This document contains a presentation about ways for small businesses to compete against large retailers. It provides tips in 8 areas that customers consider when choosing a store: cheaper prices, convenient hours, convenient location, correct selection, better customer service, better shopping experience, better choice for the community, and recommendations. The presentation emphasizes establishing a niche, providing excellent customer service through staff training, supporting the local community, and encouraging customer referrals to boost sales and remain competitive.

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Presented by Tom Shay of
Profits Plus Solutions
727-464-2182
tomshay@profitsplus.org

2. Jim Croce’s guide to business
You don’t tug on Superman’s cape
You don’t spit into the wind
You don’t pull the mask off the old
Lone Range
And you don’t mess around with Jim
You don’t lie down and live in fear
of the big box
(We measure profit; not sales)
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3. 8 Reasons a customer would pick
you over the competition:
Cheaper prices
Convenient hours
Convenient location
Correct selection
Better customer service
Better shopping experience
Better choice for the community
Recommendation
Which reasons do you want to
provide?
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4. Cheaper prices
We notice the customer who is the
price shopper; we have the majority
who are not
Name an item that was featured in
this series of television ads
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5. Establish a pricing plan
Track their monthly efforts; part
traditional and part new products
The sku count you should price
match is minimal compared to the sku
count you stock
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7. Convenient hours
Cutting hours is like limb trimming;
the tree dies back further after you
cut
People come home from work in
season; what stores are open for
them to do business with?
Are you charting your POS results?
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8. Convenient location
Has the traffic pattern changed?
Has the road widened?
Did traffic light installation help or
hinder?
Has the community moved?
Other extenuating circumstances?
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9. Correct selection
Is there a niche?
The better you niche, the more…
You can’t be everything to
everybody
The higher percentage you have
what they want, the lower your
inventory turn rate and the lower
your profit
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10. Better customer service
Starts with what you believe
What you require of staff
How and what you teach
Sixty minutes, alternating weeks,
written agenda and assessment,
paid and required attendance
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11. The staff education program is not
taught by you!
Product knowledge; sales skills;
policies and procedures
Change how you hire
Your best people will select people
to hire that are most like them
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12. Who finds who in the store?
Say “hello” with the eyes
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13. Better shopping experience
Does your business look like those
that sell the same or similar
merchandise?
How much vendor signage and how
many vendor displays do you have?
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14. When you explain your store and
you say you are different…
Where does different start?
Over 50% of the impression a
customer has of your business occurs
when they can first see your sign or
building
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15. Better choice for the community
Only 6 cents of every dollar spent with
a big box retailer stays in the community
For a chain store only 20 cents of every
dollar stays in the community
Every dollar spent with a sole
proprietorship keeps 60 cents circulating
in the community
Indiana Main Streets
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16. A dollar spent at an independent
retailer is re-spent 6 to 15 times
before it leaves the community
Every dollar spent creates $5 to $14
in spending
Spend a dollar with a chain store
and 80% leaves immediately
Northwest Earth Institute’s Choices for Sustainable Living
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17. With a locally owned business that
leases or rents a building, there is an
impact of $179 per square foot
It is only $105 with the chain store
Andersonville, Illinois Study of Retail Economics
Indieretailermonth.com for more statistics
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18. What local organizations do you
support?
Be the lead supporter; not just one
of the many
The store that tried ice cream
How do you support them? Events
requiring customers to interact with
your business
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19. Recommendation
Customer acquisitions through
referrals spend 200% more than the
average customer
92% more likely to listen to a friend
over an advertisement
Do you have and can you use your
reward program to give extra points
for a referral?
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20. Personalized review cards on
products
Do you blog?
Do you video blog and support it
with social media?
The pool guy who sells knowledge
Nobody notices plain vanilla
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21. When a nation of shopkeepers is
transformed into a nation of clerks,
enormous spiritual sacrifices are
made.
Shopkeepers; without them the
urban environment would not have
its vibrancy, its flavor, and its
humanity.
Are you contributing?
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