THE ONE-PERCENTERS. TIPS & IDEAS THAT PROVIDE SMALL WINS.

SMALL WINS MATTER.

One percenters are those small things you can do that result in small wins. Small wins are important. They are usually more valuable than a big win as many small wins are stronger for your business than one big win, they can make your business more resilient.

Too often we see businesses chase big wins. Big wins are often expensive in time and money and risky in terms of outcome. One-percenters are usually low or no cost and thereby less risky.

Print this list and use a highlighter to mark what you want done and delegate the list. 

1. Make every day your payday.  Click here to access this advice.
2. EFTPOS fees. Use the lowest cost payments platform. Set a flat rate surcharge for customers on all transactions. Keep it simple and fair.
3. Loyalty: Use discount vouchers. east to setup. easy to understand. We can advise on your starter settings. When you hand out a discount voucher place it with the $ amount facing the shopper and your finger next to the $ amount saying: hey there is a voucher here with a discount off your next purchase within the next 28 days, thank you.
4. Inside the front door - the first thing they see. Have an impactful display. Change it weekly. Use this display to tell shoppers what to expect from your shop.
5. The counter. Look at what your shoppers see. Ensure every item is easily understood and appealing in the context of impulse purchase. Include fidget product: NeeDoh, squishy, at least 2 greeting cards, collector cards such as Pokemon. 
6. Sample. If you sell chocolate or candy. Offer a sample at the counter.
7. Smell. If you sell soap, candles, diffusers. Always have one in use to give the shop a scent.
8. What are you missing out on. Look at your Insights Dashboard. See if there are guaranteed sales you would have got if you had the stock. If there are, fix what you can.
9. Margin. Review your mark-up settings for all products over which you have price control. When setting your mark-up consider the convenience you offer and the typical product holding time.
10. Price to make more money: Price at .99 and not .50 or .95. Price at the higher end of a bracket. For example, $14.99 is perceived to be the same as $13.50 yet you make $1.49 more.
11. Dead stock is dead cash. Track the age of stock items - in the Tower software it's the Ranked Sales Report and you can report based on time since you last sold an item. We suggest six months is a good time to look at. Quit those items not sold in six months.
12. Quit stock. Set a timeframe to quit items you have chosen to quit. We suggest no longer than two weeks. Go hard. If after two weeks the item is not gone, give it away or throw it away.
13. Greet every shopper entering your business.
14. The back room. You can't sell from here. Shift as much back room work to the shop floor or counter as possible. Always unpack and price goods on the shop floor. 
15. Declutter. Remove items, fixtures and products that do not support the business. Reduce visual noise. Less clutter will help shoppers see more.
16. Review your roster at least monthly. Keep it trim.
17. Stationery. Post about it on social media at least weekly. Be quirky. Call out items that you can have fun with like invisible tape.
18. Cards.
    1. Post about cards you love on social media.
    2. Place cards in every gift display.
    3. Have a display of carefully selected cards on a stand away from the card department.
    4. Pitch cards at the counter, always.
19. Magazines.
    1. Always have an easily purchased magazine next to your top selling newspaper.
    2. Relay your magazines at least once a year. See our separate advice on this.
    3. Place small format crossword titles in front of or with your weeklies.
20. Events. Events are one of the best ways to attract new shoppers to the business. We suggest an event every few month. 
21. Crazy events. Get your business known as an arts destination. Consider hosting pop-up, yes in your shop: Stand up and laugh - local comedians strutting their stuff; Sing out - local singers / songwriters entertaining you; Stories from our area - local share local stories; Stretch - yoga in the shop, yes in the shop, hosted by a local yoga teacher.
22. Map GP% versus floorspace % by department. Fix imbalances. For example, say you have 20% of floorspace allocated to magazines yet magazines generate 12% of your GP. In this situation you would reduce magazine floorspace - making more efficient use of the space. Click here for more advice.
23. Suppliers.
    1. Never let a supplier rep place an order for you, unless you check it first.
    2. File a copy of everything you sign, before you give it to a rep or mail it to a company. 
    3. If a supplier rep says something is successful, ask for proof or a guarantee.
24. Spinners.
    1. Check them every few days. Empty pockets should be at the bottom.
    2. Move them weekly.
    3. Set them for maximum view.
25. Place sticky tape with wrap. There are clip strips you can get for this.
26. Create a permanent clearance area. Create a nice sign. Use only this area to clear.
27. Place newspapers to the rear of the business. Do not use a purpose built display.
28. Place magazines on a rear and / or side wall, freeing shop floor for better margin products.
29. Stand out the front of your shop during a busy time and watch people enter and interact with the business. You are bound to pick up things to change.
30. Set achievable goals. On a noticeboard or elsewhere in the back room note your current average sale value. Agree on a small increase to this. Break down how you can achieve this:
    1. More engaged shop floor customer service.
    2. Better impulse items at the counter.
    3. Better product adjacencies - what is placed next to what.
    4. Better interruption placement - where you interrupt key traffic flow.
    5. Counter upsell pitches.
    6. Events where people buy more in a transaction.
    7. Multi-buy offers 3 for this or 5 for that etc where you get people buying more than they usually would.