What your store doesn't need

I know you’ve been told that to grow your sales you just need more customers, but that’s simply not true. This belief is what kept me stuck for so long, working harder and harder but not seeing a big enough return on all that work.

As a store owner, it feels like so many of your challenges would disappear if only you had more traffic. And so you work hard to make that happen. You’re trying to come up with fresh, new ideas while also balancing everything else that has to be done.

We believe that if we want to double our sales, we need to double our traffic, so we just have to keep looking for that magic thing that will finally work. Maybe if we post a few more times on social media each week or try that new product line, it’ll happen. I bet you’ve added something like this to your plate recently because you thought it would work.

Unfortunately, all that work isn’t moving the needle, at least not enough. Have you ever had any of these thoughts:

• “It’s hard to come up with new ideas all the time and then stay focused on their completion.”
• “I just have a really hard time figuring out what is the most important thing for me to do next.”
• “I just assumed that when I opened the store, things would just flow, and they haven’t.”
• “I’ll just have to keep getting more creative to get people in the store.”

  
  

More traffic does not necessarily mean more sales. And this is a backwards way to get there.
Let’s say that all these different things you’re trying are working and you have a crowd of people flowing into your store! Great, right? Well, maybe.

If you’re not keeping enough of every sale, more customers won’t make a big enough difference to take a paycheck.

But if you haven’t ensured that your margins are sufficient, meaning that you are keeping enough of every dollar that comes in; and if your pricing isn’t strategic; and if your expenses aren’t lined up with your sales so that what you are keeping isn’t going right back out the door to pay your bills, then all those extra customers won’t mean extra dollars in your wallet or bank account.

Here’s a truth bomb for you: If you’re not keeping enough of every sale, more customers won’t make a big enough difference to take a paycheck.

If you keep spending time trying to get people through the door without fixing your margins and your cash flow, what will happen? You will be burned out and you won’t have any more money to show for it. You still won’t have enough to pay yourself or bring on a team to help you. More traffic does not necessarily equal more sales.

Join me at the Coastal Connections Conference, Jan. 22-24 in Orlando, Florida, where I’ll share more strategies to increase your cash flow now, so you can be prepared for your slow season with more peace of mind and a consistent paycheck.

Visit www.coastalconnectionsconference.com for more information, including how to register, hotel information, session topics, speakers and sponsors.