We spend all sorts of time and money working on the “big idea.” What’s going to bring our businesses to the next level of success? Sometimes we spend so much time looking for this big “bang” that we don’t look right in front of us.

One of our clients is a small bookstore. The owner of the bookstore was frustrated that her sales were consistently slipping due to the surge of folks buying books on Amazon.com. She knew she couldn’t compete with Amazon’s convenience and availability for the midnight shopper looking for a book, and she also knew she was challenged by big box and e-retailers deep discounting. The owner did know, however, that she had a talented, book-smart staff that could answer any customer’s questions on a particular book and that customers appreciated this personal knowledge.

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