The Best-Laid Plans of Mice
and Men: Setting Goals for the Year 2007
– Don Capman, President,
J.D. Associates
By now, most of us have probably given up on our New Year’s resolutions. I can hear it now:
“I am going to go on a diet as soon as the new Chinese restaurant in my neighborhood raises its prices.”
“I need to get out and exercise more but my one pair of jogging shorts has a hole in them.”
“I am going to read more but my dog ran off with my glasses.”
“I am going to spend more time with my family, but they really stress me out.”
“I want to increase my business by 15%
this year, but I don’t have a clue how to accomplish that.”
Why do resolutions most often fail?
- They may be unrealistic to begin with. Setting the bar too high will only set you up to fail. Who wants to fail?
- The motivation and commitment to change may not be there. If there is no commitment to change, why bother?
- External support from family and/or friends may be lacking. Sometimes a little encouragement can go a long way. Success may take a team effort.
- The goal may seem clear but there might not be a plan to help you to achieve that goal. Goals are generally easy to define. Plans which are broken out into logical and manageable steps are much more difficult. [Get the full story]
7 Ways to Magnify Your Retail Profits
– Debbie Allen
- Segment Customer Lists Carefully analyze past buying behavior of your customers and categorize by their buying habits. Basically you will be slicing and dicing your database list. Discounts may motivate your customers better than premiums, vice versa for others. Study your list and break it down to create special offers for different customer groups. [Get the full story]
Five Things Your Staff Needs To Know
– Doug Fleener
- It is okay to admit to your customer that you made a mistake. We all make mistakes. Most of us hate to admit that fact to customers. Maybe we said we would ship something out and we didn't, or said something about a product to only discover we were mistaken. Customers will almost always forgive you for a mistake if you own up to it. They'll rarely forgive you if you don't admit to an error or try to cover it up. [Get the full story]
J.D. Associates of Leominster Makes a Move
Mander, Inc. dba J. D. Associates is pleased to announce the consolidation of our offices to a much larger and completely renovated space within our current location at the Longview Corporate Center in Leominster. [Get the full story]
