You know the nagging feeling that you should have done something?

Deep down inside a small voice calls out, nudges, pulls, and prods us to step out in faith. Crazy things, like creating a new way of doing business, or starting a new one all together. Or maybe it’s a simple thing like writing a thank you letter, or making a call to a long lost friend. The nagging feeling might make you nervous. Scared. Not certain where to begin.

I know the exact feeling. Last April 29^th we wrote the first post on The Lively Merchant website. Scary stuff, because we weren’t sure what we wanted to be when we grew up.

Around 3,000 years ago a man named Gideon was asked directly by God to lead Israel against the Midianites, who were destroying their lives, homes, and farms.

Let me set the stage. Gideon was threshing wheat in the wine press. This wasn’t because he was overly smart. It was primarily (I believe) because he was chicken of being caught by the Midianites who were kicking everyone’s butt and taking their wheat. So he was hiding and trying to protect what he thought was valuable. He was scared. He asked God, “Who me? I’m the weakest man from the weakest tribe.”

Gideon then decided to double check the nagging voice. Today, it might look like asking a magic 8-ball, not once but twice for the answer. Lack of faith. Fortunately God came through. He answered each of Gideon’s challenges. Isn’t interesting how we challenge everything, even when the nagging voice is loud and clear? I hope I won’t always need a “pillar of fire and light” to keep moving forward. You know?

From time-to-time we are all looking for a sign from heaven.

I know I have related with Gideon many times in my business life. Just give me a sign. Point me in the right direction. Don’t let this go badly, and you can count on me the next time around. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m sure glad God hangs in there with my craziness. Hopefully you will too.

Maybe the next 12 months will be as spectacular as the last. Maybe our nutty furniture business will get back to normal.

That will be a hoot!

TS Eliot said, “Business today consists in persuading crowds.”

Do you believe your marketing and training message is persuasive?

Does your organization show understanding, trust, threat, tension, surprise, substitution, specificity, social proof, similarity, repetition, push, pull, perception, passion, obligation, objectivity, logic, involvement, investment, interest, hurt and rescue, harmony, framing, fragmentation, experience, exchange, evidence, distraction, dependence, deception, daring, contrast, consistency, confusion, confidence, closure, bonding, authority, attention, assumption, association, arousal, appeal, amplification, or alignment?

Each are positions in persuasion that, used correctly and with timeliness, will raise the impact of your story.

How it works

When a person receives a communication from you, they decide if they can trust you and your message. Mixed messages result when beliefs, values, attitudes and prior words and actions do not tell the same story.

You know, like when will claim to have the biggest or best of something, only to eat humble pie when someone proves your claim aren’t true. Saying one thing and doing another causes a loss of trust, and a falling of confidence, and makes you appear shallow.

Remember the prayer? Your will, NOT mine… Alignment.

If you think you deserve one, you know exactly how an apology should be delivered. Eye to eye so you can see their pain. Face to face so you can sense their sincerity. And yesterday wouldn’t have been too soon.

Have you ever received a false apology that annulled itself when the same offensive act was repeated almost instantaneously? How about the old “I’m-sorry-you-feel-that-way” line that only makes you madder?

Admit it: sometimes your company makes enormous mistakes that madden Ms. Jones. What do you do? Do you fess up, agree with her and make it right? Or, like the Fonz, do you stammer and stutter an insincere excuse? What’s holding you back? Fear? Pride? Apathy?

Yes, it’s easy to judge the effectiveness of an apology when you’re on the receiving end. When you mess with Ms. Jones, are your apologies too little, too late? Or are they just right?

What would it look like if your online strategy worked perfectly?

Site visits? Catalog pages? Phone calls to your store? Sign-ups for your online newsletter?

In retail, “wins” are often defined by someone other than the business owner. Vendors design product they want to sell at price points that allow them to make money. Advertisers tell the owner they should say this, or do that in terms of marketing. Sales people explain how they “don’t feel comfortable” working in your selling system. Customers do what they want and buy what they like regardless of your opinion or your inventory.

Online presentation seems to be following suit. Retailers aren’t controlling the outcome. Retailers are being told an online “win” is a high number of site visits, or the number of phone calls they receive as a result of website traffic, or maybe it’s the large number of vendor photos they can promote on their retail site. While all of these are good, none directly support sales.

We heard from a Wizard of Ads partner last fall something that won’t let go of me. He said, “If your website isn’t selling as much as your weakest salesperson, you should fire it.” I agree.

Never lose sight of the primary goal of retail: to sell as much product as possible at a profit. If your web designer and web developer aren’t constantly talking about selling product, I would suggest they deserve the same fate as you worst salesperson.

Contact us to schedule a free Needs Analysis, and register now for the Industry-Wide Web Summit 2.0. It’s free, but seating is limited and filling up quickly.