I'll Take It: A Down-to-Earth Guide to Running Fine Retail Stores

Owners of independent stores usually poison their stores
I'll Take It sets owners of fine independent stores on the track to success. Lacking a model for their stores, independent owners follow the model for retail chains. They rely on advertising + mark downs + inventory control and empty boasts of customer service. No independent owner can go head-to-head with the major chains.

The great secret of retail stores
Major corporations have created an arid retail wilderness. Only motivated owners of independent stores have the passion and energy to do things right for customers. Motivation and passion to do things right aren't the same as doing the right things. Bringing passion to doing the right things pays off. I'll Take It is about doing the right things.

No-nos and toe stubbers
- Advertising is the last thing most independent stores need. It rarely turns a dud independent store into a success. It's mainly a useless financial drain. A cancer eating into the store's profits. The focal point of an alien mind set that drags the store down.
- Recognize Internet selling for the souped-up, over-hyped, mail-order system that it is. Strictly a side issue for single-owner walk-in stores.
- The crazy truth of most retail stores is that non-selling grunt work pushes selling aside.
- Recognize the danger of computers becoming yet another cancer eating into the time and energy needed to meet customers' needs.
- Stores that boast about their customer service rarely serve their customers well.

The game plan
The focus of I'll Take It is stubbornly on selling. The Steps for Selling are supported by putting a solid background in place to free sellers to sell and free managers to support sellers. I'll Take It shows how to monitor sellers' selling skills, how to support sellers and how to boost the store's sales while creating an environment where customers love to shop. Training and coaching sellers are the main functions of managers - And getting sellers to do the jobs most managers waste their time with.

Footnote
Examples are in American dollars with Canadian dollars used as a foreign currency.