ByGeri.com

Expecting growth during a recession may not seem natural to most dealers of antiques and collectibles, but with a strong Business Plan growth inevitably comes. Optimism in and of itself cannot bring growth in any industry. We all need to understand that optimism comes from knowing the plan is rock solid.

Building a shop that serves a segment of an overall market frees dealers from spreading too thin to capitalize on becoming a real solution provider. A solution provider offers customers what they want and need. Specialization enhances the possibility of becoming the only option in a market.

Dealers focused on solutions for a specific market reach that market through cost-effective word-of-mouth advertising and wiser marketing decisions. A dealer who understands his niche market and how his merchandise and services help those interested learns much faster how to get the word out and starts to build a loyal customer base.

Services increase awareness among potential product buyers as well as offer opportunities to collaborate with partners. Collaboration between dealers in the antiques and collectibles industry may require a little experimentation to develop new means of driving business for all collaborators, but the experiment usually turns into a journey worth taking.

As the recession continues to loom over the country, spend wisely to develop solutions for a niche and gravitate to new alternatives for marketing. Optimism comes out of becoming an example to follow in a vast wilderness of uncharted territory. Optimism comes from watching your solutions become a necessity.

Work Cited:
Linsenbach, Sharon. “Optimism Shines Through Recession Gloom”. eWeek. May, 18, 2009. p. ci6.

As sales slowed down, antiques and collectibles dealers watched browsers walk past merchandise that previously sold quickly. Seeking solutions on the Internet and through the local bookstore one finds many different solutions to improving sales. One technique mentioned frequently in sales circles, consultative selling, makes perfect sense for dealers looking to grow a reputation.

Although not really a “new” technique, rediscovering an old-fashioned concept to increase sales feels like going home for many dealers. Jessica Davis wrote a nice piece for eWeek offering a little insight to consultative selling for IT sales. The main points mentioned work for sales people in many industries.

With just a little bit of tweaking for antiques and collectibles dealers, the same basic concepts apply.

1.    Get to know your customers; talk to them.
2.    Ask questions that help you get involved with your customers’ lives.
3.    Admit that you may never offer what your customer needs.
4.    Develop your confidence.
5.    Become an information resource.
6.    Realize buying is a process that could take time.
7.    Collaborate with your customers to come up with solutions.

Building a small business requires more than simply placing a few items in the window and throwing a heap of merchandise around a showroom floor. Today’s customers look for a great deal more information than predecessors did. They want assistance finding the information they need and the products that solve their problems. People want and need professionals to consult when necessary.

Work Cited:
Davis, Jessica. “Getting inside the customer’s head”. eWeek. May. 2009. p. ci3.

Portrait of John Wayne Goes Unnoticed

Our economic crisis affects more than just the employed among us. Small business owners across the country feel the effects of downsized workers spending less. The day may very well come when antiques and collectibles dealers must look a little closer at their own futures.

According to William Lenhart, National Director of Restructuring at BDO Consulting, businesses that “don’t acknowledge cash-flow problems and plow ahead as if it were the status quo” may be facing a difficult road ahead. Dealers dismissing the reality of their situation often wait until the choices become very limited before taking action.

Admitting that your antiques shop is failing turns the stomach, but the best way to come out on top requires facing the facts and adjusting to the new economic reality. Our nation’s economy works differently than a year or two ago. Credit providers cut off access to buying power for many potential buyers of your goods awhile back. Lost jobs and dwindling retirement funds wiped out discretionary spending for many regular customers.

Can your shop survive an economic crisis? Absolutely! Survival may require a drastic change in spending, planning, and even culture to meet the challenge, but your antiques and collectibles shop can survive the bleak days ahead.

Work Cited:
Ryan, Vincent. “World turned upside down. In the “insolvency zone”, creditors exert a strong pull that often throws CFOs off balance”. CFO. May. 2009. p. 34.

In all industries, people find “it’s becoming increasingly difficult for any one person to have all of the knowledge and all of the skills to get his or her work done” as Todd Harris pointed out in a recent article in CFO magazine. As Director of Research for PI Worldwide and adjunct professor at University of Massachusetts, Harris understands the importance of using all available resources to improve results.

Today, antiques and collectibles dealers must consider the possibility that offering a “little bit of everything” and foregoing a specialty might send the wrong message. Building a business requires a commitment and business plan once initial curiosity seekers finish waltzing through the shop.

Scott Valentin, managing director at FBR Capital Markets, expressed concern over limited diversification and local economies with respect to community banks. Similar issues should be cause for concern for antiques and collectibles dealers. Exposure to risk increases for shops without “a diversified geographic footprint” since the “local economy” impacts sales to an alarming degree.

Specializing reduces the time a dealer needs to acquire enough knowledge to become an authority. Limiting the breadth of necessary knowledge allows dealers to focus on the depth of their knowledge. With a wealth of expertise in just one type of antique or collectible, dealers usually branch out geographically causing a natural reduction in risk from a local economic crisis.

If your antiques and collectibles shop depends on the locals for support, the time to consider global markets is now. Crafting a strong position for the future demands less reliance on a relatively small market called your hometown. The Internet offers every dealer the opportunity to spread out. Diversify your footprint geographically before the economic crisis strangles your business.

Works Cited:

O’Sullivan, Kate. “Good Sports. CFOs have to build teams and play on them. It isn’t easy.” CFO. May 2009. p. 19.

Teach, Edward. “How healthy is your bank? With more failures expected in 2009, CFOs should subject their banks to a thorough checkup.” CFO. May 2009. p. 23.

Technology plays an increasingly larger role in the lives of Americans. With the rise in Internet usage by mainstream Americans still on the rise, antiques and collectibles dealers across the board should pay attention. From social networking to polling, Obama used technology to gain a strong, comprehensive understanding of his target market, registered voters.

Let’s face facts, Obama only needed to know what registered voters wanted to hear before shouting his political agenda from the rooftops. Obama discovered what people wanted to hear and sent the message that he listened. Antiques and collectibles dealers should learn a thing or two from a young, popular politician. Obama even demonstrated interactivity for those of us who do not comprehend the importance of customer service and appreciation.

As the rise of the Internet continues to invade homes across the United States, small business owners specializing in antiques and collectibles should heed the advice of business consultants suggesting an online presence. These days, your best chance of gaining a competitive foothold in the industry comes from an online presence. Wake up! Get on the Internet.

With the New Year already in full swing, think about how your little antiques and collectible shop will attract customers in the months and years to come. Before you find yourself a dinosaur in a changing industry, look at all your options. The time to refresh your vision and begin anew comes with every single sunrise. Enjoy the experience of change and embrace new possibilities. The Internet is here to stay. Isn’t it time you incorporated some small piece of technology into your business?

Rest assured only the best managers of antiques and collectibles businesses survive in challenging economic times like we live in today. Expect to see many competitors close their doors permanently. If you want to survive another day, learn how to compete effectively and then do it.

An antiques and collectibles business needs a strong balance sheet and merchandise with stable demand in the market. The question for many small shops seems to be which merchandise sells these days. Unfortunately, too many owners do not know what their market wants to buy. Why do business owners open shops without identifying a target market?

It is never too late to identify a target market and start serving up the right products and services. Once you identify your market and begin offering the right goods, your shop will make money. Cold hard cash still floats in and out of businesses every day in this country. Fortunately, opportunity knocks all the time. Just learn how to open the door.

Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed.

—Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell built global recognition with his philosophy and artistic style. Visit http://www.nrm.org/ for information on Norman Rockwell if you are not familiar with his work.

Imagine customers looking for your business in a Google search or becoming excited when given the chance to refer others to your website or store.

Do your customers conjure an image time after time when reflecting on their visit to your shop? If not, then what makes customers return for more? What is the more your customers come back for? What collectible are you passionate about?

Scott Leibs, CFO magazine Deputy Editor, clearly believes “leveraging a vast network of self-employed experts” is not a new concept. As other industries forge ahead into uncharted waters, antiques dealers and collectors should look at examples of business models employed successfully to improve services, product quality, and prices to sustain a competitive advantage.

In his article “Gaming the System, How a small outsourcing firm uses competition to unite its global community” for CFO magazine, Leibs states TopCoder utilizes a network of “independent developers, who may be students, hobbyists, retirees, moonlighters, or full-time freelance programmers” to develop software in a world where groundbreaking innovation is highly prized.

All too often, small business owners look at existing business models to provide answers to business problems. Looking at new strategies and revising business plans might be the only way to improve sales, incorporate new services, or move towards emerging trends in the marketplace.

Consider the possibility that what you are doing today is not going to work tomorrow. What if specializing within a field continues so generalists become obsolete in the collectibles and antiques industry? Can you imagine an antique shop with a little of everything becoming less interesting to the average collector?

Examining change in other industries prepares dealers for inevitable change in antiques and collectibles. As people become more accustomed to specialists in virtually every other industry, people will expect more specialization in antiques and collectibles. Developing a strategy to change with the times might not be as challenging as first glance would suggest with a few successful examples to study.

Work Cited:

Leibs, Scott. “Gaming the System, How a small outsourcing firm uses competition to unite its global community”. CFO. Jan. 2008. p. 69.

How does an organization with “the lowest employee morale of any agency” and “on the verge of closing” as noted by Vincent Ryan, Small Business, Big Problems, guide small business owners into a successful, strong management plan? Ryan wrote Steven Preston said his “biggest challenge as SBA administrator has been transforming the organizational mind-set”.

Often small business owners neglect to seek out professional assistance due to budgetary restrictions. Unfortunately, professionals providing services for a fee look for opportunities to help so their own business grows with referrals and recommendations by happy customers. The Small Business Administration offers some services for small business owners, but the agency is just another large organization manned by bureaucrats.

Antique shop owners need more than bureaucratic assistance when trying to build up a loyal base of customers. Collectors want more than generic, simplistic answers to complicated business problems. Business planning requires a commitment to success and a strategy based on today’s market. Once antiques and collectibles dealers begin to appreciate their business depends on the same professional approach as any other business, more dealers will begin to see growth in sales instead of declining sales.

With low employee morale and questionable ability to accomplish stated objectives, the Small Business Administration might be a start, but certainly not the final resource for achieving the dream of business ownership. Making a living selling collectibles or antiques these days requires a professional, dedicated approach to marketing, planning, and implementation.

Work Cited:

Ryan, Vincent. “Small Business, Big Problems, Lousy morale, decrepit systems, and a crushing workload: Can a private-sector CFO save the SBA?”. CFO. Jan. 2008. p. 50.

Deciding to close can be a painful decision for antiques and collectibles dealers. The dream of freedom from financial burdens or unfulfilling jobs ends for some business owners. For others, purpose after retirement fades. However, minor changes make a dramatic difference to income from the store.

Take a hard look at the income statement. Notice more than one number influences the bottom line. Rather than focus on one variable determining the bottom line, look at the entire statement and each variable individually.

Adding one service for a small fee in conjunction with reducing waste in advertising could make the difference between a profitable year or not. Buying inventory from a different provider or negotiating more favorable terms often improves income. Sales do not need to improve for a substantial turnaround in profits.

Size of a store and quantity of merchandise rarely indicates an ability to manage profitably. A vision supported by accurate, timely information turns businesses into dreams come true. Resolve to look at your income statement as a tool. Prepare your income statement and look at that income statement critically today.