The new Apple Store at the Maine Mall.

by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

The world has changed. “Amazon is taking over and killing retail stores.” Isn’t this what we hear and read about just about every day? When people want to buy something from a toothbrush, to a TV, to a book, they simply go to Amazon.com and buy it. Amazon, with its enormous warehouses all over the country can provide just about anything, at anytime, and send it overnight anywhere! How can you beat that? How can a small business even try to compete against that kind of availability and capability? Why don’t we just all give up and go home, some people think.

But wait, I’m here to tell you that you can compete with Amazon and the secret way to do it will surprise you. All you have to do is learn from another giant competitor, APPLE. Have you been in an APPLE store lately? Have you seen the way those folks handle customer service? Do you realize that APPLE stores are the most successful retail stores in the world? Did you know that APPLE stores make more in dollars per square foot than any other retail store in the world?

Every time I have been to the APPLE store at the Maine Mall, it’s been mobbed. In fact, the last time my wife and I went they had moved to a store space twice as large to accommodate all of their customers. When was the last time you saw a retail store do that?

Every customer was engaged with an APPLE “expert” asking questions, being instructed on how to get the best use of their products, advised on what the best APPLE model product they should buy to meet their needs. It was amazing and stunning to watch in an age deemed by the “experts” as the death of retail sales.

As a comparison, after we were done at the APPLE store, having spent $200 we did not plan on spending, we had to walk down the Mall hall to the other store that sells electronics among many other things including the office sized fridge we wanted to look at. And that store was virtually empty. We spent all the time we needed looking at the selection of models of the type of small fridge we were looking for. We spent a full 15 minutes in that store, and no one came up to ask if we needed any help. And we could see a number of blue-shirted associates in clusters talking and joking to one another, but none of them showing any interest in coming over to see what we wanted. None of them. And this is one of those chains that is consistently complaining that Amazon is driving them out of business. No, they I think they are driving themselves out of business.

Rather than driving my point home, dear reader, I’ll let you connect the dots. Picture my description on the APPLE store and then my description of that other store… and you’ll choose the right example on which to model on how to grow your own business.

Dan Beaulieu has owned his own business consulting firm since 1995, during that time he has helped hundreds of companies all over the world with their sales growth challenges and issues. Originally from Maine he returned a few years ago and is ready and willing to help his fellow Mainers start and grow their business. He can be reached at 07-649-0879 or at danbbeaulieu@aol.com.

by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

There is no such thing as having a company that is too small. No matter if you are the smallest of all, a one person operation, you can still handle yourself professionally. You can still do things the right way and poise your company to grow primarily because of great customer service.

Okay let’s go exploring…some ideas, that is. Here’s the scenario, you’re working at a job you don’t like, you’re not making much money and the boss is a jerk, but hey, it’s a job so you go in every day and you do what you have to do to get that paycheck. You gotta eat right?

Now, because the boss is such a jerk, he screws up the business and goes bankrupt. He’s done, the company is done, and you’re done, no job and no prospects. That’s about as bad as it gets. What are you going to do? Oh, did I forget to mention that unemployment is over seven percent…there are no jobs out there!

You don’t have much, but you do have, your health, your energy and your ambition. If you have those things and you are willing to work. Here is a sure fire, yes, I mean sure fire way, to not only make some money, but also work for yourself. You offer your services to homeowners you will simply do whatever they need you to do. No, this is not a made up pipe dream of an idea, not at all, I know two people who got started exactly that way.

Let’s take my friend Paul, for example. The scenario I started this column with was exactly his deal. This is what happened to him. And this is what he did when he found himself unemployed through no fault of his own. Keep in mind that old adage, “when a door closes, a window will open.”

He sat down and evaluated what he could do, what services he could offer. He knew he could provide unskilled labor to homeowners. He could provide all the services that the professionals could not or would not do. He decided to hire himself out as a handy man, he could clean out attics, and cellars and take the junk away. He could wash windows, he could clear brush and clean out yards, he could fix and paint fences, he could seal driveways, he could haul junk away. He could do minor repairs on a house, he could paint the house, he could do all the jobs that are too small to call the pros to do.

Then, once he had decided what he was going to do, he went to the library, used one of their computers, and created a neat flyer, made one hundred copies for just a few dollars and went to the various neighborhoods in town passing out his flyers. He made sure the flyers were well-written with a clear definition of his services and, of course. how to get in touch with him.

In a matter of days, his phone started ringing. Now remember, he had not even been unemployed long enough to get an employment check yet and, by the way, he also was looking for a job all this time, too. He was covering all the bases. But honestly, in a matter of two weeks, he was getting more orders than he could handle.

And he was in business!

Now I’m not saying he wasn’t a bit lucky, but remember the old saying… “the harder you work the luckier you get?” Well that was Paul’s deal, and he had, in a matter of days, started a small business with nothing more than optimism, ambition and some creativity.

But stay tuned, this is only the first chapter of Paul’s small business story. We’ll visit with Paul again soon and talk about how he grew his business.

by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

Welcome her to the neighborhood.

You are the fourth generation owner of a family-owned furniture store. Your great grandfather founded the business many years ago, and it has been part of your small city’s landscape ever since. The business is known for excellent quality, and service, and always making sure that the customer will not only keep coming back but will tell others about your store as well.

For the past few years, you have been hearing about the dreaded Big Box stores that are popping up all over the place. You’ve heard of other small family businesses being run into the ground, and forced to close their doors, because of the severe competitive challenges put upon them by these huge stores moving into their towns. It sounds like a nightmare!

Now one morning, as you drive to work, you go by the old baseball field where you used to play PAL baseball when you were a kid, and horrors! You see that someone has bought the lot and construction has started on a large building. When you slow down to see the sign on the temporary construction barriers, you see the name of one of those giant national furniture stores that will be coming to this very site and soon!

What do you do? Your heart is in your throat, and your stomach feels queasy. You are ready to quit right then and there, just plain throw in the towel. But no, you can’t do that. You think of everyone in your family who came before you, and worked so hard to make the business what it is today. So, what’s the plan? What can you do?

Well, according to Shep Hyken in his book: Amaze Every Customer Every Time, when the store opens you invite the manager to lunch, and welcome her to the neighborhood! You get to be friends with her. You talk to her, to find out what her store can do that your store cannot and vice versa.

According to Mr. Hyken, “Don’t demonize your competition. Learn what they do best. Knowing your competition can make you a better competitor…. Know your competition’s shortcomings and capitalize on them. Know your strengths and exploit them.”

It’s true that the big store can offer many more skews than you can. They have deeper buying pockets, so they can buy in huge quantities at better prices. And yes, they can take advantage of national marketing and name recognition. That’s all true and something you should take into consideration.

But here is what they can’t do. They cannot service a customer like you can. They do not, nor will they ever, have a close personal relationship with their customers. Where their customer service is weak, yours is strong. Where your customers’ loyalty is solid, theirs is very weak. While they sell products to a national audience, you can sell products to a regional customer base, a customer base that you have had almost one hundred years serving and learning about.

And you will always be an integral part of the community. When the kind ladies from the Methodist Church up the street drop in to see if you will contribute a gift certificate to be sold at their holiday fair’s silent auction, you can decide on the spot, while the big box store manager has to call corporate for permission.

If you think about it, you are in a great position to not only compete, but also thrive against that behemoth down the street. Just run a good business, with terrific customer service and you will have nothing to worry about. And, oh yes, take that big store manager to lunch and become friends and learn what she can do that you can’t and what you can do that she can’t and armed with that understand you’ll both end up sending customers to one another, and that’s a nice way to grow your business.

by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

Great customer service is often delivered by people who don’t mind breaking the rules.

You walk into your favorite pizza place. You love the pizza here because it is always fresh, hot, and delicious, so good, in fact that as far as you’re concerned, there is no other place in town to get pizza. One of the things you especially like about this place is that they serve pizza by the slice, which you love when you’re in a hurry and need a quick slice, or two, before you get back to what you are doing. You arrive at 7:15 one evening only to be told that they don’t sell by the slice after 7 p.m.

You’re disappointed but you get it, they don’t have enough walk-in business that late in the evening to move the pies by the slice. You are about to choose something else, when the person serving you says, “Hold on a minute and a few seconds later appears with a fresh hot slice of pizza and sells it to you. Now she is obviously taking a risk, she has broken the rule; you don’t know where she got that slice. But all you care about is that she gave you, a recognized good customer, a steady customer, what you asked for, and with that simple gesture, she guaranteed your loyalty forever. That is rule-breaking great customer service.

Sometimes great customer service comes to you unexpectedly, like the lady from the dry cleaners knocking on your door as six in the evening, after her shift is over because you forgot to take all of your shirts when you picked up the others earlier in the day.

Or, the car mechanic who calls you late one afternoon to tell you he has been thinking about the sound your car is making and he is pretty sure he knows what it is; so, if you bring in first thing in the morning, he will fix it right away. Just the fact that he has been thinking about your car’s problem after you left is a big deal!

Or the cable service person who actually tells you exactly when she will be at your house. And then won’t leave until she solves your problem, no matter how often the office is calling her to get to her next call.

Or your favorite waiter, at your favorite restaurant, who knows your taste so well that he likes to bring you a little sample of a new dish the chef is preparing because he thinks you’ll like it…and he doesn’t charge you a penny for it.

Or the person who is drying your car, at the car wash, who is not happy with the job they did, and insists on taking your car through again.

These are all examples of people who care more about the customers they are serving, than the rules of the company they work for. Now as a business owner ask yourself these questions:

• What would you do if these were your employees? Would you reward them or reprimand them?
• Do you have a system that gives your employees permission to do the right thing for your customers?
• Is your entire staff trained to react the way the people in these examples reacted?

If not, then you’d better think about your customer service attitude and training. But if, on the other hand, these examples sound like what’s happening in your company, then good for you because that is the right way you are going to grow your business.

by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

We’re talking about a small, possibly family-owned hardware store. Actually, it’s not that small compared to a store in the ‘50s when it was founded, but it is small compared to the big stores that we have around today. So, how do you fare against these big guys? How do you even survive against these giants with huge inventories, thousands if not hundreds of thousands of parts, and huge physical footprints, not to mention their on-line shopping offerings. This seems almost overwhelming doesn’t it?

A real David and Goliath situation if there ever was one. So, what is the local hardware store to do? What if this is your hardware store? One started by your grandfather, run successfully by your father, and now it is up to you to carry on the family business in this new world order. What are you going to do against these odds?

Well, fear not, there are a number of things you can do to not only survive but to thrive as well. First of all, you can leverage all the advantages you have going for you by being small. Small is beautiful. Small means you are spry and flexible with the ability to do anything you want and be as creative as you want with none of the encumbrances of a giant chain box store corporation.

You have full authority to do whatever you want whenever you want. This means that you can throw a sale anytime you want. This means you can focus on special seasonal promotion whenever you want. This means you can have a family day, and open house, a one hour super sale a co-sponsored event with other business. This means you can have a special deal with your local contractors that will keep them not only coming back but sending their own customers to you as well. Heck, you can even have a steady flow of good hot coffee and donuts for those contractors and other customers going at all times. It’s up to you.

But the biggest tool in your bag (pun intended) is that you can be local and personal. You can make a point of knowing all of your customers personally, be able to call them by name, talk to them about that special project they are working on. The big box guys can’t do that.

You can offer special services, personalized services like instructional classes, Special events for local contractors. By the way, one neat little secret is that local contractors as a rule hate the big box stores. Try to get your local plumbing company to fix that “delta faucet” you bought on the cheap at the big store and watch him sneer. I once bought a Lawnboy lawnmower at a big box store and took it to a local repair shop when it broke down, only to have him condescendingly declare that he knew I had bought it at a big chain store because it wasn’t a genuine Lawnboy. Oh, it was made by Lawnboy all right, but it was a special cheaper model made solely to be sold exclusively to the big guys so they can meet their cost expectations. You as an owner of a local hardware store can sell the real genuine products and make sure that your customers know that.

Customers like shopping locally, they like going to places, like they say in the Cheer’s song, “Where everyone knows your name.” Your only job is to make it as easy and pleasant as possible for your customers. Offer them personalized service, special promotions, and friendly service and you will keep them coming back.

One last thing…all business is personal, all business is human to human, keep your business and human and personal as possible, and the customers will keep coming back…and you will keep growing your business.