Competition is Good for Business

Competition is usually seen as a benefit to customers. It means that prices are contained and service is upheld. But how about for retailers? Is competition good for your business? Put it this way. As Elizabeth Barrett Browning said about love, let me count the ways. 1. It keeps you alert If you don’t think [...]

How to Make Networking Work for You

Whether you’re on the lookout for more customers for your business, more clients for your practice, or you need a job, networking is the fastest way to get what you want. The more skillful you are at it, the sooner you’ll be able to move from feeling depressed to achieving success. While there are formal and [...]

How Macy’s, Sears, and Walmart Envision Retail’s Future

You may not want to run with the big dogs, but you should know what the big dogs are doing. That way, you can use the information in your small business. So here’s an update on how Macy’s, Sears, and Walmart are approaching increasing their sales, to help you with your profitability. Macy’s is implementing [...]

How Twitter and Facebook Can Build Your Practice

Are you an entrepreneur? Sure, you can advertise, but is that the best way of building your practice or increasing your clientele? Probably not. It’s one thing to pay for promoting a product, and quite another to advertise your services. But you do need to get your name known, if you want to be successful. [...]

Technology Beats Out Customer Service in Stores

Want to sell more? Retailers need to ramp up technology, rather than staff. That’s the way to success, according to recent reports. Consider Sprinkles, the upscale chain of cupcake bakeries that just opened its first ACM–automated cupcake machine–next door to its Beverly Hills store. Shoppers stood in line at the Automat-like machine to watch a [...]

James Q. Wilson, Broken Windows, and Your Business

James Q. Wilson died this week, but he left behind a legacy of getting it right from the beginning. A social scientist, he was a proponent of the “broken windows” theory of crime, which focuses on maintaining order, and calls for stopping minor infractions before they lead to major crimes. Acting on the theory, and [...]

Your Business Benefits When the Customer is Right

Laurel Tielis Want to be a success in the luxury market? Offer superior flawless customer service. That’s the advice Alf Nucifora, Chairman of The Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco, offered council members at a cocktail reception at furniture showroom Gaul Searson Ltd. Nucifora talked about what’s wrong with customer service and offered suggestions on solving the [...]

Retail Groupies Enjoy Benefits

While you don’t get to say “I’m with band,” there are a myriad of other rewards you get by becoming a retail groupie. When you join groups–whether buying groups or community groups–you grow your influence and increase your business. Both kind of groups give you backup. As an independent, you’re always going it alone. As [...]

Have You Got a Big “BUT”?

Two weeks into the new year is a great time to get started on making changes. After all, by now you’ve moved on from holiday-mode to really getting down to business. Having a big BUT though, will get in your way. It’s the kind of thinking that is as unhealthy for your emotional well-being and business success, as obesity is [...]

You Can Quote Me on That

Keeping your Twitter stream relevant and fun, your website up to date, and your newsletter entertaining as well as informative, is less of a challenge if you take advantage of the wit and wisdom of others–especially celebrities. And yes, you can quote me on that. You might be surprised at just how many well-known names [...]

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