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“Should I put the sparkly dice next to the pearly ones?” The question reveals a microscopic look at one aspect of your store’s operations. It’s one of those decisions that you make all day, every day. Is it a problem? Not by itself, but hold that thought. We’ll get there. “Where should I put the dice display” indicates a broader thinking. It involves your merchandising decision-making process. If you put the dice next to the RPGs, you might sell more, but you also might lose more due to theft. “Should I carry RPG accessories like dice?” is a question that indicates a very remote, large-scale view of your company’s product offerings and approach to customer service. Some people worry too much about the sparklies and pearlies too early in the process. At the model-drafting stage, think about the big stuff. As you draft your business plan, zoom in on the detail a level or two. Once you’ve decided that you’ll carry RPG accessories, you can decide how much you’ll spend on them and how and where you’ll display them. Don’t get any closer than that. Don’t worry about which compartment what die goes in until you receive that shipment. Knowing what the big picture looks like helps ensure that you’re ready for the small decisions when you’re actually doing the final setup. Once you’ve opened, it’s really easy to focus on the stuff that’s close at hand. Handling these small issues is called “putting out small fires.” Covering the store when somebody can’t make it. Playing peacemaker during a tournament. Getting product in when it’s out of stock at your primary distributor. These things require attention now, but they don’t do much to improve your company. The continuous nature of these small fires means that you don’t get a chance to stop and look at the overall state of the store. You might be truckin’ right along, but are you going in the right direction? It’s important to zoom out once in a while to ask yourself some questions. Let’s look at some topics and assign some zoom levels to different questions. Marketing Close: Did I get a good turnout for that last tournament I ran? Medium: What promotional options besides signs and bag-stuffers do I have for promoting my events? Top View: What’s my contribution margin on these events, and how much marketing time and dollars can I afford to promote them? Staffing Close: Should I give Bob the day off and work until close? Medium: Does Bob’s evening shift cover the hours I need a second person on staff? Top View: How do I calculate my labor goal, and how do I write a schedule that’s cost-effective while providing the customer service I need? Fixtures Close: Now that this game’s promo is over, can I use this cardboard display for something else, or should I toss it? Medium: How should I rearrange my shelves to fit this new line of minis? Top View: Do my fixtures meet my merchandising needs and branding goals? How do I know? You don’t have to sit down on a schedule and analyze these things on a regular basis, but if that works for you, here’s a suggestion. Make sure you stop to think a little bit bigger than the daily grind at least once a week about a variety of issues. Am I running enough events? Is my focus on CCGs costing me minis players? Is my board game inventory getting out of hand? Am I adjusting my weekly order quantities for the increasing/decreasing sales of the season? Once per month or so, stop and analyze a major aspect of your business. Location, product mix, fixturing, branding, event management, business format, insurance, vendor accounts and other elements of your company require periodic attention. The ultimate goal is to regularly zoom in and out between all three levels. As you put out a small fire, zoom out a bit. Most of the time, you’ll find that you’re in good shape. Occasionally, one of these small fires seems a little redundant. Maybe you’ve had to break up one too many fights in the game room. How do you fix that? What’s causing the fights? Is it always one player, is it fuzzy rules, is the competition level of the tournament too high? If so, then a suspension might fix the problem, or including a list of floor rules might help, or offering Best Sportsman prizes might cool things down. If you’re still in the planning stages, keep your focus broad and don’t get too caught up in the small stuff. Consider these topics - Where will my business be located, and how will that location help me reach my customers?
- How will I set my marketing budget, and how will I spend it?
- Will I include a game room, and how will I use it?
- How much inventory will I carry, and how does that inventory help me establish the brand I want? How does it meet my customer needs?
- What kind of fixtures will I use, and how will I lay out my floor. What fixtures and layout will help establish the brand I want and create the shopping experience I want?
- What’s my competitive edge, and how do I leverage that to draw in customers?
If you find that you’re in the business planning stage and these aren’t the kinds of questions you’re asking yourself, you should stop and take a larger view. Make sure you build your business in such a way that it meets your larger goals in the first place and avoid either substandard results or having to rebuild it later on. Lloyd Brown III www.lloydwrites.com |
