Badass Business Owners: Tips for Small Businesses Serving their Communities

Episode 18 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Today We Discuss: Why Your Small Business Needs a Sales Journal or Log

In today's episode: We discuss how keeping a sales log / journal gives you powerful information to use increase your sales & profits each year by learning from the past.

Shownotes:

Now, let's dive into today's topic which is a huge game changer when implemented and used. With used being the key word. But, more on that shortly.

I am a big fan of having a daily sales log. Now, for those of you that aren't familiar with a sales journal or log, it is basically about capturing key information that you can refer to in the future to better drive your profit and sales. It also can lead to better decisions on processes and people.

Since they hit all 4 of our key topics of profit, sales, process and people, it is a fantastic tool to have in your tool belt.

So, what types of information would be great for you to capture?

Sales – The most obvious thing you will want to capture is your sales. I recommend your daily sales and depending on your business, possibly even what items or services you sold. This is last part is much easier on some brick and mortar businesses that have registers that capture sales by item.

Why is this important? What better way to look back and know your sales pattern and your peaks and valleys? You gather information that shows trends by the day of the week as well as how your weeks and months play out. It is really fun to watch once you can stack each year on top of each other. I think you really see clear trends.

Which now leads into another great category to capture

Categories – For those of you that have certain services or categories that are critical to watch, tracking how these do can offer great insight into purchasing product and what you can expect in sales. An example I'll share from when I had my ice cream shop was the category of ice cream cakes. This was a big chunk of my business. It was very important for me to capture these sales so I knew what to plan for.

Which leads to another great thing to capture:

Unique situations – Since we are talking about this part of my business, one thing that I had to capture were any unique situations that happened. Now, unique can be something as basic as the impact of holidays or something that is important in your local community and it impacts your business, such as pioneer days, freedom days, graduations, chili cook offs, etc. We all have local events that could potentially have an impact on our business.

By the way, other things can impact or business but they don't happen that often. But a year from now, you might not recall them happening. A great example of this might be repaving of your parking lot or a broken fire hydrant or road closures.

Which leads to another common impact on our business.

Weather – Weather can have a huge impact on a lot of local small business owners. Think about what hurricanes, floods, etc. Now those are extremes, but any storm - whether rain or snow will impact most folks business. Especially if it wasn't normal for the time of the year. It could be a heat wave as well.

Holidays – Holidays will impact businesses differently. Some will flourish during these times and others will tank. You need to know by how much and see the trend. Here is why knowing you jump in sales in November just isn't enough.

Let's say you have tracked the last 2 years of sales for the Christmas season. Your business tends to jump 20% the past 2 years. Now, let's assume you have been tweaking your business and now you are having your best year ever. You are actually up 20% in your business all year long.

Think about how much business could be missed if you didn't plan on seeing a true 40% jump this coming holiday season? You have to plan for the 20% trend you already are on plus an additional 20% for your normal jump. So if last year you did say $10,000 in business, you now much prepare for an additional $4,000 on top of that! Having this information helps you be prepared for our next item

Better Hiring – Knowing what is coming allows you to not only plan for your inventory needs, it also allows you to prepare for your people needs. Do you need to hire more folks? Do you need to cut back your part time hours? If you see that last year your sales dipped for two weeks due to the street being repaired, then you know you probably don't need to cut back your people needs during this same time this year.

Coupons & Ads – Finally, you want to capture the impact that any coupons or ads you run have on your business. What worked and what didn't?

So as you can see, there are quite a few key things that impact your business and would be great to know the history. I can't tell you how often I referred to my sales log to see how I could maximize my sales and profits.

** For the full show notes click the link below!

HELPFUL LINKS

Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com

Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected]

Episode Show Notes: Episode 18 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com

Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 17 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Today We Discuss: Walk Your Local Small Business Thru Your Customer's Eyes

In today's episode: We discuss why it is critical that you walk your business through your customer's eyes. You will be amazed at what you are telling your customers at any given moment.

Shownotes:

I was reminded of this critical step in the daily routine of any small business owner. One that is often overlooked and it can be very damaging to your businesses sales and profits. I knew at that moment that we needed to take some time to discuss it.

I decided to have lunch at a local fast food joint and when I got out of my truck, the first thing I saw was a trash can that was over flowing with old wrappers and soda cups. The ground littered with this trash.

At the front door was another trash can that was also overflowing and a stack of gross trays with ketchup oozing out the sides. Since I was planning on dining in, my first thought was, I sure hope the tables look better than the trash cans. Later I would realize I was out of luck.

Tables were littered with trash, crumbs and drink stains. By the way, the tables weren't alone, the chairs and floor looked like a bomb when off. Just like those confetti cannons. You've all experienced this before. You know, where you go table to table hoping one will be semi clean so you can sit down.

This is a huge pet peeve of mine. Nothing screams I don't care about you as a customer more than this. It tells your customers that I don't care that you sit and eat in crud.

It tells them that if I don't care about my lobby, I probably don't care about keeping my back line clean either and odds are my food prep areas. It screams, I don't care about you the customer.

When I had my place, I was a fanatic about this. Even in busy times, I knew it was critical to send the right message to my customers that I cared about the environment they and their children ate in.

But, please know, this conversation isn't just about dining room lobbys. It is much greater than that.

A business lesson I learned at an early age was to walk each 8 ft section of my business through the eyes of a customer. What do they see? Is the product fresh? Is it signed well? Does it answer the questions someone might have? Is it faced and cleaned? Or are there torn packages, an inch of dust, no signs and no rhyme or reason to the placement of the product? Are the shelves blocked by freight? You get the idea. Basically, what is the customer experience?

I want you to think about when you go personally go shopping or when you visit businesses with your family. Let's assume there are no employees and the business had to stand on it's own. What do you find that frustrates you?

** For the full show notes click the link below!

HELPFUL LINKS

Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com

Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected]

Episode Show Notes: Episode 17 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com

Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 16 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Today We Discuss: Q &A: Help, I Need More Advertising!

In today's episode: We discuss a Franchisee's question on not getting enough advertising

Shownotes:

Today's questions comes from Kristen. Kristen asks…

Hey Tammy, I own a business that is part of a franchise. As part of my franchise agreement, I pay 5% of my sales into the company advertising pool. The problem is, it seems all the money goes into the bigger cities and none of it is used at my local level. This is very frustrating as I put in thousands of dollars and get nothing in return. What can I do to get some of this money to be spent on my potential customers? I appreciate any insight you might have since you mentioned your store was a franchise as well. Kristen

Kristen, you are speaking to me! This was probably my biggest frustration as a franchisee. There is nothing worse than pouring money into something that you never see any benefit from.

** For the full show notes click the link below!

HELPFUL LINKS

Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com

Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected]

Episode Show Notes: Episode 16 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com

Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 15 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Today We Discuss: Are You a Victim of Your Own Success

In today's episode: We discuss how your success can lead to your business's failure.

Shownotes:

You always hear how 90% of small businesses are out of business within 5 years. Half don't make it the first year. Usually when you hear these statistic people are talking about all the things folks did wrong. People assume that the businesses were run poorly.

The reality is, there are quite a few local small businesses that actually crashed and burned due to their success!

Sounds weird and counter intuitive doesn't it? One normally doesn't equate success with failure.

Unfortunately, it is more common than you think. You might be one of these businesses with a successful business that is about to crash and burn.

So how on earth does this even happen? Those of you in this situation want to know how to not become a statistic and those of you just starting or doing well, want to know how not to wake up and find yourself in this position at all.

Let's take a look at 4 of the big reasons why this even happens:

Before we discuss these 4 items, what put someone in this position in the first place.

** For the full show notes click the link below!

HELPFUL LINKS

Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com

Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected]

Episode Show Notes: Episode 15 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com

Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 14 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Today We Discuss: Learning from Other People's Mistakes & Successes to Grow your Local Small Business

In today's episode, we will discuss how critical that you learn from others successes and failures.

Shownotes:

I want to dive into something today that I feel is critical for any leader to embrace. And when I say leader I mean both local small businesses owners but also those that lead teams within any company. If you currently are working towards either of these goals, today's episode will give you some great insight into what it will take to be successful.

I've mentioned this in passing in a previous episode but want to expound on it more and why I feel so strongly about it.

Let me start with a quote from motivational speaker, Jim Rohn

"It's important to learn from your mistakes, but it is better to learn from other people's mistakes, and it is BEST to learn from other people's successes. It accelerates your own success." —Jim Rohn

I LOVE this Quote! It sums up my philosophy for the past 30 years. What is fascinating is that I actually just discovered this quote. Imagine my happiness when I found out that my personal philosophy lined up with one of the greats!

**

For the full show notes click the link below!

HELPFUL LINKS

Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com

Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected]

Episode Show Notes: Episode 14 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com

Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 13 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Today We Discuss: Question on Finding Help that Sticks Around

In today's episode, we will discuss why do I think your team is your #1 asset.

For today's question, I'm actually going to answer one that I had from a small business owner I was speaking with the other day. This business owner has no employees but does hire folks for the day to help with various jobs. Technically they are called independent contractors for those of you mistakenly call them temporary help. While yes, they are usually temporary, in the eyes of the government, temporary help is usually associated with hired folks. Those who you hire for a job here and there and are not part of your hired team are called these independent contractors.

Now, the subject or hired folks vs independent contractors can get pretty complicated and not for this particular episode but we will discuss it more in a future podcast.

Ok, now back to our question. This business owner's question was: How do you find people that will last longer than a few hours or that you can at least count on and they do a good job?

The first thing that popped to mind when he asked the question was where has he been finding his "hired hands" from currently? I already had an idea but wanted to get confirmation that my hunch was correct.

You see, experience has shown that when someone needs help for the day they tend to look around for folks that have nothing to do but might want to make some extra money. So they typically will ask around, ask people they run into, folks on the corner, things like that. Trust me, I've seen plenty of folks picked up for a days work through the years on the corners of Home Depot.

When I asked this small business owner, my hunch was correct. He found his help typically through folks he ran into. His last one was someone from his street who had been looking for work.

While this can be a quick fix to the problem of needing someone right away, honestly, you are lucky to get what you get. Here's why this approach rarely works out.

**

For the full show notes click the link below!

HELPFUL LINKS

Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com

Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected]

Episode Show Notes: Episode 13 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com

Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 12 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Today We Discuss: Your People Are Your Greatest Asset

In today's episode, we will discuss why do I think your team is your #1 asset.

Plain and simple. They are the ones that are interacting with your customers and clients. They are the ones that are accomplishing each and every task. They are the ones that represent you and your brand!

The folks you accept to represent you speaks volumes to you as a leader. The behaviors you encourage and accept tells every customer or client what you stand for.

Think about any business that you have gone into and the people didn't acknowledge you, or they didn't care if you were there or not. What if you saw them taking to each other and not to you? What if they sneezed on your food or slopped stuff on your plate? How about if their pants were hanging low or their shorts up their butt?

If your team goes into people homes, what if they cussed in someone's home or knocked over stuff? What if they parked on their yard? It is all these little things that speak volumes.

**

For the full show notes click the link below!

HELPFUL LINKS

Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com

Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected]

Episode Show Notes: Episode 12 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com

Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 11 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Today We Discuss: Partner with a Real Estate Agent to Double / Triple Your Sales in Your Local Small Business

In today's episode, we will discuss a great way for certain types of businesses to double or triple their sales. If you are a new business just starting out, this is a great way to build your business.

I'm actually amazed at how this is such a well-kept secret. Those that have figured it out, are enjoying some great growth in their business.

If you are a local small business owner whose primary customer / client is a home owner, then you need to learn this major game changer for your business.

This secret? Partnering with a Realtor to Double / Triple Your Sales

In today's episode we dive in and discuss what steps you need to take to and why Realtor's can be a fantastic lead for your business!

**

For the full show notes click the link below!

HELPFUL LINKS

Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com

Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected]

Episode Show Notes: Episode 11 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com

Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 10 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Today We Discuss: Question on Starting a Local Business to Pay off Your Debt

In today's episode, James is thinking of starting a local small business to help pay off his debt.

Believe it or not, a lot of local small businesses are started by folks that just wanted to create some extra income and they took their passions or skills to the community.

We discuss James' idea of starting a landscaping business and the pros and cons of this business.

We also discuss the ways he can get out to his community his new business and his options to do this with very little money to get going.

A great episode for those also thinking about starting a local small business with little to no money.

**

For the full show notes click the link below!

HELPFUL LINKS

Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com

Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected]

Episode Show Notes: Episode 10 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com

Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 9 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Today We Discuss: Your Small Business's Brand and What it Stands For

In today's episode. We are going to discuss your company's brand and what is stands for.

Keep in mind that your brand is part of your marketing but it is much more than this.

Your brand is what your community tells you it is. Usually this is based off what you tell your community.

In today's episode, we will dive into "branding" and what it means. How you create one. And how it is way more than your local and name.

**

For the full show notes click the link below!

HELPFUL LINKS

Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com

Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected]

Episode Show Notes: Episode 9 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast

Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com

Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com