This applies to all walks of life – and especially to the brick and mortar retail world. <\/span><\/p>\n With stiff competition at every turn (both online and off), you need to be at your most powerful to give your business the best shot of thriving.<\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t get us wrong – just reading books without application won\u2019t help your business out. <\/span><\/p>\n But as life-long readers will attest, the more you read about a subject, the more knowledge tends to \u201csink into” your brain. You start to act in more intelligent ways, even if you don\u2019t remember the exact source of your newfound wisdom.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n And while books aren\u2019t the only way to upgrade your business skills, they’re a pretty affordable and straightforward way of doing so.<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s why we\u2019ve assembled 6 of the top books for brick and mortar retailers out there. Some of these books are very specific to retail business, while others are about entrepreneurship in general, or managing your own personal energy and decision making.<\/span><\/p>\n What do these books have in common? Each and every one of them can help give you (and your business) the added \u201cedge\u201d you need to have a retail store that\u2019s consistently profitable in the long run.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This instant classic by Tony Hsieh recounts his tale of starting Zappos, a massively successful online shoe delivery company and scaling it to acquisition. The book also goes into the background of Tony\u2019s personal journey as an entrepreneur, sharing business lessons along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n While Zappos is an eCommerce business, there are plenty of ideas within <\/span>Delivering Happiness<\/span><\/i> that apply to brick and mortar retail. However, if you\u2019re looking for a \u201cnuts and bolts\u201d business book, there are others on this list that would serve you better (such as #2 <\/span>Why We Buy<\/span><\/i> and #6 <\/span>The New Rules of Retail<\/span><\/i>).<\/span><\/p>\n What <\/span>Delivering Happiness<\/span><\/i> does is give you a sense of how personal values can be used to create a strong, coherent company culture, which in turn can lead to massive business success.<\/span><\/p>\n You\u2019ll learn about things like:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Delivering Happiness<\/span><\/i> is a fun read that uses a lot of storytelling. If you\u2019re in the mood for something uplifting, or if you\u2019re not a huge reader to begin with, either the Audible or written form of this book should be next on your plate.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Paco Underhill is a self described \u201crevolutionary retail guru\u201d who leverages his extensive customer research experience in the retail fields in this updated classic.<\/span><\/p>\n A <\/span>review from TCI Management Consultants<\/span><\/a> contains an excellent summary of Pico Underhill’s expertise and the kind of insights you can gain from it:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHis fundamental research methodology is to track customers as they move through stores; observe (unobtrusively) their browsing and purchasing patterns; and take detailed notes of how long they spend in each area of the store, what they touch and look at, what they buy, how much they spend, etc. etc. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n After more than twenty years of doing this, he has compiled a hugely detailed database of shopper behavior patterns. He can tell you, for example, that 65% of males who take jeans into a fitting room will buy them, as opposed to 25% of women.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Why We Buy<\/span><\/i> contains a wealth of anecdotes and retail lessons you can apply immediately to your own business. It should be required reading for any retail store owner or manager.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do you know what the difference between effectiveness and efficiency means for your business?<\/span><\/p>\n Effectiveness refers to choosing the right priorities to work on in any given day, hour, or moment. Efficiency refers to doing work in a fast, capable manner.<\/span><\/p>\n While efficiency is quite important, <\/span>Essentialism<\/span><\/i> makes a compelling case for focusing on effectiveness in order to create a more successful business (and more fulfilling personal life).<\/span><\/p>\n The author, Greg McKeown, does so through a series of anecdotes, exercises, and thought experiments that are designed to help you:<\/span><\/p>\n He does this by looking at the world through the viewpoint of \u201cEssentialism,\u201d which is all about stripping away everything from your life that is not absolutely crucial. This is in not to be confused with minimalism, which simply advocates having less in your life for the sake of having less.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you find yourself constantly working on busywork that never seems to lead to any real progress, read <\/span>Essentialism<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n If you feel like you\u2019re currently \u201cspinning your wheels\u201d in your life and\/or business, read <\/span>Essentialism<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for specific, retail advice, read <\/span>Essentialism<\/span><\/i> – and then read <\/span>The New Rules of Retail<\/span><\/i> or <\/span>Why We Buy<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Michael Gerber has become somewhat of a guru in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>\n To be fair, his guruship is deserved. The man has a lot of excellent insights into the pitfalls small businesses run into, and how small business owners (like yourself) can avoid them.<\/span><\/p>\n The central idea of this book is what Gerber refers to as the \u201cEntrepreneurial Myth\u201d, or \u201cE-Myth\u201d for short. This is the myth that someone who enjoys and is skilled at a certain job (such as baking bread) will enjoy and be skilled at a business around that job (like running a bakery).<\/span><\/p>\n You may see the pitfalls already – someone who is an excellent baker may not be good at all of the other job functions a bakery needs done to operate smoothly, such as:<\/span><\/p>\n Gerber says that most fledgling entrepreneurs try to do all of the functions of their business themselves, or with one or two employees who each have to perform several job roles. This leads to either burnout on the small business owner\u2019s end, or burnout later when a key employee quits.<\/span><\/p>\n Either way, Gerber advocates using processes to make the business run more systematically. However, Gerber goes a bit far afield with his recommendations, so take them with a grain of salt. <\/span><\/p>\n Specifically, he recommends setting up your processes so that “extremely unskilled” employees could do them, implying that you can (and should) hire the cheapest labor possible. <\/span>We don\u2019t agree with this train of thought, <\/span><\/a>but the overall idea of making your business processes as simple and repeatable as possible is very sound.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n#1:<\/b> Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose<\/b><\/a><\/h2>\n
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This book is for you if:<\/b><\/h3>\n
#2:<\/b> Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping–Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond<\/b> <\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nThis book is for you if:<\/b><\/h3>\n
#3:<\/b> Essentialism<\/b><\/a><\/h2>\n
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This book is for you if:<\/b><\/h3>\n
#4: <\/b>The E-Myth Revisited<\/b><\/a><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n\n
Read this book if:<\/b><\/h3>\n
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