Being Different

With consumers being bombarded by advertising 100 times a day, the way you serve your customers must be different in order to just be noticed. You must be different in everything you say and do. Being different is standing on the side of the customer.

Let’s face it, being pretty good isn’t good enough anymore. Consumers have changed, have retailers kept up? Today’s customers are:

• More selective where they shop and shop at fewer outlets.
• Have less time to shop
• More sensitive to price and more demanding

Today’s retailer has to be either;

• The Biggest
• The Cheapest
• The Widest Selection
• The Fastest or Quickest
• The Easiest

If you’re not aiming to be the best in your niche, your customers are going to leave you. Look at the big names retailers that have closed doors in recent years. If a country’s national airline and wind up, nobody can afford to sit back and take it easy. Look at Wal-Mart. Are they the biggest company in the industry, where customers can find the lowest price? Do they have the lowest operating cost per dollar sale in the industry? You can’t have everyday low price without everyday low cost. Look at what you can do to stand out. Write down your sales or marketing ideas. Let it sit overnight and look at them again. Expand on them. Don’t be afraid to get wild and unorthodox, you can always scale back. A lot of the time in retailing bigger is better.