HAVE A DIRTY MOUTH?

I'm sure we have all seen that gum commercial where chewing this piece of gum can clean up a dirty mouth. In my opinion, more sharpeners need to chew it!

Too often I hear and read about sharpeners bad-mouthing other sharpeners! What a silly thing to do! Of course, as I write this I'm beginning to realize that I'm bad-mouthing bad-mouthers, but I'll just have to take the heat for that! :)

If you want a good example of why you should never bad-mouth your competition, read this article. It drives the point home and also shows what speaking respectfully about the other businesses in your area can do.

I know it is hard sometimes NOT to say a bad word or two when you see some of the sharpening that is done out there, but resist! Go over your competition, not under them or through them! Present yourself professionally and your customers will respect you for it!

SMALL BUSINESS INFO

Just wanted to pass this blog post along to all of you. I think it is worth reading since it deals with many of the issues we as sharpeners face in our business. As small business people, it is important that we stay informed. The Entrepreneurs Club is a blog that can help you do that.

WANT TO THROW IN THE TOWEL?

I've been going through this for the last week or so. This happens every time I go out of town. I come back to a pile of stuff on my desk at Wolff, a deadline for On The Edge and a bucket load of blades and scissors from my mail order sharpening business. Sometimes I just want to throw up my hands and say something has to go! But after I mope around for a day, I hitch up my pants and get to work. It's never as bad as it seems by the way!

While thinking about this, I came across this article that will help any small business person through times like this. Take a look at it and put it in your favorites. Refer back to it when you get down or it seems like you have a pile to big to get through.

SCORE ONE FOR YOUR BUSINESS WITH THESE NEW ONLINE RESOURCES

SCORE has been one of the greatest sources for small business, and they just got better! Take a look at some of these new features they have on their website. They will be a great help to any small business person!

ARE YOU LISTENING?

I just watched the movie Hitch with my wife Tisha last night. Will Smith and Kevin James were the stars and it was a blast!

The reason I mention this is one of the points that Hitch, a dating coach, made while explaining dating to one of his clients. He said, "Listen! Don't be looking at her mouth! That way when she's done talking, you'll be able to answer with something besides 'you have pretty lips.'"

Listening is one of the most important skills in selling, but listening is difficult; especially for men because we tend to be problem solvers by nature. As soon as we hear one or two points about a particular problem, our minds start working and our ears stop listening. If this describes you, stop it! Need some help with this? Take a look at this article adapted from Zig Ziglar's book Ziglar on Selling. It has some helpful advice.

GIVE TO GET

One of the best ideas that came out of the show at Reno was one from Bob Huffman. He talked about some great products sharpeners can give to stylists as a bonus for buying a pair of shears. This increases those "buy it now" sales and lets your customers feels like they are getting a little something extra for that money that just spent! July's On The Edge will list a number of these product suggestions.

But I'm posting this just to mix things up a little! We've all seen beauty shears companies give aways! At one time one was giving a free mountain bike away with a pair of shears! Pretty wild! This just goes to show you that you don't have to stay within the realm of the beauty industry to make these give aways work.

While looking through a friends blog today I came across this article titled Sourcing Products. It was written for ebay sellers of course, but I thought some of the products available through these companies would lend themselves well to this style of selling. One, for example, is this small digital camera. It would only cost you a few dollars each, but it would make a great bonus product to go with a pair of shears. Take a look at some of the products available through these companies and companies like them. Give aways are a great way to increase sales. Let me know your thoughts about this.

CRAIGSLIST

I've told a number of my students about CraigsList and have suggested that they post an ad on it. While perusing the internet, I came across this article. I think it will be a big help for anyone thinking about advertising their business on CraigsList, but want to know a little more about it before they do.

GREAT NEW BEAUTY PRODUCTS

If you are not reading industry publications of the industries you're servicing, shame on you! American Salon is just one of many you should be looking into. There are many good articles that will help you, as a sharpener, better understand your customers needs.

Here is a link to just one article that will make for a good conversion piece while you're in the salon. Take a look and brief through the archives while your at it. Reading the publications of the industry you service is a must do practice. Make it a habit!

A BUNCH OF LITTLE BOSSES

I've often said, while teaching my students, that one of the greatest things about sharpening is you have a bunch of little bosses. You work for all of them, but if at any time one or two become unreasonable in their expectations, you can fire any one of them.

This article is a good example of this kind of thinking. As sharpeners, it is our job to do the best we can for our customers! But at the same time, we have to make sure we don't forget we have a life too!

WHAT IT TAKES TO SUCCEED

I found an interesting article in the seMissourian. It was talking about what it takes to succeed in small business. I thought it lent itself well to the article David Wolff wrote for On The Edge in may. He talked about giving your business a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). Take a look at the article and if you'd like a copy of David's article, I'd be glad to send you a copy. Just e-mail me at jim@wolffind.com.

WOLFF/ HUFF SHOW

Sorry for the break in blogging! As you can imagine, the last few days have been pretty busy.

I figured I'd drop you a few pictures. Bob Huffman is on top, Bobby is in the middle and Mike is on the bottom. I'm waiting for Karen Huffman to send some pictures of me speaking, and I have a number of pictures showing the other goings-on at the show. They will be in the show write up in On The Edge. All of the seminars were excellent and we received nothing but favorable responses. Over and over I was told that the best part of the show was all the brainstorming between the sharpeners. That is the main reason for the smaller show and new format. I learned a lot! You'll see some of these new ideas surface in On The Edge and here at JimSharp.

I'm not sure where the next show will take place, but David Wolff and I have been working on it. It will either be in the NorthEast or MidWest. We shall see!

I'm still on the road as I write this (I'm in a Starbucks in Utah right now), but I'll be back in the office next week. Give me a call if you have any questions or if you'd like to know more about what happened at the show.

ON MY WAY TO RENO

Here I sit in Mount Holly, NC just a few miles from the Charlotte Airport. I have a 7 am flight and I'm not much of a morning person, so I decided to spend the night up here and not have to get up so early.

I figured I'd take a few minutes and drop you a few pictures I took at the Grooming Show I went to last Friday that was just up the highway from here. The first picture is Andrew Beard of Kenchii Shears with Sue Zecco, one of the number one groomers in the country. Sue is hiding behind the table, but trust me, she as pretty and sweet a lady as you could ever want to meet. You know this must be true, just look at the grin on Andrews face!

Picture number two is of Chuck with Groomer's Helper. I just featured an article on Chuck in On The Edge this month. The Groomer's Helper Affiliate Program is a great deal for sharpeners.

Picture number three is of the new line of Oster Grooming Shears and picture number four shows Randy Lowe of Precission Sharp at his finest!

It was good to see many of my friends. Regretfully, my picture of Joe Coladarci with ProLine Shears didn't come out, but I got some great pictures of his sharpening bench he designed for his minivan. I'll be featuring those in next months On The Edge.

NEW 16" ANDIS PLATE

I just received the 16" Andis Plate from Huff's Wholesale. I popped it on my CS-101 and sharpened up a few of my customers blades. It worked like a charm! I'm very impressed! Sharp blades and a good pattern. I beleive Huff's has a winner.

Here are a few pictures, although the picture of the rub pattern is a little hard to see (this is hard to get a good picture of), it looks great in person. Those of you coming to Reno will have a chance to see for yourselves! Let me know what you think.

OFF TO CHARLOTTE NC

I'm hitting the road today to visit with some sharpeners at the Grooming Show in Charlotte. If I see anything new or exciting, I'll post about it next week.