I'll Take It

About the Book

Owners of independent stores usually poison their stores
I'll Take It sets owners of fine independent stores on the track to success. Lacking a model for their stores, independent owners follow the model for retail chains. They rely on advertising + mark downs + inventory control and empty boasts of customer service. No independent owner can go head-to-head with the major chains.

The great secret of retail stores
Major corporations have created an arid retail wilderness. Only motivated owners of independent stores have the passion and energy to do things right for customers. Motivation and passion to do things right aren't the same as doing the right things. Bringing passion to doing the right things pays off. I'll Take It is about doing the right things.

No-nos and toe stubbers
- Advertising is the last thing most independent stores need. It rarely turns a dud independent store into a success. It's mainly a useless financial drain. A cancer eating into the store's profits. The focal point of an alien mind set that drags the store down.
- Recognize Internet selling for the souped-up, over-hyped, mail-order system that it is. Strictly a side issue for single-owner walk-in stores.
- The crazy truth of most retail stores is that non-selling grunt work pushes selling aside.
- Recognize the danger of computers becoming yet another cancer eating into the time and energy needed to meet customers' needs.
- Stores that boast about their customer service rarely serve their customers well.

The game plan
The focus of I'll Take It is stubbornly on selling. The Steps for Selling are supported by putting a solid background in place to free sellers to sell and free managers to support sellers. I'll Take It shows how to monitor sellers' selling skills, how to support sellers and how to boost the store's sales while creating an environment where customers love to shop. Training and coaching sellers are the main functions of managers - And getting sellers to do the jobs most managers waste their time with.

Footnote
Examples are in American dollars with Canadian dollars used as a foreign currency.

About the Author

Egghead professor thrown into the real world
After a distinguished career as a university professor and an internationally known research scientist, the author opened a retail store. Rudely thrown into the real world, he found out just how hard it is for busy independent owners of single stores to run their stores well. Most options for advice involve high-priced consultants. Alas, some consultants offer pie in the sky.

Seeks massive information at slight cost
But what about the real world of independent owners struggling to get by? What about independent owners trying to run a fine store on a shoestring? What about independent owners too busy to take time off to attend high-priced boot camps? What about a simple book for them? The author found lots of information on business technicalities - like how to incorporate and how to set up bookkeeping. But little on the blood and guts of retail. Little on things that make a store tick day by day. How to get and keep sellers? How to teach them to sell? How to manage background jobs without cutting into selling? What about commissions? What about advertising? What about other practical details that can make a store stand out?

Produces Retail 101 textbook for non-specialists
Over the years, while working as a retailer and a consultant, the author used his research and teaching skills to gather and organize the materials that independent retailers really need. The materials to put stores on track as true destination stores. Stores where customers love to shop and will travel great distances to visit them regularly. The author, who once taught Biology 101 so successfully to non-specialists, has turned his attention to writing the book that covers Retail 101 for fledgling stores, for floundering stores, and is even an eye-opener for flourishing stores.