The REAL Secret to Your Success
Dear Friend,
Today, I wanted to discuss a comment that I got
from the SPREE show that ended a week and
a half ago.
(SPREE Show = The Show for Cart and Kiosk
Retailers)
After that show, I literally jumped on a plane, got back
into Minneapolis at 6am... and was in a workshop that
started at 9 am that morning...
.. and have been attending workshops all day, every
day since - until yesterday.
So today is the first day since getting back that I have
had a little breathing room and a real chance to talk to
you about this.
Before I started my first cart a number of years ago... my
supplier gave me some advice that I think holds true to
this day...
'SUCCESS is the SUM TOTAL of doing a lot of LITTLE
THINGS right.'
As they put it, if success were a result of doing any one
BIG thing right, EVERYONE would do it... right?
***
I found that to be really SAGE advice.
There ARE a few BIG decisions you have to make when
you start a cart or kiosk business... like picking a PRODUCT, and picking a MALL.
Once you get past those BIG decisions, what's left are
a lot of 'little' things.
HOW you handle the 'little' things goes a long way
to determining the success you will have with your
cart or kiosk business!
***
I was lucky enough in my FIRST year open to have hooked
up with a supplier that ATTENDED to a lot of the small details.
They provided us with written manual, videotapes, and
audiotapes that provided training on all the LITTLE things required to succeed with that business.
As they put it, 'It's a lot like the Marines, just follow
instructions!'
***
A couple of weeks before I opened my first cart, I went
to 'my' mall and spoke with a number of the existing cart
operators at the mall.
As it turned out, there was ANOTHER cart operator that had
sold the SAME products I was going to sell... in the SAME mall... the PREVIOUS year.
Well, I was REALLY interested to hear more about HIS
experience.
One of the first things I discovered was that his sales in the
previous season were ONLY $30,000.. which was a LOT
less than my supplier told me to expect!
My immediate reaction was CONCERN!
They had represented this as 'a $100,000 mall.' Surely
they HAD to have known about this operators experience!
Yikes... had I just been taken to the cleaners?!
***
However, as we kept talking, and I got a better sense of
WHY his sales might have been not so hot!
He 'pooh-poohed' all the stuff in the training manual and
videotapes as 'unimportant.' And did things his OWN
way instead.
It became clear to me... the more we talked... that he didn't
attend to ANY of the little things. He just didn't think they
were important.
***
That holiday season, my cart did well over $100,000 in
sales - just like my supplier said it would... in the SAME mall, with the SAME product as the
operator did $30,000 in sales the previous year.
***
So what WAS the difference between my results, and
the operator who did only $30,000 in sales the previous?
It certainly WASN'T any of the big decisions.... we had
the SAME mall, and the SAME product.
You COULD say it was the operator! :-)
But, if you were to dig a little DEEPER, you'd find the major
difference between our results came from all the LITTLE things we did differently...
.. things that ANY operator selling that product could
have replicated.
***
You could look at any one of number of suggestions
that my supplier gave me that year... and said to yourself... 'This doesn't seem like it would really make much of a
difference.' And you might be right!
But, here is the thing... I have found there is a certain
'SYNERGY' that occurs between when you do a LOT of
the little things right.
***
What's SYNERGY?
It occurs when you combine the 'output power' of ONE
force with the 'output power' of ANOTHER force... and that creates MORE total 'output power' than when
the two forces are individually added together.
Or... you do ten LITTLE things that each increase the sales
of your business 2%.... but find that doing ALL those little things TOGETHER increases your business 50% or 100%... that's 'SYNERGY' in action.
***
So, here's my suggestion. Put some effort into getting the
big decisions right! Pick a good product. Pick a great mall!
Then, once you have made the right BIG decisions, switch
your focus to doing all the LITTLE things right.
Let the concept of SYNERGY go to work FOR you! It's where
your REAL power will come from! And a big 'secret' to success!
Brady Flower
The Kiosk Expert
