Do you have a retail business of any type? I’m talking about franchises and independent businesses alike. In light of what’s happening worldwide, are you worried about what is in store for your business for the near future? Have you been reading the papers, watching television and listening to the radio and wondering when the cash register is going to ring once again? Does the internet talk perturb you? Let’s look at the emerging business trends, and then make decisions on how to not just survive, but how to grow our businesses.

BUSINESS TRENDS
The trends indicate that traditional cookie-cutter businesses are in trouble. Many will not survive. A cookie-cutter business physically looks about the same as others in its general category, provides similar merchandise at comparable prices, is located in look-alike areas, offers the same basic services, and in general, appears as if it were stamped out by a cookie cutter. This applies to your store as well as the franchise stores.

If you travel at all, you know what I mean. If you were magically transported to a shopping mall or a main street strip anywhere in the United States, you wouldn't be able to tell whether you were in Peoria, Atlanta, San Francisco, Dallas, Albuquerque, or Philadelphia. Not from the stores, they all look alike, sometimes down to the signage! Do you want to increase your chances of success? First read the tips in this column, and then visit our website at www.tulenko.com for tons of free advice. When times are tight, people go where they are appreciated. That’s called service. Learn how to be different and how to capitalize on that difference. Here are a few suggestions.

CUSTOMER GREETINGS
Quit mumbling trite phrases when your customer wanders into your store. Start talking real talk. For example, unless you know them well, ask: “Is this your first visit here?” instead of the stupid question: “How may I help you?” Think about it. You want to start a conversation that could lead to a sale, not be told, “No, I’m just looking.”

I know it's difficult for some of us, but try calling customers by name, even if you have to get it off their charge slip or check. Dale Carnegie said, "Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language." Try it, it works.

Try smiling. It won’t break your face, and who wants to buy something from a sourpuss? Not me and not the average customer. It will take about a week to get a real smile going and about a month to make it a habit.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Quit giving lip-service to customer support and start providing the real thing. If you don't have an item or cannot provide a service, offer to get information for your customer--RIGHT NOW! Take a lesson from a successful department store and call your supplier while the customer is standing there, or call your competitor for the item if necessary; then send someone over to pick up the item for YOUR customer. Give it real thought. Provide other services, and make them real services, not just another way to charge the customer.

CUSTOMER NAMES
Do you REALLY want your customer to return and do business with you again? If so, try asking your customer if they would like to be included on your SuperSpecialSecret (or whatever you name it) customer mailing list. The uses for this list are fabulous. For example, you could inform customers when a certain kind, size, color, or price of merchandise becomes available; or you let them in on a one-time special, or whatever. This task becomes easy with the proliferation of computerized mailing lists, and the cost to mail a postcard is still 20 cents; less if you bulk mail. Remember, a name in your hand could be a sale in the future.

CUSTOMER CATALOGS
It is not necessary to spend the money to have a thirty-six page full color glossy catalog printed; a modified flyer made from two folded 11 X 17 sheets will give you an eight pager, and with an included price list, you have a catalog that you can fold and mail for 34 cents. The point is to keep your customer informed. In my city a specialty store run by a friend increased this year's out-of-state business 50% over last year, just by using a similar inexpensive eight-page catalog his son cobbled-up on his home computer. You can do the same.

CUSTOMER NEWSLETTER
Producing a newsletter is not a full time job. It’s not even much of a part-time job because your newsletter doesn't have to come out monthly, or even bi-monthly; quarterly is sufficient. Make it a chatty, customer-oriented publication where you talk WITH the customer, not to them. You could even highlight a customer who has achieved some measure of success in the community. It's not necessary to become a community newspaper, but a little PR goes a long way.

NEW CUSTOMERS
You may have a customer who has been shopping with your for umpty-ump years, but that’s an anomaly. Nowadays you have to continually replace customers as they grow, change, age or move on. Start a modest marketing campaign designed to bring in new customers. One of the saddest closings I've seen was to a Women's shop run by a close friend that provided just about all the above services, but to only a select few women cultivated thirty years ago. As the customers grew older, so did the style of merchandise the shop offered. Human frailty finally reduced the customer base to almost nothing, and there were no new customers to attract.

ACTION CALL
It is time. The trends are there, and you can see them. You know business is changing as our country changes, and if you don’t want to be left behind, you have to get out in front. Lead, don’t follow.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING.)
Paul Tulenko is a Small Business Success Consultant based in New Mexico. Additional tips and suggestions are available at www.tulenko.com or call (toll-free) 1-866-TULENKO.