March 4-8
BUSINESS GLORY Submit your entry to the 2019 America’s Coolest Stores Contest by March 15. For details: petsplusmag.com/acs
FINANCE April 15, aka Tax Day, will be here before we know it. This one promises to be a particularly busy one as businesses make adjustments to reflect the new tax law’s rules and deductions, let alone the chaos caused by the shutdown. Get busy.
March 11-15
MERCHANDISING Pull out your promotional calendar and view it from the perspective of using the events primarily to manage and reduce specific inventory. Annual customer appreciation sales, food tastings, product launches, anniversary parties can all be profitable, but they will give you a greater boost if you execute them with a view to move certain items.
MANAGEMENT Download a time tracker to your phone and start logging how you spend your work life. The very act of recording can have a powerful psychological impact, leading you to use your time much more efficiently. (Warning: Brace yourself to be alarmed at how you fritter away time.)
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March 18-22
BUYING Global Pet Expo starts on the 20th. Don’t miss the PETS+ Merchandising Success Panel at Global, beginning at 4:15 p.m. America’s Coolest Stores honorees will share their expertise. See you there!
MARKETING Experiment with paid Facebook advertising. Ad prices on Facebook are determined by action, as they are on Google AdWords. You can pay based on either the number of times people see the ad or the number of times people click on it. Try both to see which is more effective. Start with a $20 budget.
March 25-29
CMR List all the people who referred customers over the past three months. Thank them with a gift card that can be used at your business, or another local (independently owned) establishment.
MARKETING Make contact with other small businesses in your market to see if they are interested in some reciprocal social media action via Instagram Highlights. In your case, you could have Florists That Inspire Us, Bakers That Know Our Weakness, and Opticians Our Tired Eyes Love.