Thought of the week - Round Table

Fatima and I went to visit the Atlanta market last week. We invited 3 retailers for a "round table" discussion where we shared some business observations, requests, concerns and success stories with each other. One table with distributors, reps and retail owners. It was interesting and so rewarding. Here are some of the subjects and ideas we raised: * Hire a young sales force but teach them the "old way" of doing business and customer service * Make sure you train your sales people! * We don't sell the Millennials but we want to be aware of them. They can be our social media help and they will become our customers one day soon. As they are looking for an "experience" when they shop, we thought it would be a good idea to have a "Mother / Daughter" event. Invite your customers and their daughters for a special night of drinks and fashion show/a talk/a makeup session... * All 3 agreed that birthday gifts bring customers back into the stores. They all offer 15% to 20% off on anything they shop in the store on their birthday month. * Send pick boxes to customers you trust and suggest they invite their friends over for a party! (private trunk shows). Let them shop too! * We agreed that a healthy markup is 2.4 / 2.5 Thank you Robin at Well Read, Gail at Bellagio and Sonia at Sonia Says, It was a real pleasure to learn from you! Retail is art! And thank you Mark and Daniel for finding the perfect location for us . It was warm and intimate. Just the way I like it ! Happy week, YaelThought of the week - Round Table