The highly prestigious Uptown Down- town Award is presented annually to only 12 men’s stores across the country. This year three of those honored stores were Management One® clients! A hearty congratulations to Haberdasher – Chicago, IL (Owners: Adam Beltzman & Jerry Kamhi – M1 Affiliate: Jerry Kamhi), The Claymore Shop – Birmingham, MI (Owner: Bob Benkert – M1 Affiliate: Jay Purkhiser) and Norton Ditto – 2 locations in Houston, TX (President: Dick Hite – M1 Affiliate: Ed Scott). In addition, Haberdasher was listed as one of the best finds in Chicago by Chicago Magazine.

Congratulations also to Lou Lou – Dallas, TX (Owner: Molly Thayer – M1 Affiliate: James Hallman) for winning the Best-Big D Readers’ Choice Award for the Best Shoe Store in Dallas!

“If you are going to be a successful retailer, you MUST manage your cash and inventory like a pro. If you don’t know how to do it, I strongly recommend you give Management One® a call. They’ll help you make better buying decisions, increase your sales and put more money in the bank!” – Bob Negen, Cofounder of WhizBang! Training

Management One® and WhizBang! Training took another giant step last month in solidifying and expanding the mutual alliance that has been established. In May, Bob Negen spoke to the affiliates of M1 who were gathered in Tucson for the annual meeting. His knowledge of retail and engaging speaking style were a hit. In July, Evan, Marc and several affiliates from M1 attended the WhizBang! Retail Summit in Grand Haven, MI. Bob and Susan, his wife and business partner, not only introduced M1 to 131 of their retail clients, but Bob told them of the importance of planning and emphasized that the best way to get that planning done well is to use M1 solutions. The fact that every successful retailer needs training, planning and support – and that WhizBang! and M1 are the best sources – speaks volumes.

Any retailer can sell more and have more cash from the right training. WhizBang! Training is proven to be effective and easy to implement. You can view more by hitting the link on the M1 website: www.management-one.com

“Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
- John F. Kennedy

Did you catch our shining star? Affiliate Dan Jablons (Los Angeles, CA) guest starred on Curb Your Enthusiasm this past Sunday. He played the role of Hiram Katz (“The Real Deal”), the attorney who represented Larry David in his divorce.

Part 1
Imagine (if you are a store owner or manager) – that you went on a vacation and the business ran better when you were gone. Imagine if that happened every time you left! Surprisingly, some owners would feel hurt and even disappointed. Often the same owners who complain that they have to do everything and they cannot get good help are the ones who micromanage to feel in control. If you have not taken off a week in the past six months, you could possibly be a latent control type manager. That means during a vacation, you could not keep from going into the store or from calling daily to “check on things.”

Let’s go back to the imagination of your business running better without you. Perhaps you are the type of manager who not only strives to make that happen but are delighted when it does. In this case, your reaction would be to return to your store to thank your staff members, congratulate them on their fine work and maybe even celebrate their success. Let’s imagine that this was not a fluke or accident but that you had developed and trained a staff with the intent that you could leave them and they could flourish without you. You have succeeded in establishing trust with your employees!

So what do you do if this latter scenario is the case? You are free to find ways to enhance the business and expand it beyond its current level. It takes creativity plus hard work, and it is not nearly as easy as making sure the same old work procedures happen each day. Now you can shop the competition to see what direction other owners are taking and you can expand your learning beyond your four walls. As your staff can well handle of customer service, you are enabled to take charge of the business trajectory and the path to take into the future.

Granted, some owners would play more golf or sleep in a few days a week. Others would travel or spend more time with family instead of growing the business. Those options are fine if that is what is important to you. Others will spend time on strategy, assortment planning, marketing or finding new vendors. Regardless of where you choose to spend your newfound time, you cannot help but do a better job at it with the enhanced focus.

Part 2
Imagine now you are a manager who relishes the fact that your staff can do things better while you are gone – but your staff is not that good. When you leave, the staff members stand around and talk, customers are not well served and the appearance of the store deteriorates. What do you do when you return to a scenario like this? Maybe you should fire the entire staff!

There are three reasons that people do not do what you would expect:

  • They are not knowledgeable – they need training.
  • They are not motivated.
  • They are not capable.

So, while you were away, one or more of those three kicked into play. If this is the case, you have either not provided the training or you hired the wrong people. The latter error has more dire consequences. It is much harder to fix employees who are broken than to find ones who do not need fixing in the first place.

Go ahead and take off a week. Don’t call. See what happens. It may surprise you.

Customers are motivated to buy for one of two reasons, emotion or logic. When people buy what they truly need, logic is the strongest motivator. More often, retail customers are motivated by emotion. Everyone has a shopping routine that they have developed over the years. For some, it is, “If I like it, I buy it.”  For others, it could be about price, what others are wearing or even the relationship one has with the sales person. There are hundreds. A good sales person can quickly figure out the shopping routine and crack the code to make the sale.

Congratulations to James Hallman’s client Lou Lou in Dallas Texas.

Lou Lou was voted best shoe store 2nd year in a row by <a href=”http://directory.dmagazine.com/shops/Lou-Lou/18368″>D Magazine’s user choice survey!!!</a

That is a great accomplishment to be #1 in a mega city like Dallas!!!!

A remarkable 25% of the total 12 “Uptown Downtown Awards” given out nationally this year went to M1 clients.

Hearty congratulations go to :

Haberdasher, Chicago, Illinois –  Affiliate and partner Jerry Kamhi

The Claymore Shop, Birmingham, Michigan-  Owner Bob Benkert and affiliate Jay Purkhiser

Norton Ditto, 2 location in Houston, Texas- President Dick Hite and  affiliate Ed Scott

These retailers are being recognized for their innovation, business acumen, and creativity. They represent both contemporary and a classic point of view.

This is a highly prestigious honor and we are proud of the M1 stores that were recognized for their achievements!

Marc and Evan

I am in the midst of switching from a Blackberry phone to a Droid.  I like fruit and I don’t know what a Droid is.  Obviously my phone is now smarter than I am. I can do anything I want to on my “phone”, however it is as frustrating to get used to a new phone as it was to get used to a new computer when my last computer crashed.  Initially I was frustrated when the phone buzzed and rang for an incoming call.  All I could do was stare at it in amazement like a spectator at a fire.  I knew something important was happening but I was powerless to do anything about it.

After my daughter gave me some lessons and I did the homework and took the tests, I could then turn on the phone and get to the home screen. Being so empowered, I decided it was time to make a call.  On my old Blackberry, I hit the speed dial key and the phone began ringing — one button and I was talking. I figured a smart phone might have the call already ringing before I made the decision to call. HA!

These are the steps I had to take on the new Droid: Press the button to turn on the phone. Swipe the lock to open the phone. Go to the phone icon. Go to the contact list. Find the person. Hit the green phone button.  What is so smart about that phone?

It can do so much more but the problem is it doesn’t do what I need nearly as efficiently as my old phone.  For all this inconvenience I pay more each month for a “data charge”.  The phones are free but over the course of the contract, I am paying three times what the phone costs!  Not a price increase but a data charge. . . Brilliant!

Give me a couple months and the frustration will become just another day and I will get used to the many swipes, punches and curses needed to do what I need it to do.  Of course with all my new apps,  I will be able to find Orion in the sky and quickly tell you how many calories I consumed last month.  Please don’t call me though, as I really can’t answer the phone.

“The quickest way to know a woman is
to go shopping with her.”
~ Elayne Boosler, Comedian

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