While I was at the IGC show in Chicago, Marc Daniels handed me a book and told me it was a must read and I should read it.  The cover of the book did not inspire me, but I accepted it graciously and started reading it on the flight home.

Marc did me a great favour; he opened my eyes to real marketing opportunities we have in retailing.

‘Groundswell, Winning in a World transformed by Social Technologies’ by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff Harvard Business Press, ISBN 13: 978-1-4221-2500-7 was published this year.

It is a must read for everyone in business over the age of 30.  I say that because my 21 year old daughter already knows the power of the message in this book.  I need to catch on and up. (more…)

HABIT 1 : BE PROACTIVE
Your life doesn’t just “happen.” Whether you know it or not, it is carefully designed by you. The choices, after all, are yours. You choose happiness. you choose sadness. you choose decisiveness. You choose ambivalence. You choose success. You choose failure. You choose courage. You choose fear. Just remember that every moment, every situation, provides a new choice. And in doing so, it gives you a perfect opportunity to do things differently to produce more positive results.

Habit 1: Be Proactive is about taking responsibility for your life. You can’t keep blaming everything on your parents or grandparents. Proactive people recognize that they are “response-able.” They don’t blame genetics, circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. They know they choose their behavior. Reactive people, on the other hand, are often affected by their physical environment. They find external sources to blame for their behavior. If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn’t, it affects their attitude and performance, and they blame the weather. All of these external forces act as stimuli that we respond to. Between the stimulus and the response is your greatest power–you have the freedom to choose your response. one of the most important things you choose is what you say. Your language is a good indicator of how you see yourself. A proactive person uses proactive language–I can, I will, I prefer, etc. A reactive person uses reactive language–I can’t, I have to, if only.
Instead of reacting to or worrying about conditions over which they have little or no control, proactive people focus their time and energy on things they can control. The problems, challenges, and opportunities we face fall into two areas–Circle of Concern and Circle of Influence. (more…)

Angie Tang and Sarah Lim Prentice Hall   ISBN-13: 978 981 06 793F 5

It is rare to see a retail book come out of Singapore, which is why this book caught my eye.
The authors are the Head of Retail Management (Angie) and Senior Lecturer and the School of Business, Singapore Polytechnic.

This book has been written with the student in mind. It is easy to understand and read and is the type of book you can dip in and out of. The 17 chapters cover all aspects of retailing from a student perspective. It covers the basic skill requirements exceptionally well, it doesn’t matter if you’re a student in Singapore, Birmingham, New York or Sydney.

The book as some great cartoon graphics to get the message across. I particularly like the “ How to Deliver Good Customer Service” cartoons. If you consider yourself a long term experienced retailer this is a memory jogger book. If you are new to the industry it is a real gem.

Take your name out of the phone book, stop all advertising, lock your front door, take a chainsaw to your reception desk and fire more than 50% of your customers.

This was the approach taken by Dr Paddi Lund, who runs a three person, ‘By Invitation Only’ (referral only) dental practice in Brisbane.

As a result, Paddy makes nearly 3 times the average dental income, works 23 hours per week, has no concerns with employee turnover and is happy and contented with what he’s doing, and the result that he’s getting.

And it’s all based on a business model of no conventional marketing or advertising. Instead he has turned his patients into his own high performing customer sales force.

It wasn’t always like this though. In the early days, Paddi’s business was fairly conventional. I’ll let him explain.

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