There are a lot of vendors on the streets of New York City.
I was standing at the subway station to go to a gospel concert downtown, you know, one of those concerts that give you inspiration and make you feel good within your soul.
Ok, well when I got off the train, it was pretty hot outside.
I didn't see (and still don't see), how anyone could work outside in such heat; but you do what you have to do and you learn to adapt.
There was a crowd standing a few feet away from me and since I had about 45 minutes before the concert started, I decided to see what was going on.
I saw this man, dressed in a polo shirt, sandals and shorts.
He was selling 14K gold jewelry for almost nothing!Was he crazy?!Now he stated that the jewelry was not stolen; in fact, he was standing right behind his jewelry store.
I went into the store and the music was so loud, the front desk salesperson couldn't hear the customer she was talking to because she kept asking the customer to repeat herself.
In about 10 minutes, the owner of the store came in, turned the music volume down and asked me if he could help me.
I told him that I was just looking at his jewelry collections.
He proceeded to tell me that he was permanently closing the store and will need to sell everything.
His personal cell phone rang and as he was walking to the back of the store, he told the person on the other end of the line, that if he could get more customers in the next two weeks, he may be able to pay off his creditors.
I couldn't believe what I heard; this store owner was depending on the next two weeks to get him out of his business debt! I couldn't imagine him ever being successful running a business the way he ran his jewelry store.
I mean, he obviously wasn't generating enough traffic.
He had become so desperate to make a sale that he was willing to sell his jewelry so cheap that he might as well have given his jewelry away.
Also, first impressions are EVERYTHING; He was so consumed with getting attention for his business, that he didn't get the attention he needed: long- term paying customers.
In order to avoid this kind of business catastrophe, it's best that you:
I was standing at the subway station to go to a gospel concert downtown, you know, one of those concerts that give you inspiration and make you feel good within your soul.
Ok, well when I got off the train, it was pretty hot outside.
I didn't see (and still don't see), how anyone could work outside in such heat; but you do what you have to do and you learn to adapt.
There was a crowd standing a few feet away from me and since I had about 45 minutes before the concert started, I decided to see what was going on.
I saw this man, dressed in a polo shirt, sandals and shorts.
He was selling 14K gold jewelry for almost nothing!Was he crazy?!Now he stated that the jewelry was not stolen; in fact, he was standing right behind his jewelry store.
I went into the store and the music was so loud, the front desk salesperson couldn't hear the customer she was talking to because she kept asking the customer to repeat herself.
In about 10 minutes, the owner of the store came in, turned the music volume down and asked me if he could help me.
I told him that I was just looking at his jewelry collections.
He proceeded to tell me that he was permanently closing the store and will need to sell everything.
His personal cell phone rang and as he was walking to the back of the store, he told the person on the other end of the line, that if he could get more customers in the next two weeks, he may be able to pay off his creditors.
I couldn't believe what I heard; this store owner was depending on the next two weeks to get him out of his business debt! I couldn't imagine him ever being successful running a business the way he ran his jewelry store.
I mean, he obviously wasn't generating enough traffic.
He had become so desperate to make a sale that he was willing to sell his jewelry so cheap that he might as well have given his jewelry away.
Also, first impressions are EVERYTHING; He was so consumed with getting attention for his business, that he didn't get the attention he needed: long- term paying customers.
In order to avoid this kind of business catastrophe, it's best that you:
- Bring everyone together who is involved in your marketing and sales; this could be your staff and/or business partners.
- Ask questions such as:
- Make sure that all team players agree on all the issues.
Miscommunication can lead to costly business mistakes. - Give good QUALIFIED Sales Leads to your sales people for action.
- Have regular meetings with those doing your marketing and sales, for updates and reviews.