Eric & Brandy Masoncup of Geppetto’s Toy Box
“When we decided to open our toy store, we knew we would need some help since we had never had a retail business before. We attended ASTRA Marketplace immediately to learn about the industry which is where we met Cathy. The smartest thing we did thereafter was enlist her guidance.
After five years of working with her, we now realize that Cathy is like having our own personal Board of Directors. We get so caught up in running our business each day so having our ‘Board’ forces us to stop and MANAGE our business. She is the bird's eye view we need to make sure we manage our resources effectively without getting bogged down in the everyday stuff. We can't even imagine our business without Cathy at this point – she causes us to stop, evaluate and change direction as necessary. Invaluable!
But everyone looks for proof in the stats, so here we are:
Our numbers consistently beat even the high-profit ASTRA stores, our cost of goods last year was 46.5%, and we saw a 92% increase in business in 22 months. We also continue to become more profitable each year. In the last 12 months, our turn has increased 25.4%. We could not have achieved that level of profitability without Cathy’s expertise. We were even able to double our space during our second anniversary! Sure adding more space certainly helped make some of our growth possible, but we all know that just having more product does not necessarily equal more sales. Cathy works with us to identify hidden opportunities in our current classes of product and recognize when there are issues. Her inventory management skills and statistics have been invaluable for us, enabling us to untangle the complicated world of product purchasing (buying or clearing at the right time), the importance of turn, and the many things that effect cash flow, including terms. Marketing programs, and recently even internet initiatives, are that extra bit of insight she brings to the table – all meant, of course, to boost sales! She is that extra set of eyes and ears we need to maintain such a low cost of goods while ensuring we are profitable. It can be hard to add an extra expense to the roll, but there are some expenses that are invaluable for success. To that point, when analyzing the first 4 months of this year to the same 4 months of last year, sales have increased slightly while we have enjoyed the additional cash flow of $70,737 due to the decrease in our inventory – all under Cathy’s direction. This alone pays for her services many, many times over.”
Eric and Brandy Masoncup, Owners of Geppetto’s Toy Box
Mike Geisen of My Favorite Toy Store
"When our relationship began, we outlined our 'selfish objectives' and Cathy Wagner had a positive effect virtually all of them. So how exactly did Cathy help? Let me tell you..."
1. Increased Cash Flow:Through an error in logic, My Favorite Toy Store was paying sales tax on Award coupons redeemed for a discount. Cathy made the correct observation and recommended a workable solution. We changed our process and saved the sales tax expense since. We have also recouped the unnecessary sales tax we had paid in error.
Cathy encouraged us to selectively increase our mark-ups to reach the ‘perceived value’ of the product versus keystone pricing as we had done in the past. As a result, our margins have increased in every product category and customers continue to comment on our reasonable pricing.
2. Maximized Inventory: Cathy’s analysis of My Favorite Toy Store’s past sales history and current inventory levels, along with industry trend data, allowed her to develop meaningful Open to Buy positions on a monthly basis. At the end of our first complete year together, inventory levels were significantly reduced while sales volume increased in the same period. This, obviously, had a positive impact on cash flow as well.
3. Reduced Personal Time Required To Operate Store: With an ‘outsider’s perspective’, Cathy has encouraged us to eliminate back office work that is unproductive and adds nothing to the bottom line.
At the same time, specific recommendations have lead to staff development improvements. The staff has taken more responsibility for the day to day administrivia involved in running the store, freeing us to do only those things that require an owner’s perspective. As an example, we now focus on ordering and pricing and not stocking shelves.
Mike Geisen, Founder & CEO of My Favorite Toy Store
Julia Archer of @WorkDesign
@WorkDesign is a retail store for the design-savvy home-based worker. Offering everything from paper goods, furnishings, storage and shelving – to computer bags and lighting, Julia seeks to enhance personal productivity with the most functional and aesthetic products from her store, @WorkDesign. Let me tell you, Julia Archer has fantastic taste and vision.
Julia contacted me because she had become increasingly frustrated with the results she had been getting from the store. All that publicity had not generated sales and she realized that she was “putting out so much energy but getting little back.” She was “losing confidence in [her] buying, along with everything else.” She had “reached a point where [she] didn’t know what was working or not working or what to expect.”
This happens all the time. Julia had spent enormous time and energy preparing to open her store. She knew what it took to be successful in a corporate environment and knew it would be different in the retail world and wanted to be ready. However she had missed four steps that are essential for independent specialty store success. These steps aren’t easily discovered in mainstream resources as it has taken me over 25 years to determine them.
And here they are...
1. Identify your ideal customer in detail.
2. Create a marketing and advertising calendar that addresses your ideal customer and serves to create urgency and focus to drive sales.
3. Use an inventory management process that identifies hidden opportunities and profit suckers.
4. Put together a team to help and support you.
The first item on our agenda was to identify the ideal customer. Their demographics were thoroughly discussed. Then we keyed in on what is important to these ideal clients and what keeps them up at night as it relates to what @WorkDesign can offer them. We determined five compelling and specific questions that they need the answers to. We even gave actual names to our ideal customers!
Next came branding. The branding work that Julia had done was beautiful, but she needed to get the word out! We used the ideal customers to determine what information and events would appeal to them. We developed a fabulous content calendar and outlined her comprehensive marketing and advertising calendar. We made sure that everything was included from leveraging local events and the National @WorkDesign Week to social media and “stay in touch” marketing pieces.
Julia made the smart decision to hire an expert in the design industry. Together we developed a six month plan to introduce designers to @WorkDesign and to solidify our position as a resource for them. The most important outcome of my work here was to provide her with structure and benchmarks of what was appropriate to generate results.
"Many of the marketing components that we put into play were initiatives that I had done or thought about doing but didn't know how to put in context of an overarching plan for creating momentum.” -Julia Archer
Julia can continue to use this marketing system we created to move forward on her own. She is now in the driver's seat and is working with her customers more effectively and more consistently than ever before.
The third step was to analyze the inventory to find the hidden cash and overlooked profit potential. We broke down the store’s inventory and sales history into smaller classes in order to really dig into it. Our initial discovery was that she was over inventoried in relation to her sales. Julia had done a great job with the mix of inventory – she has a fantastic eye for design, but the mistake she had made was ordering too many of each item. We immediately took action to create more cash and discovered a class of merchandise that had been performing better than she was aware of. I love when that happens! So we came up with a plan to increase the turn and profit in that class through the next season and beyond.
Finally, we worked to pull together a team to support Julia in reaching her goals. We began by identifying the specific areas in which Julia needed additional help. She hired an intern to help her set up and maintain her social media campaigns and coordinate her web presence. We knew that she needed some sales help and found a wonderful woman to assist. The bonus is that Julia’s new part time employee is also a design expert who can help her develop that particular area of her business. Obviously, she also has me to rely on as a trusted resource and expert. Before, Julia was doing everything by herself and now she has three people working with her to complement her strengths and help her keep moving in the right direction. With this additional support, Julia has also initiated a local retailer alliance to create marketing initiatives with nine stores that all focus on the home. It will be wonderfu l to see the impact on the stores and homes in the area as a result of her work.
On a final note, her sales for the last 4 months are up 61% over last year with less inventory. She wants to see an even greater increase, and she will as long as she continues to follow through and build on the solid foundation that we put into place.
“I feel that I have a better sense of how to apply my ideas and where I need to focus my efforts moving forward. It feels good to have made an impact." -Julia Archer
Julia Archer, Founder & Owner of @WorkDesign
Molly Kiefer of Mia Sorella
Cathy has provided a tremendous amount of expert guidance that has lended to a confidence in the way we run our business. She has provided a steady hand to lead us through the ups and downs of business start-up, expansion and steady growth.
Molly Kiefer, Founder & Owner of Mia Sorella
Bree of Initial Attraction
I have a really good perspective now on just how far we have come, thanks to you CathyI had already forgotten just how burned out we were before we started with you. Not that we're totally well rested right now, but that level of fatigue and burn out and helplessness just is no longer there. You got us focused and revived and excited again. And confident about moving forward. I got off the phone and just thought, Wow. So, HUGE thank you to you. You are wonderful and I will do just about anything you ask Cathy!
Bree, Founder & Owner of Initial Attraction