bizthreads.net: Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

For retailers, this holiday season is a gold rush of income. If you are a retailer, there's a good chance that you're staffing up and stocking up so that you'll be ready to serve customers as Christmas nears.

As that day draws near, your store will likely see more and more people crowding in. This is your opportunity to wow them with your service but it's also the hardest time to do that because so many people are competing for your attention. How can you manage the crush of people?

Here are some ideas:

• For repeat customers, invite them to an invitation-only event after hours. Close your doors to the general public, put out nice food and festive music, and greet each person by name. You'll generate a great following of loyal customers and people will enjoy the exclusivity. Offer secret one-day-only discounts that they have to show up to take advantage of.
• Open early and close late and post your busiest times on the window of your store. For example, post a sign that reads, “During December we are open from 6 AM to 10 PM and we're busiest between 5 PM and 8 PM. We'd love to serve you.” That way, people can see when you're open and might be able to find a time to come back later.
• If you have one register in your store, consider opening a second register, just for the holidays. Make it “cash only,” for example, so that people can run through even more quickly.

I've been doing a lot of reading about business ethics recently. Employee theft is out of control. Bad CEOs and the whistleblowers make the news constantly. As I write this, I see this headline flash across my newsticker: http://moneycentral.msn.com/inc/news/providerredir.asp?feed=OBR&Date=20061122&ID=6219008 Yet another corporate ethics scandal.

Creating an ethical climate is important, not only to make sure that employees are serving customers properly, but so we can sleep at night and stay out of jail because of their actions.

I've read a lot about the idea of rewarding ethical behavior but I haven't heard many good concrete ideas. After all, how do you reward someone for doing what they are supposed to be doing day-in and day-out?

So, I'm posing this question to my readers: how do you reward ethical behavior?

I believe that privacy is a right we can all enjoy. I admit that I do have my limits, though. I don't mind if employees use company computers for occasional personal use (such as emails, etc.) but I definitely draw the line at the use of company computers for employees to run their own businesses, view adult content, or waste a lot of time.

Now, I am very fortunate that it's not been a problem so far in my business but I've heard of it being a problem in other businesses so I looked around at what kind of software was out there for businesses to use.

One of the best I've seen is www.pcpandora.com, which records websites, emails, and keystrokes, as well as lists all the programs that run on a computer. It even takes screenshots of all emails.

And, if your HR department needs “hard evidence” before they can fire an employee, it will print out a report.

For about $70 for the pro version, it looks like a good value for the business wanting to keep an eye on employees.

Avid gamers lined up for days — yes days — in order to pay $600 for a brand new PlayStation 3 (which was released in a limited shipment to North America earlier this month).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15854413/

In an interesting move by PlayStation's creator, Sony, they released the product in various stages around the world: November 17th in North America… not until spring next year for release in Europe!

As a result, ambitious entrepreneurs waited in line, alongside the gamers, to pay $600 and then resell them on eBay to European gamers for much, much more. Although rumors were flying around that the most paid was $15,000, I've only been able to see about $3000 as the standard resale price.

Not being a gamer myself, I would have a hard time standing in line for several days just to buy a $600 game system. However, as an entrepreneur, a $2400 profit for standing around for a couple days sounds pretty good to me.

I was asked to review someone's marketing before it was going to be published. I looked at it for a while and brought it back to the person with some suggested changes. What I saw in their marketing is something I see frequently in a lot of marketing… including marketing that has already made its way into print or online:

Talking about the business.

I see it a lot: “We do this” or “I do that” or “We can provide these services.” While those may be true and valuable information, they do not sell products.

A better idea is to change it to the customer's perspective and talk about the benefits they receive. One way to start reviewing your marketing for this is to look for anything that says “We do…” or “We will…” or “We can…” and change it to “You receive…”

Dear Buzz,

I'm looking to buy a business from someone else. They have a business plan that looks comprehensive but I don't like what they've spelled out as the future of the business: how they plan to grow and what changes they expect in the target market. Should I rewrite the business plan? Should I do that before I buy the business? Should I even buy the business at all?

Beth

Thank you for the question, Beth.

Even if you don't like the direction of the business, are you happy with it right now? A business is really two separate components: the business now and the business in the future. You'll need plans for both. I do recommend that you create a future business plan for the company before you buy it to make sure your future vision for the company is viable. If you decide that it is, feel free to buy the company. If the business has a profitable model right now and you're happy with where it is, feel free to buy the company. As long as you are prepared for the future and happy with it right now, you should be okay. If either of those two things concern you, stay away from the business!

Buzz

While talking to a colleague, he said something that stuck with me. Honestly, I'm still not sure if I agree with it completely but I thought it was interesting and I'm posting it here as I process it in my mind.

I was talking about getting resumes and reading them. My friend said that he doesn't hire anyone who brings a resume. He feels that the good employees are snapped up without the need for resumes or applications.

So this is how my thinking went on his comments:

At first I was offended because fresh from college I “pounded the pavement” with my resume in search of a job. (That was long before I started my own business, of course!)

Then I thought about what he said and decided that maybe he was right. Great employees don't ever need to create resumes; they do seem to get offered jobs left and right, simply by doing a good job.

Most recently, my thinking is this: in this booming economy, and unless they are fresh out of college, resumes from people may suggest that they may not be suitable to work for you. After all, everywhere I go I find help wanted signs and I know businesses who are struggling to serve customers because they don't have the staff.

I may still change my position but I can't deny that the economy plays a factor in the number of potential job candidates and their quality.

This report was one of many telling of KFC's rebranding strategy and their attempt to create buzz by making some kind of gigantic logo, visible from outer space. There are actually two pieces of rebranding going on in this report and I'd like to be critical and complimentary to KFC.

First, the criticism - unless they are hoping to later leverage this gigantic picture into some kind of marketing scheme (perhaps combining Google Maps) it seems like a weak attempt at creating a buzz. It's a big picture that is viewable from space. So what?

Second, the compliment: It's great to see that KFC has rebranded “the Colonel.” I have watched with fascination as they struggled in the past few years to work through their identity. They made the huge corporate change from Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC to get away from the negative association with “fried”… then they made some weak attempts at marketing KFC as healthy by suggesting that KFC meant “Kitchen Fresh Chicken.” Finally they are going back to their roots and eschewing the healthy aspect to instead adopt the down-home country cooking angle: a wholesome image from yesteryear that will likely resonate with their market much more clearly than an attempt at appearing healthy.

Not every site I recommend on this blog will have an obvious, immediate business application. From time to time I find something that I think is cool and cutting edge… and if history tells us anything, these cool and cutting edge things become mainstream in the future if enough people get excited about them.

http://www.swarmthe.com/

This is a graphical way to browse the Internet. Yes, it's unusual. Yes, it's difficult to see an immediate value… but something like this is exactly what the web of the future is looking for: a company willing to go beyond what we're doing today to try something new.

The more I think about it, the more I see great advertising possibilities coming from this, as well as a combination of the current tagging phenomenon, too, to help make the Internet even more user friendly.

Buzz,

Our family's business has grown and now we have to rearrange our organizational chart. Should we rearrange it by function? By our newly developed regions? By product line-up? How?

Lorraine

Dear Lorraine,

Unfortunately, this isn't an easy question to answer because every industry is different. I think that functional organization charts can often create unnecessary bureaucracy in a company, reducing customer service in the long run. Regions are a good way to do it, especially if you are looking to expand even further or if those regions have a lot of unique business requirements.

Another way to consider changing it is by customer base, if you serve more than one type of customer. However you decide to do it, don't think about tomorrow… think about ten years from now when you've grown 100 times the size. Will you still be able to operate with the same chart?

While changing your organizational chart from time to time is okay, it does reduce your efficiency and your ability to serve customers for a time while everyone figures out who answers to whom and whether there are any gaps in service, so having a scalable chart now is best. And, to help drive down costs, think about what common aspects are shared by all departments (such as administrative functions) and create a department to deal with that.

Buzz