The world is changing (fast!)

Something to think about.....

There is a statistic from June '09 issue of Parade Magazine that states by 2019 over 40% of the work force is going to be independent contractors. This means that 40% of the population will be their own business identity.

This is a major paradigm shift for how the majority of people earn their wages.

Take a moment to reflect on this…

We all can see the world rapidly changing. But sometimes the hardest change to be made is the change we need to make inside ourselves. Predominantly, values have been focused on security and benefits. Robert Kioysaki calls this the ‘E’ Quadrant. If you’re going to be among the 40% who – whether by choice or necessity – are their own business identity, your values will shift to what Kioysaki calls the ‘B’ Quadrant. How are you getting to the ‘B’ Quadrant? He says it’s not money that will make you rich, its business skills. It’s this shift of focus to building business, investing your time into the development of yourself and others and the understanding that the number one asset a person can attain is a business. Doing so will allow your money to work hard for you, not the other way around.

I am involved in a non-profit company that teaches life skills to kids. Please visit our web page at http://jrgrillers.com to see what we are doing.

Start thinking today how you can get ready for the future.

Twitter is a powerful tool if you use it correctly

Twitter is becoming more popular everyday. If you are a new twitter fan then do not make these common mistakes.

1. Not setting up your Twitter page properly:

Make sure you have a decent photo that people can connect with. This is one of the first things I look for before engaging with a new person. Like you, my time is valuable and I scan photo’s because it’s easy and fast, if someone doesn’t have a decent photo I move on to the next one.
Use your name instead of your @twitter username in the name section. I like to use a persons name when sending out tweets. Having a name is a great way for people to connect with you on a first name bases.
When filing out your bio use quality words, these words are searchable through many of the 3rd party tools that integrate with Twitter. Focus more on key words then sentence structure will give others a greater chance of finding you.

2. Not following up:

Follow up with the people that tweet you and send them a tweet back. This only takes a few minutes a day and by doing this will help you build a strong following.
When someone retweets your tweet send them a thank you or compliment. Retweeting others that retweet you will help you spread quickly into other people’s followers.Check your @replies and DM’s at least once per day.

3. Trying to get a large number of followers:

When I first started using Twitter all I heard about was you need to get followers. This is true, however; I quickly discovered that the quality of followers was much more important then having huge numbers of followers.
With all the 3rd party tools out there that help you auto follow people, it’s hard to focus on the quality of followers you are following. Make sure you focus on keywords that will locate the type of people you want when using these types of programs or tools.
Using keywords and the hashtag is a great way to locate people in your niche. Use alerts and key word tracking to locate people and save time.

4. Self promoting:

I see many people sending out tweets with links that are trying to sell something. Remember, people hate to be sold but love to buy. Sometimes I see tweets with just a link with no description to what the link is, talk about a waste of time.
If you are going to send out links in your tweets you should send them out in moderation. Send out other tweets in between the tweets with links. Providing value in your tweets is the key to getting people to trust you. Don’t send out to many tweets per hour. When someone fills up my twitter page with tweets going out every 3-5 minutes it doesn’t take me long to un-follow them. Using your DM is a great way to keep the twitter stream from getting over crowded.


These are just a few of the Twitter mistakes I have either made myself or have seen others make on Twitter. Just use a little common sense and you will do just fine. Ask yourself, am I tweeting to others like I would like to be tweeted to?

Understanding Merchandising at Wal Mart

Key Wal Mart manager:
John Fleming – Chief Merchandising Officer. Primary person in charge of the merchandising transformation that is now in play at Wal Mart. Prior position was in the marketing department where he identified who Wal Mart’s customer is and how best to serve them.

I will attempt to communicate Wal Mart’s merchandising direction so suppliers I work with will understand how to best operate in concert with the world’s largest retailer. First, let’s define some terms;

Save money – Live better – This is Wal Mart’s primary direction and mission. Wal Mart will have the lowest price on everything in their stores and on line so their customer can live a better life with the savings. Undisputed low price leader period! Clear low price leadership. Profit margins are secondary to lowest prices on all products. All management decisions are made with this concept in mind.

Clarity of offering – Having a limited number of brands/products in low growth categories. Spreading out on top selling brands in growth categories. Result is the elimination of the #2, #3, #4 products and giving more space to the #1 product. This eliminates out of stocks, increases turns, and Wal Mart’s belief is the consumer will adjust to the lack of assortment especially in the slow growth categories. This strategy is common place merchandising in Europe.

Conversion- This is store merchandising designed to motivate the Wal Mart customer to purchase from as many departments as possible on each shopping trip.

Who are Wal Marts target customers?
Value Seekers – Wal Marts primary customer. Three groups; price value shopper – looking for low price points on popular brands. Price sensitive affluent – quality seeker at a great price. Brand aspirational. Contact tom.price@earthlink for a complete discussion about types of consumers.

Wal Mart is focused on growth categories. They believe that success comes to companies that have their merchandising investment in the growth categories. Their goal is to increase market share in these growth categories.

There are 96 defined categories in Wal Mart. Contact tom.price@earthlink.net for a discussion about these categories.

They analyze product categories from three dimensions; growth potential, scale advantage, and credibility with the customer. Wal Mart calls this approach the Win – Play – show.

A win category is a category that will grow twice the rate of the business unit. Scale advantage relates to power with suppliers thru access of a full range of products and use of the logistics network. Customer credibility is to what degree customers perceive Wal Mart as a creditable source of information.

A play category is one with lower growth or stable business with Wal Mart having a scale advantage and some degree of customer credibility.

A show category is declining in sales, Wal Mart has little credibility with consumers and no scale advantage. This category of products is in the store to fulfill the “one-stop shopping proposition”. Example; it is important that Wal Mart have tape measures but they do not need an assortment. Limit assortment will not harm the shopping experience and will drive productivity so they can invest assets in “win” categories.

If the category is defined as a win or play (grow) Wal Mart invests in the range assortment and visual presentation. They study their competition and strive for quality products at competitive prices. Brands within categories can have a win-play-show rating.

If the category is defined as “show” Wal Mart is reducing suppliers and SKU’s. This results in productivity gains that allows them to invest in the growth categories.

In food examples of “show” categories are ketchup, mustard, barbecue sauce, flour, batters, and soft drinks. Examples of “play” categories are marinades and Mexican.

Along with this merchandising change has come a management structure change called “customer experience”. This group does space allocations, adjacencies, and visual presentation in all stores. Goal is consistent shopping experience throughout all stores.
This group is also about planning, replenishment, pricing, and category management.

Future growth will come from “multichannel integration”. This is defined as customers shopping multiple channels before they make a purchase decision. The online channel will be critical to future growth. The “site to store” program will be a growth platform at Wal Mart. Under this program products available on line only at Wal Mart dot com are delivered to the store free for customer pick up.

In my judgement Win, Play, Show is a huge mistake by  Wal Mart management.

Contact Tom Price at  tom.price@earthlink.net  for ideas on how to gain and keep Wal Mart distribution. I can also help you with your web site and social media marketing development.

Visit:

http://youtube.com/ncbigtom
http://twitter.com/grillzillabrand