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Lesson learned from a coffee grinder Many years ago we were invited to a neighbor's home for a cup of coffee. Sounds simple enough, but the entertainment began when he took out a bag of coffee beans and a coffee bean grinder. It was an experience in entertainment I will not forget. People love entertainment. In 2017, the average family spent $2,900 annually on entertainment. Today, that number is $3,635. So, let's look at our businesses. Granted, the number of people wanting to shop online or go through the drive-thru is increasing. But when they do so, there is little opportunity for interaction and additional sales. The same is true for businesses offering delivery. While I see the increased effort to improve online, drive-thru, and delivery services for customers, I do not see an effort to make the face-to-face experience more entertaining. If there is nothing special when I walk into a store to buy a shirt, I can easily stay home and buy it online. But then that business does not have an opportunity to show me additional items that I might purchase. Entertainment is a part of what we do. And it goes a long way to someone preferring our business over another business. Game Over - Article of the Month Compared to closing your business, hopefully, you will come to a point when you decide to sell your business. As the article of the month discusses, we hope that a decision is made three years or more before you offer your business for sale and that you begin to prepare for the transaction. This will greatly be to your benefit. All in this month's article, "Game Over". Now, Discover Your Strengths - Book of the month You may be able to know something about your strength as you lift something up. However, do you know about your strengths and talents when it comes to owning and managing your small business? Would making decisions be easier if you knew what your strong points are and how to use them? Would you gain confidence when you are able to identify your talents? Don Clifton's, "Now, Discover Your Strengths" not only explains how to find your strengths and talents, the book provides an assessment to help you in your journey to increased success. Financial statement explanation - The financial statement, also known as the income statement and the balance sheet can be confusing. To help eliminate that concern we created the financial statement explanation tool. This tool will walk you through all the steps of where the information goes on the income statement and balance sheet. Just click on the first step and thought balloons from start to finish. This is a great learning tool. Each month we highlight one of the 47 free tools on the Profits Plus website; we call them "calculators". While some provide analysis by numbers and ratios, some are assessments and others are self-examination questions. Many are downloadable while others, because of the complexity of the calculations going on behind the scenes, are a part of the website and allow you to print your answers. None of them require you to give any personal information nor are there any "cookies" tracking you or your information. Internet Tool for Your Business Munch Day - Staff Incentive for Your Business We are borrowing a restaurant promotion known as, "Taco Tuesday". While the promotion is designed to bring customers to the restaurant or food truck, a staff incentive could be to bring a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack to everyone in your business. If your business has restaurants and food truck owners as your customers, you could rotate the weekly treat from among these businesses. There does not need to be a goal or requirement of your staff for this treat to occur. It is a way of telling your staff you appreciate them and enjoy working with them. We want to recognize A Carrot A Day by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, whose book provides the basis for each month's incentive idea.
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SEPTEMBER 2026
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With over 25 years of frontline experience Tom Shay is America's leading Small Business Management Expert. He's a "Must Have" for your next event.
Small Business
Our September advisory is titled, "What do you sell?" My favorite example of someone getting it wrong has an email that starts with, "Sallysellsinsurance@."
Yes, that may be the product that Sally sells, but what she is really selling is peace of mind in knowing that if something happens, you are not going to pay the entire cost of the loss.
This is but one example. Our September advisory - What do you sell?
Small Business
Yes, selling does include translating features into benefits. But it does not stop there. What if the benefit is not relevant to the customer? Then, there might not be a sale. This is where advantage comes into consideration, and that is our top story of the month.
When you think about a customer who makes a point to talk to you and your staff, have you ever thought about getting them to talk about your business with their friends? The September Article of the Month shares an idea.
The Art of the Exit is our suggested book of the month. The author, Jackb Orosz, discusses ways of getting out of your business whether it is retiring or just time to move onto something else.
All this plus the Internet Tool for Your Business and a staff incentive idea for your business.
