The Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Business: A Book Review

When considering how I can help my clients grow their business, I am constantly aware of the saying that a business is a reflection of the owner, so to grow the business, first look to help the owner grow.

Expanding knowledge is one of the keys to personal growth, and so reading books is a powerful way for a business owner to grow. And in the tech world we live in, we can read a paperback, hardcover, ebook on a kindle or other electronic device, or listen to audio books. We really have no excuse for not developing ourselves by reading.

Over the last week I have been enjoying the style of Bob Phibbs, aka “The Retail Doctor” and his book “The Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Business”.

This book has been written in a way that will allow Retail Business owners to pick it up and start using the strategies within hours, and the practical tips and suggestions will ease the implementation process.

Of course, a book alone will not grow a business (du-uh!).

So here are some of the key reasons to read the book, and then most importantly, ACT!

1. Know your numbers. Along the lines of “what you can measure you can manage” simply means you should have a strong grasp of where your business is at now. If not, go to it!

2. Merchandising. The art of not only displaying sale items, but store layout, shelf heights, and more. Importantly your merchandising should be tailored to YOUR market.

3. Employees. Unless you sell everything in your store yourself, deliver it yourself and follow up all of your customers yourself, you are going to have employees. These are your team-mates in the game of winning business, so make sure your team knows where the goals are, and you have the right people in the right positions.

4. Selling. You need to understand your sales process, and then stretch your process to maximize the effectiveness. Different products and markets require different processes, but without a process that results in sales, it’s all over!

5. Training. Once you have an effective process, and the right people in the right positions, then training them to ensure they are doing the right things is what will really provide you with leverage. Get this right, and the reliance on you to sell yourself is gone.

6. Coaching. As an owner it is my belief we should all have coaches, but your team needs a coach too, and that might have to be you, or it might be an external resource. Either way, coaching will lift their performance to the next level.

7. The Internet. You just have to know what it means now to your business, and now is the time to be planning what it will mean tomorrow, and how you are going to make sure it helps your business grow.

8. Your turn. So over 200 pages of strategies, tips and suggestions. But if all you do is read them, then the pages will have little impact. It is you deciding to act that will drive growth, so how are you going to commit to actions. Coaching makes you accountable to your decisions and plans, so that is a great way to drive the growth in your business, get a coach.

And then Bob gives his list of 13 steps to being a top salesperson. This list is a great summary of the key points in the book, and could form your checklist moving forward. If you have salespeople today, and you give them this book, then the 13 steps can form part of their performance measurement.

So this book gets a recommendation from me for all business owners, as if you own a business, someone is selling something for you (or you are doing it yourself). An easy read, 230 pages plus index of practical suggestions and strategies that can help your business grow.

If you would like to understand how the power of coaching can turn these strategies and others into actual results in your business, email me now adam@mbrgroup.com.au for a copy of our business growth magazine and the opportunity to attend a 3 hour Business Grow session.

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