How a field trip can improve your retail or restaurant business!

Market to the Level of Fear

Depending on where you are in the country, people are still experiencing high levels of fear and trepidation about going to stores, gyms, restaurants and salons. While you may feel comfortable about your safety standards and ability to keep customers safe, that message and the options you offer to customers based on their fear levels are critical for improving business.  This has nothing to do with discounting and often, offers the opportunity to charge premium pricing which customers will be willing to pay in order to feel safe. Here are some examples.

GYMS

Even with limited capacity, gyms are finding it difficult to fill their classes. One successful initiative is to create “pod classes” in which people can bring their own pod of friends and family to work out. You can charge a premium price for these classes and book them during off peak times.  Premium priced private sessions are also resonating with customers who desire a workout without the risk of strangers in the class.  Offer these options to non-members for the time being to add revenue and introduce new potential members into your pipeline.

SALONS

The same principle applies to salons. Create a certain amount of solo appointment slots, in which only the stylists and the customer are in the salon. This is a great way to fill in slower times and again, charge premium pricing.  Alternatively, if you have the ability to set up a private room for appointments, you can book these at a higher price as well.

RESTAURANTS

Even if you are permitted to open for indoor dining, there are many patrons who simply will not eat indoors for the time being. No specials, no discounts and no marketing will entice them to do so. Restaurants have the ability to offer multiple options that cater to all levels of fear; curbside, delivery and outdoor dining. Outdoor dining, even in cold weather, is the only option for many people.  However, the experience you provide needs to be enjoyable as well as safe. Add speakers with music, candles and pillows to optimize the experience.   There are also multiple options for outdoor dining, including open air and igloos for those who are comfortable with that environment.  I have seen restaurants that offer all these options, but charge a premium for the private and warm igloo.  Offering a unique outdoor experience will give you a huge advantage over competitors.

STORES

If you own a retail store, your ability to sell virtually or online is not an option now.  The only way to introduce certain customers to your merchandise will be through private virtual shopping appointments and selling through social media platforms and emailsif you don’t have an ecommerce site.  Private in-store shopping appointments are another option.

From the virtual perspective, you can host watch parties and Zoom coffee shops that build a sense of community as well as a shopping opportunity.

Remember, we are only entering the recovery stage which is very different than a return to normal. This is a time to be creative while being empathetic to consumer fears.  People are actively looking to support local business. It’s your job to create the environment in which they feel comfortable doing so.

Until next time remember,
you can do this!
Angel

Dry Cleaners - think you have to wait for people to go back to work to increase sales? Think again.

Looking for ways to increase business and differentiate your dry cleaning store from others in your community? Here’s an idea that you can initiate in its simplest form or take it up a couple of notches.

Simplest
Become a collection site for clothing donations. Pick a day or week and extend an invitation to the community to drop off clothing for donations. For each pound of clothing, offer a dollar amount off the contributors’ next dry cleaning or offer a straight percentage discount. Identify a not-for-profit partner that needs and will distribute the clothing and may even help in the collection.

Amp it up
Perhaps you’ve heard of the term upcycle which means taking used items and re-creating them into new and exciting pieces of fashion. You can capitalize on the popularity of this trend to create a new revenue stream by selling upcycled items created from selected clothing you collected. There are two ways to do this. The first is to use the talents of your on-site tailor if they are creative and open to the project. If not, you can reach out to local designers and designer want-to-be’s to select items and return the transformed items to sell in your shop. You can share in the revenue with your tailor or the local designer so everyone wins.

Take lots of before and after photos and use social media to promote. You might even get the not-for-profit to whom you donated the bulk of the clothing to promote this as well.

By offering upcycled items for sale on a regular basis you give people another reason to visit your store even while the demand for dry cleaning is down. Regardless of the impact of the pandemic or any other event that may cause business to drop, having a new revenue stream and a unique component to your business will provide ongoing insurance against downturns

Until next time remember,
You can do this!
Angel

The four B’s of Social Media

Be Authentic
Let your personality shine on social media. If you’re quick witted or clever, caring and nurturing, a born teacher or a social activist, use that personality to engage your social media audience.

Be Present
Post on a consistent schedule. You can’t be in one day and out the next. Your fans and followers need to know you’re as committed to the platform as they are. You also need to be responsive. Thank new followers. Ask them questions. Reward their dedication.

Be Prepared: The Potential Backlash

People are free to post whatever they like.  Usually it’s a question, a comment or a compliment. Sometimes, it’s not so nice. A disgruntled customer can really set your universe on its ear – even if the negative comments are unfounded. Understand that at some point, this is going to happen to you and it won’t be fun.

Have a policy prepared as to how you are going to handle this type of disruption. Address the problem quickly – and publicly – online. If the customer still isn’t satisfied, try to take the conversation off line via private messaging, phone or email. The objective isn’t to be right; it’s to let your followers know you’re aware of the issue. If the vitriol spreads and encourages multiple negative comments, you need to examine the legitimacy of the problem, resolve it on your end and make a public announcement as to how you solved it. Act quickly and decisively. 

Be Creative

Consider your social media posting as entertainment, it’s not all about selling. Delight your fans and followers with interesting posts and photos that make them think, make them feel good, make them laugh or teach them something new.  Solicit their opinion. By doing this, you make them appreciate your brand even more.

Until next time remember,
You can do this!

4 Questions for Business Clarity

What do you really want from your business?

To feed your family?
Leave a legacy?
Start an empire?
Work less?

According to Bloomberg, eight of our 10 businesses fail within the first 18 months. In retail, there’s a 53 percent failure rate in 4 years. For restaurants the failure rate is even more unforgiving.

So whether you’re in the middle of writing your very first businesses plan or celebrating your 20th business anniversary, take a step back to get crystal clear. Because clarity is the power play. It provides the framework for decision making. It takes the stress out of your daily operations. In short, clarity = confidence.

Start your journey to clarity by answering these four questions. Jot the answers on a sticky pad and keep it where you can see the answers daily.

1.   What makes your business unique, different or special?

I was watching Fleabag on Amazon Video and heard a phrase that resonated with me. The main character was describing her old boyfriend as a person of insidious, overwhelming mediocrity. It made me laugh but it really hit home because so many of the businesses I visit are at best, boring. And boring is a one-way ticket to bankruptcy these days.

If there are stores or restaurants similar to yours in the immediate area, how can you possibly differentiate yourself to potential customers? Do you see the same clothes as a boutique down the street? Are you serving the same burgers as five other restaurants in your area? Can a customer get your products cheaper online or at Costco?

Whether it’s your product selection, level of service, pricing or delivery channel, how do you differentiate your store or restaurant from the rest of the pack?

2   Who is your target audience? Be very specific.

A successful concept starts by filling a need or void for a very specific targeted audience. To put it another way, it’s not about what you want, it’s about the customer you serve. And the wider the net you cast, the more generic your concept and the bigger the opportunity for failure.

A concept looks something like this: My business solves (this problem) for (these people) by (doing this).
By completing this concept statement, you should be able to better define your target audience.

3. What is the life you’d like to lead as a business owner?

I love this question because it’s not one we often take the time to ask ourselves.  I know for a fact the most retailers are definitely not living the life they want. They feel tired, unappreciated and underpaid – and often scared. It really isn’t good for the soul or the wallet!

So what does a better life look like? Working less? Expansion? Saving for retirement? Flexible hours and duties? What do you want?

4.  What do you need to know more about to make that life happen?

This is a biggie and I’ll tell you why. So many owners I work with seem to put a hard stop on learning once they’re up and running. They open the doors of their store but shut them on learning new things.  You have to keep up with new ideas, methods, opportunities. New competition. New technology.  The world is turning fast and you need to, at minimum, stay with flow, get ahead of it or find your own detour that works. Digging your heels in the sands of the past will find you with an unfavorable balance sheet very quickly.

It you’d like a copy of the 4 Questions for Business Clarity Worksheet, click here.

5 ideas to make Small Business Saturday your day!

Locally owned businesses are hot! Thanks to a decade of shop small messages, consumers are better understanding the positive impact shopping small can have on their community.  

You can capitalize on the momentum by actively participating in Small Business Saturday. 

According to the 2018 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, produced by American Express and NFIB, 104 million shoppers spent a record high of $17.8 billion on Small Business Saturday last year. But there’s an even more important reason than one days sales for making this “holiday” your own. According to a survey by Reliant Funding, a staggering 83 percent of customers say that Small Business Saturday encourages them to support a local business year-round.

So if you’re a locally owned retail or restaurant, stay out of the Black Friday fray and go all in on November 30th on the holiday designed just for you!

1.  Start here
Go to the American Express website to claim your free collateral and business listing. https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/shop-small/studio?intlink=us-mer-sbrc-sbs-studio

2.  Create special offers designed to bring customer in – and return.
Deep discounts aren’t always in the best interest of small businesses so create innovative opportunities designed to get customers in for the event AND bring them back again on a later date.

• For every $100 you spend get a $20 gift certificate to use later.

• Triple rewards points to your loyalty members (and anyone who signs on)
  on Small Business Saturday.

• Restaurant -purchase a meal and receive a gift certificate for use on your next visit.

• Salon/spa - Pre-book your December appointment and get a free blowout or mini massage in January.

• A free gift with purchase.

• Make a charitable donation for every purchase

• Free service with purchase (for example, if a customers buys $250 in
  clothing, they can make an appointment to come back in for a free styling session.

If you do want to discount, think about limiting sales to certain items or category or items or certain day parts. Remember, you don’t have to put your entire store on sale or compete with Walmart to be successful. Create offers that resonate with your customers and make your store stand out!

3.  Make it a special day

Make Small Business Saturday and festive and fun experience. Offer hourly raffles or deals, entertainment, and refreshments. Hide a toy or small gifts inside your store for visitors to find. Show off your personality and your store far beyond the price tags.

4.  Promote

Promote big and promote often!  Post your event on your website, send multiple emails to your database and post on social media. Change your Facebook header to a Small Business Saturday message. Create a Facebook event so people can show interest. Use plenty of in-store signage. Let people know your store or restaurant is THE place to be on Small Business Saturday.

And most importantly, deliver your personal backstory. Let people know more about you, your commitment to the community and why you love what you do. It helps customers feel good about buying from you.

5.  Collaborate and co-promote
If your center has a number of locally-owned businesses, pull them together to make a bigger impact by cross-promoting the entire group of small businesses ready, willing and able to service customers on Small Business Saturday.

November 30th is your opportunity to bring your small business front and center as an important part of the community and one people can feel good about patronizing!

Until next time, remember…
You can do this!

Angel

How to Create an Easy and Effective Community Donation Strategy for Your Store or Restaurant

You’ve probably been approached hundreds of times to participate with local charities and asked to do everything from donate merchandise for silent auctions to springing for sponsorship dollars, organizing walking teams and buying tables at banquets.

Before you spend another dollar, take a minute to think about how you give your money, merchandise and time.

There are two ways to approach charitable giving. The first is altruistic. If you have a cause or passion in which you want to participate because it’s meaningful to you, by all means, do so. This is not a business decision, it’s one that comes from the heart.

The second is using charitable involvement as a business builder. For the purposes of this discussion, we’ll talk about the latter.

Let’s start with merchandise and gift card donations.

I highly recommend creating an annual budget and formal process for giving donations. This allows you to handle your giving gracefully and without creating bad feelings. You certainly don’t want to offend representatives of local organizations by having them think you are snubbing them or don’t take your community participation seriously. After all, they may be potential customers.

To avoid an uncomfortable situation, create a charitable donation request form for the organization to complete including their charity name, contact person, reason for the donation (i.e. silent auction, raffle, etc.), purpose of the charity, how long in business and their 501(c)3 number which a legitimate nonprofit must have and finally, what type of recognition you will receive for your donation, i.e. logo on all event marketing, signage at event, etc.

Explain to them:

•      As a small business, you have an annual budget for charitable giving

•      All requests must be submitted in writing

•      You evaluate all requests monthly, make your choices and will notify them of your decision at that time.

Be sure to review these forms on a regular predetermined timetable and notify all applicants of your decision.

The formal process will help mitigate bad feelings from the rejected parties and help you make the most of your charitable contributions.

Get Creative

There’s no law that says you need to give money or merchandise to support your local non-profits.  Think about:

Volunteering

Can your staff help at an event or fundraiser?

Creating an experience
How about a free wardrobe styling or haircut?  A cupcake baking or pizza making lesson? These experiences have great perceived value and help to build a one-on-one relationship with the potential customer.

After the giving

Keep the momentum going by continuing to yourself and your selected charities. Post signage in your store about upcoming events that your involved in. Promote them on your website and social media as well. At the end of the year, compile a list of your selected charities and encourage customers to include them in their charitable giving.

Bottom line

Take a few minutes to create a process and through in a couple of creative ideas. It will save time, make your store or restaurant stand out from the fray of ordinary gift cards givers and establish your business as a valuable member of your community

If you’d like a free copy of the Charitable Donation Form Template, go to https://www.angelcicerone.com/charitable-donation

Until next time remember, you can do this!
Angel

Be sure to sign up for notifications of new episodes of the EASY+RETAIL+TECH podcast

How a field trip can improve your retail or restaurant business!

Angel's 90 Day Challenge - and it's not what you think!

It's May 1 and the start of my personal 90-day challenge to bring local retail and restaurant owners an insane amount of free content to help you launch, grow or save your local retail or restaurant business! Follow me for all the great info: facebook.com/angelciceroneretail instagram.com/angelcicerone linkedin.com/angelcicerone

How to Increase Gift Card Sales During the Holiday Season

Gift cards have been the most popular gift for the past 5 years. That’s a pretty great reason to put a plan in place to accelerate your gift card sales this holiday season, no matter what type of business you own!

7 Compelling Facts About Gift Card Sales:

Need more reasons why gift cards are a great way to boost holiday sales? Here are seven compelling facts that will help convince you.

• Gift cards sales were projected to increase by 6% in 2016 and will account for over 18% of holiday sales!
• Two-thirds of consumers have purchased at least one gift card.
• Retailers who switch from paper to plastic cards typically see a 50-100% increase in sales.
• The average amount loaded on a digital gift card is 10-15% more than a plastic gift card.
• 61% of gift card holders spend more than the amount of their gift card and 75% of those who overspend spend 60% more than the value of their card.
• Gift cards are most popular with teenagers.
• 40% of gift card recipients do not use the total value of the card.

As you can see, gift cards can significantly increase your bottom line in December and beyond so their promotion and sale are well worth your attention.

4 Tips for Boosting Gift Card Sales

Here are a few tips for selling more cards:

Start with plenty of in-store promotion.

• Signage - interior, window and sandwich boards
• Flyers with purchase
• Train employees to ask for the sale. For example, "Would you like to purchase a gift card for a friend or family member?"

Create incentives for gift card purchase.

For example, customers can get a $20 gift certificate for themselves with the purchase of a $100 card. 

Hint: If your average sale is about $150, then the incentive should be given on gift card sale of $200 – increasing your average sale!

Capture the late shoppers.

More than one in every four digital or online cards sold in December are sold between December 21st and 24th. Email daily during week before Christmas.

Make it easy to purchase.

Even if you don't sell online, create a link to pay for gift cards through a Paypal account to use in your email and on your website and social media. 

Set a goal for gift card sales this holiday season and create a strategy to achieve it. 
Gift cards can not only help you make this a more profitable holiday, they can give you momentum going into the new year!

---

My book, Growing Small, provides even more ideas and tips for achieving retail success in 90 days with limited time and resources. Download two free chapters to get a sneak peek inside!

One easy way to get your staff in the spirit to sell more this holiday season

Looking for ways to get your staff pumped this holiday season?  I know one surefire way to light a fire under them….and that’s to pay them!

       Even if money is tight, there are ways to incentivize staff for selling more without                     being a drain on cashflow or margins.

       Even if you don’t ordinarily have a bonus program, there’s no reason not to implement
one just for the holiday season.

Most retailers earn 20-30 percent of their annual revenue during the holidays.  This is the time of year you want to maximize every single sales opportunity! And incentives are a great way to motivate staff.

Here are some DO’S and DONT’S for setting up a successful bonus program.

DO
Understand what motivates your staff. What makes them drool? Depending on their age and tenure, it might be time off or perks like merchandise or gift certificates. It doesn’t always have to be money.  

DON’T
Just offer a blanket reward on all items sold. A bonus program needs to work on both sides. That means your employees get incentivized for meeting their goals – and yours!

Let’s say for example, last year's holiday sales were $100,000 and your goal is to increase that number by 20 percent this year to $120k. Your staff incentives should be based on achieving or exceeding this year’s goal. That way any additional commission or bonus you’re awarding is coming out of new revenue.

DO
Consider segmenting
Let’s say you’d like to grow sales for a new line or service. Perhaps you’d like to increase average sale. You can create a bonus program around any specific segment of business you’d like!

DO
Tier the bonus structure. Add even more delicious opportunity for your staff after they’ve hit the goal. Using the example above with a goal of $120k, add an additional incentive if you reach $130k. In sales, we call that a BHAG (Big hairy Audacious Goal.) You’d be amazed at the enthusiasm you can generate around a big, fat opportunity.

DO
Train. Train. Train.
Just implementing a program isn’t enough. You need to host regular training to help your staff achieve their goals.

DON’T
Be afraid to instill a little competition among your staff. Most owners I work with are afraid that competition is divisive but it can create a ton of energy and ultimately, great results!

DO
Make sure your goals are reasonable and achievable. Goals should be a stretch but not so stratospheric that they can’t possibly be met. Shooting too high will only discourage your staff. 

Good luck in putting together your bonus program! If you have any questions, email me at success@angelcicerone.com

Until next time remember,
You can do this!
Angel