Are You An Ebay Shopper?

    



    

As I write this article, I am keeping an eye on an
item on eBay. Do I have to keep an eye on it? No. I
have set up a program that swoops in in the final
seconds of the bidding, leaving the previous bidder,
who thought they had the item, wondering what
happened.
Is that what is happening to you in business? Do you
think you have customers sewn up; success just with
your grasp, but something always goes wrong?
There is talk in the news about the Retail Industry
slowdown in home décor, furniture and home improvement
sales. Pier 1 mentioned they are streamlining and
cutting their merchandise offerings by 25% to focus on
their core customer. Many retailers who were
interviewed mentioned that they have been watching the
slowdown trend for a while and already have plans in
place to manage what's happening.
Is that how you run your business? Do you look at
seasonal, regional and/or global trends that will
affect the future of your business or do you wait
until the bottom falls out and then wonder what you
are going to do. Wouldn't you rather have a heads up
on what's happening, before it happens?
Sometimes even experience researchers find it
difficult to be guided by research. Instead they look
for facts and theories to support the hypothesis that
is already formed.
If you think that research takes too long, sign up for
a number of newsletters and let the information come
to you. If you worry about being spammed, use a
hotmail account. Keep an open mind. Rather than coming
to conclusions before you have the information, make a
list of specific facts and assign weights that will
influence your decisions. Create a chart and fill in
the answers from each information source, tally the
weighted results and then make your decisions based on
fact?tempered by entrepreneurial intuition. Set up a
system that works for you and commit to use it.
If you are in Retail then these two web sites have
newsletters that report on trends from all over the
world.
http://www.springwise.com
http://www.trendwatching.com
No matter what your business, somewhere on the net
there are newsletters/RSS feeds that can deliver
information to give you the edge you need, so you
aren't sideswiped?knocked out of the game in the final
seconds.
And my purchase on eBay?.I missed the first one
because someone else paid more than I thought it was
worth; but the second one?the competition is still
wondering what happened and my purchase is on it's
way. I used my proven system and won.
Do you want things to be your way in your world or do
you want to know what's really going on in your
industry so you can anticipate challenges and make
plans to avoid problems?
A theory must be tempered by reality.-Jawaharlal Nehru
Copyright(c) 2005 Nancy Fraser Nota Bene Consulting,
All Rights reserved
Nancy Fraser is the President of Nota Bene Consulting.
She has been helping clients improve their advertising
results and grow their businesses for over 20 years.
Free advertising and marketing information in the
Notable News http://www.notable-marketing.com


    



    

More Legal Free Info.....