Add You - Business

Is Six Sigma Quality Worth The Price to Your Business?
The last few years have done wonders for demonstrating the power and potential offered by Six Sigma Quality, Motorola’s now famous revolutionary business design strategy.It is clear that it has become quite popular among many businesses who have undertaken the massive re-training and re-thinking of their policies and procedures in order to implement the whole new Six Sigma Quality way of functioning. What may be unclear to you is whether or not this sacrifice is worth it to your business. After all, it does take a great deal of time, effort, and often

today. Looks like your vacuum needs my help. Let me take a look at it for you”. We need to change from filling their needs on our schedule to making their visit to our store a learning experience in cleaning or sewing that they will tell their friends.

What Defines A Successful Entrepreneur?
Do you dream of sacking your boss? Do you feel an urge to succeed in business with just a good idea and a lot of hard work?An unstable economy and increasing costs makes most of us too nervous to consider such a drastic move. Being a successful entrepreneur requires you have certain qualities and characteristics and a certain mindset.That 9 year old selling lemonade on the sidewalk on a hot summer’s day is really a successful entrepreneur. He or she is betting that a cold glass of lemonade will appeal to many people walking pass. He must be sure

We had an election in 2006 where many new politicians were voted in because people wanted a change. There wasn’t a real clear reason or picture of what the change was going to be, people just wanted change. In your world, or store, do you want change? Are you looking for reasons and ways to change? Do the reasons and the total plan have to be thought out before you start change? Or … do you keep things running the same because that is the way you always did it, hoping that tomorrow will be better.

Twenty years ago when I first entered the Vacuum Retail Business, I was told by a vacuum store owner that opening a vacuum store was easy. “All you have to do is rent a small store, throw up some vacuum bags on peg board, and you would be in business.” By the way, he is out of business. Did you ever think that a hardware store, Home Depot or Lowes, would be selling a $500 vacuum? Everyone understands that retail has changed and will continue to change. But as an industry, have we really changed all that much?

I try to visit stores when I am out of town and sometimes I quite frankly am stunned by the condition of some stores and embarrassed to be in the same business. I know that is not your store! I want to say that I have plenty of room for improvement. My stores are far from where I want them to be. When people ask what you do for a living do you proudly say “I own a vacuum store!” Or do you hedge a little and say “ I’m in retail.” Can I dream a little? Could owning a Sew and Vac ever be viewed by the public the same as owning a Hallmark Store or a nice Italian Restaurant if we all just changed a little? It could be like turning a your favorite Pizza Shop into an fine Italian restaurant. The veal parmesan is the same but the service and the ambiance make the customers willing to pay more.

Our customers are people who want better quality products, at a fair price and want to be treated special. Are we positioned to be there for them or do they want to get out as soon as they walk in the door? We need to change our look from a dirty repair shop to a clean, bright, warm Vacuum and/or Sewing Boutique. We need to change our attitude from “I’ll be right with you as soon as I can.” to “Hello! So nice of you to stop in today. Looks like your vacuum needs my help. Let me take a look at it for you”. We need to change from filling their needs on our schedule to making their visit to our store a learning experience in cleaning or sewing that they will tell their friends.

Creating a Powerful Project Vision
You walk into your local grocery or market, looking for apples. You see the displays. They are bursting with apples of many varieties. To your left you notice a sea of yellow and red apples – the sign says they are Jonathans. To your right you see bright, green Granny Smiths. But straight ahead, you see the biggest, reddest Red Delicious apples you have ever seen. You are drawn to the display knowing that is what you want. As you walk closer you can see that the merchant has polished every one.You pick up a bag and start to select a few of the re

usiness, I was told by a vacuum store owner that opening a vacuum store was easy. “All you have to do is rent a small store, throw up some vacuum bags on peg board, and you would be in business.” By the way, he is out of business. Did you ever think that a hardware store, Home Depot or Lowes, would be selling a $500 vacuum? Everyone understands that retail has changed and will continue to change. But as an industry, have we really changed all that much?

The Top Risk Management Tips – Prevent Injury at Work
Slips and trips maybe seen by some as funny but they are in fact the most common cause of major injuries at work with over a third of all injuries reported each year caused by slip or trip accidents. In fact slip or trip accidents account for:20% of injuries where the employee is absent for over 3-days 33% of all reported major injuries 2 fatalities per year 50% of all reported accidents to members of the public A cost of ?368 million per year to employers in lost production and other costsThe highest rate of injuries occurs i

of some stores and embarrassed to be in the same business. I know that is not your store! I want to say that I have plenty of room for improvement. My stores are far from where I want them to be. When people ask what you do for a living do you proudly say “I own a vacuum store!” Or do you hedge a little and say “ I’m in retail.” Can I dream a little? Could owning a Sew and Vac ever be viewed by the public the same as owning a Hallmark Store or a nice Italian Restaurant if we all just changed a little? It could be like turning a your favorite Pizza Shop into an fine Italian restaurant. The veal parmesan is the same but the service and the ambiance make the customers willing to pay more.

How The Most Successful Companies Develop Their Sales Teams
Not enough companies have learned how to employ sales training as a strategic tool. Those that have are leaders in their industries, offering their shareholders maximum return on investment, are able to quickly adapt to changing market conditions, are respected by their customers, and provide consistent sales performance. The sales people that work for those companies are motivated and stay in their jobs longer.Quite often sales managers and executives don’t have the time and experience to do this correctly. Companies with internal training departmen

fine Italian restaurant. The veal parmesan is the same but the service and the ambiance make the customers willing to pay more.

Powerpoint Sales Presentations Are Boring - Stop It!
As the meeting began, the project manager of the buying committee told me that the key decision-maker would miss the first 20 minutes or so of my presentation. This was a very competitive sale that I was working on at the time. There were about a dozen or so business-people from the prospect company that I was selling to in this meeting. The presentation was scheduled to last about 90 minutes. During the first 20 minutes I had planned to cover my "persuasive arguments" (that is my company and product benefits). So how do you think that I felt about thi

So, how do we change? First, we have to become students of retail. We need to study other retailers in other industries to see what they are doing. Our customers are going there. We need to fit in with other high end retailers so our customers feel good. Second, We need to invest in our business. New floor surfaces, new paint and well dressed and groomed associates. Third, we need to be Demo Ready. Our sales floor should be like a Broadway Stage. Everything in the proper place, current floor models in new condition, demo props ready and add-on sales items close by. And finally we need to Always Be Selling. We need to invest time and money so our employees make our customers want to come back time after time to spend more money with us. If we do not become more profitable, i.e. more sales, we won’t be able to attract good people to help us grow.

Does anyone want to change? Of course not. Is it easy? Heck no! If we start the process, it becomes easier every day. But you may ask “Is the vacuum and sewing business worth it?” Sure it is! Most retail has one revenue stream, we have at least four! Machine sales, service, parts and classes. Each one of them could and should stand on their own if we tracked them on their own.

Imagine if all the TV stations and newspapers in the country started doing stories about vacuum stores. Just like the politicians, all the stories would be “Negative” on how Vacuum stores operated. People would start looking at us as worse than used car salesmen! At the same time they praise the Big Boxes. They ignore the fact that the Big Box sales staff, if you can find someone, don’t know much and can’t fix anything, Their stories say “They are OPEN!”. This could happen if we don’t change because people are writing the stories themselves. Is your story positive or negative? We need to all help each other to change before the electorate (Our Customers) say “Vote the bums out!” to us, an industry that is killing itself slowly by resisting change.

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Tired of sending the boring white envelope over and over again? Why not spice it up with colorful return address labels? Your recipient will surely be amused by your creativity, and you will definitely find mail work a lot more fun.

Million Dollar Ideas come into your mind every day. How would you like to know 5 simple steps that will allow you to see your Million Dollar Idea become a physical reality? The trick is to catch them, nurture them and attract all you need to know, do or be in order to have your idea become a reality.

Some of these ideas are more traditional, such as yellow pages advertising and classified ads. Of course that doesn't mean they should be neglected.

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