MEETINGSStart a Book Club
Staff meetings can become rote and perfunctory. Want a way to shake them up and cultivate new ideas? Make one meeting a month a “book club.” Each month, assign staff a customer service-oriented business book to read and then meet to discuss the finer points.
OWNERSHIPBe Prepared to Walk
Are you considering selling your business? After helping almost 100 owners sell their businesses, consultant Stephen Semple of Business Growth Guys says he has one core piece of advice for owners looking to sell: Keep running your business like you are still planning to own it for the next 20 years. Buyers will often try to low-ball you at the very last minute, knowing full well that owners have often already sold the company in their heart. “The champagne is on ice and the owner is not emotionally capable of walking away from the closing table. To fight this, the seller has to remain ready to walk. Walking away is the only power the seller has,” Semple says.
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INVENTORYSeek Balance
Run a quick check to make sure your inventory is balanced. Calculate sales percentage by category of total store sales, then calculate inventory percentage by category of total store inventory to see if they align. Meaning, if vape products are 10 percent of total sales but make up 33 percent of your total inventory, you need to reduce your vape inventory to bring it in line with its sales contribution to total sales.
SELLINGAs Easy as 3-2-1
This exercise can help you drive sales action during slower periods of the year. It’s called 3-2-1 selling. Here’s how it works—3: Hand out three business cards a day outside of your store’s confines. 2: Have staff show their favorite product line to customers two times a day. 1: Try for one add-on sale a day. When you and your budtenders turn these actions into habits, you should see sales rise and your customer base grow.
MANAGEMENTKnow When To Get Out Of The Way
There are times when the best staff management is none at all. Stanford business professor Bob Sutton writes on LinkedIn that a common problem with business meetings is “group think,” a premature consensus where everyone agrees on a plan before potentially more innovative solutions have a chance to surface. A key contributor to group think can be the presence of the boss, whose suggestions will frame the debate and stifle contributions from the team. Let some meetings happen without your presence to foster a more unguarded discussion.
SECURITYPropose a Video Meeting
If you have suspicions about an online customer’s order, ask them to join you on Zoom, Skype or FaceTime. “Scammers will not do video chats,” says Mark Fenton, an online private investigator. The former Vancouver, BC detective credits much of the work he gets these days to “user idiocy.” Don’t be that person.
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PRODUCTIVITYGet It Done
M.I.T. Nope, it’s not the fancy college in Massachusetts. It stands for “Most Important Task.” At the start of the workday, determine the most important task that you have to do and—this is key—do it first. Don’t clear out your email, don’t check Twitter, do your M.I.T. “Get it out of the way and the rest of the day is gravy,” says Leo Babauta, founder of the Zen Habits blog.
MARKETINGRecruit Customer Reviewers
Not all customer reviews are created equal. Some 83 percent of consumers say reviews they see must be recent and relevant to influence their shopping decisions. Ideally, you want reviews that have been posted within the last week. But how to achieve that? Hayley Sonntag, a marketing specialist at review management site Podium, says to send out customers a text with a link asking for a review while they are still in the store. “They’re happy in that moment. Once they walk out, it’s hard to remember to do it.”
