‘It’s not a lot of fun. I’ve accrued a lot of parking tickets,’ she said.’It’s not a real business-friendly town. I was hoping they could at least issue a permit for us or something. I’d be happy to pay it.’”

What was most interesting to me was that she didn’t see that she was taking parking from her own customers.  Any mall has designated employee parking away from doors.  They know customers don’t like to have to walk.

Downtown businesses – before complaining about parking and that the “city should do something about it,” consider how you and your own employees might be making all of it worse.  When you signed your lease the parking was the same so don’t blame the city, blame selfish owners wanting special treatment when that is what they should be providing to their customers.

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At the same time comes news from the WSJ and others that the government is going to offer appliance rebates.  The government will take the markdown so the manufacturer maintains their profits. Here are the details in a nutshell.

“Beginning late this fall, federal rebates will be available for purchasers of high-efficiency household appliances, furnaces and air-conditioning systems. Congress authorized $300 million for the program earlier this year as part of the federal economic-stimulus bill. After seeing the recent surge in new-car orders attributed to the federally funded cash for clunkers program, appliance industry executives are hoping to lure consumers back into appliance store showrooms with rebates that are expected to reach $200 on some types of appliances.

‘It’s a good way for the consumer to get back into the marketplace,’ said J.B. Hoyt, director of governmental relations for Whirlpool Corp., the world’s largest producer of household appliances by revenue. ‘Clearly, anything that boosts business is good for us.’

What’s next? Cash for Clippers to help the hair salon business? Cash for Killers for the pest control business? Cash for Kickers to help soccer retailers?

When I was in seventh grade, I sold holiday greeting cards door-to-door in the hot Toledo, Ohio summer.  Prices were fixed and a customer got a discount if they ordered more than 3 boxes.  I also sold candy for school.  If I gave a discount, or ate any as the case may be, it came out of my pocket.  That’s basic capitalism. Cause and effect.

With appliance manufacturers looking for a handout to move their machines, there is nothing out of their pocket – its someone else’s money.  Same with the CEO’s of the companies running big discounts still, it’s not their money really.

For the mom and pop retailer, any discount IS their money, their livelihood, their mortgage payment.

We have gotten so bad at selling anything that we can’t sell anything without a “deal.”  That cripples our economy. People mark things down to make the sale, not make a living.

I’m hosting an intensive selling workshop in Chicago Monday, Sept. 21 for anyone looking to sell more of their products or services.  Full details are here. Sales training is the magic bullet to growing your sales, not discounts.  I have the track record to prove it in any economy.

Consumer sentiment is up – are you ready to sell the merch or continue sitting there looking for a pathetic handout like Whirlpool?

You won’t be able to use the excuse  its “the economy” any longer. Change or die my friends. Take my challenge and meet me in Chicago next month.

Tomorrow, the legacy of Sears sales training…

© Bob Phibbs 2009

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I told her, “Stop saying that. You are making it a reality.” We tried again and again but to no avail. She was frustrated. I was frustrated. I said to her the old adage, ” The person who says “I can’t” and the person that says, “I can,” are both right.

The next day she said to the rest of the group during a role-play, “Yesterday I learned the difference between ‘I can’ and ‘I won’t.’”

That’s it for all of us isn’t it?

Attitude about change, customers, – anything – is black and white. Yes one could say, “That’s the glass half-full vs. the glass half-empty.” But it goes deeper than that.

I used to work with Marty Cox at It’s A Grind Coffee and a store owner was telling him about the horrible experience he had at Starbucks. Marty’s response was, “I think you get the experience you’re looking for.” You expect the competition is lousy – you’re right. That blinds us from looking at our own business objectively.

And why do we do this? To build ourselves up. Visit the website www.retail-sucks.com and you’ll find plenty of anonymous victims sharing how their endless days are someone else’s fault.

You think customers are rude, arrogant and nasty when you go to work in your store and guess what you find? Customers are rude, arrogant and nasty. Think customers are all cheap, looking to haggle and find a discount? Yours are.

But think you’re going to find people who will want to talk to you, to share their experiences in a new way, that work can be fun and guess what? You find them.

Think of a time when everyone just “bought” from you. Weren’t those days great? Think it was all coincidence? No, people pick up on your attitude. You brought success to yourself.

Now if you think and say to yourself (and others) “No ones’ buying,” guess what happens? Self-fulfilling prophecy, no one’s buying from you.

But it’s hard isn’t it? Sometimes we really do feel that way. How to handle it?

My friend Ian Percy shared his suggestion: “Every morning take five minutes before the doors open to have everyone (managers and staff) meet and talk about wonderful expectations for the day. How terrific customers eager to buy will soon enter the store and what a privilege it will be to serve them. You could even set an expectation for dollar sales that day. Just five minutes is all it takes to tell the Universe what kind of day you’d like to have.

Now as you read that suggestion, what was your honest reaction? 98% will have had a negative reaction: ‘That’s stupid and naive.’ ‘Staff won’t show up 5 minutes early.’ ‘Waste of time.’ Guess what? You’ll be right. And I rest my case.”

Many people made fun of The Secret when it hit big a couple years ago. Why? It was intimidating to think we could control our destiny just by choosing to think better.

What do you think Tiger Woods says to himself on a key putt, “I hope I don’t blow this” or “I can do it”? Confidence in sales and in life is a choice. Is there something magical to choose how you will look at the world? Yes.

If you wanted to be beaten down by your job, the economy, or fear, give into it and focus on it.  You want to stay the same – stuck? Tell people, “I can’t.” Just remember it is a choice of what your attitude and thoughts are about the situation.

But if you want to have a good partner, children, business, employee, choose to find one thing about each that is a positive before seeing them.

The battle for sales in 2009 isn’t for more customers; it’s between our own ears. To stop the madness we need to understand the difference between “I can” and “I won’t,” is ours.

Learn how to kick start your business from the Retail Doctor

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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

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I was listening to one of the announcers who said that typically, the team that gets a hit usually wins the game.  It does something for confidence for the team.  You can see it when the the next up gets on base. Success builds success.

That’s why, when I worked the retail floor many years ago, I was the first one to make a sale.  I had to prove it to myself each day that I could do it.

That’s my short post for you today – to challenge you to make the first sale of the day.  Not greet the first customer but make the first sale.

Maybe that means you have to wait on several people until you make it but the lesson and example to your crew is better than any book they could read, video they could watch or podcast they could listen to.

Seeing you being a success makes it much harder to stand behind a counter and groan, “no one’s buying.”

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Next, I kept seeing tweets containing the words “swine flu” on Twitter, then the major news sites, and finally TV. This deadly killer was engulfing Mexico – spreading like wildfire – the mother of all killers – like the great flu pandemic.  A London paper lead with a headline that it could kill up to 120m people. The hysteria seemed to grow by the minute.

Just before I got on a plane last Wednesday, I witnessed four young women exiting the previous flight from Washington wearing  face masks.  We were yet again being yanked by the media.

Hysteria. Panic. Fear.

I understand those topics cause people to tune in, click or chat. But I’m mad. Mad that our mindsets are being so susceptible to this crap. Retailers putting up sanitizing solution at all counters, people hawking surgical masks, entire school districts closing.

Ever since 9/11, the news media has engorged on “what if” and “worse since” descriptions. First it was terrorists, then Wall St, credit markets, home sales, jobs, now public health.

What bothers me so much about this may be personal. I grew up the son of a white civil rights leader; a lone voice for justice.  My dad marched with King, organized marches and helped draw up integration laws.

It felt during the 60′s that my white dad cared more for blacks than he did for his own sons. “The cause” was a fourth brother in the room. And the favorite at that.

The future was dark for him but for very real reasons.  He had aroused the ire of the John Birch society and others trying to block equality for all.

One day, I picked up the mail to find a postcard written in red ink to “take your nigger-lover family back south or die.”

I’m working on a biography of those days called, “I Have A Scream” sharing my journey to understanding, but the overriding thing I learned from my dad was fear. Someone truly could kill us; it wasn’t a “what if.” We had the threats on the phone, in person, in the mail.

As a result, I grew up fearing the world. I walked with my head down towards the sidewalk. I was quiet. Strangers wanted to harm us. Possibilities and hope were something foreign to me.

And while an event happened in my life where I realized the future was indeed bright, it took many years to try and undo the damage of all that fear.  I cover the event in the book but that’s not the point of this post.

Every time I see the “well-meaning” coverage saying, “there’s something even worse, still to come,” it brings me back to my childhood. And I get mad.

How many kids, teenagers and adults are feeding on this news and fearing the future like I did?  Not from a real threat or evidence it is personally affecting them, but it is from people hypothesizing death that is making them afraid.  Afraid of the future.  Afraid of possibilities. Afraid of life.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Sure your grandmother can have alzheimer’s, your sister can be a drug addict, your daughter can be in a messy divorce. But you are counting on you to keep it together. You can’t afford the luxury of staying trapped like some sheep in a pen.

Recently we discovered that swine flu is really just the flu.  Oh and Mexico isn’t as bad as they hyped this past week. Read the Saturday NYT article by Liz Robbins entitled, Outbreak in Mexico May Be Smaller Than Feared.

We cannot give power over our future to fear.  Otherwise, we end up looking to our feet instead of the stars.

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