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Independents day - July 4th !

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

Your high street needs you

Your high street needs you

What is Independents’ Day?

Well, Skillsmart Retail and the National Skills Academy for Retail are teaming up with local retailers across the country on 4th July to celebrate Independents’ Day, championed by the formidable Mary Portas. Shoppers are going to be encouraged to buy at least one item from their local independent reatailers and celebrate diversity on the high street.

They are championing the skills great independent retailers have and they want to show the public that their local shopkeeper is not only a vital service, but someone who wears many hats; they are the accountant, sales assistant, buyer and often everything in-between. Well, amen to that ! From all of us who are getting dizzy with the multiple chameleonic roles we play in a single day this will be welcome news. This is all part of the campaign to back the high street and maintain diversity, while getting rid of the ugly eyesore empty shops.

Firstly the government appointed a retail adviser to bring back the bustle to our high streets, which was contraversial enough. It proved that there was a problem with our city centres and high streets (which we’ve all known for ages), finally, it seems that even the government noticed that.

When this new retail adviser, as her first initiative, launches a “declaration of independents” its time to sit up and pay attention. When you learn that its Mary Portas of “Mary Queen of Shops” fame, its time to take out a notebook and start taking notes !

Mary Portas is known for no-nonsense plain speaking and innovative ideas. Her ideas boost retailers enthusiasm, knowledge, skill base and earnings. With a successful retail background and a commercially savvy consultancy agency, she marries the two areas in her own unique way.

It is tough on the High Street and has been for some time. With town centre vacancy rates doubling over the last two years, the need to take action to save our high streets has never been more obvious. Consumers have seen their discretionary income fall as the cost of just about everything has risen. So in real terms this means less money to spend on anything that isn’t a necessity.

Some retailers have fared better than others and there have been some well publicised casalties in the bigger chains. But the real story in the change of the high street has been that of the independent. Over the past 40 years Britain has changed from being a “nation of shopkeepers” with vibrant high streets, buoyant with diverse retailers, to one where the chain stores are represented everywhere, leading to charges of “Clone town”

Clone towns are not a good idea for many reasons, primarily that Independent businesses are vital to our local economies. They ensure the unique character of an area. They are more accountable to customers and the local community, more likely to support local charities and have greater direct control over the environmental impact of their businesses.

Furthermore, money spent at locally owned independent businesses goes around longer in the local economy. It yields two to four times the economic benefit to the local residents compared with non-local businesses. This means more local income, wealth, and jobs and of course the intangible aspect of community.

Supporting independent businesses creates local jobs, preserves economic diversity and safeguards the environment and that has to be a good thing. Whilst the larger stores are the anchors in our cities and towns, its the independent businesses who offer the diversity thats lacking and the mix that keeps it all interesting, as well as being a valued link in the community, which seems to be so sadly underrated and under reported.

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Posted in Customers, Emerging trends, Independent retailers, Independents Day, Mary Portas, Publicity, Retailing in a recession, The High Street, Uncategorized, brand ambassadors, consumer trends, optimism | No Comments »

Optimism and achievement (sunglasses in the rain)

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Optimists get the job done

Optimists get the job done

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence”
Helen Keller

This month has had it all, sunny weather, bank holidays and of course, the Royal Wedding. Whether you’re an ardent royalist or more of a take it or leave it person, you have to admit that we staged a spectacular event, watched by millions, or was it billions ? We do know how to throw a party and celebrate. The wedding, the weather and the bank holidays definitely cheered everyone up a bit.
The really interesting thing about this is that people act differently because they feel differently. Feelings aren’t supposed to be a big part of business, it’s supposed to be about logical thought and proven formulas – in a hold on, here comes the science kind of thing. But in reality how we feel is a massive determining factor in how we behave.

Of course sunny weather and bank holidays aren’t great news for all retailers, but generally sunny weather brings out shoppers, we buy food for the barbeques, for picnics, products to sort our gardens out for summer and of course the latest fashions…

On a more general level how we feel is one of the most important factors in determining our success.

An ability to generate positive thoughts will enable you to do much more than if you’re constantly in a state of doom – the only thing you’ll be able to do from there, is talk yourself out of pretty much anything.

I had a real close up look at this scenario myself recently. I had an idea to promote my city centre – it’s a good idea, that’s pretty much what you need to know. I have no sausage of a clue how to put it into practice, but I’m resourceful, so I’ll figure it out in the next few weeks.

As you do, I discussed my brilliant new idea with some of those closest to me – some were enthusiastic, some were positive (but didn’t want me to fall on my face) and some were downright sceptical !
Which seemed rather funny to me. I can already see my project working, I already know what it’s going to look like, how it’s going to be displayed and who’ll like it (and who won’t) so in my head it’s a done deal. Now I just have to figure out the logistics. So it will happen. This idea and the reception to it from those around me is what sparked this post.

To achieve big things in life, you have to finish them before you can start them… whoa there… what am I talking about – is that even possible ?

Take an example – building a house, if you’re going to build a house you’d better have sat with a planner or architect first, or how would you know what you’re going to build. So, once you have the picture of the house in your head, and you’ve worked out the details – only then can you buy the bricks and commit to the building process.

Same with my idea… Is this ridiculous optimism? I’d say no, it’s a certainty. Doom, gloom and the state of the economy are no reason not to start a project, in fact they’re probably more of a reason.

The dictionary definition of Optimism is” a disposition or tendency to look on the more favourable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favourable outcome”

Optimistic people get things started, advertised, marketed and sold. In a culture where we’re conditioned to spend a lot of our time moaning, Optimism breaks the mould and does a little dance.
Optimists create their own circumstances – others wait for them to happen – they feel good when its sunny, or they have a holiday, or their sports team wins, ie they’re influenced by external events, which isn’t a great place to be – Passing the power to feel good in your life over to a possibly occurring external event isn’t going to make you feel great consistently.

I’m not talking about the ridiculous Pollyanna type of optimism or wearing sunglasses in the rain – I’m talking about the state of mind that gets the job done, whether you just lost a big sale, google changed the algorithym rankings again and your website slipped down the rankings, or your latest employee turned out to be a real numpty. The belief that makes you sit down, look at what happened and then go back to work and figure out what you need to do to get a different result next time.

It all comes down to focus – Deciding where you’re going, what you’re going to do to get there and then taking some action to get those results….

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Posted in Positive mental attitude, Retailing in a recession, Uncategorized, optimism, retailers | No Comments »

There’s an app for everything…

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Apps

Apps

Following a consumer insight survey, Price Waterhouse Cooper are predicting a post-recession permanent change in shopping behaviour, with shoppers taking a more thoughtful approach to buying, rather than obsessing over deal seeking. Although they do admit that many of the new skills in money saving learned during the recession will still be used, such as price comparison websites, loyalty schemes and voucher collecting for example.

Heading out of recession, they predict that new spending groups will come to dominate in our stores. Generations X & Y as opposed to the Baby Boomers that spent their way out of previous recessions. Now if Generation X is a well known soft drink advertisement to you, hold on for a quick run through the demographics.
Generation X are aged from 29 to 45, while Generation Y are aged from 10 to 28. The top end of Generation X is in the middle of a high spending stage in life, and Generation Y has a willingness to spend, especially on new technologies – Which won’t be news to anyone who’s part of the new App age !

Coming out of this recession, customers are expecting to buy differently, across many channels, so they may buy in store, on-line, via a catalogue or through a third party, this “seamless shopping” is creating many challenges for retailers, How can we give our customer the same experience, availability and service from our brand however the consumer chooses to shop ?

In the very early days of ecommerce (that’s only around 10 years ago), multichannel retailing was almost unheard of. But it has since grown and developed within every retail sector - even clothing and fashion, which cynics said would never work online. Integrating systems using technology to maximise benefits is the new challenge.

Technology is a great leveller, small independent businesses can compete on a more level playing field with large stores, if they understand how to use technology to their advantage, and of course if they have the budget to fund it.

A good example of using technology to promote retail was recently launched in Wigan, where they are piloting a town centre trading push.

HometownPlus is designed to “get more people to visit their hometown more often and spend more money locally” by enabling consumers, using a smartcard or phone app, to access personalised offers and savings. This scheme is designed to complement, not compete with, retailer loyalty programmes.

Retailers and other participants in the WiganPlus debut project, will benefit from the opportunity to drive footfall, target promotions and access real-time shopping data. Independent stores are likely to be the first on board, but they hope that multiples will see the benefits and join too.

This scheme will receive £230,000 Government match-funding and comes in the wake of increased concern about the appeal of town centres. (Empty stores in town centres stand at 12% according to The Local Data Company).

I think that most of our towns could benefit from such a visionary scheme which treats the town centre as a live venue, promotes it and keeps it in the forefronts of shoppers minds.

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Posted in Independent retailers, Retailing in a recession, Uncategorized, consumer trends, technology | No Comments »

Come on lets shake a tail feather…!

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Let me see you shake a tail feather...

Let me see you shake a tail feather...

The definition of insanity, as someone much smarter than me once pointed out, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result !

From a retail point of view, having just been at Pulse, I’d say its not just adding a few new lines to your shop (although that can’t hurt ) its looking at your business differently.

What do you offer? Is it gift solutions, fashion advice, seasonal inspiration, what’s the message behind your storefront?

Is everyone clear what you offer, or have you all been doing it so long its kinda got lost in the ether…? Sometimes a quick refresher course is all it takes to recover the sparkle.

Sometimes you’ve got to act like the peacock to attract the customers…. The peacock displays his feathers to attract attention, but independent retailers seem to like to keep a low profile. A low profile isn’t really an asset (unless you’re a troubled pop star)

Visibility = credibility !

The benefits of some good local pr will astound you….

* Send some press releases into your local publications (details of how to do this are on the e-book – crash course in PR)

* Paint your shop front – really jazz it up

* Invest in some new shop fittings

* Have an open/preview evening and invite along the local press for a photo opportunity

* Start a club

* Update your monthly newsletter

There’s a gazillion things you can do to re-ignite your interest in your business, and show off your feathers and preen a bit, after all it works for peacocks.

So why shouldn’t a little harmless self promotion work for your business ?

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Posted in Adding value, Building a media profile, Retailing in a recession, marketing, pr | No Comments »

How to right royally screw it up…

Monday, April 6th, 2009

How to right royally screw it up...!

How to right royally screw it up...!

I’m a pretty positive person, I’ve worked out my ideas based on the, you’re here, I’m here, we might as well have some fun philosophy of life, and so my posts are usually positive because I really do believe that we always have a choice and there’s always something you can do – rather than sit and stew ! (rhymes are free)

So while you’re practically promised lots of positivity from me in my posts and information about how to succeed in business, I thought, just for one post, I’d venture over to the dark side….. with some brilliant ideas about how to really make life difficult for ourselves, create some problems and generally just balls it up big time!
So, here’s the caveat, obviously I don’t want you to follow this advice (lawsuits need not apply) but these gentle (ish) reminders might help us enjoy some of the common ways that we can fail…. Prepare yourself, this might hurt …….!

Hiding in fear

We’ve all been subjected to the media’s attempts to scare the bejesus out of us, and its wholly natural to feel unsure about where business is going over the next few months. Fear is the natural response to this and halting all plans and hunkering down to sit it out…. As if its all magically going to get back to “business as normal” One of the fastest ways to shoot yourself in the foot is to stop your marketing, networking and PR efforts. If you don’t do this stuff, your competition will – and you’ll be watching their brilliant efforts and feeling bad.

Not exceeding your customers expectations

Of course you’re down about business being slow. So the best thing to do is to make sure you don’t exert any extra impetus or energy to go above and beyond what your customers expect from you. After all, don’t they know there’s a recession on and we’re barely coping? If we only do the bare minimum then the customers will give us very little future business and we’ll have lots of free time for moaning, griping and complaining which will be satisfying because we knew we were right about the customers not caring anyway.

Don’t use your existing client base

Do you want a really fast and easy way to screw it all up this year? Then pay attention because this is it ! Keep hitting your head against the wall with expensive advertising to attract new customers and avoid the cost-efficient existing customers who’ve already bought from you, to whom you can cross-sell and possibly upsell. Of course, your current customers probably appreciate and need what you have to offer, but it’s so much more invigorating, putting the effort in with those mysterious other people, “the extended market” who may never buy from you. It’s a battle of wills and that’s so much more fun than a zinging x report !

Its all about me

Of course its all about you - Doh? When it comes to networking, it’s the best policy to just keep thinking about what you can get out of each one of your contacts. Don’t bother to be helpful or useful. Why should you produce fact sheets or how to guides for your customers, don’t they realise that you had to learn all this stuff the hard way, and they should too dammit !

Develop a Reputation for Irrelevance and Inefficiency

Sharp but true, each of us is a brand, just as our shops and businesses are brands, we’re the brand ambassadors – ok we don’t have Kate Moss’s clothes, or Uma Therman’s watch, but we’re brand ambassadors all the same. Some of us are quality brands that customers appreciate and buy from and others are the “Trotters Independent traders” of brands that should be avoided. To really efficiently avoid success this year we should work hard on letting our brand identities get trashed in our customers and prospective customers eyes.

We could make some promises that we can’t keep, not do what we say we’ll do, be downright argumentative, and generally maintain a bad attitude – oooh for good measure we could read the paper in the shop – that’ll show them that we just don’t care !

Make sure your staff know how annoying the customers can be

Customers, they come in when you’ve just got a cup of tea, or they want to buy something when you’ve just finished the display – and it took hours to get just right ! The nerve of them, asking questions, wanting different sizes, while your staff just want to get on with the jobs on their to do list for the day and get them ticked off, then they can have a good gossip behind the counter about what they’re having for tea or what their friend said to their other friend, or come out with useful phrases like “everything we have is out on the shopfloor” which as we all know is a winner !

Oooh, We’ve just got started, there are sooooo many ways to right royally screw it up this year. In fact, I’ve quite enjoyed writing this, I might do another one, its like therapy, but cheaper !

But I’m a balanced kind of girl, so let’s acknowledge that there are just as many opportunities for success, if you want them. It really is a glass half full, or half empty situation…. Not getting that ? – Try squinting because the situation really does depend on how you see it. So let’s stay positive, motivated and be helpful to your customers and beyond…

In the words of the great Bob Marley – “Everything is going to be alright” He also said “My feet is my only carriage, so I’ve got to push on through” So I get the feeling he would have agreed with my post ! Yeah !

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Posted in Independent retailers, Retailing in a recession, negativity, recession, screw it up | 2 Comments »

Why we’ve got to break the rules…!

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

Create some buzz

Create some buzz

We’re all under constant pressure to conform. From our earliest days we want to fit in. We want to be liked at school and with our friends. We don’t want to stand out. We’re told to work hard, to get a “proper job”, to do what we’re told and somehow it will all be ok…?

And now, as business owners we’re supposed to do what everyone else does… panic, bed in, and hope for the best, or the swift passing of this recession – Inshallah ! But there’s a problem with this way of thinking…. and the problem is that it takes the locus of control away from us…

Successful entrepreneurs and business owners refuse to conform because conforming means doing what everyone else does. Its clear that many businesses will struggle in the year ahead, and if we do what they’re doing then we’ll struggle too. As the old saying goes, “if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got”. The rather more well known version goes – “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result” So, we must be different, we must do things differently…. So what can we do?

Firstly, don’t cut our marketing and advertising (unless you know its not working) Look for ways to attract customers at a low cost. I’m a big believer in marketing, especially when we don’t have any spare dosh for advertising – Marketing is just a fancy term for being creative in everything you do that promotes your business, and for a very small outlay you can generate some very positive publicity for your business. How can you get people talking about your business? After all referrals are the cheapest and most reliable way to bring in new business.

Secondly, don’t buy into the belief that people aren’t spending money. While it’s clear that consumers decision making process on how to spend money has changed, if you understand the sales process and the value proposition you can position your business as the first choice for your customers.

The third idea is Implementation – try things, better a good plan today than a great plan tomorrow! Don’t wait until everything is just so, just jump in and have a go! This is a perfect time to try things you’ve always thought about doing…. So loyalty cards, birthday clubs, open evenings, workshops, fashion cafes…. Whatever you go with, the only requisite is that we take action, remember, nodding is fun to do, but largely ineffective.

Finally, whatever you do, don’t conform to the countries negative mindset. There is a comfort in joining in the whole recession conversation, but just as you choose what to wear in the morning, you can choose your mental outlook.
Don’t ignore the recession and pretend its not there in a tra la la la la kind of way, but just don’t act from a mindset of fear, make the changes that need to be made from the mindset of focus and determination. This is really the time to market yourself shamelessly- Have some fun with your marketing – really push the boat out, get everyone together and think of the stories and possibilities around your business.

While we’re talking about money, its worth remembering that the same amount of money still moves around every day, regardless of whether the stock market is up or down, and regardless of whether house prices go up or down, it’s still moving. Whenever there’s a segment that’s going through a down cycle, there’s a segment going through an up cycle. So, bearing this in mind, how could you position yourself and your business to be in the position to receive some of this flowing money?

Which are the media that your target customers read, which places do they go to? Which organisations do they belong to? How creative can you be in getting a potential list of new customers together? Check out the library, the post office, online forums, local centres and community opportunities.

Once you’ve found them, how can you communicate to them in a way that resonates with them, on twitter, facebook, by email, by post, by poster, by banner, an invitation, a declaration, a modification ? – What’s going to work best for your potential customers?

The only limit is how creative you can be – Remember there’s no prizes for conforming ! Give yourself a big target ( It’ll be easier to hit )- So for April, why not make it your goal to create some buzz around your business – with the end goal of converting some buzz into business (sales) and have some fun doing it.

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Posted in Adding value, Building a media profile, Conforming, Independent retailers, PMA, Positive mental attitude, Publicity, Retailing in a recession, consumer trends, marketing | No Comments »

Happy Birthday to you, and me, and everyone !

Monday, March 30th, 2009

Using Birthdays to sell !

Using Birthdays to sell !


Going off kilter from my previous posts. It’s my birthday (well, it was yesterday) and as birthdays are a time of celebration and sometimes as we get older a little reflection, I started thinking about the role of birthdays in retail.

More specifically what can you do with birthdays to promote your shop or business? Most of us love birthdays, we try to prolong the event seeing friends and family over a week or so to celebrate, and that air of celebration is real because everyone knows how it feels to be the birthday boy or girl.

So there’s no reason why we couldn’t capture that feeling and widen the birthday net? After all you have a birthday each year, your shop has a birthday each year and so do your staff. So what am I getting at here?

Well, simply using birthday promotions as a part of your promotions plan for the year. We all build in Valentines day, Mother’s day, Easter and the like, so how about creating a shop birthday week? – You could mail out about this, you could send birthday cards out to your customers thanking them for their support, you could have a special event this week, an open evening, a small show, invite the press for an interview about how things have changed over the years? Have little birthday fairy cakes for customers, or get a cake made in the image of your shop and send a picture to your local paper, put out balloons and generally create a buzz around the event.

This will be good for you in quite a few ways. It promotes your shop in a positive light, it associates you with a celebration (can’t be bad in the current economy) gets you some press attention (for a very small outlay) and highlights your longevity (people think that you must be doing something right if you’re still here) it’s a focal point for you and your staff, and lets face it, its fun to have a birthday week. After all we celebrate milestones in our lives, our children’s and families lives, why not our businesses?

In monthly newsletters, you could pick a member of staff and have their pick of the month, or what they’ll be choosing from the shop to celebrate their birthday, or just a crazy birthday offer.

Then there’s your customers birthdays – Do you keep a record of them, if you do, how lovely to get a card from you on their birthday, much more personal than a Christmas card, more memorable and more unusual – How many birthday cards do you get from places you frequent – Not many I’m willing to bet?

Could you do birthday vouchers or small gifts for customers? Obviously you need to cost this out, but you’ll be surprised how something so small can generate good will for your business.

Birthdays are a great opportunity, they’re something everyone understands, they’re a cause for celebration and a brilliant marketing opportunity, so have a brainstorm about how you could capture the power of a birthday celebration and get some brilliant marketing from it, everyone loves a birthday story….

Happy Birthday to you , and me, and your shop…..!

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Posted in Happy Birthday, Independent retailers, Publicity, Retailing in a recession, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

The lipstick effect - Adding value in a recession.

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

The lipstick effect

The lipstick effect

What on earth is the lipstick effect?

Well, the lipstick effect is one of the consumer trends forecast for 2009. Basically, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that “consumption is more resilient than people might think” and the bad (ish) news is that the consumers mindset has turned to “recession-spending”

So, the idea goes that in a recession spending mentality, consumers veto expensive holidays and cars, but as life goes on and they still want some treats to look forward to, they save money in one place while treating themselves in another. So while they’re buying own brand groceries, their weekly treats will be more luxurious. Clarins hand cream as opposed to Atrixo, ladies, or a massage instead of a T shirt !

This self-treating phenomenon, will be really important in 2009, and will lead into other areas such as health and general well being. As people hunker down and retreat into their own homes more for entertainment and solace. Spending on homes is supposed to rise as people anticipate spending more time in their homes and entertaining more often at home. A move called “cocooning” which makes a lot of sense, particularly for some people there’ll be a worry about maintaining their homes, so the home automatically assumes more value than its had in the past.
On the shopping front, there’ll be a lot of loyalty for brands that focus on quality and value, and value can be interpreted, not only in the financial sense, but in the broader sense of adding meaning to our lives. So we can expect brands to be advertising through the recession.

Rather unsurprisingly, conspicuous consumption is expected to become less trendy and accepted, so bling is out, and care over your choices is in. This also ties in with the general trend for “thriftiness” and knocks on into the “green” trend.
On-line shopping is set to continue rising, for many reasons, simplicity and comfort of purchase(no lugging boxes around crowded shopping centres), hidden purchases (What this old thing? I’ve had it ages !) the ability to check prices with ease, and the fact that the internet has made certain types of business transparent. While the experts say that for marketing and PR purposes, online social networking sites are doing the business, and innovative online campaigns are thriving.

Although I don’t want to disparage the expert trend analysts, on a personal note, I have to say that town this weekend was swinging, the restaurants were all fully booked, shops were busy, there were queues and people seemed upbeat, indeed looking about the restaurant on Saturday night, the only question you’d be asking is “What bloody recession?” But maybe that’s just my small neck of the woods?

The real question for retailers is how can we take this knowledge and adapt our businesses and our offer to these changing consumer trends. If we’re smart the next question is how we can use the messages contained in them for our advertising and marketing?

Buzz words such as saving, treats and value are obvious winners, but how else can you promote the value in your products?

In a contacting economy people are more sensitive to receiving genuine value, they want to be sure they’re getting a good deal. So businesses that deliver value can actually do better during a recession. So instead of focusing on making more money, why not put your energy into creating and delivering real value. Find out what people REALLY want and then figure out a way to give it to them.
Note that it’s a two way process, well, three actually, you’ve got to find out what’s missing for your customers, create something to fill this gap and then go and deliver this product or service…..

So finding means – really searching for some answers ! Creating means putting your unique talent to work to plug a hole in someone’s expectations and delivering means – Making sure you’re actually getting your product or service across and people are actually benefiting from the value you’ve created.

If you don’t do all three, then it’ll be hard to receive value (money in return) If your shop is beautiful but no-one knows you’re there then you haven’t created value. If you have amazing products that will make consumers feel good, but they don’t know about them, then you haven’t created value.

Make sure you spend your time equally, finding, creating and then delivering, please remember that delivering doesn’t simply mean advertising, get creative around this area – why not set yourself a budget, say £50 and see what you can create for this, rather than waiting for magazines to call you…?

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Posted in Adding value, Retailing in a recession, consumer trends | 1 Comment »

Pressure,the law of Vacuum and how you can use this to create a compelling future

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

Tell everyone what you're going to do !

Tell everyone what you're going to do !

Following on from my post about the law of Pertubation….

The law of pertubation explains that in order for something to grow there must be pressure. It explains why behind every good idea is someone championing it, that either got really mad and angry about something, or saw a possibility for something different. You’ll know as well as I do that at work, if you don’t have everyone behind an idea, no matter how good it is, it just won’t have legs.

Or, if you have no time to implement something, but you put someone in charge who loves it, then it’ll work. Every great idea, needs a champion !

So, now given that we need pressure in order to grow, and that there’s no pressure when we’re comfortable, and therefore no growth. How can we create pressure, and kick start growth?

There’s a few ways, and I’ll explore some of them here:

One way to create pressure is to create more space. The Law of Vacuum, another very cool law, says that nature abhors a vacuum and everything grows to fill the available space. You can see this in your own houses, “everything expands to fit the space available to it” Look around, I’m sure when you moved in you thought you had oodles of room, but now….?

At work, you can see this in time management and procrastination ! Have you noticed how activities always expand to fill the time allotted. If you want something done sooner, then you’ve just got to create a smaller timeframe, which applies more pressure, so the job gets done sooner. There’s a great quote about deadlines, “if it wasn’t for deadlines, nothing would get done!” Have you ever noticed how much work you can get through two days before you’re due to go on holiday? Stuff that’s been on your to do list for literally months is cut through, like a hot knife through butter – why isn’t it like that all the time? Hmmmm, there’s not the same pressure !

If you want more business, create the space for it. Hire more salespeople, expand your shop space, buy another van, book the space to conduct a workshop, etc. Creating space will naturally create pressure for you to fill that space.

Another way to create pressure, and its everyone’s least favourite, is to tell EVERYONE what you’re going to do ! So if you want to open another shop in the next year, for instance, then tell everyone you know, your family, neighbours, friends the dog, the postman, customers, publicise it in the local newspaper, that’ll create some pressure to get that second shop. We tend to like to do things undercover, that way if it doesn’t work out, we didn’t fail, because we weren’t really trying. Its one way we fool ourselves into avoiding the pressure for change. No one likes to look stupid, but really, what’s the worst that can happen?

Create a compelling future, for you and for those around you, so that going through the discomfort of the change process is going to be worth something in the end. Its rather like moving house, you only do it, because its going to be a nicer house, more room, a better neighbourhood, a bigger kitchen, or some such reason. Or at least that’s how you sell, or are sold the idea.

You create the picture of how the future will look, your vision of it, how the shop will be, what colour the walls will be, the new products you will be able to sell, what the new type of customers will be like, how going upmarket will transform your finances, or whatever it is, and then you talk about it, until everyone is on board with your idea.

Remember nature abhors a vacuum and will fill it up regardless, so you might as well have it filled up with your compelling vision of what the future will be than a random assortment of your staff’s visions, which will be eclectic and will diffuse the USP of your shop, so remember the law of vacuum and set a direction today and champion your vision….

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Recession, Pertubation, Retail & thermo nuclear dynamics : What you need to know !

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

Pertubation in action !

Pertubation in action !

Many of you reading will be asking, What on earth is Pertubation and what’s it got to do with me and my shop?

Well, prepare yourselves because it’s an endlessly interesting law of thermo nuclear dynamics, and if you can see what’s happening at the macro level, then you can take it back down to the micro level !

The second law of thermo nuclear dynamics is essentially, that things are either growing of dying, moving forward or going backwards, things cannot stand still, they may appear to, but in fact they are always in a state of flux. If you want proof of this, look at an old photograph album, and think about all the things that have happened to the people in the pictures. You’ll get my point.

The whole point of life is that it can’t stand still, its always moving, and it’s the same for people and the businesses they run. The dictionary definition for perturbed is essentially “an alteration of some state” So, lets explore that idea.

In order for change to occur, pressure must be applied. We mostly prefer to stay within our comfort zones, this is also human nature. But in order to grow and develop we have to step outside our comfort zones. As children we do this automatically, but over time life kicks us in the teeth a few times and we learn that it can be a bit dangerous to step out too far, so most of us curtail some of our dreams and ambitions, and settle for less than we’re capable of. It’s a fundamental contradiction, human nature versus the universe.

Ilya Pregegine, a Russian born, Belgian theoretical scientist won the Nobel Science prize in Chemistry in 1977, for his work on change, that ultimately led to the laws of thermo-nuclear dynamics. He found that in order for change to occur, pressure must be applied. So to get out of our comfort zones, ultimately we must also have pressure applied or pertubation.

Pertubation is essentially the pressure before the change. So for instance, when you switch on a kettle, the water is at first cold, slowly heating up because of the pressure applied to it, which culminates in the water boiling and entering a different state, its now boiled water. Obviously the water didn’t choose to be boiled, it didn’t have any control over it, but it got pertubated all the same, and it was different after going through this process – see any similarities to life yet?

The biggest difference between inanimate objects that get pertubated and us, is that they don’t make it mean anything. If we were the water, we’d be complaining, wondering how it happened to us, and looking for someone to blame.

So its probably best to stop fighting it, and go along with the process, trusting in the outcome, and knowing that its part of life, things change, and we have to change with them. Sure we’ll fight them, because that’s part of our nature, but in the end accepting it, will make the path more enjoyable and us open to new possibilities.

How many people have created new possibilities out of being made redundant, or found new love after a messy divorce – millions of them !

So, what’s this got to do with business and retail?

Everything! The world around us is in constant flux, leaders come and go, morals and social morality evolves, trends explode and fade away, fashion erupts and meanders, economies go up and down. We have to stay at the forefront of this movement, watching, learning, educating ourselves so we can make considered judgements and evolve our businesses. It’s easy to see a business where the owner has given up, or doesn’t know what to do, there’s an air of despair about it.

Once in a while, pertubation will hit a country, just as the recession is doing now in the UK, causing pressure, panic and worry for millions. But it’s just a principle, like all the others that govern our lives. Looking at a macro level, if we accept that this is going on, and seek to find how we can innovate and evolve our businesses, this will be a more beneficial use of our time than bemoaning our fate.

When the dust settles on the economy and the casualties of change have been wheeled away, it’ll be an altered world, and the best way to be successful in an altered world is to see it coming and be prepared.

Remember for any change to occur there must be pressure applied, when enough pressure is applied we reach a point of pertubation. We actually are perturbed, this is when we go out and do whatever it is we were putting off doing! There is no pressure when you’re comfortable, this discomfort preceeds all change, whether you want a new house, business or partner, the rule is always the same. So it would be wise to use this rule like a superhero, for good ! If you know the rule, don’t work against it, because you won’t win, you’ll just exhaust yourself trying…..go with the flow, looking forwards not backwards.

On a final note Ilya Prigegine, who I think we can agree was a pretty smart guy, also said: ‘the world is richer than it is possible to express in any single language” which is pretty cool and a nice way to be remembered.

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