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Welcome to episode 14 of Gas station business 101 podcast, first let me thank all of you out there for listening to my show. One quick announcement first before we start. my blog site gas station business 101.com has been up and running again for about a week now. I am so very glad that it is. The whole site has been reworked and though it works well but i am still wishing it was little different than what i see there. If you visit the site, I would love to hear your feedback on its looks. One important thing I want to mention is when you are on the site, on the top menu you will see a tab that says “Ask me” if you haven’t registered for my site yet you can do it right there just by following the register link then you can log in and post comments and questions. Also, once you register there, it also registers you for my newsletter, so you don’t have to do it twice.
Also a big shout out to Remu for giving the show a 5 star review on Stitcher Radio, I completely forgot that this show is also on Stitcher and TuneIn radio, so Remu sorry I didn’t notice your kind words till just two days. Once again Remu thank you for the review and the kind words.
Okay now getting back to the topic of the day, which is Appearance. Recently I have seen first hand how appearance can have a huge impact on a business like gas station and decided to share it with all my listeners. We are moving into the slowest season for our business so it is time to pay attention anything and everything that can adversely affect our business. It’s time for some Fall cleaning. As I mentioned, I recently saw firsthand how badly appearance or lack thereof can run a business pretty much to the ground. Little story time.
An out of town company owned a store in a nearby town which is about 30 minutes from us, was recently bought by a friend of mine, before selling the company revealed that they were losing money every month, and they just wanted to get out. So my friend got a great deal and bought the business. Their main argument was that it is hard to run a business remotely. Which is partly true, I have to agree but again if you look at most of the big companies like 7-11 and such do run them remotely but with enough qualified and well-paid staff and managers. Long story short, my friend bought the business exactly two and half months ago and as of last week his merchandise sales went up by 27% and fuel by 22% compare to the day he took over the business. As we did a profit and loss analysis, I found out my friend never did lose money even when the sales were low at first. Off course, he is making more now but the puzzling thing is how come he never lost money when the other company admitted losing money every month. After some brainstorming and some research, we found out it was mostly appearance or lack thereof that we could blame.
Imagine for a second. Just by a change in appearance you make a business go from loss to profit, well minus the legacy cost off course. So yes that is the very reason I have decided to share this topic with you and do a separate episode just on this. I do think all of you can benefit from this episode. Honestly, it opened my eyes, and I too realize the power of great appearance and how powerful it can be for a business’s success or failure for that matter.
Based the case study of the store I told you about, during the brainstorming and research we came up with a 10 point checklist and all of you can follow and see your store rise above other competitors.
Here is the 10 Point Checklist:
- Are Those fuel dispensers functional, clean and presentable?
- Is your parking area clean?
- Are the doors, windows and cooler doors clean?
- Do you have excessive indoor or outdoor signage?
- Do you have cutter everywhere?
- Does your sore have a functional and effective layout?
- Are your selves and gondolas clean?
- Is your well lit inside and out at night?
- Are the restrooms and sales floor clean?
- Do your employees have proper uniform and appearance?
The Book I want to recommend today is: MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom by Tony Robbins
We all know who Tony Robbins is, he coached and inspired over 50 million people in over 100 countries. But this book is a must reads because he interviewed some of the best financial minds in the business like Warren Buffett yes The Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, Steve Forbes and many others and came up with this 7 step guide to financial freedom. Read it and you will enjoy it. I promise.
The Chinese business wholesale site I mentioned in this episode is httt://Alibaba.com
Hope you all enjoyed this episode, just a quick reminder, you haven’t done so yet, please go sign up for my newsletter, you will see the link below this post.
Thanks!
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