Check out this article on Entrepreneur's Web site. Very interesting piece on the five ways retailers fail:  "5 Fatal Mistakes for Small Retailing" by Ronald L. Bond.

While I don't prefer mortuary language when it comes to talking about retail there is some very good advice here.

Perhaps what's most interesting is what Bond doesn't say- he doesn't say that retailers must have the cheapest prices or the most product or the biggest store.

What you'll take away from this article, is that customer service is absolutely critical and even if you don't have everything else in place, poor customer service can trip you up.

Read the article and let me know what you think.--Beth

Happy Monday,

Interesting way to start the morning- writing the summary of our April online survey.  This past month's survey addressed teaching classes for children.

I'm a huge proponent of youth crafting education that incorporates the three F's FUN, FINISHED, FEELING GOOD.

Unlike other sports and lifestyle activities, nobody is teaching America's youth to craft- so it is up to the industry to do it. But I am always suprised by the attitude from some folks who don't want to be bothered. The (profitable) future of our industry is rooted in inspiring children to create. If we opt out of youth classes because they "mess up the store" or are "kids are too wild to teach" we are missing out.

Some thoughts on this.

The majority of folks who responded to our survey said that they don't offer classes because there is no interest. I find that curious seeing as there are bunches of moms and grandmas who scrapbooking in stores every day. Those are the folks most likely to influence a future generation.

All I ask is that you give some thought to why there is no interest. Could it be that you haven't hit upon the right timing, teacher, location or class subject? Many a fabulous class has gone unattended and dismissed because the timing wasn't right for the audience. Look at the teacher- not every great scrapbook teacher is great with kids. Do you have any customers who are school teachers that you might be able to engage as a teacher? Ask your customers- I bet there are some moms and grandmas who wouldn't mind taking on the occasional youth class.

Maybe you need to take your youth classes outside the store- through local park and recreation or Scout groups. When are the classes offered? Do they conflict with soccer practice, religious studies, school activities? Some craft retailers have had great success sponsoring scrapbooking workshops during the school year on inservice or teacher conference days.

To the 75 percent of you who are currently teaching  young people to enjoy papercrafting -- KUDOS. You are laying the groundwork for a solid customer base in the next few years. To those who say there is no interest, please take a moment to analyze why there is no interest. You may find it is a problem that is fairly easy to resolve.--Beth

We are in the process of pulling together next issue's (August/September) news and new products. And folks, I have to say it is eerily quiet.

Are companies not merging, taking on new staff, winning awards or changing addresses? Are we working so close to the trade show with product introductions there is nothing to tease?

Are you all in Bimini enjoying the sun and sand?

Hmmm.

I'm thinking it's more along the lines of being too busy and not having a moment to bang out a press release. So let me give a word of advice. Scrapbook Retailer is easy- we don't need formal press releases or fancy words- that's our job.

Just send me a sentence or two about your new hire. Tell me that you are partnering with another vendor. Give me a heads up that a great new product is coming down the line but it's not ready yet.

Send us your news! Send to: editorial@scrapbookretailermagazine.com

Call mom. I miss you.--Beth

I just returned from a family vacation to Baltimore area. If you have young children I highly recommend it- very fun and lots to do in walking distance from Inner Harbor hotels.

One of our favorites was Port Discovery. This is an interactive musuem for children that stimulates all the senses. In addition to the three story climbing/net/habitrail thing there are other rooms that incorporate water play, an Egyptian treasure hunt, even a diner set up.

Other stations incorporated coloring and art activities. A large space was dedicated to an art roomer where children could participate in a session on the Japanese art of paper marbling. My inquisitive 5-year-old was all for that so in we went. Since he's a chatterbox (imagine!) he got to squirt the dye colors on the gelatin laden goo first. All of the kids at the table were entranced by the process where the dyes adhere to the paper for a decorative effect. My son's eyes got as big as saucers when he saw the result and of course he now wants to do this at home.

Listening in on the parents' conversations I noted that for the most part none of them considered themselves crafty. Yet, they saw the benefit of signing their child up early to get into one of these valuable spots for the Sumiyagashi paper marbling.

More than ever, museums of all kinds are reaching out to the next generation of patrons with art & craft projects either as regular functions or special events. Scrapbook retailers can benefit in supporting these activities:

• Be aware of crafting activities of local musuems and historic sites. Find out how they buy supplies for those activities and offer to source those items for them.
• Sponsor/underwrite paper crafting activities by providing an instructor, supplies or funding for an event. Having your store name as a sponsor will get you lots of support through the Museum's PR effort.
• Be proactive about ideas- if you have some scrapbooking or other papercrafting idea that will work for a local museum, contact their education or marketing director and see how you can work together.
  
• Promote your participation with museums in your media vehicles as through these activities you are supporting the local community.

 
Museums usually have thin resources- so your offer of support will be warmly welcomed.Support your local museums and historic sites. Visits to these venues inspire our children to celebrate arts and culture. Your crafting activity could be the highlight of an event and a calling card for your business--Beth

An observation....

Did you ever notice how service providers, though trained to be 'nice', don't  always convey gratitude for you giving them your trade?

I'm not saying they aren't grateful for your purchase of the $29 Chuck E. Cheese pizza and token package. I'm just saying it doesn't always seem sincere.

Examples:

Customer: "thank you"
Sales Associate: "yep"

Customer: "Thanks, have a great day."
Sales Associate: "yuh-huh"

Customer: "thanks"
Sales Associate : (stares blankly then turns and walks away)

It's a little detail but something you remember- how an employee finishes up the sale. It's your last opportunity to make positive connection with the customer and yep and uh-huh don't cut the mustard.

You want to provide your employees with some suggestions of "go to" responses so that customers know you value their business. These need to be delivered with sincerity and scripting doesn't always work. We all know when "have a nice day" really means something else.

Some of my favorite responses to a customer's thank you:

• My pleasure.
• You're very welcome, is there anything else we can help you with today?
• You're welcome, we hope to see you soon!

***All delivered by a person who is smiling and looking me in the eye.

The old "You're welcome" or "my pleasure" combined with a positive wish works well too..."My pleasure...enjoy the rest of our day!" "Or, you're welcome, thanks for shopping with us today!"

What can you come up with that is unique to your business, a signature to the sale, if you will. The right unique signature will make an impact on your clients.

Being a Philly girl, there is one maybe not so PC response that always makes me feel valued. One that is always delivered with heartfelt sincerity... so from me to you...

 "Thanks hon, youse have a good one, 'kay?--Beth

Hands down, Word of Mouth (WOM) advertising is the best kind you can get. A third-party endorsement is viewed as truthful. And if you've ever had a baby or been around someone who has, you know a pregnant woman or new mom is super receptive to good information (and sharing information).

Take a look at this article about new moms and Word of Mouth advertising.

Many scrapbooking customers are new moms or about to be new moms. The more you can service this group, the likelier that happy customers will tell other new moms about how great your store is.

Trust me, moms share info all the time: while hanging out at toddler birthday parties; in the organic food aisles of the supermarket; and standing in line at Sesame Place. And now moms do it through blogs. Complete strangers will wax eloquent about a particular ointment or a family friendly restaurant. And for some reason, we listen to what these complete strangers tell us!

So... how do you find more customers through your customers:

Mom-friendly shopping times- Do you have the ability to engage someone's kids while she is shopping? A friendly teenager who can do projects at a kid-sized table? You don't have to do this all the time, advertise that the service is available a few days a week from 3-5pm.

Juice boxes and snacks- You keep coffee and sodas for the moms, consider juice boxes and bags of Goldfish crackers, raisins or Teddy Grahams for the kids. No peanuts, no candy.

Drop-in Time- Promote times when your classroom tables are open and invite scrappers to drop in with no notice.

Phone orders & delivery- My friend shared this one. She called a local scrapbooking store looking for a particular product she wanted. "I have a sleeping baby in the car"- the owner said no problem- ran out to get the credit card then got her product. Now she is very loyal to that retailer.

Even if someone can phone in an order and pick it up- it makes a huge difference. Think of the stuff a mom needs to schlepp out of a car with kids in tow. Little luxuries like scrapbooking supplies will fall to the bottom of the list if it means taking that darn carrier out of the car again.

If you make it easy for moms they will share that information in playgroups and anywhere else other moms are present. Word of Mouth advertising can't be paid for. You have to earn it through service.--Beth

This item in from Sarah Mahoney for Mediapost got me thinking about an opportunity retailers can exploit when expendable dollars are shrinking.

The article talks about how more than 50% of Americans are eating more (gasp) leftovers! I'm a girl who can squeeze multiple meals and a great pot of soup out of one roast chicken so I am glad to see more folks coming to this idea. Why waste what you've paid for?

The article says that last century was known as the century of prepared food. This century will be the one of prepared meals. So last century you'd buy Shake n' Bake and instant potato flakes and this time you just pick up a container of fried chicken and hot mashed potatoes  already made to warm up and eat at home.

Let's look at how we can apply this trend to scrapbooking.

More leftovers-Innovative designers come up with ideas to use scraps. Think of the positive and negative of a die-cut for example. You get two pieces- a die cut and a frame.

Some retailers gather up the odds and ends of paper, embellishments and stickers and put them in clear plastic take out containers and call them Scrapper's Salad. They can be sold inexpensively or given as a bonus with a purchase.  Use the white containers for chinese food and call it Scrapper's Chop Suey.

Take out food- One word here: kits! Sell pre-made kits or kit your own (with a photo and instructions) and it is an easy take away project perfect for the customer who has limited time to collect all the bits and pieces. Great way to get slow moving merchandise out the door too.

Also look at the "almost done" pages like those from Bisous that are designed layouts that you put your photos into and customize with a few embellishments. The customers still gets to be creative and take credit for the project. Added bonus for you- these products command a higher price.

Cooking at home- When people are cooking at home they enjoy their gadgets more. Especially inexpensive ones that do lots of things. Take a good look around the store- you've got lots of those! Plan classes or workshops around gadgets. Include in the cost of the class the tool and invite scrappers to bring in their own supplies to keep the class fee down.

Or, create a Crop Party in a Case and rent it out to groups who want to have a home party. In it you will include tools, a die cutting machine, dies, punches stamps etc. The only drawback is that you have to have a very detailed inventory to count items in and out to make sure you get all your stuff back. But that can also be settled with charging a high fee then rebating part when the stuff gets returned.

Ideas are all around you! Next time you are at the grocery store or a restaurant, check out what they are doing to keep their customers coming in and spending money. Then see how you can translate it into the goodies you sell.

Have a good weekend, I'll be spending mine making yummy vegetable soup from the odds and ends leftover from this week's dinners--Beth

Manufacturers are reporting a trend I find alarming. A serious reductions of reorders on paper lines. Retailers are purchasing a great collection, blowing it out in a short period of time and then...not reordering a proven seller.

Why? Because we have trained our customers to want only what's new, new, new.  I believe this is causing the early demise of some great collections. Retailers are opting to risk sales in order to have something new rather than chosing the proven seller and running the risk of being seen as having "old" product.

Scrapbookers want to come into stores every week and see something new. That we can't control.

What we can control is what we give them that is new. New does not have to be product. It can be a new technique, a new use for a scrapbooking staple, a new way to use a great selling paper line.

1. Reorder a great seller- but when it comes in- display a new sample. The new sample will make the line look new.

2. For basics such as cardstock and writing tools, frequently refresh your samples. Rotate your stock so that one particular pen line is highlighted each week.

3. If you've got a great tool like the Crop-a-Dile show how it can be used in a new way.

We have a local resale store (they don't even call them thrift shops anymore) called New to You. Good name. The merchandise is going to be new to the customer,even though it isn't brand new.

Before you say goodbye to a collection that still has life in it- all in the spirit of  having what's new- please look at that product with a fresh eye.

We have all sold products to customers that we've had around for a while. How many times have you been asked "When did you get this in?" and the product has been there three months?--Beth

Happy Friday. Welcome sun and week's end!

Going back to something I wrote about previously- tax day deals. Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts are both offering freebies to loyal customers on tax day. You can bet I'm sneaking out for TWO coffees that day. One from Starbucks and one from Dunkin Donuts (which comes with a free donut).

When interviewed about their promotion, the Dunkin Donuts spokesperson said "We are trying to do something for our tribe." What a neat way to think of your customers.

To me the word "tribe" suggests commonality as well as community. It says this customer group has a love for coffee, donuts (and value). It also suggests a higher level of caring about your customer.

Thinking about your customer base as your tribe may open up new promotional avenues for you. What do you really know about your customer? You know she makes scrapbook pages or cards. But do you know what ELSE she does? Knowing that you have a large group of customers who enjoy gardening, watching college football or reading romance novels can give you direction for special events.

For example, here the Philadelphia Flower Show is a big big deal. A local photographer sponsored a bus trip to the show for loyal customers who would then... yep, take LOTS of pictures. Along the way, an expert photographer shared tips on shooting flowers.

If your customers are avid readers, consider starting a book club in your store. In fact you could start a book club with books that have scrapbooking or photography mentioned in them!

Football fans might enjoy a post-season crop to get all those tailgate party photos into an album.

Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts are offering discounts on tax day to reward loyal customers. Yes, non-regulars will also clamor to take advantage of the deal. But by offering these promotions they are creating a tribe of people that feel like they are valued. You can do the same.--Beth

Ford will be introducing a new ad campaign that taps current and retired employees to make the pitch for their cars and encourage consumers to "Drive One." These folks will be ambassadors for the brand and Ford is taking a risk that the everyday pitchmen and pitchwomen will strike a cord with the potential ford consumer.

The idea of using your employees as an ambassador for your brand is a good one, provided they truly believe in it. For the most part, scrapbook retailers have good and trust-based relationships with their employees so it stands to reason that retailers can encourage their employees to be ambassadors for the store brand. When your employees feel like a valued part of your business operation, they will be more motivated to help you grow your business.

Here are some ideas on how to get started:

Get all of your employees business cards. For about $20 a box for black and white cards, it's the cheapest marketing tool going. Remember when you got your first business cards and wanted to give them to everyone? Employees can give them out to customers they assisted in the store and better yet out in public. Even if they give them to other moms with their hours written on it to come in for extra help- that is another potential customer you've reached. If you can't do customized cards- try a general card and ask them to write in their names. (I vote for springing for the cards for each person.)

Engage your employees in determining your donation/cause related marketing efforts. They can help choose the charities and participate in planning  and promoting the events. You may even want to give each employee $25 in value that they can give away to the charity of their choice (provided you approve).

Encourage your employees to teach and give speeches to local groups. You probably get more requests than you can handle. Train your most enthusiastic and articulate employees to promote scrapbooking to groups. Incentivize that employee by giving her discount coupons to distribute at the events. Every time a coupon is returned, the employee is rewarded in some way. That will motivate the employee to not only inspire folks to come to the store but also to look for more event opportunities.

Employees are a direct reflection of your business. No matter how beautiful and well-stocked your store (or any kind of business is for that matter), if your employees do not advocate for you and represent you in a positive way your business will not grow.

I encourage you to think of more ways you can make your employees "partners" in your business.--Beth

I'm seeing that pundits are predicting that self-service is the wave of the future. Ok, they don't say "wave of the future" but they think self-service is hot, hot, hot.

I'm not sure where these folks have been lately but self-service is very much here in the world of restaurants and retail. You can buy an iPod from a vending machine in Las Vegas' McCarran airport and ProActiv skincare products from a machine at the Oxford Valley Mall.

Self service has impacted business for the better most part and it looks like the majority of consumers agree. For more background, check out this article on SelfServiceWorld.com.

I totally agree that self-service is good for industries that need more distribution outlets or have trouble attracting employees due to a low wage structure. It's also good for customers who believe there aren't enough hours in the day. It means I get out of the Acme food store faster when I only need a gallon of milk. I don't have to worry about long lines at the ticket counter when I can purchase NJ Transit tickets from a machine. I can make sure I have the right amount of cream in my coffee at the airport food concession.

Self service works for products and services we understand. It works great if you have a credit or debit card. Not so great if you don't know how to use the product, don't speak the language or don't have basic reading skills.

Scrapbooking does not fall into the self-service category. In fact, crafting across the board will not be replaced fully by self-service. The self-service endorsers sound a bit like the folks who 10 years ago crowed that all craft sales would move online. Mega craft retail sites have not replaced brick and mortar stores. Why? Craft stores don't just sell stuff. They sell what you do with the stuff.

Packaging doesn't begin to tell the full story of how a tool, paper or stamp can be used. That is the service scrapbook retail staff bring to our business. Independent stores draw and keep customers because of all the things they do, not the stuff they sell.

Sure, storyboards can give you an idea on how to use a product. But at the end of the day, when a consumer is presented with a wall of adhesives, she wants a live person to help her find the right one.

We have lots of stuff that can be self-service in our stores-accessing most products and using the die cutting machine. But customer service can never go away in the craft retail store. We may not be able to enter "service" with a bar code scanner but is sure is a vital component of what we sell.--Beth