This post is about Business Plans in general, but because I have the most experience in the convenience industry, I’m going to focus on a plan for operating a 7-Eleven.

Before getting into any business, whether it’s 7-Eleven, or your own independent store, it is very important to have a business plan. 

Don’t ignore this very important step, or treat it with that “checking the box”, mentality, because this is a tool to organize your thoughts, expectations, and goals – giving your research detailed focus and perhaps uncovering things you never realized as you research every aspect of your business.

Remember, that no matter if you’re doing this plan because the franchise requires it, for investors, or just for yourself, it is important to be as realistic as possible.  If in doubt, error on the pessimistic side, because you’d rather be surprised by extra profit than by unexpected expenses.

So, you’re ready to get started, but feeling a bit intimidated … that’s normal.  You know the old saying, “How do you eat an elephant?  — One bite at a time.  ”

Its the same thing with this “elephant”, but before you eat it, it’s important to know what it looks like

Here you encounter your first options:

1. Get a copy of a business plan for your type of business, and imitate their structure.
2. Get a Business Plan writing software – it may or may not have your exact business options, but it’ll have something close.  I’ve often utilized Business Plan Pro.
3. Hire a professional business plan writer to do the work for you.
4. Just wing it and freestyle.

The first option is a good way to go only if the structure of the plan you’re using is any good, so if you do go with this option, make sure you combine it with additional research on subjects or categories the plan might be missing.

I’m a big fan of the second option because the software is very affordable and acts as an excellent guide for putting a plan together.  Not only do they offer a guideline, but depending on your business they might have specific plan examples inside.

I never liked the third option, and generally only suggest it to people who are unable to write a plan due to language barrier.  Even then I encourage them to write the plan in their own language and then translate with the help of a friend. 

Infact you should always remember the following:

• No one will ever put as much effort into your plan as you will, because it’s YOUR livelihood at stake
• By writing the plan yourself, you’re taking the first step to truly getting to know your business.  Its hard to put a price on the knowledge that you will get while researching and figuring out answers to questions that arise.

Now regarding Option #4, please, do yourself a favor and don’t try it, or you will likely join the 90% of businesses that fail within the first 2 years.

So the best approach I’ve found is to combine options #1 & #2, put in the sweat equity, and take the first step to truly knowing your business.

The rest of this post is to give you a basic idea of what a Business Plan for 7-Eleven might look like, or what you might want to consider including.  These basics are a good starting point, if you don’t have other references.

1. Executive Summary – A one page summary of the plan, sort of like a wordy table of contents with a personal touch.  Many applicants don’t include this page.
2. Personal Introduction – Introduce yourself, discuss your history and your qualifications, be personable.  If you have anything you want to brag about that will help your chances of getting the store, this is the place to do it.
3. Store Selection – How did you find/choose this store, this is the time to talk about what you’ve learned about this location. (New construction near by? competition going out of business?
4. Demographics/competition – You should be very familiar with the demographics as well as all of your competition within a mile radius, or more depending on store location.
5. Staffing Plans – What are your plans on finding, training, and retaining staff.  This is going to be the biggest challenge, so make sure you spend some time thinking about it and addressing it.  You should also create tentative employee schedules for all seasons, as your store might have very different staffing needs throughout the year.
6. Budget Forecasts – Follow the worksheet provided to forecast for all aspects of business operations.
7. Personal Income Statement – You want to show that your income from 7-Eleven is more than enough to support your lifestyle, otherwise, you should not be getting into the franchise.
8. Conclusion – Wrap it up, and tie it all into a short summary of why you’d be a good candidate.

• PICTURES – There’s nothing wrong with having 3-5 pictures throughout your plan.  There’s no need to put one on every page, but a plan that is all text is dreadful to read, and comes off as dry and impersonal.  Take insightful pictures that show your understanding of the business.
• Key words – Buzz words, terms, big corporate programs are very important to know about and mention in your plan.  These are terms that a person from outside of 7-Eleven would not know or use, but by including them in your plan it shows that you’ve “done your homework”, gotten to know 7-Eleven and understand what the company is looking for.  The best way to learn these words is by befriending existing franchisees, taking them out to lunch, and interviewing them.

I wish you luck with your plans and with your business.

In my years with 7-Eleven, I have read dozens of business plans and have been involved in the approval process of many franchisees. So if you are considering purchasing a 7-Eleven and would like unbiased answers to all of your questions as well as advice on specific store locations:

Contact me at: c-store-expert@greatconsult.com for a FREE e-mail consultation.

If you are getting started on a business plan, I can offer you a variety of services such as:

• Providing copies of actual 7-Eleven Business Plans.
• Creating a “fill in the blank” plan for your store.
• Familiarizing you with buzz words, key terms, and corporate programs.
• Reviewing your plan and offering feedback to increase your chances of approval.

According to Enterpreneur Magazine, the following are the 211 best franchises to own in 2008.

I’ve listed their name, rank, and approximate start-up costs:

Courtesy of: http://www.entrepreneur.com/franchise500/

If you are considering purchasing a convenience store and would like unbiased answers to all of your questions as well as advice on specific store locations:

Contact me at: c-store-expert@greatconsult.com for a FREE e-mail consultation.

If you would like me to visit the particular location I will be able to provide you with a more exact estimate of the store’s income potential .

Here are 3 Factors You HAVE To Consider!!

I know you all want the easy answer.  It would be great if I could just say, “XXXXX is the best franchise out there!”, but sadly that is not the case.

Here are the most important factors when trying to select a franchise:

 —

• The MOST IMPORTANT factor when deciding on which franchise is right for you is do you have the realistic income projections / expectations? 

  • Most franchises have an income ceiling!
    • This may or may not be advertised, so always make sure you speak with a few franchisees before committing your money.
    • For most franchises, you will not become a millionaire by opening just one franchise location.
  • To make real profit (not just “buy yourself a job”), you will need to quickly become a competent operator and then open additional locations as soon as possible. 
    • Each additional location you open should in theory do considerably better than the previous as you become more experienced and know what to look for.

• The second most important factor that you need to consider is what you would enjoy doing on a daily basis.  Believe me this is not an empty statement.  I know many franchisees that are making decent money and are very unhappy with their chosen business.  So, what are your passions and your interests??

  • For some reason, every time I tell this to people they are genuinely surprised.  As you enter into a multi-year business agreement, it’s hard to put a dollar value on that feeling of dread you might get in the morning when you realize that it’s time to open up shop AGAIN and if you don’t go, no one else is going to do it for you. 
  • Chances are your business will not succeed if it doesn’t match your interest/passion unless it is simply so profitable that you can hire a competent manager and be completely hands off … this of course almost never happens in a franchise.

• The third factor: What is your Budget??

  • There seem to be two common mistakes that I find:
    1. People who try to over leverage themselves to get into a franchise they can’t afford,  that could literally ruin them if there’s an economic downturn.
       • ie. Having a 75K budget, leveraging their house, and opening a new Quiznos.
    2. People who get into a franchise that’s too petty based on their budget and are therefore significantly limiting their income potential as well as actually increasing the manual labor they will be forced to put in.

       • ie.  Having a $1mm budget and buying an average 7-Eleven.

I’m positive that in the right location, with the right operator, any franchise could be profitable.  I’m also sure they all have income ceilings, which vary greatly.  And even when it all makes sense financially, just because one franchise works well for your friend, doesn’t mean it will do the same for you, because if you hate what you do, success will always be out of reach.

If you are considering purchasing a convenience store and would like unbiased answers to all of your questions as well as advice on specific store locations:

Contact me at: c-store-expert@greatconsult.com for a FREE e-mail consultation.

If you would like me to visit the particular location I will be able to provide you with a more exact estimate of the store’s income potential .

The turmoil of our banking system is hard to ignore, and the stock market is on everyone’s mind. 

So how does it all affect you, “Perspective Convenience Store Buyer“?

And how does it affect you, “Current Convenience Store Owner“?

This post aims to answer these big questions:

What’s going on with our economy?

First things first… lets all get on the same page with what’s going on with our economy today:

• It all started with people going a little house crazy in the wake of the dot com recovery. 
  • Banks created new, “creative” mortgages that allowed completely unqualified people to qualify for financing. 
  • This in turn drove housing prices higher. 
  • Higher housing prices meant banks had to become even more creative in their financing in order to qualify those same people.
• This brings us to the inevitable burst of the real-estate bubble as so many of these limited time financing deals expired and people’s interest rates sky rocketed.
  • People could no longer afford to make payments causing home prices to begin their decline.
  • Banks slowly realized that so many of their assets are not worth nearly as much as they thought they were. 
  • What followed was an exponential domino effect because the less money the assets are worth, the less money the banks have, the less money the banks can lend.
  • If the banks lend less, people can no longer afford the same house they could a year ago, so demand goes down, supply goes up, and housing prices drop.
• The more the housing prices drop, the worst off the banks are, the the less they lend (the cycle perpetuates).
• This isn’t the only problem however, only a short while ago did we start learning the extent of the bank losses.  It got so bad, so quickly, that:
  • The government had to take control of AIG to avoid a financial meltdown.
    • In standard accounting practices, if AIG was to value their assets down to what they were really worth as they declared bankruptcy, all of the banks would be forced by law to value their assets at the same levels, thereby forcing bankruptcy on almost every bank.
  • Next the government stepped in to rescue Freddie and Fanni.
  • Now, most recently, they brokered a deal that dissolved Washington Mutual and sold it off in pieces to JP Morgan.
• Now as Wachovia is on the brink of following in WAMU’s footsteps (being broken apart and sold to Citigroup), the next big variable is the $700 Billion government plan that aims to absorb all of these de-valued assets from banks in order to stimulate lending and take us out of recession.

State of the Economy:

• Banking System is on the verge of collapse.
• Unemployment is up and it will only get worse.
• Inflation is rising, and depending on the actions taken by our government might skyrocket by the end of the year.
• Presidential election is coming up, but has taken a back seat to the economic crisis.
• People have significantly less disposable income due to gas prices, inflation, and unemployment.
• This in turn drives Retail Sales down … pretty much every company is missing earnings and sales forecasts.

So where does that leave you?

First, take a deep breath and relax.  If the banking system does collapse none of it is going to matter anyways, as we will all be broke including the US government.

If you have lost 25% of your savings in the stock market this is NOT the time to sell (as long as you’re properly diversified). 

This MIGHT be the time to buy in more!

If you have an investment time frame of at least 5 years, you should probably consider investing some of your money into the leading banks such as Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.  (Follow Warren Buffet and you won’t go wrong).  10 years from now, the people who bought in now will have substantial rewards. 

But I’m not your financial advisor so lets talk shop:

People who have lost their job wonder if this is a good time to buy a store?

 If you are recently laid off, with some savings in the bank and (typically) no convenience store experience, this is definitely a good time to learn about the business. 

However, DON’T RUSH IN just because you need a job, because you could end up regretting it for many years to come. 

Make friends with a couple of convenience store owners, or hire a consultant to give you the real breakdown of the business.  Be very weary of people that give you only positives, they probably have something to gain from you buying the store.  Check out my prior posts for how much income you can expect to have from a 7-Eleven and what are the likely start up costs.  These numbers do not equate to the numbers for an independent convenience store, but they will put you on the right track.  For an independent store, as your sales increase, your profits will increase exponentially versus linearly in a 7-eleven.  This also means that if the sales aren’t there, the profits will decrease exponentially.

Store owners wonder if this is a good time to sell their store?

It could very well be the time to sell if you are considering retirement or another business.  There are many people looking to buy themselves a job right now, and there are a lot of opportunities to make long term profits in the stock market.  If you are trying to “time” your exit, this is a good time.

That being said, if you aren’t retiring, and you don’t have another business in mind… by all means keep your store as the job market right now is slowly getting worse and profitable businesses are in great demand.

Everyone wonders how do convenience stores perform during economic slowdowns?

Generally speaking, convenience stores will experience a drop in sales similar to most other retailers when the economy slows down, but there is a great deal of variation from one store to the next.  Here are the key factors:

• Location
  • Is the store really convenient for the neighborhood?  or do customers have to travel extra to get there … gas has gotten pretty expensive and people are reluctant to drive farther then they have to.
  • Are you near a business park where companies are undergoing massive layoffs?  Don’t be surprised if you lose many of your regular customers.
• Competition
  • Is your competition thriving off of your customers or are you putting them out of business?
  • Do your customers have a viable 2nd option to get the products you sell somewhere else?
    • Most stores do, but if you’re lucky enough to be the only store in the area you will not experience a significant decline in sales).
• Pricing
  • Is the store competitive with the Safeways/Albertsons/Lucky’s/Ralphs etc?? or is it still charging customers extra for convenience?
    • In a normal economy it is very good to charge more because you offer customers a convenient place to purchase the products they need. 
    • In these times, customers will change their buying habits if they feel they are paying unreasonable prices… penny pinching is at an all time high.
• Sin Sales
  • If a large portion of your sales are cigarettes you’re in luck.  Research shows that during economic downturns cigarette sales will actually increase as people smoke more.
  • I don’t have data for Alcohol or Coffee sales during economic downturns, but I would guesstimate that if you are priced competitively, you won’t experience a significant drop in either.
    • In fact it wouldn’t surprise me if you saw an increase in:
      • Beer sales, as customers make less visits to the bar and spend more time at home in front of the tv.
      • Coffee sales, as customers forgo the $3 cup of Starbucks in exchange for a $1.50 cup of your fresh brew. 

So which categories decrease more than others? – Basically any “elastic goods” (products that customers could do without) will lose sales in an economic downturn.  You won’t be seeing a sales drop in toilet paper, but you might see a sales drop in your high priced wines.  Sin Goods are the exception to this rule.

If you are considering purchasing or opening a convenience store, or if you’d like to increase sales & profits by maximizing the opportunities in your existing store: 

Contact me at: c-store-expert@greatconsult.com for a FREE e-mail consultation.

I will provide unbiased answers to all of your questions.

So you’re thinking about buying a 7-Eleven and would like to know how much money you could make. 

Well, contrary to popular belief, 7-Eleven owners don’t typically make Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars.

What they make varies greatly on their individual store, but here are some rough estimates: 

To get a very rough idea of the income a 7-Eleven can produce, just take 5% of store sales.

• So a store that does $1,300,000 in sales will make roughly $65,000.

For a slightly more accurate forecast, you will need the following key factors to determine the possible income:

• Store sales
• Store GP% - how much out of every dollar you actually keep (roughly 36%)
  • GP split with 7-eleven, 48-52 for the typical store (in favor of 7-Eleven) but will be worse if this is a high volume store, since your GP percent decreases as your total GP dollars increase.
• Payroll (including taxes & benefits) - A rough guideline is about 9% of sales, but this will increase if you choose to have a full time manager, get more traffic, or sell a lot of coffee.
• Other Expenses – A rough guideline is about 3% of sales, but could change significantly with inventory & cash shortages.

Based on these factors, a typical store without gasoline having sales of:

• $900,000 *   36% GP * 49% split = $158,800 GP
  • - $108,000 expenses = $50,000 income
• $1,300,000 * 36% GP * 48% split = $224,600 GP
  • - $156,000 expenses = $68,000 income
• $2,000,000 * 36% GP * 47% split = $338,400 GP
  • - $240,000 expenses = $98,000 income

These are still rough numbers, but I would guesstimate that the standard deviation is about $10K, meaning that 95% of all 7-Eleven’s with the above sales will have incomes between $50K – $100K with a variation of +-$20,000 depending on the operations of the specific store. 

So the overall range for the income of a 7-Eleven (without gas), with sales between $900K – $2mm is between $30K -  $120K. 

If you are considering purchasing a 7-Eleven and would like unbiased answers to all of your questions as well as advice on specific store locations:

Contact me at: c-store-expert@greatconsult.com for a FREE e-mail consultation.

If you would like me to visit the particular location I will be able to provide you with a more exact estimate of the store’s income potential .

Many people are finding this blog with the key words, “7-Eleven Start-Up costs”, so I wanted to dedicate an entire post to the subject.

In January 2008, for the very first time, 7-Eleven, inc. unseated Subway as the #1 franchise on Entrepreneur’s: 29th Annual Franchise 500 list.

I think the reason they are finally #1 is a combination of a strong brand image, aggressive franchising in 2007 (1000 stores in the US),  and as compared to other franchises … affordable start up costs.

So if you are considering being a 7-Eleven franchisee, here are your options:

1. Become a 7-Eleven Licensee
   • This means you will be paying 7-Eleven to license the use of the trademark in a particular region or territory.  This gives you the ability to build as many locations as you would like in that territory with almost complete control over every detail of the business. This was not what I was referring to when I said “affordable start up costs”.
2. Become a 7-Eleven Franchisee
   • This means you will be paying 7-Eleven for the right to run a 7-Eleven store, utilizing the trademark and executing on all the things required by the franchise agreement.  This option gives you very limited control of the business, but provides steady sales and profits.
   • This is by far the most common option for most entrepreneurs.
   • You can not open your own location, you can only purchase an existing location from the company (or outgoing franchisee).
   • There are two main costs:
     • Franchise Fee – the money you pay to 7-Eleven, inc., this will be equivalent to 20% – 30% of they yearly gross profit of the specific location. The higher the store’s gross profit, the bigger the percent charge.
     • Goodwill – the money you pay to the outgoing franchisee for purchasing a franchised store. This charge could be anything that the outgoing franchisee wants to charge.  But to come up with an estimate I recommend either using 20% of store sales, or 3 years of the Franchisee’s net income. WHICH EVER IS MOST BENEFICIAL TO THE FRANCHISEE. If you are buying a corporate store there is no goodwill charge (this is typically a much more profitable business to purchase). 
   • The Inventory of a 7-Eleven is financed, so you do not need to worry about having additional money tied up.  If you do not want to have your inventory financed you could deposit additional funds into your 7-eleven account to avoid paying interest on the inventory.

Here are three rough estimates for franchised 7-Elevens with no gas: 

1. Below average yearly sales volume – $900,000, 37%GP
   1. Franchise Fee = 0.20 * $900,000 * 0.37 = $66,600
   2. Good Will  = 0.10 * $900,000 = $90,000
   3. Total cost = $156,600
2. Close to average yearly sales volume – $1,300,000. 36%GP
   1. Franchise Fee = 0.25 * $1,300,000 * 0.36 = $117,000
   2. Good Will  = 0.20 * $1,300,000 = $260,000
   3. Total cost = $377,000
3. Above average yearly sales volume – $2,000,000, 35%GP
   1. Franchise Fee = 0.30 * $2,000,000 * 0.35 = $210,000
   2. Good Will  = 0.25 * $2,000,000 = $500,000
   3. Total cost = $710,000

The Franchise Fees listed here would be very close to the actual fee you will pay to 7-Eleven, inc. for stores with these sales and gross profit numbers, but as I mentioned before the goodwill is just an estimate of what I would expect an outgoing franchisee to charge.

If you are considering purchasing a 7-Eleven and would like unbiased answers to all of your questions as well as advice on specific store locations:

Contact me at: c-store-expert@greatconsult.com for a FREE e-mail consultation.

[Part 5 of 5]

This technique is so powerful that it is used by almost all retailers to various extent.

Unfortunately, it is often used with the wrong products, at the wrong time, or with poor planning.  Because of this, Promotions in many stores bring almost no long term benefits.

 “Promotions“

We see them every day:

• Buy X Get X Free
• Holiday Sale
• Buy 1 item, get the 2nd half off.
• Buy 2 for only $X.XX
• End of the year sale
• Only $X.XX after X O’clock
• Bring back your receipt and get 10% off
• When you buy an item you want, you also get an item you didn’t want
• and thousands of variations of coupons.

So lets start with the purpose of a promotion, because your goal in a promotion should always be clearly defined.  (“To increase sales”, is NOT a specific goal.  Obviously, everything you do is in order to increase sales.)  So here are some possible purposes for your promotion (all of which tie in with increasing your store’s profitability):

• To build awareness for a particular item. (Possibly new item) 
  • This item should have a broad appeal for current/potential customers, a good retail, and a healthy margin.  Example: Buy a Limited Edition Reese’s, and Get a 2nd for only $0.50.
• To get more customers to try a specific category in your store (ie coffee). 
  • Just like the individual item, this category needs to have a broad appeal for either current and/or potential customers, have a good retail, and have a better than average profit margin.  Example:  Freshly brewed coffee only $0.99 for a limited time. Or, free donut with every coffee purchased.
• To temporarily or permanently change a customers buying habits (getting them to your store instead of the competition) by offering a highly desireable product at cost, or maybe even bellow cost to ensure that you have the lowest price in the area (otherwise known as a “Loss Leader”)  This could be a short term fix since you can’t have the best price forever, unless you can offer those customers something else in your store that they couldn’t get across the street.
  • It is common to see promotions like: Corona 12pks only $10.99. or Milk Gallon $2.99
  • This SHOULD be a product that brings in customers you didn’t previously have (vs giving a discount to your existing customers) and this should be a product that generates a lot of additional sales.  For example, if your store is a destination for salsa there is a good chance that you will see a dramatic increase in chip sales.
• To get existing customers to purchase more of an established product, works best with “Sin” products.  This works because of the nature of a sin product consumer: if they have more product on-hand, they will consume more.
  • Example: Get one more pack of cigarettes with a $0.70 discount. 
• To get existing customers back into your store a 2nd time later that day.  (For stores with strong morning/lunch traffic, but no evening traffic)
  • Example: $0.99 hot dogs after 3PM or Footlong sandwich only $5 after 5PM (Subway)

In Summary:  Your basic promotion goal categories are:

• Get new customers into the store
• Get existing customers to buy more of an existing product.
• Get new or existing customers into the store during a slow part of the day.
• Get existing customers to buy a new (more profitable) product/category.

REMEMBER: For any promotion, where your goal is to get additional customers into your store; if you don’t have the promotion advertised outside of the store, in newspaper, on the radio, or elsewhere external, you are probably just giving an unnecessary discount to existing customers.

Once you have a clear goal, it is very easy to decide on which product should be promoted.  The product you promote should offer clear value to the customer.  If you are promoting an unknown brand, you will have to prove the value to the customer by either sampling the product or offer it at rock bottom prices.  This is the reason why most new item introductions fail.

Finally you need to decide on the time frame for the promotion.  I find it best to keep promotions other than “loss leaders” for no more than 1-2 months or it no longer seems like a special deal.  Generally speaking it’s best to keep this part flexible as it depends greatly on the results of the promotion.  Which brings me to the other integral part of running promotions:  Tracking the results.

Whenever you run a promotion, you should set it up in such a manner that you are easily able to track the results either on a daily or weekly basis.  This is crucial for the success of the promotion and the profitability of your store.

Final note:

I would not recommend having more than two “loss leaders” at any one time.  Most stores would do best with just 1, as that would be enough to give their customers a feeling of value.  The key is proper advertising.

—

If you would like to increase your sales and profits by maximizing the opportunities in your store, please contact me for a FREE email consultation at:  c-store-expert@greatconsult.com

[Part 4 of 5]

In my last three posts I wrote about the importance of properly merchandising the Front End Cap and Front Counter, and the tremendous importance of Plus Selling.

Now it’s time to tackle the most effective way to increase sales with Add-on Purchases without actually having to speak to the customer: 

 “Cross Merchandising“

Some retailers do this better than others, and in my experience convenience stores are generally on the worse end.  This is very surprising because a convenience store is designed to be “convenient” for your customers, and this strategy isn’t just about customer service: it’s about adding real profit to your bottom line.

What I’m talking about isn’t rocket science, but it does take effort.  You have to actually plan the merchandising layout of every section in your store, but the results are well worth it. 

Here’s a few simple cross merchandising suggestions, but the sky is the limit for what your customers might want or need:

• If a customer is looking at Corona 12pk’s there should be some limes within reach.
• If you sell coffee, a small display of packaged pastries should be right on the counter.
• Impulsive items such as candy should be merchandised in multiple areas around the store.
• If a customer is looking at buying a razor, the matching razor blades need to be right next to it. 
• The salsa should be right next to the chips.
• If you sell sandwiches & burritos, the 3 tops selling drinks need to be merchandised on the same shelf.

Like I said, the sky is the limit when it comes to cross merchandising ideas. 

It is very important not to ignore this vital aspect of merchandising because as you probably know, if a customer can’t find something in a convenience store, most of the time they will leave without asking for it.  And if you can’t count on your employees to plus sell, then you have to depend on the merchandising to speak for itself.

—

If you would like to increase your sales and profits by maximizing the opportunities in your store, please contact me for a FREE email consultation at:  c-store-expert@greatconsult.com

[Part 3 of 5]

In my last two posts I wrote about the importance of properly merchandising the Front End Cap and Front Counter.

Now that we have the main area around the counter taken care of, it makes sense to discuss the MOST EFFECTIVE way to increase sales with Add-On Purchases:

“Plus Selling“

I am shocked and amazed by convenience store owners that don’t even attempt this most effective tool to grow sales and profits.  Most operators claim their employees are not capable of doing it, but some don’t even bother trying.

Do you realize that any time you go to a Fast Food chain, you are plus sold?  Are their employees better?  I doubt it!

“Would you like fries with that?” 

Was made famous by McDonald’s, and has literally made them BILLIONS.  “And what kind of drink would you like?”  Another gigantic money maker.

So what is the equivalent in the Convenience Store world??  Well here are a few ideas to get you started, in order of effectiveness:

• “Would you like a lighter for your cigarettes?” ( or even better, “What kind of lighter would you like?“) -  An INSTANT $1 high GP plus sell. 
  • I would say this is the best plus sell in the business.
• “Would you like any drink with that?”
• “Have you tried the new Limited Edition Reese’s??” 
• “Would you like a fresh baked cookie/brownie??”
• Or any special promo that you might be running is an effective plus sell.

The key of course is training your employees to plus sell EVERY time.  No exceptions.  You should start with 3 plus-sell-able items.  First item such as a lighter should ALWAYS be offered with cigarettes.  Second item such as a drink should ALWAYS be offered to anyone buying snacks/candy.  Third is a focus item that is on the counter such as a cookie or candy bar, that can be offered to the rest of the customers.

EVERY CUSTOMER needs to be plus-sold without exception!

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If you would like to increase your sales and profits by maximizing the opportunities in your store, please contact me for a FREE email consultation at:  c-store-expert@greatconsult.com

[Part 2 of 5]

In my last post I talked about proper merchandising of the front counter, so its only logical to move on to the next closest thing:  The “Front End Cap“

 The guy selling hats on the beach knows:  When you have the right items, in the right place … you’ll make the sale.

The Front End Cap

Just to make sure we’re all on the same page, I’m talking about the first 3-foot section that the customer sees when walking into the store, typically it is facing the counter.

Now that we got that straight, what about it?

As far as I’m concerned it is the single most important section in your store (outside of the counter, the cooler, coffee, etc)  because it has the most income generating potential when used properly.

But sadly, this is a section that is often wasted on slow sellers or low GP items.

Rules and Guidelines for F.F.E. merchandising:

• It should never be empty.
• This should be the first section you stock and front-face.
• It should be merchandised with products that are both fast sellers (for impulse purchases) and high GP%.  For example:
  • Top selling candy/gum/mints
  • Top selling packaged pastry items
  • If it’s the height of summer, you can display sunglasses
  • If it’s dead of winter then gloves.
  • It should never be a hajpaj of different items.
  • It should never be slow sellers that you’re trying to get rid of.  (The same thinking from the previous post, applies here. So if you need to, go back and re-read)

I hope you get the idea.  Don’t worry about duplication.  If you have candy somewhere else too, it’s fine.  These are incremental sales.

How do you judge if this section is performing well, or needs to be re-merchandised?  Simple.  Like I said before, this should be a top GP$ producing section.  If it isn’t producing, you need to re-merchandise the section with some other products until it is.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of “Increasing Sales with Add-On Purchases”!

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If you would like to increase your sales and profits by maximizing the opportunities in your store, please contact me for a FREE email consultation at:  c-store-expert@greatconsult.com