FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION...

Suzanne Luetjen
Mount San Antonio College
Nominee for VP/President Elect

Positions Held in Bookstore Industry:
Mt. San Antonio College, Sac Book Rac, Bookstore Director 2002-Present

The UCLA Store, Academic Publishing Division Manager 1997-2002
Matador Bookstore at Cal State Northridge, Academic Services Manager 1995-1997
Matador Bookstore at Cal State Northridge, Custom Publications Manager 1992-1995

MEGA 2009
Red Carpet Banquet
Wednesday, October 28th 2009
“A Night of Stars”
 
The Mega 2009 host committee is proud to announce this year’s banquet theme:  “A Night of Stars.”  This gala event will be a red carpet affair with celebrity impersonators, paparazzi, and a tribute show with Jake and Elwood…yes, the Blues Brothers will perform live on stage!
 
We’ve brought in a few stars of our own from the industry and our MEGA associations.  NACS President, Vicki Morris Benion, CCR, will lead the evening with introductions and installation of the President and President Elect from CACS, MSCSA, SWCBA and NCBA.
 
You’ll enjoy a fabulous dinner and lets don’t forget the after dinner show with Jake and Elwood! (www.royaltalent.com/Bluesbrothers.htm)
 
So, put on your best Hollywood Premier attire, bring your camera and join us for this not-to-be-missed MEGA Night of Stars!  
 
Tickets are included with full store registrations.  Additional tickets available through MEGA Registration

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Obama Administration Official to Speak at MEGA

 

(September 23, 2009)   Hal Plotkin, the Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of Education, will be the featured speaker at the MEGA 2009 Sponsor Appreciation Lunch on Wednesday October 28.  MEGA 2009 is a triennial meeting of four college bookstore regional associations.  The four regions have combined their efforts into one “mega” meeting which will be held this year in Las Vegas.
 
Announcing this event, Don Newton, chair of MEGA 2009, stated:
 
"In his position as Senior Policy Advisor to Dr. Martha Kantor, the Under Secretary of Education, Hal Plotkin will be instrumental in shaping Department of Education policies on all manner of Higher Education course materials.   At the luncheon Mr. Plotkin will address the Department of Education’s take on the value and role of bookstores in Higher Education and on the future of course materials delivery systems. 
 
"Before joining the Obama administration, Plotkin served as a member of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board of Trustees, as board president and as chair of the district's Audit and Finance Committee.  Plotkin initiated the district's Policy on Public Domain Learning Materials in 2003, which mandated institutional support for faculty who wish to use free learning materials in their classrooms.
 
“The Wednesday lunch is primarily a means for the MEGA 2009 attendees to recognize and thank those vendors who, by contributing sponsor level support, take a big extra step to help make it possible for college store managers to attend this important educational conference and exposition.”
 
MEGA 2009 includes the following College Store Regional Associations, listed along with their President:

California Association of College Stores, Karen Ward (klward@csupomona.edu )
Northwest College Store Association, Laurie Bales (lbales@pcc.edu )
Mountain States College Bookstore Association, Doug Mason (masond@byui.edu )
South West College Bookstore Association, Eddie Turner (turnere@wbu.edu )
 
For further information and to register for MEGA 2009, please go to our web page at www.megaregional.com
 
Don Newton
CCSF Bookstores, San Francisco, CA (dnewton@ccsf.edu )

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Retail Merchandise Committee

Make The Most of October Outreach
By Marta Cuella
Skyline College

Don’t be scared of the scariest month of the year…  October is approaching. The lines have slowed down. The stress of rush is gone, but the fact that students have left has brought on a whole different kind of stress.   How do we get those students to come back into our stores and buy our merchandise?  Never fear, outreach is here! 
Bring back, not only the students, but also the rest of the college community by getting involved in the events that are happening at your college.  Before you get involved, they have to know you exist.  Make sure that you reach out to the college by keeping the lines of communication open through e-mail as well as Facebook or Twitter.  Now that they know you’re alive, get involved.  Remind people that you are more than a bookstore; YOU ARE A COLLEGE STORE. Be a partner in promoting college events and activities; October is the best month to do this.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Why not partner up with your college health center to raise awareness and help the cause? The health center holds a drawing and gives away a basket created by the bookstore.  Furthermore, the bookstore sells merchandise such as the “Save the Ta-Tas” line of products, (with the manufacturer donating proceeds of the sales to breast cancer research), as well as pink merchandise such as mugs, t-shirts, books and other breast cancer prevention merchandise.
Participate in any college festivities.  Make a window display that promotes the event.  This encourages more foot traffic.  If the event is outdoors, set up a table or a booth and sell your merchandise.  On the other hand, if it is a celebration, have someone from your staff join the organizing committee.  By making yourself more visible, more business may be turned in your direction.   For example, during the month of October, our bookstore is helping to celebrate the 40th anniversary of our college. We created a window display commemorating this event, and it was meet with rave reviews.  We even had the College President, the administration, and people from several departments come to see it, and each of these people walked out with at least one 40th anniversary item that they purchased.
Halloween is one of the best events that a bookstore can get involved in.  You can hold a dead merchandise sale.  Put all the merchandise that you haven’t been able to sell during the year (or more) and clear them out. Don’t forget as part of your advertising to send a massive e-mail to all of the college’s staff and faculty.  Hold a costume contest at your store.  Don’t forget to invite the children from your college’s daycare or children’s center to your store, and give them healthy treats (OK…candy).
 Make this month memorable by participating in events that are important to your college. Getting involved is easy.  Also, it is a simple way to make your store more visible, and to show the college that the bookstores are a vital part of the college community. Have fun and happy Halloween from the BOOOOOkstore.

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COURSE MATERIALS COMMITTEE

Budget Crisis and What to Do
 By David Moyer
 Antelope Valley College

We are all aware of the budget crisis that has impacted all of us in some way. Several stores have seen the impact reflected in Fall sales. In spite of record breaking enrollments in many cases, the sales don’t seem to reflect the increased student population. The reasons for this are many and may vary from institution to institution. Some examples may be the cuts to categorical programs and financial aid, online competition, students selling to each other or students simply not purchasing course materials at all.

So what can stores do about it?

We have to find ways to boost sales in other areas.  Course material sales will always be the majority of our total sales, but we have to look to other areas.

Asking professors what school supplies are needed for their courses (such as art, drafting and engineering) and then bundling them together and selling cheaper than they would cost individually. Doing the same thing for financial aid students who are authorized to purchase certain items. Bundling items together can be a big boost. Putting non-required items (BarCharts, Quik Study Guides and Cliffsnotes) next to required texts is another good way to increase sales. Soda and snacks is another hot seller. Allocate as much room as you can for these items. With students watching their money more closely, they purchase inexpensive “junk” food rather than more costly complete meals at the campus food court.

Skyline College Bookstore is doing a coupon program with custom loose-leaf books. They work with publishing companies to insert the coupon sheet in with the wrapped book and these coupons are for school supply items available in the store. They are printed on 60# paper in color ink to make it more tamper proof. Since these loose – leaf books are used for two years, the coupon is good for that entire time.

If sales on a certain title are not good, get the publisher rep involved. They may be able to address the issue with the instructor to see what can be done to improve sell through. Most stores order based on sales history so it is in their best interest to help out.

During rush, have a special sale everyday. On Monday, 10% of all hats, Tuesday, T-shirts, Wednesday, sweatshirts and so on.  

Many of us are under “no travel” policies because of this budget crisis. If at all possible get to the Mega Regional in Las Vegas in October. It will be a great place to not only attend the educational sessions that are always helpful, but for us to network and learn from each other what we are doing to deal with the challenges before us. We would encourage all of you to attend this year’s conference the week of October 26-30, 2009. Word of mouth and practical knowledge can be very helpful in times like these as we all look for ways to remain financially viable.

We hope to see you all in Las Vegas.

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Are You Doing the Same Things
and Expecting Different Results?

When the economy was strong and sales increases common, the smart thing was to continue doing what drove those increases. Over the last year, most astute retailers have retooled and refocused their businesses in order to deal with the profound changes in the economy, the marketplace, and consumer buying. Yet, other retailers have done little to adapt to this new environment.

Neighborhood marketing guru Tom Feltenstein and Mac Anderson wrote a terrific little book a couple of years ago--Change Is Good...You Go First. The book, which is available at simpletruths.com, lays out the case for change in a straight-forward way empowering anyone to make real changes in their business.

Why is it so important to make changes in business now? The reasons are diverse and reflected in the weighty challenges retailers face right now. Many years ago Albert Einstein suggested three rules for work that can still be applied to nearly every business today.
Out of clutter, find simplicity.

From discord, find harmony.

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
It seems most difficult for larger enterprises to shift gears; being married to their own culture and way of doing business to the point real change is nearly impossible. Look at General Motors and other giants that simply couldn't do what was necessary to reinvent themselves before declaring bankruptcy became their only option. But it's not just industrial giants that have this problem. Far too many retailers of all sizes refuse to accept the fact we are living through a fundamental shift in consumer thinking, spending habits, and the competitive landscape. While some of these changes have only become evident over the last few months many have been coming for several years.

One community that's seen the effect of change or lack thereof is Richmond, Virginia. Ukrop's Supermarkets opened in 1937 and now operates 28 stores in Richmond and other towns in the state. For a long time, it was leading supermarket chain in the marketplace. Recently Ukrop's lost that lead to Food Lion, headquartered in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Retailers have long understood the absolute importance of making it easy and convenient for customers to do business with their stores, yet Ukrop's remains closed on Sundays. Other retailers in many categories have added alcohol to their merchandise selection, yet no alcohol is available in Ukrop's stores.

The family's strong religious beliefs dictate these policies. While I respect their beliefs, I question their business judgment and understanding of the diversity of customers living in a city like Richmond. Customers expect and deserve convenient shopping and the best selection, so operating a broad-based business around religious beliefs does not serve anyone's best interests.

My earliest retail experience was working at a music store in my home town of Sacramento, California. My employer, Maurie Silverman, was an Orthodox Jew who left the store well before sundown Friday afternoons and didn't return until after sundown on Saturdays. While he observed his Sabbath, I and the other employees operated the store and served the many customers who would come in on busy Saturdays. He strongly believed that every customer should be served well regardless of his own personal religious beliefs. His was a more reasonable approach to doing business.

As this is written Ukrop's is up for sale with the likely buyer being either Harris Teeter or Supervalu.

Are you doing things that limit your opportunities? If so, make the necessary changes to move your business forward and better serve your customers and your community.

-George Whalin

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Five Questions You Must Ask about Your Business... And the One That Will Set You Apart from Your Competition

By Anne M. Obarski
Merchandise Concepts

Does the word "report card" still make your stomach do flip-flops?

It does mine! I can remember having to ask my parents for the "dreaded" signature on the infamous envelope that needed to be returned to school. I never had bad grades but I knew that it was a parent's right, to question you about the status of each grade. Of course the big A's in Gym and Chorus and Home Economics never seemed to cover up the C's in Math or Social Studies!

Usually the whole conversation boiled down to those last words, "We know you can do better. Whew, does that mean I'm not grounded??? I would whisk the card right out of their hands and vow that the next grading period would be better.

Report cards are not only given to students but to companies and employees of all sorts of businesses. Some of the report cards come packaged as yearly performance reviews of employees and some come from actual customers in a mystery shopper "survey" format. No matter what the style, those results usually instill panic and cause most people to become defensive, even if the information is good!
I believe everyone needs and should require report cards rating their employees as well as for their overall businesses. Critiquing performance is one of the best ways a company can sharpen their focus on the areas that need improvement and then monitor that targeted performance.

Customers and clients develop mental "report cards" for most businesses that they deal with. The categories can vary but they are usually based on their personal experiences with each and every company, from the initial contact, to the final sale, and any further follow-up that may been needed.

So how can you keep your CRC- Customer Report Card in the "A" range?

Here are 5 simple questions to ask yourself that could separate you from your competition and give you a better GPA!

1. What does the exterior of your business say about you? Is there sufficient parking? Is the exterior clean and well lit? Is the entrance bright and inviting? Are the window displays neat and well-merchandised? Does the front of your business truly invite customers to come in? Does the exterior say, "Hey, you just can't afford not to stop in"?
2. What does your inventory say about you? Have you up-dated your inventory based on the current demographics of your customer? Are you buying what your customer wants or what you think they need? Do you have a system in place that allows you to re-order merchandise that is selling well so that you are never out of your "bread and butter" items? Have you allotted the best square footage to the items that are selling and turning the highest? Does your inventory say, "I am in business" or does it say, "Business is a little slow, I'll order more when business gets better"?
3. What does your floor layout say about you? Customers vary in their needs and wants, but one of the basic needs is that of efficiency. Customers want what they want, when they want it and as efficiently as possible. We all know how frustrated we can be in a super center when all we wanted was a jug of milk and we have to walk a mile to get it. I am amazed at how many stores merchandise their walls to the ceiling. What customer is going to be able to reach those items and how many extra employees and ladders do you have around to retrieve one of those items that are 15 feet up? How easy is it to navigate your store or business? Can you get a stroller or wheelchair through the aisles? Are you making it easy or difficult for your customer to get in, find what they want and get out quickly? Could your grandmother easily shop in your business? If not, change it!
4. What do your employees say about you? Are your employees knowledgeable about store policies as well as the entire inventory you carry? If something happened to you today, could you honestly say you would have faith in your employees to carry on, as usual? Do your employees have excellent phone skills and sound cheerful each time they answer the phone? Do they realize that the reason for their job is because you have customers? Do they go out of their way and never lose their patience on the phone or on the floor. Are your employees capable of making their own decisions or are they always looking for a manager to check with. Bottom line, would you want any of them working for your competition.
5. What would your community say about you? Does your community really know what you do? Can they recommend you to people they run into who need your product or services? Will those who recommend you follow their comments up with, "I wouldn’t do business with anyone else"? Are you involved with other groups in your community such as the Chamber of Commerce or Little League or Rotary or other associations? Do you or your employees attend networking functions where you can educate your community? Are you a giving business or are you focused on what the business gives you?

These are five tough questions for any business to answer. You don't have to be a retailer for these questions to apply. Every business has clients that are unconditionally loyal. I believe that number is dwindling as the number of new businesses increases. People have many more choices and are more focused and truthful when they make out the report cards!

What are you doing the best in? What is your "A" subject? What area needs a little more studying or research? How willing are you to spend the time to really improve the grade? Like my parents always said, "I know you can do better"! If not, I'll bet your competition can.

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 PROFITS+PLUS

Niche Departments, Niche People

Creating departments that feature your employees
By Tom Shay

Niche marketing.  Isn't that the buzzword in the retail industry in recent history?  Add anything: any number of specialty products or services, things to make a profit, or draw customers into your store, ways that will help to distinguish you from the other retailers, whether they be other retailers, discounters, or big boxes.  This is niche marketing.

To develop a niche department, retailers have usually seen the idea at another retailer's location, seen it at a trade show, or read about it in a trade magazine.  In addition to creating a niche department, there are special services that you can offer, or different ways of promoting your business that will set you apart.  Services such as free gift-wrapping, free delivery, or discounts to seniors or non-profit groups, help you to become separated from the chains.
 
That is why most retailers attend trade shows and industry events; so that they can hear this constant exchange of ideas and improve their store.  The idea for this story came from a new member of our team during our years as a retailer. A young female employee asked this question after a couple of weeks on the job, "Whose job is it to take care of this particular task?"  A valid question, whether it be ordering merchandise, stocking merchandise, sweeping the floor, or any of another hundred tasks in a store.  Her niche may be display, organization, or simply neatness.

More often, a retailer has returned from a trade show with an idea for a niche and upon introduction of the idea in a staff meeting, someone was assigned to carry out the task and develop the idea.   In our travels, we found many stores that have developed their trademark niches because someone wanted to do something special.
 
A hardware retailer had their paint department grow from being just an average department to being the second largest, and fastest growing because of a part time employee.  Paint was this employee’s special talent.  After many suggestions from him, and watching him sell paint, the owner of the store could see that he had a leader.  The department tripled its sales with only a 40% increase in square footage.  The employee also demonstrated leadership ability that developed to be a strong asset.   Like the lady in our business, this employee asked who was in charge and decided he could make a difference.

We met another retailer that had an employee that had previously worked in the advertising industry.  This employee took what was a coupon insert to 300 statements, and created a six-page newsletter that was mailed to over 2,200 customers.  The newsletter became the focal point of this retailer’s advertising.  The newsletter even had profitable months as they sold display ads to their commercial customers.  This extensive advertising background became a tremendous asset as he took charge.

A retailer that we visited frequently began to show signs of a remerchandised sales floor.  The arrival of a new employee brought the necessary talents.  As he reset his entire store, it had been this employee that came to the front, showing his merchandising skills.  Another of his skills that was most obvious to other team members, was his work in coordinating sales circulars and the early ordering of these items.

A retailer that was more known for his salesmanship than his financial management skills was fortunate to find a talented organizer on his sales floor.  This person had previously worked seasonally for a tax preparation service.  This employee is now working in the office and has spent many hours streamlining the office procedures as well as doing an excellent job of overseeing cash flow.  Most customers and team members see little of this employee, but the management team knows of her behind the scene work.

This brings us back to the first employee and her question.   Hopefully in many stores, she can begin to answer the question herself.  Where does she fit in?  What talents does she bring to the team?  How can she make the store more valuable to its customers, and more profitable?  It may take several weeks for a retailer to see the answers.   The answer might entail her taking over the duties of another team member so that they can focus their energy in another area.  Everyone benefits.  The store continues to grow.  And the team member gets the satisfaction that does not occur in most jobs.  They have made a difference.  If they were not there, there would be a big hole. 

There have been numerous surveys that we have read, that note that the salary is not the most important part of a job to an employee.  Sense of contribution and value are usually at the top of the important factor list.  If a person's presence on our team does not make a difference, then that person is probably the one that is most easily replaced. In training our new young team members, we stressed that a strong work ethic included a determination to make one's presence felt by the efforts that were put forth.
 
In stores that have large seasonal swings in their business, a person that is unable to create a niche for himself is probably the team member that would be laid off for the off-season sales period.  Is niche marketing important?  It sure is.  It is crucial to our success.  It is right up there on the important ingredients list - right next to niche people.  

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PRESS RELEASE

Cengage Learning Promotes Renee’ Sparks to Vice President, Customer Service

Cengage Learning, one of the world's leading providers of print and digital information services for the educational and library markets, announced that Renee’ Sparks has been promoted to Vice President of Faculty and Customer Service for the Academic & Professional Group of Cengage Learning.

Sparks began her career at Cengage Learning 15 years ago when she joined as a customer service representative. Today, she is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of over 140 employees. Most recently, as the Executive Director of Faculty and Customer Service, Sparks has been instrumental in the integration of the Houghton Mifflin College Division, which was acquired by Cengage Learning in 2008. Sparks was responsible for the seamless integration of data, processes and procedures among the companies, ensuring that business and customer satisfaction was not disrupted.

In her continued effort to improve customer service, Sparks also reorganized the department to include a dedicated quality assurance team to ensure that all customer calls are managed professionally and accurately. While Sparks has made significant contributions internally, it is her dedication and passion for meeting customer needs that truly sets her apart. Sparks meets with many college store customers one-on-one at college store conventions, and she looks forward to meeting many more going forward.

“I am thrilled to accept this promotion,” said Sparks. “I look forward to the future contributions I can make to Cengage Learning customer service while continuing to serve our college store clients with the attentive customer service they have come to know and expect.”

For more information about the leading print and digital information services that Cengage Learning provides, please visit www.cengage.com. College stores can access industry-leading resources and account-specific tools at www.serviceplus.cengage.com.
 

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You Know Employee Engagement Is Critical. But How Can You Create It?

By Francois Basili, President, HumaNext LLC

A new (July 2009) report by the Enterprise Engagement Alliance - titled "The Economics of Engagement" ?“ indicates that there are tangible financial returns associated with a rise in organization-wide employee engagement. The report looked at the kind of hard returns or bottom-line ROI organizations get when they spend time and money on better engaging employees, and research shows there is a very definite, measurable return on investment from employee engagement. This is just the latest in a series of research efforts over the past five years showing similar results. So we can say with confidence that the business case for employee engagement has been powerfully proven. The key remaining question, therefore, is â?œhow can we go about creating employee engagement for the organization?

Different organizations have used different methods, some achieving a good degree of success and some resulting in miserable failure. At HumaNext, we have examined a large number of employee engagement efforts, read many reports, research papers, and books on the topic, and learned from our own in-depth experience with organization-wide employee engagement and culture change initiatives to arrive at what truly works, and what doesnâ?™t. Let me quickly state that the programs that fail are usually those based on the old carrot and stick management style that totally misses the point of employee engagement. Some of these initiatives are run by corporate communicators and HR leaders who use top-down approaches driven by goals formulated by leaders, not employees. They see in employee engagement just another way to achieve higher returns on investment, and with this they saw the seeds of their failure.

Employees usually see through such efforts and realize that itâ?™s just another carrot thrown to them by management to get them to be more committed to working harder. All the communication and training in the world will not be able to impress employees to buy into such efforts. It usually takes a year or two of a lot of wasted effort and money before management finally realizes that the program is a failure, and quietly lets it die a natural death.

Communication and training can help support a solid, honest employee engagement initiative. But they cannot create one based on a camouflaged top-down leadership approach that is not committed to changing its own ways of managing before asking employees to show more engagement at work. From our experience, the most effective, and perhaps the really only way, to inspire employee engagement is through going directly to the core of human needs that spur action. In our â?œEmployee Engagement for Changeâ?? program we summarized these human needs in the statement, â?œThe Dignity to be and the Freedom to Do.â?? Employees need to feel appreciated and recognized as unique human beings before they begin to consider giving you any of their hearts and minds. The second human need that must be met is for employees to apply their talent, in their own way, to achieve organizational goals. This is the way people create themselves through their work. Work becomes a way for self-actualization. Dedication to work becomes self-generated. Engagement becomes something employees seek for their own inner rewards. Only then will engagement occur and deliver results for the organization.

© 2009 HumaNext. To receive a sample package of Employee Engagement for Change program send complete business contact information to service@humanext.com 

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