If you run a retail operation, chances are that you spend over 2,500 hours in your business, every year. A very serious question, how many of those hours do you devote to achieving rather than to simply doing?

How can you find the answer if you don’t know the question?

Fact –  your business can be more profitable. It can also be a much more interesting way to spend your day. What you need to do is put a whole lot more emphasis on what you achieve and less on what you do. Without some knowledge of your particular operation I cannot offer specific solutions or opportunities. What I can do is help guide you to the answer by clearly identifying the questions:

What do your customers see when they walk into your store?

Complacency and the comfort of the familiar will be your biggest challenge. When you go to work tomorrow, park a few blocks away and walk to your store front. What does your store front say about your business? Now clear up the clutter –  expired notices, manufacturer’s stickers, out-of-date trading hours. When was the last time you changed your window display? Your store front is your 24/7 advertisement –  what is it saying?

How can I improve my message and customer appeal?

Now here’s how to clean up your image and project a much clearer message to your customers. Place a black dot on a piece of white paper –  it’s simple, it has impact, everyone will know what it is, the message is clear. Now, cover the same paper in black dots and what do you get –  a grey piece of paper. The simplicity and impact have been lost. Using the Black Dot Rule, less is always more.

How do I reduce stock, improve my range and increase cash flow?

Apply the 80-20 rule to everything that you do – believe me, it works.

Fact – 20 per cent of the products you sell generates 80 per cent of your profits. Without knowing your business I am confident that this rule will apply. So, let’s see what we can do to reduce stocks of the other 80 per cent of your range, which ultimately will release that much needed cash.

During recent years you will have increased your inventory by adding new products. But, how many products have you eliminated during the same period?
If a product has not sold in the last month, sell it off at cost and don’t reorder.

Of this 80 per cent, many products will be very slow sellers. So why are you keeping shelves full? Sure, your suppliers are happy, but you should either order less frequently or reduce the size of your order.

A few years back we took a section within our stores and reduced the range of products by 24 per cent. Cash flow improved but so did sales. We were amazed and had to find out why. When our research came back, it indicated that our customers thought we had actually increased the selection of products. We had turned a grey piece of paper into a Black Dot. And I have been applying that rule ever since.

How can I add a little life and excitement to my store?

Easy, just be a little livelier and exciting. Start to see your store through your customer’s eyes.

Smarten up your store front and change your window display at least once every month. Clear the clutter from the cash desk and regularly change the products that you display near the cash register.

Promoting your business is a diverse topic worthy of an article all its own, but the real point is to look for opportunities to promote. When was the last time that you asked your suppliers for promotional support? You may be surprised by their response.

How can I survive if my margin reduces?

If there is one black dot that I hope you will remember it is this “20 per cent of nothing is still nothing.” Many retailers seem to disagree, but I would much rather sell three products at a margin of seven per cent than one of that product at 20 per cent. I am not proposing that you become a discount operation, but I am suggesting that the protection of an imaginary per-cent margin has much less value than the generation of cash.

Retail is a hard business but it can also be exciting. Even today I find it impossible to walk into a store without looking for ways to improve that operation. There really is no place for complacency in retail. If you address the questions that I have set, then you will add a little excitement to your day and maybe a little more profit, too.