The Gray Cat Blog
A comprehensive collection of blogs designed to assist small business owners and multi-unit operators.
The movie industry has been doing this for years. With a screenplay in hand, a movie production house pulls together a team of production specialists including grips, gaffers, boom...
Raise your hand if you had the word “pandemic” in your strategic plans – and like that, the world quickly changed. While convenience stores were spared total closure during the...
“The nice thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression.” — John Harvey-Jones
If...
Developing a working relationship with influential, local charities in your trade area not only establishes your community commitment as a business owner, but can also provide an effective way to...
Self-service kiosks continue to be a growing trend in retailing and is expected to accelerate over the years. This exploding industry has launched retailers to develop their own kiosk strategy in...
Managing a retail store is tough work.
Between operations, merchandising, marketing and facility upkeep, retail business owners have their hands full. Managing the details of retail is the...
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a vital resource to managing your business. Each selected KPI can be your bellwether...
Sometimes another set of eyes can make all the difference.
Small businesses are a phenomenal entity. Often started in a garage or at a kitchen table, the sheer energy of the small business...
A while back, a gentleman that wanted help selling his company approached me. I listened to him describe all the attributes of his company and I was intrigued. He gave me an overview of...
One of the most successful local store marketing (LSM) tactics to build into your daily operations is a sampling strategy for your products. If your retail establishment is foodservice, your...
Public relations can incorporate a number of items and each should be interwoven in a consistent theme. At the beginning of the year, identify key people, events and community tie-ins that you wish...
I am amazed, that generally, less than twenty percent of the audience actually created a Grand Opening celebration at their store. A store owner spends upwards of $250,000 or more to build a store...
