Gifted Retailer Roundtable
To Survive and Thrive
Edited by Caroline Kennedy -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 3/31/2009
The gift industry is diverse, the sum of many parts that rarely have the opportunity sit down together to talk about matters of importance to all concerned. Noting how the current economic climate is having an impact everywhere, the World Market Center Las Vegas and Gifts & Decorative Accessories invited a group of retailers, vendors and sales representatives to come together during the Las Vegas Market in February to discuss how the downturn of the economy is affecting their businesses. The result was a productive three-hour exchange with all participants sharing opinions and contributing toward identifying common problems and offering possible solutions and strategies.
Participating in the discussion were retailers Pam Hammond, Paddington Station Ashland, OR; Rhonda Strachan, Prescott General Store, Prescott, AZ; Su and Fitz Sazama, Fitzsu, Los Angeles; Helen Edell, Alligator Soup, Las Vegas; Joe Santoro, Santoro & Company, Bridgeton, NJ; and Elizabeth Bighorse, Moodswings, Maple Valley, WA. Edward Vanegas presented two points of view: one as a retailer, Suburban Hill, Boulder, CO, and the other as a small vendor, Suburban Silk, Longmont, CO. Joining the retailers were: Ted Teele, CEO of OneCoast; David Moses, vice-president of marketing, Lazy Susan, and CEO of consulting firm, Next Step Strategies; and Rick Contino, president, Midwest of Cannon Falls. The forum was hosted by Michelle Ovalle, brand manager, World Market Center Las Vegas, and moderated by Caroline Kennedy, editor in chief of Gifts & Decorative Accessories. Read on to follow the flow of conversation and gather some ideas to help you in your business:
Caroline Kennedy: To start things, the main question on everybody’s mind is what has the impact been of the economic downturn on your businesses?
Pam Hammond
Pam Hammond: It’s scary. You don’t want to open up the newspaper in the morning; you don’t know if your neighbors might be going out of business or what national chain might be heading down the drain. You have to put that aside and really focus on what your customer needs. I’m keeping an eye on every dollar I stock and making sure that my store looks fresh. One of the biggest challenges was bouncing back after the holidays — taking those last markdowns, trying to make your floor look exciting and fresh again, keeping the enthusiasm of your staff and making that month of January count. We had a fabulous January; a positive attitude and focusing on what the customer wants made a big difference. You want to reflect well on the people who are coming into your store.
Ronda Strachan: My store is only 712 sq ft. I had a hard time in January, but I actually did about the same as I did the previous January, which surprised me. My philosophy is kind of not to expect much and be happy about anything I get; otherwise you don’t want to get up in the morning and go to work. If I can’t bring that spirit and freshness in, why do it? There’s no reason to work that hard and not get anything out of it. My accountant said to me, “Instead of saying it’s your slowest month, is there another way to look at it?” That’s one of the reasons I’m here. Because of the amount of Christmas I sell, people don’t always come in other times of the year. I’m trying to get more year-round business.
Kennedy: Rick, can you add anything in terms of creating more year-round business, especially when you’ve set your focus on holiday?
Rick Contino: We [do] an awful lot of holiday [business], but we also have a lot of everyday business. From a product development standpoint, we’ve tried to have more everyday [merchandise] in order to balance the [holiday] out. The whole issue of a Christmas business is quite problematic this year, because everyone is concerned about their business plans; we see a lot more waiting [to place orders] going on. And unfortunately that waiting doesn’t quite square up well with the industry as far as what we need to do.
Strachan: The only order I’ve made actually from Midwest is Sock Monkeys, because I’m a diehard fan.
Contino: That’s a great example of taking something that a retailer can sell well year-round.
Strachan: They’re so cute and well-received … I thought I’m never not having Sock Monkeys in my store again because I’ve loved them forever. … They fly out the door.
Love What You Do and Sell Fitz and Su Sazama
Fitz Sazama: I think that’s a really good point. You said you’ll ‘never not have them’ because you love them. We have found that we sell best what we love. With this economy, we’re not trying to become something we’re not. We’ve done that and were very unhappy. When we work together and focus on something, we really effect change: 30 percent of our business is in December, but January is our third largest month of the year. Why? The notes that we took about this particular question was not only doing one thing well, but realizing who your [key] customer is and providing better customer service and better products to that 20 percent who make up 80 percent of your business. Previously, everything was about quantity, quantity, quantity. Some of the people who came in and spent the big money weren’t getting service, because we were spending more time with people who spent only 20 bucks. The economy has maybe changed that a little bit. Doing what you love is, I think, the most important thing.
David Moses: I think that Fitz makes a really excellent point. Doing what you love is really difficult in these unprecedented economic times, but independent retailers have a unique advantage over big chains, big boxes. In this economy, independent retailers are so much more nimble and able to focus on what they love. I can’t imagine a buyer in the big boxes saying, “This month I’m going to focus on what I love.”
These are lean times both on the retail side and on the supplier side. I was struck at the show in Atlanta, how many customers so positive and had such strong holiday seasons. One retailer said it was the best holiday season they’d had in 10 years [because] they stuck to their guns in terms of customer service, visual merchandising, customer-driven buying and what they were passionate about.
Be Nimble, Be Creative, Stress Buying Local Elizabeth Bighorse, Edward Vanegas and Rick Contino
Edward Vanegas: I agree with David that the independent retailer is nimble. One of our stores is in a master plan development, a village with retail and restaurants next to residential lofts with a neighborhood houses nearby. [We quickly realized that] if the store was to survive, we needed to do a series of in-store events where we get 50, 60, 70 people in for the an afternoon or evening for a cocktail or wine reception or some other event— a craft reception, something different, but doing those kinds of things that we can react so much faster than the bigger stores down the way.
We’ve also started campaigning about buying local and really stressing in our newspaper ads, flyers, email and blogs about the sales tax that we are collect goes back into our local neighborhood to fix potholes and other things. The money that is going to big box retailers appears to be going outside of that state. We’re concentrating on local, because if you keep the two or three people working in the store, who will shop at the local grocery store and will go next Friday to the eat at the local restaurant, we all begin to prosper. At every retail event we have it’s all about local, trying to make sure we’re supporting ourselves, and taking care of our little community. I think if that happens across the country in small ways it would just fix it all. [Editor’s note: Read about the 3/50 Project]
Get Back to Basics; Give Back to the Community Rhonda Strachan and
Strachan: I’ve always joked about that and I’ve always called it the return to basics — that old thing where you buy services and goods from somebody in your community who actually remembers your name. It’s so much more personal and nice that way.
Pam Hammond
Helen Edell: I’ve been in business for 27 years, and this is the first Christmas [my sales] were flat. But my competition closed their doors, so I’m the only true stationery store left. I am open, but I struggle every day. My biggest competition is the Internet: you can buy your invitations online, you can buy your gifts online … But we’ve done an about face. We went from 2,000 sq. feet back to 1,400 and that renovation just ended. We’re back to warm and cozy. We’ve decided who we are and what we’re all about and have gone back to basics. That customer that we’re talking about, they know my kids; they’re so excited I’m a grandmother. I’ve had so many customers say, “Wow! You mean little Karen who used to stand behind the register is now a mommy?”
We also give back to the community. We donated all during fourth quarter, including a lot of our scrapbooking stuff, so that the art teachers have after-school activities for the kids. And those people who sat on the boards of those organizations, they’re the ones who came in to our shop during the fourth quarter to give back to me. So there is that one-on-one with your community.
Joe Santoro: I live in the economically challenged area of South Jersey… I sent out a flyer and let them know that because of the economy we’re going to give you 30 percent. After I sent my postcards out, nine business owners in the community approached me and asked if they could set up different venues inside my business. I let them do it. They offered to pay me and I said, “No, cater it. Each of you bring food.” In the three days of the event, three thousand people come through.
Embrace the Internet Joe Santoro
Michelle Ovalle: Have any of you embraced the Internet or found faults with it?
Santoro: I made eBay a part of our business to help me get rid of some excess stuff. At first it was a little hesitant because it’s new, it’s different…Now basically, it actually is carrying my store. Technically, though, I’m not on the Internet.
Elizabeth Bighorse: What I’m hearing is to remain flexible. In my opinion, that’s the key to this whole crisis with the economy. It’s really humbling, but exciting, to say that we’re closing down one of our retail stores. We’re closing it for a couple of reasons, not just the economy. For us it’s a good thing. We’re revamping, we’re renewing, we’re recreating. When we started our business six years ago, the retail business floated our Internet business; now it’s dramatically the other direction. So, in relation to the Internet, I really can say this with all my heart, if you don’t embrace the Internet in today’s market with all your heart you’re missing a lot of money.
Moses: I totally, totally agree. I’m passionate about working with retailers, and one of the seminars I’ve done is called “Making the Web Work for You.” There are so many opportunities out there. To amplify your comment about how the business has shifted: One retailer that I interviewed in New York City is a store called Lighting by Gregory. They have one big store not in the nicest area; its website looks much nicer than the store. Four years ago they embraced the Internet. [Now,] two-thirds of their business is online; they’re doing $16 or $17 million a year in online business. Independent retailers can have many more SKUs on their website. [He explained how this particular retailer can show more SKUs than it stocks because vendors will drop ship the item when it is ordered.]
Do Your Homework
Fitz Sazama: We’ve been online for eight years and if you’re interested in having a website, you should go to Google and type in “E-commerce” or “Shopping cart.” Then you, yourself, should start doing the research. Do not hire another company to do it for you. It’s going to seem daunting, it’s going to seem like too much work, it is easy to hire someone else, but you will be screwed.
Bighorse: I don’t necessarily agree with that. In this economy, it’s the perfect time to hire someone to do your website. Microsoft has laid off [a lot of] programmers in our area; they have become affordable. Hire the best that you can. Get referrals, recommendations, definitely do your homework. Get someone to do it for you and make your money work hard for you right now, because now is the time to do it, and do it really, really well.
Strachan: I don’t even have an email address and I don’t know how to use a computer… my store is so small and a lot of times when I sell things, I might only order one or two of them. So how do you put them on the website?
Kennedy: How can vendors partner with you to make the Internet work for you?
Vanegas: For a small wholesaler like Suburban Silk, we are willing, on a case-by-case basis, to sell samples to the store, one piece, so that you can show them physically in the store and then we drop ship to the store or we drop ship to your customer after they have paid for it.
Bighorse: Vendors can provide pictures that are Internet-quality, UPCs with every single item in a data format, complete description information including measurements and dimensions and even weight.
Vendor/Retailer Loyalty David Moses
Moses: There’s a fairly new thing that I am a patron of called Shopatron. It is a retailer etraded website that solves the issue of vendors wanting to sell directly to consumer. Shopatron does the transaction and takes a little small percentage. Then in that 24-hour period an email goes out to the retailers who have signed on to Shopatron [for free], saying someone just bought [X]. The retailer closest to the consumer wins the opportunity to call, text message, or otherwise contact that customer, to say, “We’re ready to ship your product, but if you want to come on over and save shipping, we’d love to show you around the store.” It’s a win-win scenario and a lot of companies are starting to do this. They are marketing to consumers, but the orders are being filled by the retailers that are stocking their products. Wellspring is on there and they started getting bigger orders from retailers simply because they said, ‘You’re doing it the right way. You’re supporting me, I’m going to support you.’ …If you go on the Shopatron site, you’ll see that there’s lots of toy brands [as well as other well known vendors]. They don’t want to hurt the people that help them.
Edell: It’s also a loyalty there: I will carry your brand; I will devote myself to your brand; maybe I won’t carry a competitor to your brand. Because I know you will protect me, I will protect you.
Vanegas: When we get [consumer] calls in our office as a manufacturer, we do everything we can to fix up that consumer and send them back to the store to get the product. One time the customer didn’t even know the store was in the neighborhood, she called and we gave her the zip code, the directions and phone number. “Oh my god, I’ve never been there. I’ve seen the store, didn’t know. I’ve never been there before!” She bought two more items unrelated to me, but now that’s a customer of the store.
Marketing and The Internet
Ted Teele: There’s a permanent shift toward Internet buying, that none of us can change. …The amount of purchasing through the Internet will go up steadily. It’s convenient, it’s easy. The service element: In many respects, you’re going to get better and better service online. What is service? Choice, you get more choice. The visual merchandising is fundamentally different than in the store. There will be everything from expanding it, to all the options, turning things upside down… and you can do it at three in the morning. We got a $6,000 order from a retailer at 10 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. Our website sales are going up a lot.
I like your idea to buy local, but you have to make it fun. The one you cannot do on the Internet are events. We work a lot with Bob Nagin who wrote the book Marketing your Retail Store in the Internet Age. He talks about having an event calendar every month. You should consider your whole year in advance. What are you going to do to make Valentine’s Day fun? What are you going to do make Mother’s Day fun?
Santoro: I was doing that, but my customers waited for these events and these sales, so I had to actually cut back on them.
Ted Teele and Caroline Kennedy
Teele: Obviously, you have to think about it. You may have trunk shows, so the only time they’re going to get the item is at that event. The key to this Internet world is getting people into your store — and getting support from vendors for the events. In this day and age, you have make it fun. Get email lists of people so that you can communicate with them and educate them. Your events can educate them about something, whatever it might be. On the Internet side, it’s important to be in that business. Vendors ought to be doing email blasts that they can give to their customers (retailers), who can send them to their customers. But on the retailer’s side, visual merchandising is fundamentally different. You have to be a shopper yourself on the Internet to [understand how to appeal to people].
Another thing is getting getting on things like Facebook, and actually using Facebook and YouTube. I met a retailer in Atlanta [who] markets herself through Facebook. She has a Facebook fan page. On the Internet world, you have to market the way that people are using the Internet. Social networks are a huge part of that. [For more on Social Media, see "Time to Socialize" in Gifts & Decorative Accessories March/April issue.]
But … Don’t Lose the Personal Touch
Contino: I think the biggest issue facing us is obviously we have to be very literate in our finance and know exactly where you are with your inventory. And at the end of the day the Internet is going to be a part of it. You should be on it and figure out how to use it. And you have to really be very discretionary in what you do on it. The two things here that are key and what I am concerned about: One of them is not losing the intimacy with the customer, not losing that place where people are treated special, because that’s where they are going to shop. And the second thing is not capitalizing when you have events, because having events and getting intimate with the customer is what the gift store is all about. I think what we’re looking at is maintaining greater intimacy, doing more trunk shows, more events. That, along with great products, is going to be the key.
Bighorse, Vanegas and Contino
Vanegas: We’ve got a new line, a tea infuser pack that’s made just for mixed drinks. We worked with the vendor, so they gave us a sampler kit that comes along with the order and point of sale merchandising for displays in the store as well. We’re having a cocktail party at four in the afternoon with appetizers and we’re going to give away these cocktail infuser tea. We think it’s going to be packed, but it’s those events that help you. You always try to find something new…Turn everything into an event if you can.
Integrate Your Marketing
Teele: There’s selling on the Internet and there’s selling in the physical store. When it comes to business, assuming you’re doing both, they have to be integrated. Get on Facebook, get your email account and put your email address on your card — not to support your Internet business, but to support your physical world business. Bob Nagin talks about email newsletters that are 60 percent relationship-building and 40 percent promotional. The Internet is actually the least expensive way to communicate with your market. It’s much more expensive to do mail campaigns these days or to advertise in the newspapers. So get with the program even if you don’t have a website, because that’s how you’re going to get people to come into your store and make you more relevant. [The boomers and even the Gen-xers] they are getting older and down-sizing. The Generation Ys are going to be the primary consumers. And the next group, the Millennials, they’re moving up. They’re the ones that are going to have the buying power. It’s important for us to communicate with them.
Moses: We’re really at year one of really fundamental change in retail…Utilizing the power of the Internet is important and to capitalize on it. If you go on any company’s Internet site, there’s a lot of retail that takes place there…more and more, home décor brands are on those sites, because they’re not worried about ticking off their retailers. It’s simple: Identify businesses in your area, contact the HR director about supporting your company with a benefit to their employees. They can create a link to you on their website. What do you get? Hundreds of new customers that day after one phone call. Again, using the Internet to try and draw more people into your shop.
Financials and the Credit Crisis
Kennedy: Rick touched on one thing that is important to all sides of the tradeshow, and that’s paying attention to your financials. The credit crisis has probably created problems for all. What is this doing to all of you?
Vanegas: We have a factory in Thailand and import to ourselves in Colorado. We use Federal Express to bring in our product and it’s all financed on American Express. We pay off the bill every month and use the points earned to fund our airfare or hotel rooms when we travel. In November, our $15,000 a month American Express card [credit line suddenly] was $3,500. … As a wholesaler it’s getting challenging for us and we need to operate in a different way. But on your side as a retailer, you’re experiencing the same thing I am. You come to a show with a credit card you thought you could use for unlimited purchases and you find you can’t use the darn thing.
Teele: One of our vendors had $80,000 worth of credit card orders to ship. And right before they shipped, they confirmed the credit. Normally they may get about $1,800 or so worth of credit denied; they had $35,000 worth of credit denied.
Cutting Costs and Moving Merchandise
With lack of credit creating cash flow problems, lower minimums, extended terms and creating an open channel of communication between retailer, rep and vendor were offered as key to financial relief. Other suggestions included:
Su Sazama: Talk to your local UPS rep, if you ship. They have all these little fees that charge you for maximum size boxes, for overweight boxes. If go through everything, you’re going to save yourself thousands of dollars. We’ve had to reduce our employees greatly and that’s just the way it’s going to be. Look for those expenses and try to reduce them. … Do cost analyses from now on and make sure your product is going to sell
Teele: The most powerful word in the English language is “free,” right? So if you’re merchandising, finding a way to use that word is very beneficial. The second most powerful word probably is “sale.” Sale is something that is compelling; use that word if you can. If you have an item that you paid a $1 for and basically you hold it for two years, yes you will eventually sell it, but if you mark it down to $1.50 and you get rid of it, then you have that $1.50 and you can use it to buy something else that has a higher inventory turn.
Su Sazama: Right, but the problem is then to advertise the sale, like a blow out sale. We used to do this every few years. We’d advertise and get lots of people and mark it off and get rid of it all. It was great; we had $3,000 cash at the end of the day. But when we looked at how much it cost to market it, get it all ready and do everything else, it was cheaper to throw it out.
Helen Edell
Edell: I had some products that I weren’t selling. We ordered 24 of this specific item. My rep is very important; she was able to get the company to agree to take back the 24 items. And now I can order what I know is going to go out the door. So it’s a win-win.
Employing Creative New Ideas
Kennedy: Have any of your employed any out of the box strategies or events or ideas?
Vanegas: We’re in the second week of a sale at our store called “Pay What You Can.” We didn’t do it as 30-off or 50-off or 90-off. The plan is just to come into the store, you browse all you want. Everything is marked normal retail. Then you come up to the counter and we ask you what you would like to pay. It’s for a limited period of time and we thought we were just nuts. The first customer who came in, wasn’t just browsing but wanted to buy. I thought, “Well, this is going to be ugly. Maybe she didn’t get the flier. Do I need to tell her?” I thought. Finally, she came up to the counter and I told her the total was $45 and change. She said, “Oh, I saw something on the chalkboard outside. What is that?” I explained it and asked, “What would you like to pay?” “Oh, $40 sounds okay.” I didn’t get hurt by it. It’s only 10 percent. We have not been taken by the customer yet.
Su Sazama: That’s interesting, because people in our area don’t get off their asses for less than 25 percent.
Ovalle: To your point that you said people wouldn’t go for less than 25 percent. What’s interesting here is by saying pay what you can and not putting a percentage to it, people feel like they can make their own deal. When you do assign a number to it, it’s all about how big that number is.
Edell: This whole thing just reminds me of me…I don’t want to put things on sale. But I had a revelation this year. We did a crazy Friday the 13th. We took 13 percent off; we did “buy 13, get the 14th free.” Just playing with numbers…The gimmick gets them in and they shop!
Vanegas: Two years ago for Christmas, I wanted to create sales prior to Christmas eve. I didn’t want the last-minute stuff during the last few days. So on December 1, we started a 25 percent off sale for the day. And on December 2 it was 24 percent down, then 23 percent and 22 percent. We didn’t go below 10 as we got closer. But it was a bigger discount earlier in the month versus later in the month. So we began selling merchandise earlier in the period.
At this point, there began a lengthy discussion about discounting and “selling the deal.” Not everyone agreed as to what the right approach is for profitability and cash flow, but the debate provided a lot of food for thought:
Fitz Sazama: What scares me about that is, and I know I’m on my own island here, is that you guys are selling the deal and your product — selling the deal and not your store. If anyone knows why we have the economic crisis we have, it’s because we sold deals and not the product. You’re not selling the quality of your product, the goodness of your product. I love your insane sale ideas, but I just think it’s insane.
Giving Back to the Community
Hammond: One of the things I think is so important: we need to get the community into the store, get them to feel good about coming into see you and making it a regular part of their week. I do whatever I can to make sure that people know Paddington Station is a part of the community. I am a ticket outlet for many different groups in town. Another thing, and I tied it into my preferred customer card, I give a percentage of the sales that they make with the preferred customer card to [a charity]. And over the last 10 years I’ve given about $10,000. I still do direct mails, too, about five times a year. I make invitations for customers to come and enjoy something in my store — an event, a discount on an item, or sometimes it’s 25 percent off the item that you want. It’s just a little perk. I let them into my after-Christmas sale an hour early; they love that.
Santoro: I read the local paper about a gentleman who had a rare disease. He was a cowboy. So, I found out who [he] was — it’s a small community — and had a benefit for [him]. It was such an outreach to the community. I supplied food, and I had a percentage off the store, and I also had a contest for best cowboy hat. I gave him a percentage of what I brought in. I create such a loyalty doing …It really works.
Edell: We do that too. We partner with nonprofit…we’ll host something and a percentage of that goes to whatever organization…It leads to loyalty and that’s what we’re all about.
Fitz Sazama: Our most famous thing is called the Fitzsu Grand Prix because I’m a huge Formula One fan. We partnered with one of our manufacturers that made a little toy car. We went to designers and architects, artists and illustrators asking them to decorate, design a little car we sent them and then send it back to us. Then we had an exhibition of them and auctioned them on eBay (even though that’s not necessarily our customer usually). By being on eBay, people bought them from all over the world. It crossed our platform for buyers and people who wouldn’t normally find our company. It’s been written about in six languages and literally on every continent. We raised over $20,000 and the money all went to the world childhood foundation, which fights child abuse…because it was a toy, all these people were very interested and it ended up being a win-win. The company itself got well over $1 million of free advertising.
Ovalle: One of the common themes I’ve been hearing today is the idea of partnership and community and looking at new ways to explore those. As a Marketcenter, we’re in the same position. Gift and Home is a newer initiative for the World Market Center Las Vegas. How do we partner with the retail community, the media community, our showrooms, to forge relationships and loyalty. Has anyone else has forged any interesting partnerships that has been successful?
Vanegas: As a vendor we’ve been approached over the years by Entertainment Tonight, and all these other movie-related events and premieres and give-aways…and in terms of production wise. We decided not to do it ever again…just because Celine Dion was wearing something that belonged to me, it doesn’t mean that a woman in the Midwest is going to buy the same thing.
Bighorse: Two weeks ago, MTV shot an episode of Made in our store. I kept thinking to myself, this is really a lot of hassle. It’s a lot of work, a lot of craziness. And really, no one in New York is going to drive to Maple Valley to buy anything. So how can I spin this? Actually they were actually very negotiable and there will be credits and promotional credits that will be on it for the website. And when someone’s shopping on the Internet and they’re trying to research you or see if you’re a viable company and not a scam artist, when they go to your About Us and Press Page, and see that you have very reputable press behind you and you’ve been submitted or you’re won this or you’ve been nominated for that, it makes a huge difference in buyer confidence. You should never underestimate it. It cost us a little over $100 to be on the Made program. Any type of anything that you do should be followed up with a press release to everybody around your community. Someone will pick it up if they’re hungry. They need ready-made stories too and if it’s you it can be money in your pocket.
You Have to Have a Plan
At this point in the discussion, one of the observers interjected the point of paying attention to financial matters and stressing the importance of the business plan.
Bighorse: Every portion of our real estate is analyzed, double analyzed, the margins are calculated. What needs to happen …people need to be so in touch with their financials. In the old mom-and-pop stores, that’s where it slipped. And when things start to slip, it is important knowing when to drop something, when to pick something up, and how to get rid of it if you don’t want your name associated with it. Some of the people that have called me from seeing us in Gift and Decorative Accessories, they’ve asked us to mentor them. And when you talk about return on investment, they have no idea, nor many turns they’ve done; they have no idea how much revenue they’re generating per square foot or how to calculate it. So many people are running their businesses blind. And the economy really needs to be about figuring out where you’re making your money and doing it better.
Strachan: I kind of just go off the cuff. [I keep being told] you’ve got to keep better track of this, we need to analyze it. It’s a weak point for me.
Bighorse: We used to be there. It was fun to be in business, you have the cool sign and you have cute bags …you make the customer happy and there’s no paycheck. We said, “We’re not doing this for fun. This is not a hobby anymore, this is a career and we need to make some money.” When you do that and figure that out, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it before.
Santoro: I can’t always put my numbers down. If I write numbers down and see what’s going in and going out, I won’t be the risk-taker that I am. The accountant told me years ago, leave that to other people. Be creative. So my accountant notices all my things, but I don’t have a business plan.
Teele: The business plan has to be a lot quicker. It might not be a two-year plan, it might be a three-month plan. It’s really important to have a plan.
Moses: We’re looking at our business plan regularly, every month. To see if what we planned is being achieved and if it’s not, why? What do we need to adjust? It’s not like it was two or three years ago, you came up with a plan and just kind of kept it.
Teele: Darwin said the key to survival as a species is adaptability. We all have to be adaptable right now. The window for adaptability is not two years, it’s three months. Adaptability means change. We may have to change again in month, because the world is changing that fast.
Fitz Sazama: To bring it back to the plan; we rewrite ours all the time. The important thing I think about it is, if you need to buy one in a box or even find one online, you don’t have to come up with the things you have to do. It starts by asking you questions and includes the data, so it writes your business plan for you so that you don’t forget anything. But the best thing about the plan then is that it’s your guideline. You’re trying to make changes, and what the changes are, is trying to break bad habits. The importance of the business plan is to keep you on track.
Teele: So, I raise the subject of change, and trying to look at what’s the difference between strategy and changing or adapting. You have to have a strategy, but you need to adapt. In my mind it’s kind of like sailing: If I’m going to get from here to London and I’m going to take a ship and sail across the ocean, that’s a strategy. But, as you’re sailing, there are storms and you keep making adjustments in your course — and nowadays the wind is changing fairly fast — we have to make adjustments in our course; that’s adapting. You still have a strategy, whatever it might be as a business. Sometimes you have to change the whole strategy, but a lot of times what you’re really changing is your course, because of the prevailing wind shifting …
All participants took away with them a better understanding each other’s concerns, and a lot of food for thought, including new ideas to implement in their own businesses. One final interesting observation was made by Pam Hammond. One of the things that struck her in particular (apart from the topics of discussion) was that the experience illustrated to her that “there is no such thing as a ‘typical gift retailer.’ We are all so different.”
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