Author: Michael

It was one of my first retail businesses. And I still wince when I think about the circumstances I dealt with. Whenever someone starts a new business or is chosen to run one the hopes are usually pretty high. Sometimes there’s the thought of multiple locations, sometimes there’s the thought of a singly highly successful location. Either way you’re looking towards a future of...

Recently I was chatting with one of my furniture store clients. Now keep in mind this guy had a large list of customers, 6,000 customers names and addresses for one store and 4,500 customer names and addresses for his other. And here’s the key point– he had never mailed anyting to anyone on his customer list. Not a sale flyer, not a greeting card not even a “Hey we’re still ...

Last week I spoke to furniture store owner who was “hoping” that sales would improve for his store. He was banking on next week’s “Clearance Sale” to really bump up the numbers. I asked him when was the last time he ran a clearance sale and he said 6 months ago.  I asked him, “So how did it do?” He said it was “OK”. Nothing spectacular?  “No”. I asked how often he ...

I work with a well-established furniture store in Iowa and, last February, they made $75,825 for the entire month. They started off the month with your typical "Super Bowl" sales event. Then they did a mattress sale for a week. To finish off the month, they did two weeks’ worth of "Tax Refund Sales". If these events strike you as being the same ole boring events that many fu...

Back in 1987 when I was a young “pup” my father opened a retail store. Having recently been laid off and unable to find work in the oil and gas industry (can you believe a barrel of oil was $15 back then?), I decided to join him.   Though I’d worked in a couple retail businesses while going to school, I quickly discovered I didn’t have a clue how to market a retail s...

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