10-10-10 for retailers

The fast rapid meteoric holy-cow-what-just-happened growth of The 3/50 Project has had a couple of pretty big impacts on my life. The first and most obvious is that it’s reshuffled every single priority on my desk (which was a tad bit crowded to begin with). The second isn’t quite as obvious; it’s the constant tape running in the back of mind asking “What comes next? Where are you going to take this thing?”

Admittedly, I hit the pause button a lot on that tape while navigating a constant stream of emails (half of which contain ASAP requests), juggling two phones, and working long distance with Gregg on the database. Every so often though, someone pops up and asks “Cinda, what comes next?“ which gets those back brain wheels spinning again.

On this morning’s installment of the Today Show, Suzy Welch talked about her book “10-10-10: A Life Transforming Idea.” The basic concept is simple. Each time you come to a point of decision, ask yourself “What will this mean to my life in 10 minutes? 10 months? 10 years?”

I’m not sure what it was about that statement that stopped me in my tracks. Maybe it was the logic. Maybe it was the simplicity (hey, that’s why The 3/50 Project works). Maybe it was the fact that slowing down for 60 seconds to process 10-10-10 thoughts accommodates taking a breath and thinking things through.

And maybe it’s just plain smart.

So how does this factor into your retail life? Throughout the day, you’re a decision making gumball machine. People keep popping quarters (questions, concerns, options) into your mental coin slot, expecting a pretty piece of candy to pop out. Of course, those candies have to come from somewhere, and sometimes, what was pink and shiny and fun one moment falls out, rolls across the floor, hides under a display case, and communes with the dust bunnies for weeks, only to be found later, with a grimace.

Instead of instantly spitting out gumballs, why not let the coin jam for a moment? Stop. Think about how the decision you’re about to make will look in ten minutes. Ten months. Ten years.

A good example would be the struggle many store owners find themselves in as they consider bringing in lower priced lines to snag cost-conscious consumers. Short term, it looks like a good idea…and it might be. But what about mid-term? Long term?

Okay. Let’s break it down. The lower priced line has a $200 opening. And it takes space. To accommodate both, you’ll clearance out some of the “regular” higher priced stuff that’s not moving, and opt not to reorder another line that has a $100 reorder minimum. Between the two, you can free up the cash and space to bring the line in. Good for the next ten minutes…possibly the next 10 weeks.

Now take a peek at 10 months out. By then, we certainly should be in more comfortable condition, with the economy on it’s way back to better (by most economists’ accounts). You’re ready to return to your roots, bringing in better lines again, but now you’ve got a store full of lower priced inventory taking up space…and drawing a different customer base that the one you original had. So you begin to clearance the cheaper lines out, but they don’t generate much revenue because they were low price points to begin with. And they aren’t moving that fast, since customers are being more selective, looking for nicer quality now that they can afford it again. You don’t have it (you’re still trying to get rid of all that “other stuff”), so they wander along to someone else’s store.

Which brings us to 10 years out. Are you still around? Are you now a budget category store because you never recovered, or worse-—did your short term decisions so radically change your customer base that you never did make up the additional volume necessary to keep the doors open?

What seems like a short term decision often has long reaching implications. Simply slowing down to think them through in 10-10-10 form can shine new light on what seemed at the moment like an insignificant judgment call at the time.

Does that mean you stop trusting your gut on decision making? Not at all. Sometimes, you have to jump. You have to trust your gut. In my book, that’s usually pretty wise advice (hey, no one’s completely infallible).

So how’s 10-10-10 factor into The 3/50 Project? Well, it’s made me slow down to think each step through (unlike the starting gun leap we began with), considering the way one step will impact the myriad of steps that follow. Instead of focusing so much on what we can do today, I’m thinking about how this will help tomorrow.

For all of us, slowing down to look further along the path might not be a bad idea. Might keep a few of those gumballs from rolling under the sofa (or worse, underfoot, causing us to slip, fall, and crack our heads open).