In my article, "If You Teach a Cannibal to Eat with a Fork, Have You Made Progress," * I mention that economic uncertainty and a resulting decrease in discretionary spending capacity are steering customers to our stores. Whether we tap into this potential stream, however, rests with the questions we ask. One of my clients recently sent me an article from the Los Angeles Times which reports that for many consumers, secondhand shops have now become their stores of first choice. Don’t let the economy get you down. Remember, it’s all about the questions: ask the right ones, then, reap the benefits!

You can read the article at: LA Times Website
*Article: If You Teach A Cannibal To Eat With A Fork

"It's the start of a new month . . . Have I learned anything?" Come to think of it, that’s a great question to ask yourself every month. Here's why. At the conclusion of each 30 day period, you have one more, formal opportunity to drill down into what your store's performance is trying to tell you. If principally, you capture gross revenue numbers, then bounce against prior year comparative months, you get one bit of information, i.e. whether your store pulled more (or fewer) dollars than prior months. Assuming that you acknowledge all of your expenses (this month and in prior comparatives), you may also derive a valid net income bottom–line. That's good. If this is largely as far as you go, however, you are missing some very important efficiency indicators, like "What is it costing you per net dollar raised?" "What is your net income per employee hour?" "Which product is pulling best net dollars, and is the respective square footage of retail floor space allocated, commensurate with how well the product is pulling?"

Asking these, and many other similar questions, is for me the fun of retailing. The answers give you the tools you need to make informed decisions. In retailing as in nearly every other discipline, we get what we measure . . . and by implication, if we don't measure, getting it is left to chance. Talon Company staff are available to help you (1) determine what information is important to assessing – and improving – store performance, (2) identify the metrics which will provide that information, and (3) establish monitoring systems for monthly reporting.

Your programs and ministries are too important to leave dollars on the table. Give us a call. We would love to discuss how we can help.      ...more Talon Quick Tips...