The Company Doctor
In the tough retail business, LADQS may spell success
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - by Scott Clark
I recently received a letter from an Atlanta couple whose goal was to open a small coffee shop. They wanted to know what they should focus on to increase their odds for success.
My response was that they should focus on the Doctor's Quintet for Retail Business Success, otherwise known as LADQS:
• L: Location is everything. Without the right location, your business will never get off the ground. In retail business, even the wrong side of the street may be a disaster.
If someone offers you an attractive lease at a rock-bottom price, there is a good reason. Find out how other businesses have performed in that location before.
If the location is "off the beaten track," forget it (even if you are relocating an established business). Do your research well and be willing to pay more for an easy-access location. Potential customers won't go out of their way to reach you, even if you do have an exciting product.
• A: Advertise smartly. If you espouse the field-of-dreams adage ("If you build it, they will come"), your business is doomed. You must know who your typical buyers will be before you set up shop, and pick an advertising medium that will reach them effectively.
Have attractive signage outside your shop, because a schlocky sign says a schlocky business dwells inside. A single advertisement won't generate business; if you don't have the money to advertise on an ongoing basis, then put off opening your doors until you do.
• D: Differentiate your business from the competition. "Me-too" businesses rarely succeed. Look at what the competition does well and do it better. Look at what the competition does poorly and do it well. Look at what people would like to have but don't and give it to them in spades.
Differentiating well means talking to potential customers about their desires before you open the business, and present customers after you are up and running. Consider having a periodic customer panel that meets every few months and advises you on what changes they would like to see.
• Q: Customers expect quality. So if you expect repeat customers, you had better give it to them. Give them quality not as you perceive it but as they want it.
Think the best quality in everything you do: your products, your people, your establishment, your advertising. This means never being content with the status quo.
• S: Outshine the competition in customer service. If you constantly excel in service to your customers, before, during and (most importantly) after the sale, your loyal family of committed customers will keep multiplying prolifically. Fail in this area, and the best product in the world won't save your business.
If you have done your market research wisely and if you can keep you focus on this powerful quintet, your business soon could be singing the sweet song of success.
Scott Clark, a business consultant and author, is a nationally syndicated columnist. Questions for The Company Doctor should be sent to the Puget Sound Business Journal, 720 Third Ave., Suite 800, Seattle WA 98104 or faxed to (206) 447-8510, or sent via e-mail to saclarkdoc@aol.com.
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