Business Coaching

Happy New Year!

Now that we’re in year 2011, maybe you’ve made some New Year’s resolutions. Hopefully you’ve made some for your business so your business can be the best it can be this year.

If you’re a small business, consider making a resolution to start thinking like a big business.

Crazy? Not so much.

People often separate small business from big business. As they should — there are legitimate differences between big corporations and small Mom-and-Pop, homegrown shops.

But what people don’t realize is small businesses are really just big businesses in training. Think about it — they each have common goals, and the biggest one is the goal of succeeding.

Big businesses tend to have an easier time targeting markets and generating leads because they have a more well-known brand presence. Sometimes small businesses need to think like big businesses…and other times, they need to think smaller to really focus on their target markets and generate the most leads from the most possible places.

What are ways small businesses can think like big businesses? A free coaching session can help you discover some ways that might have been overlooked.

This could make a difference for your business this year!

Wal-Mart might be raising the low prices it's known for.

When people think of Wal-Mart, they think a lot of things, not all of them good. But one of the first associations people have with Wal-Mart is low prices.

Since its inception, Wal-Mart has been the ultimate discount business. They’ve leveraged their huge size and corporate power into low prices that they’ve passed on to customers, often at the expense of local businesses.

But it seems that Wal-Mart’s model is quietly, but quickly, changing. This summer, over just the last six weeks, Wal-Mart has raised its prices an average of 6%. Some of that can be attributed to the increase in the price of raw materials and oil, but the increase in prices seems to go farther than overhead costs.

Inflation may play a factor as the items that Wal-Mart is best known for, food and low-priced goods may be in an inflationary pocket, while bigger ticket items like electronics and furniture are in a deflationary mode.

Again, this may have led to the price increase to a certain extent, but a bigger factor may be a shift in Wal-Mart’s leadership. Over the last few months some in leadership positions, including the Chief Merchant for Wal-Mart’s U.S. Division, have stepped down.

Since the new guard has taken over, prices have gone up, while prices at virtually all of Wal-Mart’s competitors have stayed the same or, in some cases, even gone down.

Despite the price shift, Wal-Mart is still far more cost-effective than most supermarkets for consumers. But that advantage is fading. In June Wal-Mart was about 16% cheaper than the average supermarket, while today Wal-Mart is just over 10% cheaper.

This should be good news for small businesses that compete with Wal-Mart for customers. Like with any discount business, once Wal-Mart’s prices are no longer cheaper, they’ve lost their advantage.

Why do people shop at Wal-Mart? It isn’t convenience or customer service, it’s the price.

What can your business do to alleviate that price advantage and win customers back from Wal-Mart?