Thoughtful Thursdays - Did you find everything you were looking for?

I was at a store early this morning and as expected was able to get what I needed and proceeded to the check out. When I walked in I noticed there was a staff team meeting going on, yay! They might be listening to the customers after all.

There was only one oversight, none of the check out lines were open. The self-serve was available, but no one in sight there either. I am not a fan of self serve check out, but as there were no options and I did not want to wait for the meeting to adjourn I did it. Luckily there were no hitches and away I went.

I found almost everything I was looking for today, everything but a customer service representative.

It is good to have the morning staff sessions to set the course for the day, but in the pursuit of excellence in customer service, don't forget the customer.

Image credit

Good Selling,
Richard

Is consignment giving it away?

All your hard work is showing signs of paying off. The prospect is enthusiastic about your product and wants to carry it in their store. They must see the value in dealing with you... or do they really?

The sales process is moving along and you hear the word consignment.

Merriam Webster defines the term 'on consignment' this way: "shipped to a dealer who pays for only what is sold and who may return what is unsold."

What is in it for you as a supplier when your customer shows minimal commitment to carrying your product beyond displaying it? You may not even have a say on where it is displayed. Consignment can be a one way street that does not point in your direction. Managed properly it might work, but in the long run it may be a better policy to avoid it.

If the value of your product has been clearly communicated and understood, there should be no hesitation to purchase it. The commitment demonstrated by your customer in purchasing your product will result in that customer making the effort to turn it over as quickly as possible.

Many times I have seen good products languish in the dimly lit back corner of a store with little or no hope of being sold. I wonder if the supplier is aware that this how their product is being promoted.

It is any retailers ideal situation to have no money invested in inventory. Think about it, wouldn't it be great not to have to pay for any of your materials until you receive payment for them? Reducing costs is important, but at who's expense?

Please note that when it comes to fine art, consignment is a standard practice. It is not this sector I am referring to in this post.

If you do find yourself in the position of going the consignment route here are a few tips that may be useful:

• Contact other vendors and ask them about the store
• Visit stores on a regular basis and see how your product is being promoted and displayed
• If your product is not moving, be prepared to remove or change it
• Build a solid relationship with the store owner(s) and staff, they are your sales people

Good selling,

Richard

Thoughtful Thursdays - Honey, can you pick up the kids?

A common response to the question "Why do you want to start your own business?" is "So I can work from home."

Whether you are self-employed or working for someone else, working from a home office definitely has its advantages. There are also many drawbacks that might result in an unproductive and sometimes frustrating business environment if you have undisciplined and/or unclear communicated work habits.

It is tough enough to work in isolation and when you add distractions that come with working from a home office, it can become very challenging. One of the most frequent concerns I hear about is: "My family thinks that because I work from home, I am home and not working."

Here are a few tips that may be useful when working from a home office:

• Designate work space or an office that is for business only - you live in your home, you work in your office
• Have separate phone and fax lines for business
• Have a separate computer for business
• Set office hours and stick to them
• Schedule regular breaks
• Discuss these business hours with your family and have them respect your need to have uninterrupted work time
• Be clear that you may not have the time to go shopping, cut the lawn or pick up the kids without sufficient advanced notice
• Some find it useful to close the office door when they do not want to be interrupted

It is my experience, with people I have worked with, that those who have barriers to working productively at home have greater difficulty resolving them in the long term. The situation often comes down to not having sufficient space at home to dedicate to the business.

The solution for many was to find an office away from the home thereby making it much easier to separate business and personal activities. Productivity increased as did satisfaction with the business.

Remember that you are still employed when you are self-employed, your business needs you to go to work.

Richard

Image credit: examiner.com

What happened to Wise Wednesdays?

You might have been wondering where Wise Wednesday writer, Dominik Loncar, has been.

As well as delivering Toronto Business Development Centre's Start a Business Seminar series, being Advisor on Call, representing TBDC at Toronto Food Business Incubator seminars, and his business advisor responsibilities, Dominik finds time to be the Creative Director of the annual InspiraTO Festival. The festival has is origins in Theatre Inspirato, founded by Dominik in 2003.

The 10 minute play format, InspiraTO Festival, is now in its 5th year. This year there are two themes consisting of 8 plays each, narrowed down from the over 300 scripts that were received read and judged. The festival venue is the Mainstage at Theatre Alumnae at 70 Berkeley Street at Adelaide Street East.

Click here to read all about this entertaining and thought provoking festival.

Tickets are available online at InspiraTO Festival or at the door. Check the schedule here and make plans to attend.

Break a leg Dominik.

Thoughtful Thursdays - Making the first half

Holy *#?! the first half of the year is just around the corner.

There are approximately 5 billing, weeks to the end of the first half of 2010. How are your sales numbers? This is a good time to look at actual sales and compare them to your forecasts.

At the same time you will want to review your cash flow projections to determine if your expenses are in check.

If you find that sales have been slower than anticipated, there is time to take steps to achieve projected first half profit figures and make the first half.

That is of course if you have financial forecasts to measure performance against... and you do, don't you?

From a new sales point of view focus on identified potential you feel will close within the month. Call your existing customer base and find out if any orders can be expected. This information will give you a good idea if you have a sales gap to bridge.

You do not want to be discovering at the end of June that forecasts would have been achieved if only some financial analysis was conducted a month earlier.

Good selling,

Richard

A Social Media Story - Twitter

It will be one year in June 2010 since Toronto Business Development Centre entered the world of social media on Twitter.

During the first year we learned how to link tweets to our blog, facebook and Linkedin pages.

Recently we tweeted from the TBDC Awards Gala, learned why we should use hash tags, and that using a separate twitter page might not be the way to go - live and learn. We are neophytes to social media but are committed to these channels of communication.

Back to the story. It was not very long before we started to follow tweeters of information related to business, small business and entrepreneurship. We have followed, unfollowed and blocked.

One of the businesses we chose to follow was Distility Branding @1day1brand. Shortly thereafter we received a direct message thanking us for the follow. Follow up communication revealed that Axel Davids, CEO of Distility, graduated from Toronto Business Development Centre 10 years ago.

This led to the renewal of the business relationship that had been lost some time ago and Axel accepted an opportunity to be the featured speaker at our most recent TBDC Entrepreneur Forum.

Subsequently Distility Branding participated in the nomination process for the 2010 TBDC Awards and Axel Davids was announced as an award finalist. On May 5, 2010 at the Toronto Granite Club Axel was presented the Excellence in Innovation Award at the second annual TBDC Awards Gala.

None of these events would have likely unfolded if not for social media, Twitter in this case.

How has social media impacted your business?

Richard

Thoughful Thursdays - Time flies

If you are the sales team for your business you will know that scheduling time can be problematic from time to time. If you are a one person business that is growing, "from time to time" may be quickly become all the time.

No matter what the situation, planning your activities will help you make the best use of your time. How you plan those activities is also important to effective time management.

If you think about it time is easy to measure. A second is a second, 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day and so on and so on. Yet we are always running out of it., whether it is due to cramming too many activities into a specific amount of time or unforeseen events causing it to take longer to accomplish the activities.

Here are a few planning tips you may find useful:

• Schedule appointments at minimum of one week in advance and allow for the worst case in travel time.
  
• Avoid back to back meetings without a break between.
  
• Use the time between calls to write your meeting reports and check and respond to voicemail and email.
  
• Stick to your meeting agenda - that means have a meeting agenda.
  
• Commit to your schedule, if a customer calls and needs to see you urgently, qualify the urgency before cancelling any meetings.
  
• If you are running late or must cancel read this great article from Mark Suster titled The Right Way to Cancel a Meeting.

Good selling,
Richard