Face it, you will one day lose the data in your computer.

Your hard drive will break, you’ll lose your laptop, your data will be corrupted. Something bad will happen. It’s just a matter of when.Photographs, calendars, music, financial records GONE.  Just like that.

There are all kinds of ways to back up data. You can burn CD’s or DVD’s (which is time consuming and requires your presence), you can back up to an online service (which can be expensive – and sometimes time consuming depending on your connection), you can back up to flash memory or an external hard drive.

Or you can buy one of these babies.  The Buffalo Drive Station Duo.

For less than $250.00 you can have a storage device that will write your data to two completely independent hard drives.  If one crashes, the other is still fine – and you are alerted to the problem by a red light.

It comes with backup software that works great or you can buy my favorite – Acronis True Image – that makes perfect mirrors of your hard drive so restoration is just one step – applications and all.  You can also easily back up media files, outlook files, etc.

It will make backups according to a schedule and without your attention.

The only negative is that if your computer is always next to the backup drives, then while you have

brilliantly protected yourself against mechanical problems, you would still be lost in case of fire or flood.  

To protect against that, you might want to do what I do and make a third backup to a small hard drive once each week or so that you then keep somewhere else.

Everyone that uses a computer will suffer a data tragedy at some point – and with more and more of our lives depending on the unfailing reliability of a spinning hard drive platter, it makes good sense to be careful.

Marc Bluestone

We all know that arriving at a restaurant five minutes before closing and expecting service is not a good plan.  How about arriving at a fast-service restaurant almost an hour before closing?

In most cases you’d be fine unless you wanted to eat at ‘Pick Up Stix” in Carslbad, California.  On a recent visit, I walked up to their door a full 50 minutes before closing to find every chair in the restaurant (inside & out) picked up for the evening and the cashier closing out his drawer.

What happened? My guess is one of two things…  Either the manager really wanted to go home and took advantage of a slow night to get a head start. Or, the manager was thinking about his payroll budget and thought he was doing something good for the team.

Either way, his choice effectively closed the restaurant because other than take out, the place was totally inhospitable to customers.  The staff obviously didn’t want to serve anyone else that night – and my guess is they got their wish.

One fundamental discipline when you’re serving the public is that you never open late and you never close early.  And when you are open, you need to be ready to thrill customers every minute.

If you absolutely must get a head start on closing, do it in ways the customer can’t see.  In the case of this restaurant, they could have cleaned the kitchen and restrooms.  If you need to vacuum, how about doing the back half and leave the front half for after closing?

If you are consistently slow in your late hours, then offically change your hours to close an hour earlier – that would be better than staying open and sending a bad vibe.

Store hours are a service commitment.  Honor them!

Marc Bluestone

I just returned from Atlanta having spent a few days at an Art & Framing industry trade show.

Although the show was bit short on inspiration, I can tell you one thing that blew me away… the consistent and conspicuous courtesy of all the service personnel I met.

I have been to Atlanta many times before and found it to be unremarkable – but this time it seems as if the entire city got together and had a meeting about treating visitors well.

The front desk staff at the Atlanta Downtown Marriott got me started with outstanding service.  They allowed an early check-in, gave me a great room, and showed great interest in offering whatever information I needed.  All with a smile.

The ladies working the check-in counter at the show (notorious for not really caring much) were efficient, smiling and full of good spirit.

The guys working at the food court in building C of the World Congress Center were focused on taking orders, moving you quickly through the line, preparing your food exactly the right way, and doing it all with enthusiasm and joy.

The bartender at the Omni Hotel went beyond taking orders – he offered me tastes of a few different beers before I ordered – how cool!

Finally, a lady working at the news stand at the airport was pleasant and helpful beyond anything I have ever experienced.

Either there’s something in the water in Atlanta that’s making people happy or there’s a concerted effort to raise the image of the city among visitors.  Either way works for me.

Here’s my point – courtesy, concern, attention and a conspicuously good mood go a long way towards making the customer happy.  Make sure you train your people to understand that and expect that it be their way.

Marc Bluestone

It’s tough to drive down a street and not spot a retail store sign that is filthy or suffering from dead bulbs.

You would think that the owner or manager of any business would be sure that the first thing a customer sees is clean, bright and in good repair. But too often they don’t and the only possible outcome is a devaluing of their brand.

Here are a few tips to help keep you out of trouble…

1)      Look at your store the way customers do.  Sure, you may enter and leave through the rear, but every day you must also be sure to go across the street and see your store the way customers do.  Evaluate cleanliness, display quality, signage, etc.

2)      Contract with a sign company to maintain your exterior signs.  At least once each year, spend a couple hundred dollars to have a sign company come and clean your sign.  Dirt, dust, gifts from passing birds, etc. have all hurt the appearance of your sign.  If your sign depends on fluorescent bulbs, have them changed – even if they are not burned out.

      Have you ever noticed that when you change a fluorescent bulb, the new one causes the old ones to look dim?  That’s because they are. Bulbs burn forever, but they are bright for just a short time.  Changing your bulbs annually keeps things bright.

3)      If your sign is neon, make sure all of the letters are working.  Some neon seems to burn brightly forever.  Some – not so much.  It depends a lot on the quality of the initial build.  Have dim portions rebuilt.

4)      Pay attention to the non illuminated portions of your signage.  Awnings, vinyl lettering, etc.  All can fade and give your business a dingy image.  Get it repaired or replaced as necessary.

It’s an old saying but it’s true… You only get one chance to make a first impression.  Proper maintenance helps you transmit the right message to your customers.

Marc Bluestone

I’m getting ready to attend the Picture Framing Industry’s trade show in Atlanta and I realize that my shoes are looking pretty tired and need a good, professional shining.

Every night on the way home from work I pass a shoe repair store with neon signs announcing all of their services – including fast service and shining.

As I walk up from the street towards the store, I see the shopkeeper sitting at the counter by the front door doing absolutely nothing.

That always gives me mixed feelings.  Generally, I would like my staff to be doing something.  On the odd chance that they don’t, I’d at least like them to appear as if they are.  I think it adds a vibrancy and credibility to the retail scene.  Customers are thrilled if you drop what you are doing to help them.  On the other hand, customers feel oddly apologetic if they feel like they are disturbing your downtime.

In this case however, I felt positive that he was doing nothing because it meant he would almost certainly have time to take care of what I needed.

So I walk into the store and the guy behind the counter looks up at me and the pair of shoes I have in my hand and says absolutely nothing.  Okay, it would obviously be up to me to lead him through the process…

“Can you shine my shoes?” I ask.

“Sure” he says.

“Can you do it while I wait?”

“No, I do them all at once after closing – you can get them tomorrow.”

“Actually, I have an early plane tomorrow. Would it be possible to get them this afternoon?”

“No” – he says while still sitting and staring up at me.

But, he adds, the barber shop two doors down has a shoe shine guy that will probably do it.

I walk down to the barber shop where I can see through the window two barbers sitting and talking (no customers).

As I open the door, they both jump up and welcome me. I ask if they can shine my shoes and they are thrilled to do it.  “Do you need a haircut while you wait?” the second barber asks as the first gets to work on my shoes.

Imagine that – the shoe guy sends me to the barber shop to get my shoes worked on.

The shoe guy sits on his butt while the barbers hustle to make money (and a great impression).

Long term, I’m betting on the barbers. The shoe guy won’t see me again.

Marc Bluestone

I received an email today from someone with whom I have a friendly and cooperative business relationship.

Apparently I had done something that caused them some concern.

Instead of picking up the phone and calling me, they decided to commit a few hundred words to an email in a spirit that can be best described as antagonizing.

It reminded me of everything that is wrong with email.

People will sometimes say things in email that they won’t say in person and will do it in ways that are one sided and terse.  Worse still, the printed nature of email doesn’t allow for any of the clues that we normally use to assess someone’s message such as facial expression and tone of voice.  Making matters worse, the recipient must read through the whole email without having a chance to clear up any misconceptions before digesting your entire tirade.

I am convinced that email is a wonderful tool for the fast exchange of factual information but a terrible way to discuss matters of a more personal or subjective nature.  Clearly email also has the added problem of becoming a lasting record of what might be a momentary bad mood and can also be held against you later.

My habit has always been to try and talk through issues in person or on the phone.  If I send an email, I will usually try and keep it brief and factual.  If I find myself writing too much, I will use that as a warning to reconsider what I am saying as well as how I am saying it.  I may vent by writing a lively draft to someone, but then safely delete it before it is ever sent.

Elliott Spitzer, the Governor of New York, once said something along the lines of “Never write what you can say, never say what you can nod, and never, never put anything in an email.” Of course, his warning has much to do with avoiding legal ramifications, but I would suggest that it has just as much to do with avoiding misunderstandings and embarrassments.

If you’re going to have a problem, it is more likely to be from what you do write than what you don’t.

When in doubt, STEP AWAY FROM THE KEYBOARD.

Marc Bluestone

After 30 years in the retail business, the last 14 building a chain of my own, I feel like I have seen a lot.   And now that my business is successfully transitioned to a wonderful new owner, I actually have time to think about it!

One of the things that keeps entering my mind is how poorly equipped many small business owners are to deal with the challenges that they face.  We deal with experts every day (leasing agents, bankers, advertising salespeople,etc).  Yet we are expected to know everything - to be generalists - which almost by definition makes us poorly prepared to play on the same field as the experts.

From hiring staff to negotiating leases, handling customer problems and displaying merchandise, I have seen a great deal and intend to share often (but not always) relevant thoughts and tips on what I see out there in the world.  My hope is to provide you with some insights and experience to help you run a better business and to get you closer to being on the same level as the ‘experts’.

I am also going to feel free to take detours into areas like traveling with family and also personal technology. Both areas are of interest to me and I have a pretty good track record of picking winners and losers on the technology side.

So there you have it…  3o years a retailer. Hundreds of employees, dozens of leases, tens of thousands of customers.  Somewhere in there I will find something wise - and when I do, you will be the first to know!

Marc