May 10 is National Small Business Owner's Day - Just a quick reminder. Let's all celebrate.

These past couple of weeks I have been out shopping for a madras sport coat. What a challenge! There were two stores that I visited. I received the usual poor quality, "Can I help you?" and when I said what I was looking for, in both instances people responded with telling me they don't carry Madras brand clothing.

Wrong answer. Madras is not a brand. Madras is a very pretty multi-colored plaid material with the small fabric pieces sewn together.

In the first store, the person was rather irritated with me that I told him the difference in the two. The salesperson pointed out that they had worked in the industry for just over a year. In the second store, a much more experienced salesperson laughed very loud at their fellow salesperson.

The point? People in your business don't want to be ignorant. I have never met an employee in any business that preferred to be ignorant.

People do not come to work with the intent of disappointing you. That happens because we fail to engage them. And yes, I am still looking for my madras sportcoat.

Personal productivity ratio is a calculation that tells you how well your staff is producing sales. However, it also includes the support staff of your business. As you calculate this ratio and track it, our suggestion is that you closely watch the amount of staff hours spent on non-sales people.

Go to this link to visit this page: Personal Productivity Ratio

Show them what you do

On a trip to New York last week, we stopped in Europa Cafe; a neat and fun place to eat. What made it fun was watching the salad bar. You picked a container of the size and type of lettuce you wanted. The person behind the counter asked what you wanted in your salad and what type of dressing. You watched as they mixed, with a lot of flair, your customized salad.

How about your business? Do you do alterations? What about repairing items? Are you a florist? People like to do business in places that are exciting and you can make it more exciting by doing those things that are normally done out of sight, in a place where all your customers can watch.