1. The article of the month on the Profits+Plus website
2. e-ret@iler advisory of the month: Tax Season
3. The March 2002 e-ret@iler contest and the prizes
4. The resource library available to you
5. Our Power Promoting Idea of the month: Free Stuff!
6. Your free subscription to the e-ret@iler
7. Contacting Profits+Plus Seminars and Tom Shay

1. Ring It Up!
Our March article on the Profits Plus website is entitled,
"Ring It Up!".
The story is directed to any owner or manager who has spent some unexpected time on the sales floor covering the hours of an employee that has resigned, is out sick, or any other reason that calls you away from your usual duties.

2. March 2002 e-ret@iler advisory: "It's the tax man, yeah!"
Well anyway, I think that is how the line went in the song that the Beatles made famous. And with this being the tax season, this is a most appropriate time for us to be discussing your accountant and the relationship you have with your accountant.

In the past few weeks, I have seen more and more of the response cards in my presentations with a goal of "fire the accountant", "interview a new accountant", or "get the accountant to explain this stuff to me".

Any of the responses may be correct for your business. The key factor is that you understand what is happening with regard to the financial statements in your business. Here are some key questions to ask yourself about your financials.

Are you seeing financials from the previous month within the first 15 days of the current month?
Do you spend at least 30 minutes studying your financials when you receive them from your accountant?
Do you have a budget or is the only standard of measure, a comparison to the same month of last year?
Do you have a cashflow chart that is updated each month?
Do you have an "open to buy"?
How much of the preliminary work do you do before sending material to your accountant? (Do you balance your own checkbook? Do you do more than just put all of the paid invoices in a folder and give it to the accountant?)

3. Our March e-ret@iler contest and the prizes:
In many of the presentations that Tom does, he gives suggestions for books to read that relate to our business. One of the suggested books is the newest book in the Dummie series, "Retail Business Kit for Dummies". The contest question for March is, "Who wrote the book?"

The prize for March is a set of our Power Posters. You have probably seen them at one of Tom's presentations where he brings a couple of different posters to hand out, and they are available from our resource center. We also have them on our website where you can download and print any one of them.

The answer to the authorship of the book is on our website. Prizes are awarded to the first 10 correct respondents. Don't forget to include your mailing address.

4. Other new things at the Profits+Plus Seminars website
We have just added a new tool to the website to make it easier for you to navigate around the Profits+Plus website. There is a "site map" button on each page. And when you click on that link you will see an alphabetical index of all of the pages on the site. Most pages are listed several ways in the index, so you are sure to find what you are looking for.

Of course, we are always looking for new things to add to the website. Send us your suggestions and you are likely to see that information added. After all, the site is designed to assist you in your business.

5. Our Power Promoting Idea of the month:
Our Power Promoting Idea of the month comes from Tom's book and seminar entitled, "Power Promoting." Think about your experiences when you go to a trade show. Usually one of the first vendors inside the door, gives you a free bag. As you go through the show, you pick up catalogs, price sheets, and most definitely free samples from many of the vendors.

I have often thought of a trade show as being more like adult trick or treating. And what a good time we have at the show when we do that. The promotional idea is that you use this time at a trade show to obtain some of these items for your customers. After all, if getting something free is a lot of fun for you, don't you think it would be a lot of fun for your customers?

Think about the last time you received something free when going to another business? The experience was most unique, you definitely appreciated it, and now you have remembered that business again. Shouldn't you be doing something similar?

6. Your free subscription to the e-ret@iler
Each month, we get a number of "bounces" as we send out the e-ret@iler. Bounces are the indication that someone has discontinued that e-mail address. Unlike the postal system, your e-mails are not forwarded. If you are planning to change your e-mail address, be sure to stop by the Profits+Plus website and re-subscribe using your new address. It is the sure way to make sure you do not miss an issue.

If you have received this edition of the e-ret@iler by way of someone passing it onto you, you can add your name to the free subscription list by clicking on this link and putting the word "subscribe" in the body or reference line of the e-mail.
You can also visit the website and click on the e-retailer logo to subscribe.

7. Contacting Profits+Plus Seminars and Tom Shay
Thank you for inviting us onto your desktop, and taking the time to read our newsletter. We trust you have received some business building ideas from it as we look forward to seeing you again next month.

God Bless America!

Get your Profits Plus,

Tom Shay

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