Advantages are synonymous with differentiation, or being different.

Having advantages in business means that you have the upper hand, or better reasons to be chosen.
This is most typically applied to the marketing efforts of a company but is really so much more than just that. It extends into all areas – marketing of course, operations, people, and financial.

It’s only a matter of when customers come back after the matter of IF they will come back.
Living by default is a very precarious way of doing business. Thinking that your business is more convenient, better than the rest, has cheaper prices, is more friendly, or has the best selection is living by default.

First a little Multiple Choice test:

Do you feel taken for granted when you shop in a store or do business with a company?

a.     ___ Never
b.     ___ Occasionally
c.     ___ Sometimes
d.     ___ Often

That’s a fair question and one your customer asks themselves (at least subconsciously) when they complete every transaction with us.  The trouble is that customers don’t WANT to choose where they do business by default. They choose based on the best available choice they know of.  It’s a matter of “What have you done for me lately?”

When I walk through a business I visualize one-hundred dollar bills fluttering all about. They are as real as real money to me. They are the hundreds and thousands of dollars of opportunity cost I see in a business.

Have you been to a mall or trade show where someone is offered the opportunity to step inside a phone booth size acrylic box that has money swirling around them. There are mostly one dollar bills blowing around along with one or two, maybe a few really big bills to increase the excitement. How much cash can they grab out of the air in 60-seconds?
The best the person who is fortunate enough to get in the booth can do is grab a few bills. They almost never catch the big bills because they can't pick them out from the little ones while they're flying about.

Money that is not gotten while the getting is good – when there are live customers trying to exchange their money for your goods or services represents lost opportunity.

The time has come for us to know what we’re doing in the marketplace.
Do you know the end consumer better than ever? This is insanely difficult as people morph from wanting what they want when they want it, to being price-conscious, and back again—and that’s just in one shopping visit!

There are two major reasons why business owners seek the help of consultants, both of which involve improving their business situation. The smartest owners I work for seek outside help not just before they “need” it but so they never will “need” it. Just ask yourself, “What is it I don’t know that I need to know before going forward?”

These aren't just ideas - they're ideas to make money. But before you adopt (or adapt) an idea, invest the time to understand it first.

The truth is that bad collaboration is worse than no collaboration.  However, not collaborating at all is not an option for a retailer

The old adage is that we should “Starve a Cold, Feed a Fever.” I looked that up on the search engines and found no agreement on exactly what it means, but let’s not allow that to stop us from using a good analogy to our favor.

A retail-grower called last week to ask if I had written articles with advice for setting up a loyalty program at their company. Since I hadn’t written an article directed to this popular subject, here it is with my hopes that it saves them and you from wasting a lot of time and money now and in the future.