Always be prepared! Any young boy in the scouts could tell you this, and yet as we grow up we replace preparedness with just taking life’s punches as they come.
I remember when I was “new” to the Pawn business. Looking and studying the Sunday paper sales flyers for pricing information and product knowledge. Google wasn’t the “go to” for everything yet.
Few things are as frustrating as dealing with an untrained, or “under” trained employee in you business.
Customer service is so much more than just “servicing” your customers. Anyone can just pick up the phone and ask “How can I help you?”. The manner in which you do this will make all the difference.
The word “brand” normally elicits warm fuzzy feelings toward a customer’s favorite shoes, restaurant, or mobile device. “Brand Consistency” on the other hand is typically met with fear by business owners everywhere. Questions like “What is it?”, “Why do I need it?”, and “Am I doing it right?” are very common concerns, and you should be happy to know that achieving brand consistency is not as daunting a task as it may seem.
PING! You just got a text from a local business you frequent. They are having a sale!
I owned a shop during one of the many “gun scares” and I had a rather large inventory at the time, mainly AR-15’s.
I had a choice. I could raise the prices of my firearms and get all that I could, or I could do what I felt was the “right thing” and sell them at the regular price.
"How do I get more customers?” This is the most common question asked to me by small business owners. And the available marketing solutions are plentiful: Radio, billboards, coupon books, social media ads, website ad banners, blah blah blah.
I worked for a large retail drug chain early in my career, and we once had a training class on “embracing your inner 4-year-old”. I thought it humorous at the time, but as the training went on, I understood it and it became a cornerstone of my thought process.