Retail Innovators' Solution Part 2 - Side Effects & "Adverse Reactions" -- Small Businesses Discussion Forum

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Subject: Retail Innovators' Solution Part 2 - Side Effects & "Adverse Reactions"

Author:
Dennis S. Vogel

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Date Posted: 18:51:31 10/07/11 Fri
In reply to: Dressed up where do I go? 's message, "where will the profits be?" on 15:12:24 10/07/11 Fri

Thank you for responding to my other message. Without knowing more about what the products are, I can't know where the profits will be, except in a very general way.

What do you want help with - current inventory or future products? Who is in the market niche? What do they have now? What (which benefits) do they want/expect? What are the alternatives (substitutes) they can choose?

At times, I may go off on tangents (or it seems I do). I feel it's important to consider a variety of factors, do some testing & continue what's optimal.

I'm continuing on with my reply to your 1st message in this thread -
> I desperately need to do ...

How critical is your situation?

2 definitions of desperate from TheFreeDictionary are (I added the glass analogy) -
Nearly hopeless; critical (Glass Not Empty & Not Full)
Having lost all hope; despairing. (Glass Empty)

Here's another related analogy -
Just Get More Water (or Something) While You Can

A glass isn't half empty or half full, it's just holding less than its capacity, which indicates something is missing. Knowing what to replace it with - & how to do it - is important. In a desperate situation, it's important to determine what will help most & hurt least.

I'm glad you realize this - "I'd know what to keep or liquidate and what else to obtain."

If your store has thrived while holding less than its capacity, maybe you have more glass than you need. Pouring more into it could make it harder go where profits.

If you're feeling ill & your symptoms are orthostatic hypotension, lethargy, nausea, paresthesia, tachycardia & hypoalbuminemia, you're probably dehydrated. If one symptom is delirium, it may seem like a doctor is speaking a foreign language or maybe the doctor is delirious.

(Side Note - Some people may be impressed by jargon, others may be offended. Other than the medical terms above, I've explained things in basic ways so I hope every reader can understand. I hope my message doesn't seem condescending.)

Some symptoms, diagnoses & cures are quite obvious to those who know how to recognize them. When diseases have similar symptoms, accurate diagnoses are harder. Treatments vary depending on patients & severity of symptoms. Overcoming the symptoms may feel comforting, but it probably won't cure the problem.

The wrong treatment may reduce symptoms, but hurt a patient more than the disease. I don't want to give you a marketing "pill" without sufficient details. I'm warning you (all readers) of possible side effects & adverse reactions.

Knowing retail & marketing is great, but testing methods, products & services is still necessary because situations change quickly, even if we don't notice. I hope you do conservative tests so you don't use too many resources on something that's not optimal.

In my medical analogy, whatever you may or may not understand, you should understand the importance of drinking enough water & getting everything else you need. (Water for your store would be anything it needs on a daily basis.)

If the diagnosis is moderate dehydration, would you want a doctor to wonder if you're half full or half empty? I'd think you'd want a doctor to give you an IV (insert an intravenous catheter/line) solution containing what you need most (not just water), after that s/he can determine if you're sufficiently hydrated. A little IV solution to start probably won't harm you & it could help.

This corresponds to conservative testing.

Medical doctors are taught "1st do no harm". Yet, too much delay can be harmful. Without more details, it's hard for me to help you apply the skating concept directly to your store.

One of the 1st things nurses & paramedics do is start an IV. There are various reasons like the ability to administer medications & as a patient becomes more dehydrated, veins constrict & inserting a needle becomes harder.

If you don't get what you need soon, it may be harder to give you what you need later.

Without a description of your situation, I don't know what the symptoms are. I hope what I'll write in Part 3 will give you what you need until you fill in some blanks. Like our need for water, I could advise drinking more water, after all, the excess will just (maybe) be excreted. Yet, too much water can cause problems too.

Dennis S. Vogel
Even if you have the best, most environmentally friendly product, your success depends on reaching the right people, at the right times, with the right messages.
Some information you need for successful promotions is here -
http://www.lakefield.net/~thrivingbusiness/
http://www.voy.com/31049/

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Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
Retail Innovators' Solution Part 3 Get The (Hockey) PUCK Out Of There	Dennis S. Vogel	21:19:59 10/08/11 Sat