Increase Sales By 50%, Guaranteed?

Do you own, operate, or manage a convenience store, clothing store, restaurant, hardware store, department store, sandwich shop, dental office, gas station, or any other retail store, restaurant or business?

I can absolutely guarantee you a 50% increase in your gross sales (or your money back). I guess I can’t lose since the pcAmerica Newsletter is free. However, I do know that a 10% increase in sales is a given just by reading and following the suggestions below. 20%, 40% and 50% and above are definitely possible. And it doesn’t take that much effort.

The story below refers to a convenience store. However, the type of store is inconsequential. The same techniques work for a clothing store, restaurant, doctor’s office, or any business.

So, I have two convenience stores in my neighborhood. One (the more distant store) is owned by a very warm and friendly entrepreneur who enjoys working, talking and getting to know his customers. The other (the closer store) is owned by a “mean looking” gentleman who appears to be doing me a favor every time he allows me to make a purchase. I am sure you’ve been there before. You go into one store one store to get gas and possibly a bottle of soda. The person behind the counter does not look at you, takes your money and grunts. You go into the second store, and the person behind the counter actually recognizes and says hello. How are you? You leave with your tank of gas, a bottle of soda, a loaf of bread and a few other items after discussing the weather and the repair of the space shuttle. So where are you going to do your shopping next time?

It’s just so simple. Train your sales people, the people behind the counter, and your sales will increase, guaranteed.

#1...Say hello. Your sales people, your cashiers, your waiters, all of your employees must say hello. They should recognize your customers, be pleasant, and be trained to make the buying experience so pleasant that your customers will return.

#2...Say thank you. So, someone has just spent $1.25 on a bottle of soda. Your cashier must be trained to look the customer in the eye and say Thank You!!! Imagine buying a television set at a major appliance store for $1,000. Do you get a thank you? Not very often. No matter what your customer buys, $1.00 or $1,000, you must train your checkout people to say thank you.

#3...Be pleasant. The people in your business must be trained to be pleasant, courteous and helpful. That does not mean that your sales staff must be on top of each customer. It does mean that the sales staff must be available, easy to talk to, and attentive to the task at hand.

#4...You’re the boss. Your employees follow your lead. If you are not pleasant to your customers, your employees will not be pleasant. It is your job to encourage your employees to serve your customers.

#5...Reward your employees for good service. If you are using Cash Register Express (CRE) or Restaurant Pro Express (RPE), you can see hourly sales or sales by employee. Reward your best sales people (or cashiers). If your cashier is pleasant, sales will go up. Look at your statistics via CRE or RPE. If the numbers go up, reward your sales people and cashiers.

Customers are griping and some retail stores are listening. Some retail stores are increasing their sales by over 20% by improving service and being more pleasant. Read the story at:

http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2005/0131/p13s01-wmgn.html

The Friedman Group is a company devoted to Retail Consulting and Training. They offer on-site retail training, books, videos, and publications devoted to improving retail stores. They work with businesses such as Neiman Marcus, Ace Hardware, Pier One, Sprint, The Gap and other larger retail businesses. The site contains invaluable information for everyone, including small single store retail operations.

Go here:

http://www.thefriedmangroup.com/customersay.asp

And see how many stores are increasing their sales. The tips on the site are great. You can get a free email subscription to their “Retail Executive Briefing” at

http://www.thefriedmangroup.com/reb/rebsubscribe.asp

And you can purchase books (such as “No Thanks, I’m Just Looking”) plus videos at http://www.thefriedmangroup.com/training/trainprod.asp. All are sold with a 100% Money Back Guarantee.

So, the point is, you can just ignore your customers, or you can work with your employees to give your customers (even a convenience store), a more pleasant experience. Hey. If you don’t agree, you can always get a job at the Motor Vehicle Bureau. You need to like your customers in order to succeed. The MVB will succeed either way!!!

Winchester Steak House, Williams Arizona

Two Partners Who Love Their Business and Know How To Enjoy It.

“We use Restaurant Pro Express because it is so easy to learn and fun to use.”

Karen Greene and Rich Millard are owners of the very successful Winchester Steak house located at the gateway of The Grand Canyon. Neither Karen nor Rich had any restaurant experience prior to opening up their business. They just had the idea of offering the best steaks, the best meals, and the best service you can buy anywhere in the world. The business is just thriving and take a look at their web site at:

http://www.winchestersteakhouse.com/

The best businesses seem to be run by those who really love what they do. Karen and Rich really love it. Karen has always been a successful business person who has done diverse things such as running a doctor’s office to running a hardware store. Rich is a cattle rancher and into construction. Yes. That’s them on their motorcycle.

The story goes that Karen and Rich were traveling through Williams Arizona and broke down. They loved the town, saw an old Dairy Barn, and decided that it would be a great place for a steak house.

Most of their business comes from tourists. Everyone passing through has to eat at the Winchester Steak House which has gained a world wide reputation. And, the Steakhouse is also a popular wedding destination.

A 22 ounce Bone-In Rib Steak is $52.95 so use the 10% off coupon on the web site. Lots of pictures, stories, and menus on their Web Site.

Karen and Rich chose Restaurant Express to operate their business because of RPE’s ease of use, reputation, features, and according to Karen, “It’s just fun to use.”

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More information related to being a pcAmerica Reference is available in Newsletter #136 at http://www.pcamerica.com/newsletters/newsletters.htm

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#9 of 10 Buying a Printer

It’s The Ink That Matters.

Most printers offer adequate printer quality, especially for printing business reports and spread sheets. To learn a lot about printers, go to www.pcworld.com. Look under reviews.

Your first decision is to buy a $100 to $200 laser printer or to buy a color inkjet. At first glance, it seems better to buy a printer that will give you black and white as well as color. That’s probably the wrong answer for a business.

A laser printer is the most cost effective method of printing. A $100 to $200 laser printer will cost you about 3 cents per page and will most likely print faster and better reports. An inkjet will run 5 cents per page and more per black and white page. It won’t take too long to eat up any savings you may get by purchasing an inexpensive ink jet.

My personal favorite is the $199 HP1022. Dell also has a $99 laser printer. Both Laser Printers use cartridges that cost about 3.4 cents per page. If you do a lot of printing, buy a more expensive Laser Printer. The price per page can come down to as little as a penny per page.

If you also need to print in color, I recommend purchasing a laser printer for your black and white reports plus an inkjet for your color printing. The price for color printing comes to about 10 cents per page.

So, before you buy a printer, look at the PC World Reviews (pcworld.com), look at the PC Magazine Reviews (pcmag.com), go to news.com and look at the printer reviews...then find out how much the cartridges will cost. Before buying a printer, always calculate the price per page for the ink.

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