You can IMPROVE your margins by taking MARKDOWNS. Crazy! Quite a contradiction, right? At first glance, it makes a lot of sense to take smaller markdowns, doesn’t it? By keeping markdowns smaller, you are protecting your profit margins. I bet you have stretched it to 50% off, but you didn’t go further because then you’re not getting back what you … Read More
Amazon Prime Days: How do you increase your sales by 176%?
Would you like to know how YOU should celebrate Amazon Prime Days? Wait, what?! Why am I asking you, an independent retailer, to cheer for Amazon Prime Days? Because this is a huge opportunity to take advantage of the cultural fanfare this event gets and puts a local twist on it to make it your own successful annual event. In fact, … Read More
Why You Should Commit to Your Markdowns
If you have followed me for a while, you might have heard me tell the story of the Christmas Vase. It’s a story about a client who had a beautiful vase that just wouldn’t sell. So she moved it to the window. It still didn’t sell. She marked it down 20%, and when it still didn’t sell she marked it … Read More
Why You Shouldn’t Do a Storewide Sale!
When cash is tight it’s easy to fall into the trap of running a storewide or sitewide sale. After all, what would attract customers more than “Everything is 20% off!”, right? I’m here to tell you… DON’T DO IT!!! This plan will backfire on you! When you run a storewide sale, you actually give your control away to your customers. … Read More
To Weekend Sale or Not?
I was chatting with a client recently, and she was feeling a little panicky. Her sales were down and she told me she wanted to do a quick weekend sale. My immediate answer was “NO”, quickly adding an explanation for why it was a bad idea. Then I realized that you might not know why it’s a bad idea either! … Read More
Why a Sale is NOT the Answer to Your Slow Sales Right Now
A clearance sale has to be strategic – done in the right way, at the right time and for the right audience for it to work. And right now is not the time! I’ll tell you why, and exactly what you SHOULD do right now to increase traffic, sales AND profits.
Using your passion to improve your sales
Most retailers I work with, didn’t open their retail store because they love selling, or are really great sales people. They opened their store because they have a passion. It might be a passion for a particular product that they want to share with the world, or for a hobby that brings them so much joy. But it’s usually not … Read More
Are You A Frog?
Are You a Frog? Warts and all? If I were to ask you: Are you a frog? Warts and all? I’m going to guess that your immediate response is: “NO! And I don’t have any warts!” But are you sure? We all know the story about the frog and boiling water. It goes that if you put a frog in … Read More
Why Calling is Not a 4 Letter Word
When I shared my number 1 tip for increasing traffic and sales immediately with a client, she acted as if I had told her a 4 letter word 😳. I assure you I didn’t. But her reaction is not uncommon! I’m sharing our conversation so that you can see why it’s a flawed perspective.I’m sharing it because it wasn’t the … Read More
Do you have Shiny New Object Syndrome?
We live in truly amazing times. Technological advances are making things possible we never even could have dreamed about just a decade or two ago – Like social media, cloud based computing, iPads and virtual assistants like Google and Alexa. (What’s your fav command? Mine is “Alexa play Taylor Swift’s new album from Spotify”) But with all the opportunities this … Read More
