Small business best practices

PHOTO CREDIT : © HEORSHE - STOCK . ADOBE . COM

BY TOM SHAY the same title .

The part of the song that catches our attention is the last two lines of the fourth verse , which ask , “ How old would you be if you didn ’ t know the day you were born .”

It may cause you to think about yourself , but we also find those two lines to be the valid basis to ask ourselves questions about our store . Perhaps , with the help of these lines , we will think differently about how we make many of the day-to-day decisions in our store .

“ What would you charge for something if you did not know the cost ? What would you charge for something if you did not know what another store was charging ?”

The only people who are going to know prices in another store , as well as your prices , are customers who shop according to price . The idea of pricing according to another store means you are paying attention to the “ price shopper .” Is that who you want to focus on ?

If you establish your price according to cost , that means that when your distributor offers a special deal , you are going to sell the same product at a lower price . That extra profit all goes to the customer . This doesn ’ t quite make sense .

“ Ask yourself what product and / or service you would offer in your small business if you didn ’ t know ( or see ) how everyone else does it in your industry .”

We often walk into another store to see how they do things , how they merchandise their store . We observe what they do , in order to generate ideas for our store .

And yet , we want people to see that our store is different . We want customers to have reasons , other than price , to shop at our store . It was Sam Walton who said you would do better by looking at another store , and then going in the opposite direction .

“ How would you advertise if you did not have salespeople from the media and social media calling on you ?”

Just this morning as I was getting dressed , I heard a commercial on the radio for a local store offering delivery . The commercial was at least different in that it was not one that had the “ item and price ” theme to it .

The question we would ask the owner is how they know if that commercial is working . Granted , the owner could tell me that the number and size of orders are larger than last year . But how does the owner know it is that advertising that caused the increase ?

With many of us , we advertise because we see other stores and other types of businesses advertising . Television , radio , newspaper , billboards , magazines and social media ; all of these are sending messages to the business owner saying you need to get your message to your customers . But can you tell if the advertising dollars are actually producing results ?

You came into owning your store because you believed you could do a good job and own a profitable business . Those thoughts came , in part , because of a gut feeling . Too often , that gut feeling gets put away , deep inside of us , and not brought out and used enough . With each of the examples we are sharing , they provide an excellent opportunity to ignore the norm , and think and act differently .

Don ’ t let the old man in your business and your thought process . BD

Tom Shay is a lifelong small-business owner and manager . He has authored 12 books on small business management ; a college textbook on small business financial management and co-authored a book on retailer / vendor relations

www . beveragedynamics . com January 2023 • Beverage Dynamics 7