What kind of training do you think would help you run your business better?

Without question, how to manage the budgeting for buying. Oh my gosh, if we'd known how to do that when we opened it would have made such a huge difference. I've read Rick Segel's Open to Thrive and that sort of stuff, but it's hard without someone here so we can watch them to see how it's done on a day-to-day basis. You wish you could predict how a customer's going to react, but you never can. So it's hard to know how best to allot your funds and when to do this amount of buying. It's hard to even put into words. We'd also like more education on benchmarks, such as what percentages we should be at for our various expenses, and how well we're utilizing square footage for the dollar. I have more of a background in display and marketing, so that's not such a problem for me.

My first answer would be some seminars led by other people that have been in the business for a long time, so we can learn from their experience. Marketing comes somewhat naturally to me, but I'm not saying I have all the answers, and I certainly would be open to hearing other people's ideas. Also, more computer skills. Taking some computer classes would help me run my business better. As an owner, I've always been told to let other people do the work, but I like to keep my hand in it and know what's going on. If I had the time right now, I'd be enrolled in a college computer course.

After 31 years? I still learn all the time. I read so many trade publications, and when I go to shows I plan my buying schedule around the seminars. If the markets spend the time and money to bring in experts, the least I can do is listen. In Dallas, I went to a seminar on store design and learned that you need to jolt customers, because when they walk in they head right for what they're looking for. As a result, we changed our whole format, and customers are looking at product they never looked at before. There are seminars I'd like to see more of, such as how to do displays with what you have around your store, and how to do advertising. Also color forecasting, promotion ideas, and inexpensive ways to give your customers a treat. I'm not sure going through some business school would have been a great help. Maybe with ledgers and budgets, but when it comes to running a business day-to-day and the nuts and bolts of marketing, either you've got it or you haven't.