Ok, so the title of this blog entry is kind of an oxy-moron, I will concede that to you before I go any further. I also think I should interject that I am a recent transplant to the great state of Kentucky (oops, I mean “Commonwealth” of KY!) from the Florida Peninsula we I spent the majority of the last 27 years. I say that because the subject of this blog is going to have to do with the snow that has been falling the last couple of days and the problems that these acts of God can bring our way.
In my previous home we have had more than enough experience with bad weather. You can not even say the names of the hurricanes that blew through 5 years ago without someone looking at you with an evil eye, and any children that have those names are in danger of being pelted with dodge balls every day in gym class. Wait a minute, they outlawed dodge ball in schools now didn’t they? Either way, they are named unfortunately. One thing we did learn from those storms however is that no matter how well you think you know your business, its patterns, and your seasonality issues- when it comes to weather phenomenon we have no chance to add that into our projections for the year.
I take that back. You can add them in but there is a double edge sword at play. If you add in time missed for bad weather and that weather does not occur you could be figuring way too low and hurt the business as a result. Then again, if you don’t account for bad weather and you paint the picture of rosy days ahead you could crash and burn hard if your business is interrupted for any great length of time. When the “storms whose names must not be spoken” passed through Florida nobody was prepared for the problems they would cause. We had been given those hurricane forecasts year after year ever since Hurricane Andrew destroyed south Florida and year after year we never had any real threats so people got rather complacent about preparing for them. Once those storms hit though many business never reopened. It was a matter of the money it could cost to rebuild; it was insurance fights, while still other businesses did reopen in a damaged or limited state which led to other more costly problems down the road. So why am I talking about Florida and the problems they have when we are all in Kentucky now? Because the only thing different is the state and the weather phenomenon. The rest, the after effects, are all the same if you are not prepared.
When I moved here in late September I was told about the ice storm that really shut down the state (shoot, Commonwealth! I may never get used to that) in 2008. Some areas where affected for up to a week, others even longer. This year before the “first real snow of the season” hit in the last two days, parts of Kentucky had already experienced power outages that left tens of thousands of people without power, and that was not even a result of any type of huge storm system. The question that you have to ask yourself is this: Will my business be ok if I am out of commission for a week or two due to circumstances beyond my control? If the answer to that question is “No”, then you have to start preparing yourself just in case don’t you? Florida dodged any major disasters for over a decade, and then in back to back years where hit with numerous hurricanes. The same could easily happen to Kentucky and your business as well with snow, ice, or even tornados. The one thing we do know about the weather is that you can predict the next couple days you cannot predict year to year or even month to month.
By now you are probably thinking: Can you just give us some solutions? Sure! There are a few things you can try to line up in case you find yourself in a tough spot. First, ask your bank about a line of credit if you do not already have one in place. These can be a huge life saver for you should you experience any downtime. You can still pay your bills, and even employees for time lost and then pay back the bank. Of course you better know if you have the room in your cash flow projections to support a pay back of this type or you could be in even deeper trouble. Another option would be to call your insurance company (I know, I know- nobody likes to do this- ever!), and ask them about any type of “business interruption” insurance. There are several types of this type policy that is designed for just this type situation. The last option would be to move your business to a place that never has any weather related issues, like Arizona (never mind, they have heat waves that put a strain on the power grids)- I meant someplace like Tennessee (again, never mind- tornado alley), how about California (earth quakes AND wildfires- double whammy!). On second thought, why don’t you just stay where you are now and find a way to prepare yourself…just in case!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Maximize Your Opportunity!
Let me be the last to tell you all- Happy New Year!
Now that we have that out of the way, on to business. In keeping with the winter/holiday feeling I want to talk about the season, or say more specifically: Tis the Season to be seasonal! At least one of them anyway. This has nothing to do with snow, presents, or increased road rage because driving in snow is a huge challenge to many individuals (primarily the ones who drive in front of me!). The seasonality I am referring to is all about making enough money during the buying season to get you though the inevitable down period to follow.
In business there are a few events that are as reliable as the snow falling outside my window every January. In November and December your sales will normally increase, and then they will gradually decrease in the months that follow before ramping up (or at least becoming a tad more stable) heading toward summer where they will show some signs of falling off again (those summer vacations can be a killer, and not just on dad’s nerves on the car ride!).
Any smart small business owner knows the key in most cases to their survival is to maximize the busy periods so that they can ride out the slower ones. The trick is how do you make sure you have done all you can do in order to maximize your time and captured every dollar that your customers wanted to spend. Below is a check list that you can go over in your mind to see if you gave yourself the best shot. Did you:
1. Have the products your customers kept telling you they wanted? There is no easier way to lose a sale than to not have what the customers were looking for in your store. You should be aware of consumer buying trends and the hot items each year, were you?
2. Have the correct amount of employees to help customers? In a busy store at a busy time of year there is nothing more frustrating to a customer than to be unable to get a question answered or find help at all. A well staffed store will allow you to help as many customers as possible which will lead to more sales. Did you schedule enough people or was that one of the biggest complaints you heard this year?
3. Open when people were out shopping? I can remember my days in the retail jungle and being required as the store GM to be there open to close with some days 8AM-10PM during the holiday shopping period and hating every minute of it. The hours themselves were bad enough but every minute we were open we had customers looking to give us their money. People want o spend money which they can’t do if you are not open to take it. Were you?
4. Have sales that actually looked like sales? In this day and age of online retail shopping and one stop price comparisons you have to step up by knocking down prices. I cannot even begin to count the times I saw a sale sign this year and when I went and looked the price difference was less than 5 dollars. Folks, that is not a sale. If someone figures they can get a product relatively close to that price all year long where is their incentive to buy it from you now? So did you actually have a sale?
5. Give your customers a reason to come back? Getting them in the store once is great, but did you find a way to have them return? There are numerous ways you could have accomplished this and not all of them have to do with free stuff. There are of course the monetary incentives: give them a coupon (Kohls cash anyone?), give them a credit card; give them a percentage off their next trip. Then there are the NON-monetary tricks to have someone return. See those things I mentioned in numbers 1-4? THOSE are the tricks! A well stocked, helpful store that has great sales and is easily accessible to me when I want to shop is the place I am more than likely to return to the next time I have to shop in the future. You can add to that have friendly smiling staff on hand but I would like to think that was a given (although I can name you 1007 times it did NOT happen to me in the last 2 months!).
And there you have it! 5 things you could have easily done to make sure you secured every dollar that the buying public was trying to make available to you when they came through your doors the last few weeks. If you did those things, chances are you did the best you could and while the down months may still be nervous times for you, you will know there was nothing else you could have done from a sales perspective to change your fortunes (there are other things you could be doing that hurt a lot though so make sure you aren’t neglecting the behind the scenes stuff!). If you did NOT do those things we have discussed, those slow times could lead to closed times. Although on a positive note, you won’t have to worry about those 5 things next year at all!
Now that we have that out of the way, on to business. In keeping with the winter/holiday feeling I want to talk about the season, or say more specifically: Tis the Season to be seasonal! At least one of them anyway. This has nothing to do with snow, presents, or increased road rage because driving in snow is a huge challenge to many individuals (primarily the ones who drive in front of me!). The seasonality I am referring to is all about making enough money during the buying season to get you though the inevitable down period to follow.
In business there are a few events that are as reliable as the snow falling outside my window every January. In November and December your sales will normally increase, and then they will gradually decrease in the months that follow before ramping up (or at least becoming a tad more stable) heading toward summer where they will show some signs of falling off again (those summer vacations can be a killer, and not just on dad’s nerves on the car ride!).
Any smart small business owner knows the key in most cases to their survival is to maximize the busy periods so that they can ride out the slower ones. The trick is how do you make sure you have done all you can do in order to maximize your time and captured every dollar that your customers wanted to spend. Below is a check list that you can go over in your mind to see if you gave yourself the best shot. Did you:
1. Have the products your customers kept telling you they wanted? There is no easier way to lose a sale than to not have what the customers were looking for in your store. You should be aware of consumer buying trends and the hot items each year, were you?
2. Have the correct amount of employees to help customers? In a busy store at a busy time of year there is nothing more frustrating to a customer than to be unable to get a question answered or find help at all. A well staffed store will allow you to help as many customers as possible which will lead to more sales. Did you schedule enough people or was that one of the biggest complaints you heard this year?
3. Open when people were out shopping? I can remember my days in the retail jungle and being required as the store GM to be there open to close with some days 8AM-10PM during the holiday shopping period and hating every minute of it. The hours themselves were bad enough but every minute we were open we had customers looking to give us their money. People want o spend money which they can’t do if you are not open to take it. Were you?
4. Have sales that actually looked like sales? In this day and age of online retail shopping and one stop price comparisons you have to step up by knocking down prices. I cannot even begin to count the times I saw a sale sign this year and when I went and looked the price difference was less than 5 dollars. Folks, that is not a sale. If someone figures they can get a product relatively close to that price all year long where is their incentive to buy it from you now? So did you actually have a sale?
5. Give your customers a reason to come back? Getting them in the store once is great, but did you find a way to have them return? There are numerous ways you could have accomplished this and not all of them have to do with free stuff. There are of course the monetary incentives: give them a coupon (Kohls cash anyone?), give them a credit card; give them a percentage off their next trip. Then there are the NON-monetary tricks to have someone return. See those things I mentioned in numbers 1-4? THOSE are the tricks! A well stocked, helpful store that has great sales and is easily accessible to me when I want to shop is the place I am more than likely to return to the next time I have to shop in the future. You can add to that have friendly smiling staff on hand but I would like to think that was a given (although I can name you 1007 times it did NOT happen to me in the last 2 months!).
And there you have it! 5 things you could have easily done to make sure you secured every dollar that the buying public was trying to make available to you when they came through your doors the last few weeks. If you did those things, chances are you did the best you could and while the down months may still be nervous times for you, you will know there was nothing else you could have done from a sales perspective to change your fortunes (there are other things you could be doing that hurt a lot though so make sure you aren’t neglecting the behind the scenes stuff!). If you did NOT do those things we have discussed, those slow times could lead to closed times. Although on a positive note, you won’t have to worry about those 5 things next year at all!
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