-By Adam Witmer-
I made a mistake this week. I made two assumptions that were completely wrong.
I am not typically one to make assumptions, but I was a bit off my game this week and fell into the trap I had been warned about many times over the years: "When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me."
Read MoreWhy do some restaurants struggle while some thrive?
This question is loaded with variables, of course, but the reality is that some restaurants just know how to do business better than others.
Fortunately, there are several tricks of the trade and somewhat unique innovations that every struggling business should consider before rolling up its doors and closing.
The following three hacks can have a huge impact on any restaurant - struggling or not:
Read MoreWith all of the allergies kids must deal with, schools are faced with an amazing challenge: managing all of these allergies.
From school lunches, to class parties, to special food sales and candy treats, the schools must be careful to ensure that each allergenic child does not receive a dose of her poison while on school time.
Typically, schools ensure that all of their teachers are trained and know what to do for children with allergies - if there happens to be a child with an allergy in the classroom. But what if there was an easier way?
Read MoreAs a business owner, I can assume you want to grow your business.
Whether this means to increase revenue, add employees, or just see a higher sales volume than what you have done in the past, you would like to do better than what you have done in the past. This is part of being an entrepreneur - we aren’t satisfied with not growing.
But what if you could only work on three things for the entire year to help grow your business? What would those things be?
Read MoreOne of my favorite jobs when I was younger was waiting tables at a brand new restaurant.
This restaurant was a franchise from a larger chain and I learned a lot about selling from working there. I got great tips, many of which came from up-selling techniques to increase the customers overall bill. For example, I learned that if the first person to order a drink set the stage for what the others were going to buy - if the first person ordered water, the whole table got water, but if the first person ordered a Pepsi, at least half of the table would get fountain drinks.
But all of this was just how to sell when the customer was already in the door.
Read MoreAs I do fairly significant amounts of driving for my day job, my least favorite times of the year are the winter months. Snow, sleet, and ice are words I despise as I head out on trips that take up to 7 or 8 hours - with good road conditions.
Unfortunately, I don’t have too many options when the weather is bad because my schedule is often set over a year in advance. So good weather or not, I still have to make it to my destination.
Read MoreFirst impressions are huge.
Our minds form beliefs, interpretations, and understandings before we even realize what happened. In fact, we often don’t even realize we have made a first impression as much of the impression is actually a subconscience action - our minds work to connect dots in a way we rarely recognize.
And first impressions happen quickly. We only get one chance to make that first impression, and it is often made before we even realize it.
Read MoreA few years ago I was working in a part of town that had significant amounts of road construction. Traffic slowed everywhere and some businesses were extremely difficult to access. As a driver, it was an area that you wanted to avoid at all costs.
But this caused a problem for the local retail stores that thrived on visitors to their brick and mortar stores.
Read MoreOne of the most important tasks in business is connecting with people. The problem is, however, that we can't always meet everyone in person to connect with them. While e-mail or text messaging works okay for sorting out logistics, such as setting up a lunch appointment, e-mail and text messages don't help to connect with people. Therefore, we often pick up the phone instead of just sending an e-mail or text message. This helps to build rapport and connect with people.
But if we can't get ahold of someone when we call, we have two options: to try back later or to leave a message. Here are ten tips to leaving a message that will get a return call:
Read MoreImpulse items are those products that result in unplanned purchases due to the purchaser picking them up, or deciding to buy them, right before the purchase is made. A common example of impulse items is in retail where lower-dollar items such as candy, magazines, and drinks are displayed next to the cash registers on the way to the store exits.
The idea behind impulse purchases often result from emotions and feelings that arise when seeing a product. If these products are displayed right before a customer is leaving the store, the customer will find themselves making an unplanned decision before leaving the store.
Impulse items work extremely well for many
Read MoreInnovation. Everyone is talking about it. Everyone seems to know they need to innovate. And everyone seems to try to sell their innovation as a marketing pitch.
But the word “innovation" has become an over used buzz word. Even the president of the United States talked about small business innovation in one of his State of the Union addresses.
The problem is that the true meaning of the word has been lost because of the overuse of the word innovation.
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