Generations

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

Dreaming is hard work

Regardless of the time zone or continent you call home, the last decade has been nuts.

Sunday morning in Chicago I heard an older song for the first time, really. Here is the opening lyric:

Oh, the last ten years, it’s been quite trip.
Over thirty-six-hundred spins around without a cosmic slip
But within the realm of our atmosphere
We’re ’bout as out of whack as we’ve been in a million years
We watched the Y2K scare in a panic
An’ we watched as time proved Nostradamus wrong
An’ we watched as Mother Nature shook the planet
An’ cellular replaced the telephone
We lost Charlie Brown, Ray Charles an’ Johnny Cash
We even lost Superman, mmm.

Kenny Rodgers seems to understand what the furniture industry has been feeling during the last decade.

Do NOT lay down now. Now is the time to change your life, fulfill your dreams from days that have past and take market share from your competition.

If you don’t, one of your competitors will.

Dreams are built inch by inch. Little by little is how they finally come true.

Degrees are earned. Marriages are made. Children are born. Families are raised. Companies are built.

Will you please let me know what you plan on doing right now?

Tags: dreams of furniture, family communication, furniture retail dreams
Posted in Communication, Family Business, Generations | Leave Comment

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

Toughing it out. Keeping it together. Making ends meet.

The language of the left brain is logical. The educational system in the United States has effectively taught generations of left-brained thinkers.

However, studies have shown that children loose a large percentage of their creativity between ages 5 and 7. Things like storytelling, art, music, drama, and design become second class subjects at this young age.

Leap forward and you’ll find that TV, radio, print, bill boards, yard signs and point-of-purchase messages all sing the same sound in the mind. Sales, discounts, two-for-one, buy-one-get-one and lowest price of the century are lyrics of the left-brained limbic system.

But your consumer is living in her right brain. “Keeping it real” has replaced “being cool.” Authenticity rules the day. The old saying, “Say what you mean, and mean what you say,” applies. People know when your offer is crap!

Your dreams didn’t change Just because business tightened up. It might have changed your focus. Deep down, in places we’re too embarrassed to talk about, the dream goes on.

So go ahead and hunker down. Count pennies. Save scraps. But, remember that imagination, perception, and faith are as fundamental as math, language and spelling.

They are simply the languages of the other side of your brain.

Creating interesting and compelling copy costs the same as the dull scream-and-shout hype of the last 50 years.

Posted in Communication, Generations, Personality Type | Leave Comment

Saturday, October 11th, 2008

Social Media

Foul language shouldn’t be needed to make your position clear.

No one has ever accused me of of being a prude. In fact, just the opposite is more likely the case.

The use of bottom rung slang is no longer my style. Today’s post is an exception because, after an exhaustive search, I’ve not been able to find another way to better explain this new style of marketing.

Today I met with Rex Williams and Keith Miller to discuss Keith’s website, book store and most importantly his upcoming book. We talked at length about ideas.

Thanks goes out to Rex WIlliams for the courage to finally make the post. I’ve been saving it for weeks because of the foul language.

As for the bad language, I’m truly sorry. Get over it!

Tags: Advertising, Communication, family communication, furniture retail, Marketing
Posted in About Retail, Communication, Family Business, Generations | Leave Comment

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

PROFITsystems and The Lively Merchant Team Up

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT:

Jeff Niskern, PROFITsystems, Inc. 719-219-6118

PROFITsystems and The Lively Merchant Team Up

New Joint Offerings Benefit Retailers

October 1, 2008,— PROFITsystems, Inc., the leading software provider for the retail furniture industry, and The Lively Merchant, a consulting firm offering a variety of business building tools, have formed a new working relationship. The synergy of the products that the two companies offer makes this a win-win situation for retailers. Wayne McMahon, VP of PROFITconsulting and David Lively, owner of the Lively Merchant, are combining their years of experience in business analysis to provide retailers with expertise in specialized areas of their business.

Lively specializes in generational transfer consulting, which PROFITsystems and The Lively Merchant are making available to their clients. McMahon stated, “Many owners of businesses in the home furnishings industry are second and third generation. Being able to offer a clear plan on transitioning the business to the next generation is vital to the continued success of these businesses.” McMahon continued, “Providing a path to this transition will be a huge benefit to our clients.”

The two companies will also be joining efforts in developing marketing campaigns for retailers. PROFITsystems’ e-Marketing is designed to offer retailers an organized way to utilize their client base for specified marketing efforts and The Lively Merchant has a unique copyrighted 47 point how-to manual for big event sales. These will be offered as an exclusive mix that will highlight the best of both programs. Lively said, “Advertising and marketing are evolving at an incredible pace. Many business owners are busy keeping up with the retail furniture industry and just do not have the time to keep up on all of the new avenues available in the advertising and marketing arenas. Our two companies have a unique opportunity to do the work that is necessary to bring the newest and most successful campaigns to the retailer.”

PROFITsystems and The Lively Merchant will remain independent companies although future projects will be developed to capitalize on the strengths of each. For additional information on The Lively Merchant or PROFITsystems please visit their individual websites: www.thelivelymerchant.com or www.profitsystems.com.

Posted in About Retail, Communication, Family Business, Generations, Personality Type, Products, Retail Idioms | 2 Comments

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

Can You Imagine?

An entire generation of Americans is growing up with no newspapers and very few catalogs. They might not even know what a phone book looks like.

Scary stuff for an old retail fart like me!

This group is more concerned about value than privacy. They’ve never believed they had privacy, anyway. How to pay for something is often more important than how much something sells for. Possibly, this is a holdover view shared with their over-extended parents.

They live lives online and offline. Spending 6-plus hours a day in the cyber world is not uncommon. SecondLife, MySpace, YouTube and avatars are common place.

Other generations remember new fangled inventions like TV, microwave ovens and ATM machines. This generation has never lived without internet. Their worldview is different.

You’ll only keep their attention for nanoseconds. They are capable of doing three things at once. They prioritize time and money differently than previous groups of consumers. They even think buying software is old fashioned. (Can you believe it?)

Do you want to be in business in twenty years? You’d better see the world through their eyes.

These “digital natives” have laptops, cell phones, IPods, Black-berry, DS, digital cameras, DVD burners. They are connected, and they are on the prowl for more.

They are working in nearly every retail setting already. If you want to keep up you ought to be hiring more of them at every turn.

I’m not suggesting picking them while alienating older consumer groups which have a lot more spending money. I am suggesting, however, that technology today allows us to talk to different consumers in their language. But you must know their language in order to speak it. The BS meters of this group are well tuned and waiting to pounce

Now don’t go running out half-cocked thinking you’re going to dominate this group. Don’t, however, wait with your head in the sand for them to choose you when they have the money, because by then it will be too late. They will already have chosen your competition.

Are you spending your advertising money and recruiting people the way you did five years ago? If the answer is yes to either of these questions, then please change. If not, don’t say you haven’t been warned.

Tags: family business, generational transfer, Generations, retail stores
Posted in Communication, Family Business, Generations | Leave Comment

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

What A Shame.

“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.” Thomas Jefferson

After listening to President Bush and then a dozen channels of political pundits and Wall Street hacks I went searching for some sage generational advice. It seems Thomas Jefferson was clearly foreseeing the problems of today!

Which generation do you think he might have been talking to? I have an opinion. Email me if you would like to know. The answer will be two short words.

Tags: family business, family communication, generational transfer
Posted in Communication, Generations, Personality Type | 2 Comments

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

Generational Training

Greed-is-good Yuppies and Bible-believing conservatives each handle training the same way.

This morning I was thinking about personality type as it relates to training. Of course, wondering always leads me to generational questions.

Remember we are living and working in an unprecedented four generational time. Never in earth’s history have four generations worked together – before right now!

Feedback from training might sound like this:

WWII Generation says, “I learned it the hard way, and you should, too.”
Baby Boomers say, “If you train people too much, they’ll leave.”
Generation X says, “The more they learn, the longer they’ll stay.”
Millennials say, “Always be learning, it’s a way of life.

Tags: family business, generational transfer, Generations, retail furniture
Posted in Communication, Family Business, Generations, Personality Type | 1 Comment

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Idiom: Rules

Turn signal flashing, Mrs. Customer carefully pulls her Buick up to your store and asks to see matching tables for her living room.

Ms. Customer peels into the lot, glove box bursting with parking tickets, and asks if you have a red leather chaise for her bedroom.

Mrs. Customer does not wear white shoes after Labor Day or diamonds before dinner. Her furniture lines the walls of her room like soldiers. Her pictures, one per wall, are hung higher than the top of the artificial ficus. She is law-abiding to the core.

Ms. Customer, on the other hand, wears seersucker on warm days in November. She mixes florals and animal prints with antiques and modern art. Rules to her are just “guidelines” and even those were made to be broken.

Should you push Mrs. Customer to rebel and mix up those end tables? Should you try to fetter Ms. Customer from a fashion faux pas?

As a company, how do you merchandise your store for both women?

As a salesperson, how do you adapt your personal style to her unique technique?

Reading this post, did you make any assumptions which about customer was which in the picture? Shame on you! Now, would you like to know if you were right?

Posted in Communication, Family Business, Generations, Retail Idioms | 1 Comment

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

Generational Stew

Things are whacky. Never in the history of the world have four distinct generations been working in such close quarters.

Craig Arthur is a Wizard of Ads partner. You can visit his site Wizard Partners if you’re interested in checking out his point of view. I was struck by a post summarizing a seminar he recently attended. Below you’ll see his 5-point summary for keeping Gen-X’s and Gen-Y’s happy with their work.

1. Think “High-Tech”
Make sure your company invests in the latest technology. Gen X & Y want the latest and greatest. Provide it and benefit from high productivity and dedicated employees.

2. Create Fun Environments
Add entertaining elements to work environments, e.g.… chair massages and spaces with lounges for social networking. Celebrate birthdays and recognize achievements. Offer work contests with high-tech rewards such as MP3 players, Mobile Phones and Laptops.

3. Leverage Relationships / Get Personal
Gen X & Y value friends and work mates of their own generations. They are the perfect resource for word-of-mouth recruitment for new employees. Educate them about the kinds of workers your business is seeking. Offer incentives for their part in the process.

Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. Build relationships with these generations by talking with them, showing you care, and making yourself available to hear their concerns. And never forget to thank an employee for doing a good job.

4. Embrace Workplace Flexibility
Develop an accommodating environment. Provide employees with opportunities for job changes, internal mobility and flexible schedules. Don’t micro-manage. Give them room to grow and make decisions.

5. Expand & Enhance Training Opportunities
Gen X & Y thrive on developing their work skills and knowledge. Most opportunities are seen as stepping-stones to something better in terms of their career. Provide learning opportunities by expanding e-based learning modules.

Unless you’re already planning your “Going Out of Business” sale, you WILL be affected by generational transfer. Bookmark TheLivelyMerchant.com. I write about family business issues weekly.

Posted in Communication, Family Business, Generations | Leave Comment

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

The sighs and sorrows of men

I can’t remember where I downloaded this drawing but I’d like to give the artist proper credit. If any of you know where it is from, kindly contact me and I’ll change the post to give full credit. The reason I chose it for this post is because it so simply and understandably shows the expression of human emotions.

The transfer of a family business from where you are now to where you want to be in the future can be equally demystified with planning. Generational collisions don’t have to become bloody battles for supremacy. Moms and dads and uncles and grandfathers don’t have to fight to the death to move the family business to children, cousins or grandchildren if only everyone would do a little planning.

I’ve created a forty-two month transition plan that turns sighs to excitement and sorrows to joys. The plan is sixteen steps. The ordered steps might overlap from time-to-time, but deciding to leave one out could turn out to be hazardous to your wealth and your mental well being.

The plan to transition your business is:

Recognize the need for change.
Desire for change is planted in senior generation.
Changing of day-to-day behavior by the senior generation.
Analysis of current decision-making procedures.
Documentation, stabilization and formalization of decision making processes.
Broadening of decision making roles allowed by senior generation.
Identification of all key tasks.
Documentation of all tasks.
Development of KEY management team.
Investigate the first look at an exit strategy.
Design the exit plan.
Evaluate the overall organizational structure and making filling in any blanks a priority.
Work with current and new team to iron out communication styles.
Implement the new planned organizational chart.
Hire additional needed staff and fire staff unwilling or unable to follow the new plan.
Develop a board of directors and family council, to act as a sounding board during the transition.

The idea of business transfer is nerve racking enough. Planning makes mountain climbing feel more like a walk in the park. Either way –planned or not – time is moving on and so are your customers. Make sure your family firm is seen in the best light by leading your team, rather than letting circumstances of fading health, waning interest and lackluster results lead you where you might not want to go.

Posted in About Retail, Communication, Family Business, Generations | Leave Comment