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Spring Cleaning

Business in general looks good for 2004

1. National indicators reported in the financial news collectively suggest that
2. 004 will be a good year for retail business.
3. Early looks at March income statements suggest that March was a strong month for the large majority of our clients.
4. Auto repair shops still seem to be experiencing a slump, but that seems to have more to do with the number of new and better cars. Auto repair shops should organize a postcard reminder program to build on repeat business and promote constant maintenance.

Slow-moving merchandise

1. Now is the time to get rid of slow-moving merchandise. More customers are coming into your store and daylight savings extends the traffic flow.
2. Find slow-moving merchandise, clean it up, mark it down, and display it in a prominent location: end-cap or at the checkout counter.
3. Do not hesitate to sell below your cost if necessary to get rid of slow-moving merchandise. You have already had a loss on the merchandise. Now you are trying to recover as much of the loss as possible.
4. Do not “excuse” any slow-moving merchandise because it was a “good buy” or is some favorite purchase.
5. There are two reasons to get rid of slow-moving merchandise:
   1. It frees up money to re-invest in good new merchandise, and
   2. It helps to keep the store stocked with “fresh” merchandise.

Repair little things

1. Needed major repairs are difficult to ignore. We tend to major repairs.
2. But consider the little things that together make the store look bad. You may have gotten used to the little things and do not notice how these things, when taken together, look bad.
   1. Broken or chipped wall plates for switches and electrical receptacles.
   2. Broken or missing floor tiles.
   3. Light fixtures filled with dead bugs.
   4. Buzzing or blackened fluorescent light fixtures.
   5. Faded outdoor flags.
   6. Smashed counter edges and gouged counter surfaces.
   7. Accumulated grease and grime spots in the parking lot.
   8. Faded and outdated points-of-purchase signs and banners.
   9. Water stained ceiling tiles.

$100 a month clean-up and repair

1. Make an agreement with yourself to spend a fixed amount of money each month on cleaning and repairing small things.
2. If there is a month when you do not have anything to clean or repair, look around and replace something, upgrade something, add something new.
3. If you make this commitment and stick to it, the store will always look much more inviting to customers than your competitors.
4. Except for other needed repairs, do not overspend. If you spend $500 in a single month on this project, you will probably skip the next few months. Eventually you will forget about the program and small things will continue to decay.

STATE INVENTORY TAX

1. If you provide the information, a year from now you can get a dollar-for-dollar credit for state inventory tax that you paid this year.
2. This is what you should do:
   1. Find your recent property tax bill that you paid in January, February, or March of this year.
   2. Look for a word or abbreviation that indicates that at least a portion of the tax was for store merchandise. Look for “MDSE, “INV,” “MERCHANDISE” spelled out, or “INVENTORY” spelled out.
   3. Using Skotch tape, center the bill in the middle of an 8-1/2" x 11” sheet of paper.
   4. Next find the cancelled check which paid the property tax bill that included inventory tax.
   5. Center the check on another sheet of paper.
   6. Fax both pages to Business Resources & Reports, Inc.
   7. Keep the copies out until I have responded that I have the copies.
   8. I will store the copies until I can use them next year as a dollar-for-dollar credit on next year’s return.
   9. I need BOTH documents. If you send only the cancelled check or only the bill even if you wrote the check number on the bill, the state will not accept the credit.

QUICKBOOKS USERS

1. This is a good time for QuickBooks users to tidy up their Chart of Accounts.
2. Most QuickBooks users experience a “drift” in their Charts of Accounts. Each step is a very small one, but after a year of such small steps, the Chart of Accounts becomes very messy.
3. See guidelines under ACCOUNTING & QUICKBOOKS.

Sincerely,

Dutch Hawkins
(985) 264-9040
(404) 303-7916

Copyright © - 2004 Dutch Hawkins Mandeville, LA USA - All Rights Reserved