A Friday note from someone who’s been where you are. Every Friday morning since August 2021 — a story from the shop floor, and a point you can actually use.
“The cost of acquiring a new customer is five times the cost of keeping a current one.” — Philip Kotler It’s that time of year when more customers than usual are walking through your door! What a mixed blessing. You want them to come in and shop – and you’re also exhausted. So first let’s…
“Look with a discerning eye.See what’s worthy of emulation and what’s not.Borrow and blend it with what you already know, andsomething better will emerge.” — AmyFay People carry themselves in different ways. Posture that’s remarkable is usually extremely good or extremely bad. What if you intentionally look at everyone’s posture with a discerning eye –…
All of your store’s systems ought to point to profitability. A plain-English look at GMROI (Gross Margin Return on Inventory Investment) and the levers that raise it.
“There’s not one specific thing or skill people have to have to work for us. But I can tell you why we fire people: soft skills. We hire for hard skills. We fire for soft skills. The ability to interact and communicate with others or behave ethically and take responsibility for things tends to be…
“What we present first changes the way people experience what we present to them next.” — Robert Cialdini To say this has been a year of price changes would be an understatement. It’s been a roller coaster ride with tariffs changing the cost of doing business across the world. How do you navigate communicating those…
“Prune the branches that no longer belong to the future.” — Dr. Joe Dispenza Crape myrtles are pretty, aren’t they? It’s interesting to watch different neighbors of ours employ different strategies with their care. In late winter, some chop them down to their trunks, some prune and some just let them grow. I got to…
“Art is what happens when a human does something original and generous that might not work. It has little to do with paint.” — Seth Godin Merchandising is art. One can take any products and merchandise them – just like taking any paint and putting it on a canvas. What the merchandiser freely creates with…
“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” — Hans Hofmann I was in a store this week with one of you – I know she is reading!😊 Beyond just being really fun in general, we did talk “shop.” Her store is stocked. I mean stocked. And if…
“The key to high performance is managing energy, not time.” — Jim Loehr Before I joined Tango in 2021, I was a buyer for a local group of stores. As we grew – I realized I had to get better at managing myself. My time. My energy. I was managing 80-100 lines for up to…
“If I had to single out one element in my life that has made a difference for me, it would be a passion to compete.” — Sam Walton Here’s a toughie for me. It happens a lot. A retailer orders a line. The best selling item(s) sells out quickly. The retailer’s mindset is “let more…