for the concept you pioneered but first you must have a profitable business in a couple locations to prove it works and scales well. Having a single location that is successful is great, but it isn’t really proof that your system works.  Even after opening a second location in the same town, it is not proof that you could open one say in Des Moines, IA or Nashville, TN and meet with that same success. That’s because your exisiting customers in your original trade area are making you successful.
• Second, you must have developed a surefire, can’t miss,  foolproof system.  Again, its not enough that you and your crew can make it work. Could you fire your crew and train a new one using your written policies and procedures and get the same or better results? That’s the challenge – that complete strangers could understand and make your system work – and be profitable within the year.
• Third, you must have stringent standards who you’ll accept and who you won’t. Otherwise you might just take a check from whoever has the available funds, not who “gets” your concept.  That could lead to your brand being defined by low standards which could affect future sales. Believe me, I understand how appealing it would be for someone to hand over a big pile of money but you have to take the long view.  If your support center has to constantly hand-hold your franchisees to get them to comply with your systems, it will be hard to gain traction in a crowded market.
• Fourth, remember the key to successfully franchising is multi-unit operators, not a bunch of one-offs.  That way they learn with each of their own locations about what works and what doesn’t and minimize mistakes with each location. They also have more skin in the game and are more likely to be committed to their own, and by extension your, business success.

Your takeaway: franchising is not as easy as it may first seem.

Any other pointers readers have for someone considering franchising their concept successfully?

Bob Phibbs is the Retail Doctor® and author of The Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Business (Wiley.) Phibbs has helped hundreds of businesses in every major industry, including hospitality, manufacturing, service, restaurant and retail. Find out more about him at www.retaildoc.com

Instead of saying, “Where’s our handout,” where are the stories of people who realized they have to change or die?

I get there’s a lot of pain out there. I understand business for many is down. But when are you going to do something about it?

You have to radically change your business if you are not making it and want to survive.

I had lunch last week with Roger Leithead, the former CEO of Arrow shirts who told me a story about how Arrow survived the Great Depression. A bit of back-story.

The Arrow shirt concept came about in the 1800’s because men only wore white dress shirts and they all went to work in a suit. Even the blacksmith would work in that white shirt. Well this one guy was a singer and his wife didn’t like him coming home and changing into a clean shirt just to go out – especially since they only bathed on Saturday nights.  The idea of a detachable collar and cuffs made it easy to look presentable without all that washing.

This is the way Arrow built an empire of over 450 warehouses across the US filled with detachable collars and cuffs. It was a recipe for success: find out what the customer wanted and then give it to them.

A competitor, the Manhattan shirt company, had a shirt you could buy with an attached collar and cuffs but it was built like a tent with yards of fabric to tuck in. Also, the sleeve length was a 37.  That’s why guys wore armbands, so their sleeves wouldn’t reach over their fingers – like you see in barbershop quartets. At the time that was based on need, not looks.

Sales were dropping off and the Arrow CEO saw the trend was changing to a complete shirt.  He announced to his board of directors in 1930, “We will never get there doing what we’re doing now.”   That’s when something truly remarkable happened.

He went downstairs and gave instructions to open the doors of their main warehouse on River Street in Troy, New York, which bordered on the Hudson River. “Clear out the warehouse.” Using pitchforks, the warehouse men threw all of the existing collars and cuffs into the river.

Forget the environmental consequences of such an act of over 1 million dozen collars and cuffs floating down the Hudson. He threw out their entire inventory in order to make the changes needed.

They came up with 64 combinations of neck and sleeve lengths so that Arrow shirt fit you properly, not like a sack. They changed from natural ocean pearl buttons that broke easily, to plastic and invented Sanfordizing, which meant a shirt wouldn’t shrink. They again became the leader in men’s shirts because of the CEO realizing they had to change or die.

You think it’s tough to compete now? Imagine going into a retailer in the Depression telling them they needed all this inventory to serve their customers; where three models could capture the market, now they needed 64.

The CEO then had marketing come up with the “Arrow Shirt Man.”  Splashy ads in the best magazines touted how well an Arrow shirt fit.  It created a need for the women who purchased their husbands’ shirts to go into retailers and ask for that “Arrow Shirt.”  Retailers had no choice but to carry them and the rest is history.

When I speak across the country I hear many people quick to tell the story of how business is off, but they themselves are reluctant to change.  It might be like going to the emphysema ward of a hospital seeing people smoking while they’re under their oxygen tents.  The will to change can seem too much even when what you’re doing is killing you.

If things aren’t going your way, what radical change do you need to do to ensure your success?  Are things bad enough to change? Do you have the guts to throw out what you’ve been doing and start over?

Many businesses didn’t make a profit in the past when the money was easy – don’t blame the banks, Obama or someone else. It is your responsibility to make a profit. If you can’t, that’s capitalism.

And no, there is no level playing field – Wal-Mart will always be able to undercut your price, Starbucks will always be able to get a better location, etc.

My message to small businesses today? It’s not whine and cry but change or die. The choice is yours, but the time to act is now!

Learn the essentials of getting a retail business back in shape here

Last week, Office Depot launched a search for the nation’s best and smartest small businesses. The “Office Depot Adopt a Small Business Contest” will recognize 500 small businesses, awarding them each with a $1,300 Office Depot Gift Card, tech support for a year from Office Depot’s Tech Depot Services, and copy, print, and ship services from Office Depot’s Design, Print, and Ship center. Total prize value is over $2,000.  This could save the winner enough for a vacation!

To enter, you can upload an original two-minute video that outlines the smart things your company is doing to survive these difficult times. Visit the site for official rules and regulations; here’s the link http://www.thesurvivalofthesmartest.com/#/contest.

To win,  you brag about how smart you are coping with the recession.  How about how you are scheduling better? How about the way you are managing your buying needs based on input you receive from your Facebook fan page, Twitter feed or email contest? How about the way you are using stealth ways to get by the gatekeepers at larger businesses to get your message to employees?  New ways you have altered hours to react to customer demand changes? There are thousands of things readers of this blog like you are doing! Just share it with us!

How to do it? Low tech you can use the Flip camera available just about anywhere to quickly video, import into your Mac or PC and edit with the included software.

Want to do it high tech? Use HD Sony cameras to import into iMovie and use Title cards, annotations and music.  Either is fine -you just have to do it!

Oh and if you’re thinking, “A competitor will steal my idea,” get over yourself.  Even if a competitor learns of an idea, less than 10% will ever do it. You’re more likely have to have A-Rod walk in the door before that happens.

What I like about this contest my buddy Steve Strauss alerted me to is that it is what is RIGHT with American businesses! We hear of so many dumb things a few people do but not the innovations and smart things 90% of businesses do on a day-to-day basis.  Now’s your time! It doesn’t have to be major, just “smart.”  If you’d like to send to me it first, I’d be glad to give you any helpful feedback, just send me an email.

The prize is great but the experience of creating a two-minute video is one of the best byproducts to get you comfortable with trying new technology.  Tomorrow I’ll cover YouTube so stay tuned and get shooting!

How to use all your tools to gain market share.

I spotted the CVS with their automatic doors open wide at 8am with their stated hours being 10am-10pm. Were they really open? I walked in.

Now I have to tell you, retail clutter is so prevalent in most CVS stores and their ilk that I usually dislike the experience. From the moment I walked in, this one was different. I could move. There was space. Heck, they even displayed things well.

I moved back to the aisle cleverly signed “Foot” to find Tinactin locked up like it was an expensive digital camera with the words I hate in retail, “Please ask for assistance.” I went back to the counter where Jorge was, “Can you open the Tinactin display for me?” He pleasantly said, “I’ll be right there.”

Shortly we were back and he was unlocking it. I asked, “Do these have a way of disappearing?” He answered, “Yes sir, we stocked it one day and it was stripped in the same day.  They took all the products out of their boxes and left the boxes.”

Wow!  Looking through the store you could see pride of ownership, even in a high theft market.  There was the furniture display that included a host of add-ons including traveling beach chairs, pads, towels and chips.

There was the end cap for Bounty paper towels with cleaner, a bag for holding the cleaner and  disinfectant spray.

Every aisle was well merchandised with plenty of space for the retail displays to make customers pause and consider the picture. Brilliant.

In the cosmetic aisle where you can hardly move in many convenience stores because they are so loaded with product, this store had a simple table with one manufacturer’s sun care products in different heights with coordinated gift bags. Very smart.

Consider the difference between this store in Huntington Beach, CA and the one in Hudson, NY for Lindt chocolates.  On the left is the one in Huntington Beach which features cards, Korbel champagne and  Lindt chocolate.

HB CVS

And this one on the right, same display unit in Hudson low on product with competitors cheaper products at the bottom and beef jerky taped to the side.

Hudson

Which one do you think sells more product?  This is always the dilemma for manufacturers displays – you put this great unit out there but what does it end up looking like in the field? Not to worry in Huntington Beach CVS – these guys and gals should be promoted as great ambassadors for your brand.

The care employees take with you merchandise during a recession can really make a difference in your sales.

Wanna learn more about merchandising your store?

It talks about the long road McDonald’s has taken since 2002 to achieve profitable success. Ad campaigns focusing on the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder with cheese and chicken nuggets have stimulated demand for the items, making the quickservice chain less reliant on its lower-margin Dollar Menu items. “In the last eight months, we have placed greater emphasis on flagship-quality products,” McDonald’s USA Chief Marketing Officer Neil Golden said.

In essence they have suspended promoting the dollar menu while their competitors have carried on making up to 15% of Wendy’s sales (down from 20%) while McDonald’s Dollar Menu accounting for only 10% of overall sales. This means competitors are driving down profits and their ability to compete with the very giant who started the concept.

For retailers, we often believe the “loss leader” will increase volume but for many, particularly those without a sales training program, it erodes margins.

Just because the other guy is discounting either the hot new swimsuit or the leftover Webkinz, doesn’t mean you should join them.  Look at your market.

If McDonald’s can change and only promote their high profit items during an economic recovery, why can’t you?