When you started your retail business (whether that was 20 days ago, or 20 years ago), chances are you were passionate about your product and excited about the freedom of running your own store.
Then reality sets in: Retail is HARD!
You’re probably working longer hours than you anticipated and your profit margins may not be as high as you wanted them to be. Dealing with employees is stressful and getting customers to come in the door, well, if that was your only challenge, you’d consider yourself lucky. The thing is, to run a truly successful store, you have to master all ELEVEN essential retail skills including:
- Marketing your business to get new customers (and get your existing customers to come back over and over again!). If they don’t come, they don’t buy. Marketing is what connects you to your customers and their cash. If you figure this part out a lot of other things can start to fall in place.
- Finding, hiring, and training the right staff (they’re essential to your success!). Your employees are the ones standing face-to-face with your customers and bringing – or failing to bring – money into your store. And the wrong ones are often the source of your biggest headaches!
- Systematizing your store operations so your store runs on rails (even when you’re not in the store to crack the whip). Having the right policies, procedures, and forms in place will save you an enormous amount of time, energy, and headaches.
- Managing your inventory (without overbuying or running out of bestsellers). Spending the right amount on the right merchandise has a big impact on the amount on the bottom line. This is critical to putting more of your cash in the bank rather than having it sit on your shelves.
- Understanding all the financial stuff (even if you don’t love math or have a degree in accounting). The fact of the matter is you must have a competent grasp of your balance sheets, P&L statements, and cash flow… so that you’re not flying blind and running your business by the seat of your pants.
- Planning a merchandise assortment your customers will love – and not just love, but BUY. A store full of cool stuff that just sits on the shelves is a recipe for retail disaster. You need to know that you’ve got the right merchandise coming at the right time.
- Creating a service culture that SELLS! Selling isn’t pushy, sleazy, or rude. Helping each and every customer leave with their “Perfect Purchase” is the #1 activity of every retail store. Great selling is great customer service – and what puts the maximum money in your bank account.
- Leveraging the power of the internet to drive traffic and strengthen relationships with your current customers. This is a HUGE part of every indie retailer's business success… you have to both understand the underlying marketing strategies AND keep up with the constant changes in the digital world.
- Creating displays and windows that not only look good but also cause your customers to buy. Visual merchandising is really nothing more and nothing less than the in-store marketing of your goods and services!
- Delivering consistently great customer service that’s systematic, not hit-or-miss. You rarely get a second chance if your customer doesn’t get an amazing experience in your store. They just go away… off to the internet, a big box, or one of your local competitors.
- And last but certainly not least, getting control of your personal habits, skills, and mindsets. Stuff like how you manage your time, your commitment to learning, and how you respond when things go wrong. These things are a huge underlying part of your success as a business owner!
If you haven’t mastered ALL eleven skills… then you are on the fastest track to burnout, fatigue, frustration or even closing your doors for good. But trying to figure it out all by yourself is flat-out exhausting. And unnecessary. We have done all the work for you!
A passion for your product and a talent in one or two of these areas can get you started, but it’s simply not enough to create a super-successful, long-term business.
You may already be feeling it. You may find yourself hunched over your computer late at night to organize your finances, or skipping breakfast because you’ve got to hurry and open the store. You may be stressed out about how to increase your profit margin or how to hire and train a much-needed employee.
And if you continue to put off mastering these eleven skills and hope the pieces of the puzzle will somehow magically fall together… Nothing is going to change. You’re not going to see the kind of success you deserve until you take action.
The Retail Mastery System truly is everything you need to know to get to the next level of retail success.
This system contains years of retail experience on top of decades of coaching experience. We’ve built the Retail Mastery System because we know exactly what you’re going through… we’ve been there ourselves.
The Retail Mastery System and the philosophy behind it was developed using 35+ years of on-the-floor retail experience. (Susan Negen was a senior executive at major department stores for 16 years and Bob Negen owned his own chain of independent retail stores for 19 years.)
This means that you’ll learn real, applicable knowledge from proven experts that really works.
The Retail Mastery System is the easiest, fastest, and best way to grasp all 11 Critical Retail Skills.
Just picture yourself having the ideas, information, and inspiration you need to grow your business all at your fingertips. Think about what it would be like to have the answers handed to you by someone who’s been there and been super successful.
You can go through each module systematically like a course (one user from upstate New York said that for store owners, the Retail Mastery System 2.0 is better than a Harvard MBA!) or you can use it more like an encyclopedia to find answers to specific problem as they come in your business. It’s always there to guide you and give you the very best practices – just the stuff that really works in the real world of retail.
That’s exactly what the Retail Mastery System will give you!
The Retail Mastery System is the single most comprehensive resource for retail store owners on the market.
You get a module dedicated to coaching you through each one of the 11 Critical Retail Skills with…
- Video lessons with retail experts, Bob and Susan Negen. These short, bite-sized lessons will teach you the tried & true solutions to the most common retail challenges….
- Audio tracks from each lesson so you can listen in your car, while you’re working out, or on your phone…
- Sample forms, checklists, templates, planners, and spreadsheets that you can just download and use immediately. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel…
- A Quick Start Guide to help you assess where your skills are now and help you decide where you should start…
- Recommended resources to help you be successful faster and with less stress…
- Mobile app that makes it so easy to watch, listen, and learn directly on your phone, whether you’re working out, traveling in your car, or listening anywhere on the move…
- Written books for folks who would rather read than watch. The digital version of the accompanying books is available in the documents section of each module or you can order the printed books…
No other system on the market gives you such a comprehensive study in how to be successful in retail. And no other system makes it as easy to use the information or provides it in multiple formats.
When you invest in the Retail Mastery System you will be one step closer to realizing your dream of an unshakeable, unbreakable retail business.
When you buy a piece of merchandise you can sell it once at a profit. When you invest in business-building education you can use your new-found knowledge over and over again, profiting from your investment many, many times over. Like the Energizer Bunny, it just keeps ongoing.
And your Retail Mastery System is an investment that is going to keep on giving and giving.
Whether you are brand new to this crazy, wonderful game of retail or you are a grizzled veteran you will find new ideas to inspire you, systems to help your store run better, and lots of ways to put more money in your bank account.
