DW's Blog

Play

by DW Green — November 8, 2017

Fun-loving child again

I’m going to a developmental retreat next month in Seattle. One of the distinctions we will be exploring is Play. Play as in not taking everything so seriously. Play helps us keep the distance we need to observe rather than identify with the natural anxieties of life. Plus play is just plain fun! Let yourself be that spontaneous, in-the-moment, fun-loving child again. Or, as Friedrich Schiller put it, “Keep true to the dreams of thy youth.”One of our assignments is to bring a joke or two to the retreat. Humor is important in life. Laughing is healthy. Laughing is fun. Here’re a few jokes I like…What do you call an intelligent, good-looking, sensitive man? A rumor.World’s shortest books…Career opportunities for History majors.Amelia Earhart’s Guide to the Pacific.Accountant JokeA patient is at her doctor’s office after undergoing a physical examination. The doctor says, “I have some very grave news. You have only six months to live. What can I do cries the patient. The doctor replies, Marry an accountant. Will that my life longer asks the patient. No says the doctor. But it will seem longer.You know you’re getting old when……your back goes out more ...

by DW Green — November 1, 2017

Unveiling a new advertising look can create excitement with customers and employees alike.

Often times when sales and customer counts are flat or declining, a bold, new visual look and go-to-market strategy can shake up a market. Unveiling a new advertising look can create excitement with customers and employees alike. Plus change is normally a good thing. Non- shoppers are the biggest source for new primary customers and new revenue.Advertising and marketing that is developed in the context of themes and storytelling is the best way to attract the attention of non-shoppers. And the presentation of those themes and story’s must be applied differently to each marketing platform. For example, the print ad that is posted on the website must minimally become an interactive tool to add sale items to a shopping list. A searchable item list is better. A pdf of an ad on a mobile device is not effective at all. It’s very important that advertising and promotions are well integrated into all marketing platforms, including in-store signage. This message and activity integration builds momentum, resulting in more sales and more customers. What makes this all work so well is the planning. The sales benefit alone from just sharing a great plan with employe...
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Employee Development

by DW Green — October 25, 2017

Employee training and development is critical

In the end it is employees who make the difference. No amount of merchandising or advertising can be successful over the long run without a dedicated, knowledgeable staff. If employees don’t support your market position or advertising claims, your efforts will be undermined.To build a company that is profitable, enduring, and able to hold its own against major competitors, managers need to foster a sense of community among employees. Above all, employees must share common values. This means recruits should be judged as much on the basis of their fit with the company’s values and principles as they are on the basis of their ability to fulfill the technical requirements of the job.People should be hired into your company with the understanding that they are there to develop their potential. You must ensure that processes are in place to assess individual potential, ensure adequate training and development, evaluate performance, and provide graceful exits from the company. If employees don’t pull their weight or share the company’s values, they must move on. At a certain point, managers must be prepared to pass the baton, as well, so the company can continue to renew itself.Employee trainin...
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Print Motivates Millennials

by DW Green — October 18, 2017

Millennials love print advertising

I read the following about millennials love for print advertising in an article published on Visualogistic’s website. I was somewhat surprised by their findings. Interestingly, it validated my belief of the power and importance of a retailer’s ability to create an emotional connection, a bond, with consumers.“Millennials may be known to be digitally savvy, but they’re not constantly connected. We assume that the Millennial generation constantly live in a cyber world not paying attention to anything outside of their phone or computer screen. That is where advertisers fail with millennials. With so many online ads being pushed towards them in every direction, it’s no surprise nearly half of millennials are ignoring pop-up ads, banner ads, and emails.Millennials ignore these ads:
49% internet ads
48% email (spam)
45% mobile text
Although millennials spend more time engaged online, they use the internet and social media to stay connected to friends and family. If given the option, millennials are more likely to block ads and skip through TV commercials. You can’t solely rely on those platforms to advertise and need to see how else to connect to this part...
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Outsourcing

by DW Green — October 11, 2017

Stick to the netting

In Search of Excellence, Tom Peters’ famous book first published in 1982, describes eight basic principles of management that made forty-three of America’s best-run companies successful. One of the principles was “Stick to the netting.” Stay with the business you know and outsource the rest! Retail grocery is about selling and merchandising. Not advertising and marketing design.On the surface in-house ad departments can seem more efficient and cost effective. However, if you look deeper into the actual cost of maintaining a highly professional advertising design team those cost can be much more than what you thought. Often times in-house ad departments become a source of overhead that limit or reduce resources needed to improve retail activities that directly improve sales and customer experience. Not to mention the negative impact poorly designed materials can have on your company’s brand.The added cost of office space, computer hardware and software and their ongoing maintenance, as well as photo libraries, insurance, and labor benefit packages can make the benefits of an in-house department much less attractive. Even the rate of pay necessary to attract talented designers can be problematic. Outsourcing...
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Community Matters

by DW Green — October 4, 2017

Light of Community

I was in Denver over the weekend attending a Denver Bronco football game with my brothers. Denver is our hometown, and while we no longer live there, we’ve been fervent Bronco fans for 57 years! Avid sports fans that root and cheer for their favorite team belong to a community of fellow fans. In Denver, seeing fans donned in team colors—shirts, jerseys and caps, all wearing smiles, “high-fiving”, fist pumping and cheering Go Broncos, all share a deep connection to our beloved team. Belonging to a community is a powerful and meaningful relationship, whether it’s a sports team, a city, a school, a state, a geographic region or a nation.As business owners we’re connected to the broader community of our chosen profession. We’re connected to our employees, vendors, customers and to the communities we serve. Being mindful of those relationships in the light of community changes our perspective to service and contribution to a greater good.Perspective: the faculty of seeing all the relevant data in a meaningful relationship.
Read More – Why you gotta be so mean?
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Present-Moment Awareness

by DW Green — September 27, 2017

Live with present-moment awareness

When you are present, you are in control. When you aren’t present, you have lost control. Everything happens inside. It’s not that you are immune to external forces, only that when you notice that you aren’t present, you get back there.Find a quiet place to be alone, close your eyes, take some deep breaths, and find your center again. Doing this several times a day is a good routine, because it alerts you in a mindful way to what it feels like to be steady and present.If you are present, here and now, you are in control. The ego makes a mistake by always trying to get its own way, putting up resistance, or being right. Countless people think of those things as being in control. In reality, nothing throws you out of yourself like demanding to get what you want, resisting other people, and always having to be right.Live with present-moment awareness. That’s the ultimate secret that no amount of self-control exerted by the ego can achieve. By redefining what it means to be in control, you can achieve something invaluable for your personal success and happiness.

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Meaning

by DW Green — September 20, 2017

Experience meaning…

Finding Inner Courage by Mark Nepo is an excellent book and I highly recommend reading it. In the introduction Nepo writes; “What does courage mean? How we hold this question is important. It’s interesting that the question, what does it mean? In Spanish, que quire deicer?, literally translates as, what does it want to say? The difference inherent in the Spanish view is that whatever holds meaning is alive and has its own vital authority and, therefore, demands us to be in relationship to it in order to learn its meaning. English view readies us to apprehend meaning, while Spanish view readies us to experience meaning.”Okay, interesting quote you might say, but what does it have to do with business? In a word…everything. What does your business mean? What does it mean to you? What does it mean to your stakeholders? Human beings are meaning making machines. When our relationships and our experiences are meaningful, we are confident and comfortable with our decisions, our choices and this meaningful connection enhances our overall sense of happiness and well-being.A company’s “reasons to believe” are deeply rooted in its purpose and meaning. It’s critical that a company�...
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Redacted

by DW Green — September 13, 2017

Activities are the basic units of competitive advantage.

I always wanted to publish something that required portions to be redacted. Redacted statements are often found in government documents. Documents that are sensitive and top secret. Well, this letter is neither sensitive nor top secret. Just redacted.Hi Jim,I finally got signed up for Bashas’ email marketing. The emails are very similar in appearance to Albertsons, same vendor I think. Bashas’ has such a rich and unique history. It’s perplexing why Bashas’ doesn’t express its character, its singularity in a fresh, and an appealing and distinctive way. It’s as if there is a “conventional format” box that dictates how activities are to be done.Differentiation is about performing different activities from rivals or performing similar activities in different ways. Differentiation arises from both the choice of activities and how they are performed. Activities, then, are the basic units of competitive advantage. Overall advantage or disadvantage results from all of a company’s activities, not only a few.Sincerely

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Product And Service Guarantees

by DW Green — September 6, 2017

Perspective

There’s no guarantee of keeping a customer for life. Though having an unconditional product and service guarantee can go a long way in keeping your base of loyal primary shoppers. A guarantee is a promise or assurance that a company will stand behind the quality of products it sells or services it performs. Guarantees build trust and loyalty with consumers. In a sense, a guarantee is a company’s commitment to the well being of its customers.5 Reasons Why A Guarantee WorksFirst, it pushes the entire company to focus on customers’ definition of good products/service, not an executive’s assumption. Second, it sets clear performance standards, which boost employee’s performance and morale. Third, it generates reliable data (through payouts) when performance is poor. Fourth, it forces an organization to examine its entire service-delivery system for possible failure points. Last, it builds customer loyalty, sales and market share.What is a good guarantee? It is (1) unconditional, (2) easy to understand and communicate, (3) meaningful, (4) easy and painless to invoke, and (5) easy and quick to collect on.Cheating. Fear of customers cheating is a big hurdle for some when considering of...
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