The January issue of the e-ret@iler contains:

1. The article of the month: Reading is Fundamental
2. e-ret@iler advisory of the month: Return policies
3. Sales tip of the month: Here's looking at you!
4. Web tip of the month: How to Round Up Prices
5. The contest for January 2005: Pictures
6. Our Power Promoting idea of the month: Feed them
7. Book of the month: Question behind the Question
8. Your e-ret@iler subscription and contacting
Profits+Plus and Tom Shay

=> Print the January issue of the e-ret@iler so
you can read it at your leisure.

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1. Article of the month: Reading is Fundamental

Take a look around at other businesses to see
what type of trade magazines they are reading.
You will likely find that their magazines
contain information that is just as relevant to
your business as those magazines directed
specifically to your industry. Details are in the
article of the month.

Reading is Fundamental

O <= After printing the January e-ret@iler, check
here if you plan to read the article of the month.

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2. e-ret@iler advisory of the month: Return policies

We just had a discussion with a person regarding
their desire to create a return/refund policy.
The bottom line of the discussion from our
viewpoint is this: 99% of the customers are great.
Within that last 1% are all the problems. Yet it
amazes us, how much time business people will spend
trying to create rules and policies directed to that
last 1%.

Make a good profit from the 99%, and accept the
fact that the 1% will always be there. And no
matter what your return policy, they will attempt
to find a way around it.

Why not get rid of that "customer service policy"?
It offends a lot of the 99%, and by getting rid of it
you look more like a business that places customers
first! The change would be a great way to start the
new year.

O <= After printing the January e-ret@iler, check
here if you plan to review your return policy.

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3. Sales tip of the month: Here's Looking at
You!

For 2005, we are going to take a look at the
interaction between salespeople and customers.
We begin with an age old question, "What should
I say to the customer?"

How about nothing? How many times have you walked
into a business, looked around for a while and
walked out without any of the staff having spoken
to you. If you had someone shopping with you, there
was probably even a conversation about the business
not paying any attention to you.

We all know when someone is looking at us. What if
your staff practiced making an effort of just
stopping whatever they are doing and looked up at
the customer and smiled?

The customers that are in a hurry for something
are going to approach your staff person and ask
for assistance. Those that want to look around
will appreciate the fact that they have been
acknowledged and not bothered.

Next month, we will take a look at the opening
conversation.

O <= After printing the January e-ret@iler, check
here if you plan to use this tip.

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4. Web tip of the month: How to Round Up Prices

What is the difference in something selling for
95 cents as compared to 99 cents? It is more than
just four cents as it leads to a whole discussion
of how do you price items. Did you know that if
something is priced at $53.49, the customer will
just as easily pay $54.99? Take a look at the
price rounding calculator to see how much margin
and profit you may be leaving behind.

Price Rounding Calculator

O <= After printing the January e-ret@iler, check here
if you plan to look at the Links list.

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5. The contest for January 2005: Pictures

This year we purchased a new digital camera. (Not
online, but from a local independent camera shop
that took the time to help us make the selection
and show us how to use it)

As we travel about, we find businesses and signs
that make us think. Unfortunately, we are thinking,
"What were they thinking?"

We have decided to create a gallery of these pictures
and invite you to take a look. The contest for January
is to challenge you to provide additional photos.
Our area of Florida can't be the only place that
has businesses that need some attention. Send us
a photo that we add to this page and we will send
you a free subscription to our AMP calculator. This
prize sells for $40! So you can profit nicely from
sharing a photo with us. If you don't have a digital
camera you can mail your entry to us and we will
scan the picture. Here is the link to the page of
pictures we have just posted to the website.

Pictures of Businesses

Here is a link to submit your entry.

O <= After printing the January e-ret@iler, check here
if you plan to enter the contest.

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6. Our Power Promoting idea of the month: Feed
them Popcorn

We not only saw this promotion, but used it
repeatedly in our business: serving fresh
popcorn to our customers. You can rent the
machine that will pop the corn for you. We
found a local company that would rent us a
unit that only heated the popcorn, and then
popped the corn at their place. This sure got
rid of a lot of the mess.

The benefit was that in offering a customer a
small bag of popcorn, we found that they stayed
in the store a lot longer. And the bag was also
good advertising as we used a small white bag on
which we imprinted with a rubber stamp our store
logo.

Your cost for this promotion is only a couple of
pennies per bag!

Where do we get all of these ideas for Power
Promoting? As you visit the resource center
on the Profits+Plus website, take a look at
the book with the blue cover and the one with
the red cover. The Ideas books are a great way
to jump start your store with some unique
promotional ideas. Each of these books is
only $9.95 US.

Click on the link below to visit the Resource center
to order these books.

Ideas books

O <= After printing the January e-ret@iler, check here
if you plan to visit the Resources Page to order
the Ideas books.

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7. Book of the month: Question behind the Question

One of our readers John Harper, says this is a
great book to read. "The Question behind the
Question", by John G. Miller. While we haven't
gotten it read yet, John gives a hearty endorsement.
It deals with personal accountability.

If you have already read this book, or are looking
for more books to read, click on this link to
see our book referral list.

Book Referral List

O <= After printing the January e-ret@iler, check here
if you plan to read the book of the month.

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8. Your e-ret@iler subscription and contacting
Profits+Plus and Tom Shay

The subscription is free. Just remember if you
are changing your Internet service provider, you
will need to enter your new e-mail address
to keep the e-ret@iler coming.

If you received the e-ret@iler by way of someone
that passed it to you, then you can easily get your
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Here is a link to the front page of the site
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Subscribe to the e-ret@iler

Contacting us is just as easy:
The phone is 727-464-2182
The fax is 727-898-3179
The mailing address is:
PO Box 1577
St Petersburg, Fl 33731 USA

And click on this link to send an e-mail:

Thanks for visiting with us this month. We
appreciate your taking time from your
busy schedule. Our goal is to help you and
your business to become more profitable. We hope
we have done that.

We encourage you to seek out and do business
with other independently owned businesses. If
you are wanting people to do business with you
because you are a locally owned business, then
it stands to reason that we should be doing
what we are asking others to do.

Get your Profits+Plus. May God bless you and yours.
We will see you in February.

Tom Shay

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