The Gray Cat Blog
A comprehensive collection of blogs designed to assist small business owners and multi-unit operators.
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 customers...
About once a month, I get an email or phone call from a colleague that is transitioning from their corporate role into entrepreneurship. I generally give the advice along the lines of developing orig...
“I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.” – From the HAL 9000 computer, 2001: A Space Odyssey
When it comes to technology ...
Change is a big deal.Â
As you start to think about the upcoming year, planning for your annual merchandising and promotional schedule should be in place. For the multi-store operator, identifying the key initiatives for eac...
Real estate site selection can be a complex web of evaluating store attributes within a potential store trade area.  The process utilizes both a science and an art to the overall selection process com...
Recently, I appeared on the C-Suite Sherpa podcast with Brian Marshall where we discussed the challenges of scaling in business. Â Here is a short clip.
Last week, I sat through a meeting with one of my clients where we discussed the infamous question of “who are we?” that faces every retailer. As retailers grow – both in store count and in product di...
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 entreprene...
A while back, a gentleman that wanted help selling his company approached me. I asked him “So, what do you hope the purchase price to be?” He looked at me and said “$5 million”.  I then asked, “How...
In the convenience store marketplace, margins continue to tighten on core products such as candy, snacks, and tobacco. Forward-thinking operators are attempting to stem the tide by introducing foodser...
Creating a memorable day for a specific targeted customer creates a “team” mentality-attracting groups of customers that may come to your store simply for the team camaraderie. Examples such as “Admin...
