Growing Your Small Business in 2012- Grow Your Business - STOCK OR SELL

We have another blog entry from Carol Ritter of CarolTalks in her Growing Your Business series.  Enjoy!
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loyees were feverishly stocking the shelves with beautiful merchandise.  Because it was a new store, I needed some advice to find what I was looking for.  So I walked up to counter and noticed three sales representatives reading what looked like directions on building a display.  I waited a few seconds and one of the gals looked up and shouted “Jake, come here I want you to meet Mr. Smith”.  I was standing right there.  For a moment I thought maybe I’m invisible.  I said, “excuse me” and  she said, “yes?”  “Can you tell me where you might have the coffee ?”  She replied, in an unfriendly way, “Over there.”  Have you ever felt invisible in a store, a restaurant or a business?  If so, do you want to shop there again?  The critical question is; shall we STOCK or shall we SELL?  Is there a stocking deadline which supersedes a sale or building your reputation with a new or returning customer? 

And then there was the day when I was in a store and there was a  woman feverishly folding sweaters.   I was clearly invisible and when I made the mistake of saying excuse me, she sharply stated that I had to wait till all the sweaters were folded.  REALLY!

TO STOCK....some may say my boss wants it done today, or maybe there is a big sale tomorrow and the store needs to be ready by a certain time. 

TO SELL...what becomes the most important piece of your business?  Is it the bottom line, is it building your reputation, or is it dreaming of the day the community needs you more than you need them.

Here’s a tip for stocking, do it when no one is in the store, the minute customers arrive, stocking stops and customer service begins.  Finish the stocking and folding later.

Here’s a tip for service, every single person you meet and every single person you have never met is a potential customer/buyer, treat them like you can’t live without them, cuz you can’t!

If in your business, stocking and folding becomes more important than selling you may want to consider another career.  The merchandise can wait, your new customer can’t.

So, You decide for your business;  should we STOCK, SELL, or FOLD, that’s the magic question?

Carol is an accomplished professional speaker, coach and educational consultant specializing in remarkable leadership, outrageous fundraising, million dollar marketing, and building organizational alliances throughout the country.  Carol’s innovative strategies provide leadership with bullet proof ideas for recruiting MORE MEMBERS, MORE MONEY AND BETTER LEADERS. www.caroltalks.com

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