ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601310008
SECTION: NEW RIVER ECONOMY PAGE: 15 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
In their book "Up Against the Wal-Marts: How Your Business Can Prosper in the Shadow of the Retail Giants," (American Management Association, 1994), Don Taylor and Jeanne Smalling Archer offer 10 ways for small-business owners to play David against Wal-Mart's Goliath.
* 1. Focus on your customers: Know who they are and what they look for. Aim your products and marketing toward a target customer.
* 2. Know the competition: Keep an eye not just on Wal-Mart, but on your other competitors, no matter how small. You can be sure your customers know what your competition is up to.
* 3. The key to a successful business is sound management, and the key to sound management is information. Provide yourself with financial information as well as facts about your customers, inventory and market trends.
* 4. Be a marketer: Marketing isn't just advertising. It's creating an atmosphere within your store, an image of your store in your customers' minds.
* 5. Change your value - the indefinable perception of what you offer. While your costs and prices may be fixed, the value of what you offer is something you can change and improve through service, atmosphere, friendliness and knowledge.
* 6. Try to be unique: Wal-Mart stores are not places to find many specialty, unique or hard-to-find items. Find something Wal-Mart doesn't do well, and carve out that market for yourself.
* 7. Control waste: New technologies and management strategies mean there are always new ways to be more efficient.
* 8. Use Total Quality Management, collaborative management or continuous improvement; empower your employees to participate in the well-being of your business.
* 9. Embrace change positively. Somebody is always coming up with a new idea. If you stay still, you will be left behind.
* 10. Be aggressive: Don't be afraid to take on Wal-Mart or your other competitors. Just because you're small doesn't mean you are weak or stupid. Be intrepid, pull the trigger and, if you miss, adjust your aim and pull the trigger again.
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB