You Can Compete: Double Sales Without Discounting (Second Edition) (Paperback)

by Bob Phibbs (Author) "You are independent retailer enjoying a steady, though not necessarily growing, business..." (more)
Key Phrases: sales booster, independent retailers, gourmet coffee, Polly's Gourmet Coffee, Long Beach, Bay Shores Inn (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Few retailers won’t find something to make them glad they spent some time with this book." -- Food Management, September 2003

Product Description
This work gives the independent business person concrete advice from someone who's worked in retail stores 50+ hours a week, has known what to do when their back is against the wall and has a proven track record of success. It is aimed at independent business owners, many of which are being challenged by chain stores.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 153 pages
• Publisher: Retail Doctor Publishing; 2 Rev Upd edition (February 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970998414
• ISBN-13: 978-0970998415
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #104,587 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not too hot - Not too cold - Just RIGHT ON!, May 10, 2001

By	j.b. hamland (Long Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Can Compete : The Retail Doctor's Tools to Double Your Sales (Paperback)

As a former owner of a retail/service business and continuing entrepreneur, I read Bob Phibbs' book with great interest. There is simply not enough I can say about this book. It is an easy read that is not bogged down with anecdote after anecdote trying to make the same point over and over again as so many self-help books are. Phibbs make his points with short, concise, relevant vignettes that more often than not pack an A-ha! punch. Any independent business person with a lick of sense who hopes to compete with the big box retail vampires will have Phibbs' book - not on their bookshelves, but in hand. Personally, I've always believed the little guy could compete, but how? Phibbs tells you exactly how. Interestingly enough, I happen to live in a community where Phibbs cites success stories and was surprised that I am a customer of one of them. I remember when Starbucks moved in a few doors down from Polly's with the sole intention of putting Polly's out of business (there's another Starbucks just a few blocks away). I didn't think Polly's would last a month, but Polly's began to change and began a campaign to beat the giant. Now, at least two years later they're still here... and thriving... and better than ever with Phibbs' expert guidance. You Can Compete is filled with his expertise in an organized, personable package that would almost make you feel as if Phibbs was your own personal consultant. I would recommend this book to anyone who is in the retail business or thinking about going into it - don't wait for the giants to come barging into your backyard. You could not ask for a better guide for success than You Can Compete.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly simple common sense!, November 1, 2006

By	Longmontlady "Carol Blaha" (Longmont, CO USA) - See all my reviews

You Can Compete!

This is a great straightforward read. It offers practical and simple to implement, small tactics to differentiate yourself from the big boxes. Instead of modeling them--cutting down on services and stock piling merchandise and heavy couponing--hire and train people full of product information and teach people to be sales people, not cashiers.

Many of his beliefs align with techniques I use in my sales training and consulting, those are what I'll highlight.

Phibbs has an easy repeatable 5 step approach to approaching a customer - and goes beyond the overused "are you doing ok"? I was in a big box after reading this and counted 8 times this was chanted to me, and I was in the store less than ½ hour. I agree with the author, this becomes distracting--can't I just look? (Geez, I was standing in front of envelopes!). I left without a purchase--I couldn't think.

He gives a step by step approach to training - and why the first 30 days is the best you'll get from a new hire--unless you build a process and "inspect what you expect".

Discounting doesn't work--in fact I train how it works against you. I know which stores provide a coupon and there are multiple times I have pulled in front of the store, discovered I don't have the coupon, and drive away without coming in for my purchase!

I also have a story illustrating his examples of how signage can create a "sales prevention" department. Signs that say "don't' touch"--displays are meant to be touched! My favorite hates are those saying "no soliciting, no change, no bathrooms". I was recently in a big box with a sign on a copier (that you pay self serve per copy) "15 minute limit". The retailer went to the expense of putting in a copier, hoping it's a profit center, and now tells you not to use it.

This book is not only how to compete, how and what to change and how to differentiate. There are plenty of reasons to choose an independent vs a big box--if yours is just to "support the little guy", stop and buy this book before you close your doors, content its their fault. You have a lot to offer, read this and get energized.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you're not weak of heart-This will work., May 27, 2004

By	David S. Geller "Retail Consultant" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm a consultant in the jewelry industry and this book tells it like it is and is like having lunch with a mentor once a week. Bob tells you exactly what to do in sales training, hiring, pricing, maarketing and just plain out how to compete against whomever your competition happens to be. Many thoughts are one or two pages on what to do. Some of it it's the number head on. Soemtimes it's a pep talk.

Example: Bob talks about if an employee doesn't work out in a short time or constantly comes in late to FIRE THEM.

This is a correct way to handle your business, it's just that many a store woner are WIMPS. "We're all family here". yeah, right. When it comes down to "who doesn't get a pay check this pay period-cash flow sucks" see who volunteers. YOU.

If this book doesn't nothing else than to make you a STRONGER manager it will be worth a 100 times more.

I give seminars to jewelers on pricing and sales commissions. I felt so strongly about the value of this book that I ordered 50 copies to give out to my attendees this June in Vegas.

Bob talks about commissions and marketing. There aren't as many extra books on commissions out there (Bob spends one to three pages on one" but there a few excelent books on advertising you should read, expecially if you're retail:

" The 33 ruthless rules of local advertising" by Michael Corbett.

Also 2 excellent books (Bob talks about branding-buy these 2 from anexpert) on advertising and marketing:

"The end of marketing as we know it"
"The end of advertising as we know it"

Both by Sergio Zyman. He used to be in charge of marketing at Coca Cola.

David Geller
www.JewelerProfit.com