Creating an exciting retail grand opening or anniversary event requires work upfront, but in the long run will make your store drive sales. Still, this can often be a challenge for small, independent convenience store chains who often lack the promotional power of huge chains. But with some careful planning and strategic attention to detail,…
Running Out of Time?
It seems that with every passing year, time management becomes harder and harder to get your arms around. With new ways to communicate seemingly appearing daily, the onslaught of message and calendar management seems daunting. How did it get this way so fast, and will it ever slow down? Nope. So, you better try and…
Targeting a Vertical Market
Over my career I have worked with a number of organizations where making inroads into certain verticals (industries) was critical for our success. Whether you target the banking, healthcare, automotive, technology, etc. verticals for your business, a comprehensive approach should be taken in order to garner the best results. With my background, one of the…
The Interim Executive
The movie industry has been doing this for years. With a screenplay in hand, a movie production house pulls together a team of production specialists including grips, gaffers, boom operators, etc. to all assemble at a film shoot location over a few months to produce a film. Together, these experts piece together all of the components…
Creating a Strategic Business Plan Amid COVID-19
Business planning in any environment is important, but add in the myriad of challenges brought by the current COVID-19 pandemic, and strategic business planning becomes even more essential for convenience stores looking to succeed in this uncertain landscape. So, why is business planning so crucial? In a word, it provides clarity. Investing time in developing…
The Winds of Change
The winds of change can happen suddenly. One of the worst days of my life was learning that my mother had a stroke at the age of 58. I was 23 at the time, and was hardly prepared for a shock to my family that early in life. Forty-eight hours later, she was pronounced dead.…
Embracing the New World
Raise your hand if you had the word “pandemic” in your 2020 strategic plan. In a matter of a week, the world rapidly changed last spring. The pandemic is reaching further than any key worldwide event in the last several decades. How we interact with one another, how business is conducted, where we live and…
LinkedIn – The Power of Networking
When I started Gray Cat Enterprises in 2004, I was living in Chicago and for the first couple of years, all of my clients were based in Illinois. This was fine at the time, since I had a boatload of opportunities. Then, a buddy of mine told me about LinkedIn, so I looked into it…
Prepare for Tomorrow – Today
Nobody saw this coming. Just two months ago, we were in our 11th year of an economic expansion; unemployment was at a 50-year old low; and March Madness was right around the corner. Then the bottom fell out. With roughly one-third of the world’s population in a lockdown (just think about that for a moment),…
Managing the Retail Puzzle
You own a bunch of stores all varying in size and age. Over the years, product assortments and sets have come and gone, and you have ridden certain designs into the ground. Each of your stores needs a refresher, but you do not know where to start. How does a multi-unit operator approach this? This…