The Excitement of the Opening

One of the best parts about being a retailer is the thrill of the Grand Opening event. Actually, any big sale or promotional event that is well planned can capture the Grand Opening feeling of nervous anticipation which contains big doses of excitement, curiosity, and a wonder if the public will like and appreciate your work. Running a sale or a promotion is an art form. It has steps that must be taken in order to be successful.

The first step is determining the reason for the event. You might say that a grand opening has an obvious purpose but it is more than doing a lot of business. It's the announcement that you are the new kid on the block and you are ready to compete. Then there is the naming of the event which involves endless possibilities. Another issue that you must address is the pricing strategy. Then the free or fun offers need to be determined. These are really all part of your marketing and advertising plans. And finally, you have all of the operational issues that need to be considered. It is the coordination of hundreds of little things that make the masterpiece.

So why am I discussing sale or promotional events now?

I bring it up for 3 reasons: First is the timing issue. The biggest retail promotions start in October with Columbus Day promotions. Then we quickly move into Halloween, Veterans' Day, Thanksgiving, and pre and post Christmas events. Every event should have some type of promotional offering or what I like to call the Promotable Product. Something that is a great buy and something that you can shout about it that will create strong word of mouth advertising. There is the real issue of timing in finding those Promotable products and having them in the store at the right time. The search for these door buster specials is never ending and the hunt starts today! Always be on the lookout for the killer item that you can make noise with.

The second issue is vendor participation. This week I was on the phone with a store that was opening a new store and had NO PLAN to ask their vendors for promotional goods, some give-aways, or even money or credit toward future purchases. Vendors are very prepared to do this but many retailers are afraid to ask. There are retailers who ask every day and they always get something.

A large independent furniture store had a huge party for all of their vendors before a grand opening and handed each vendor a sealed envelope that stated how much was expected in the form of credits or cash amounts. That might be pushy but it is just good business. After all, the vendors are one of the biggest beneficiaries from your expansion. You can have almost all of your grand opening expenses covered with gifts and donations from your vendors.

The third issue is whether to spend all of your advertising dollars for the opening or whether you should you spread them out over a few months or a year. Some people say to fill the store with people and it will jump start your business, while others believe that it is better to do a slower burn. That means to have a little smaller grand opening, but instead of completely stopping all your advertising after this major event, you should keep the business in the public's eye with a consistent long term advertising approach.

Every week it seems as if this article writes itself, maybe because I try to just focus on events that have taken place during the week. Last week is was my Ticketmaster experience, which by the way was my number one responded to article. I guess I wasn't alone. There are a lot of people who hate Ticketmaster and if I were their CEO, I would start to listen. Bigger companies have fallen because of customer indifference.

But the reason why this article wrote itself was that I had just worked with a store that wondered why its business was off after having a spectacular grand opening. It was a simple problem. After opening with a bang, the owner hadn't had another promotion or event since and that was 18 months earlier. A little advertising would go a long way.

Then there was the store I already mentioned that never thought to ask a vendor for promotional products. But what really made me think about the grand opening was because this is the week my new book, The Essential Online Solution...the 5 step formula for small business success will be released. I have worked on the project for the past 3 years. It has gone from idea to concept, from researcher to researcher, from partner to partner, from agent to agent, from publisher to publisher, from draft to draft, from edited version to final edition, and from marketing concept to final marketing plans. It all comes together this week when I finally see the finished book and turn the pages for the first time.

Then to watch all the marketing and free seminars and offers go into effect (by the way, the free teleseminar takes place this Thursday night) reminds me of a grand opening of a brand new store. It's exciting and if you, my readers, like it half as much as the reviewers have, I might just have a winner. I believe it is a must book for every retailer and I look at it as the perfect extension to my Dummies book although it's just not for retailers. It is designed for any business person who has not embraced online marketing or someone who is not happy with their online efforts. (And that's a pretty big market!) You will be able to first order it on October 6th on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. Of course, I would love to have all of my readers order it that day but we have many events planned for this book over the next few months.
This is really exciting to me and not only do I hope you like it, but I hope that it will help you create a successful online business...and make you lots of money!