3 Golden Rules To Succeed In Business

No Credit

Fixed Rate

Welcome, Thank you, Visit again

The old small retail shops in India have these 3 very interesting multi color stickers in almost all shops.
These were not just stickers put for decorative purpose. Each of the stickers had a deep underlying
meaning and were the foundation on which they ran their business.

No Credit – This is probably the most important rule in business, no matter what kind of business you
do. These businessmen understood the fundamentals of business very well. Credit means risk and if
there is no credit it means that you have no risk, or at lesser risk! There is also a subtle sub text below
these words “Cash today, Credit tomorrow” which actually means whenever you come to purchase
please bring cash! In simple words there is no credit facility. This is a smart way of doing business and
one should always be clear about this rule. If you buy on cash and start giving credit it is a huge risk and
something that might be the reason of failing in your business! Or if your credit period is lesser from
your supplier than your buyer. Also instant cash means you have more control over your finances and
don’t have to worry about defaults on payments. No credit equals to no loss.

MY POV - Many a business turn turtle because of this reason. There is always money to come In from
the market which in accounting terms is called as “Account receivables” there is a huge concern when
the account receivables are on the higher side. This means that you have lesser cashflow to work! This is
the cornerstone of your business if this is not addressed immediately then you are forced to raise more
capital from the market which is something that should be totally avoided. There is so much more to
add to this but will leave that for another post on “How to work on your credit”

Fixed Rate – There was a time when the customer was not satisfied if an instant discount was not given
but as times changed the customers became more informed and started feeling more comfortable
shopping at stores which had fixed rate sign. Give a pause here and think why did this happen?

There are 2 primary reasons for this. The first being that now you know that what you are paying is a
fair/good price for the product you are buying and secondly you don’t come out of the store not
knowing for sure if the bargain was good enough or not or if you have been cheated.

From a buyers psychological point of view this is very important. You might more willing to give a fair
price rather than get cheated by the retailer on bargaining. It was common previously to compare the
rates of products you bought in your friends circle and most felt a tad bit sad when they realized that
their friend had bought the same product from the same store at a lesser price.

The retailer also doesn’t forget to mention that he guarantees that the price is the cheapest for the
product he is selling. It’s a win-win situation for both the parties hence It works beautifully. No matter
how good a bargainer you are you simply cannot out bargain the seller!

Food for thought – Has the bargain turned into fixed discount in the online space? It is satisfying the
same emotional needs?
Welcome, Thank you, Visit again – Small innocuous looking words inside most retail business stores and
you don’t even think twice about them. But are they put up simply at the store? The welcome sign is
probably the most important sign inside a retail store. It makes you feel welcomed! It tells you that you
presence in the store is required. That’s a direct connection (I wonder if there is a substitute to this on
the online media) another sticker inside the shop says thank you! You read it sub consciously and it
somehow made you feel good. Done & dusted, now let’s make the sale good. There’s most of the time
another sticker which reads “Visit again”. This is preparing your mind to remember this store and to visit
it again. There are more chances you would visit this store again, why not it ticked all your emotional
quotients. The question is are you ready to put these stickers on your business?

Let me know - Should we start using these 3 stickers in our website and social media pages. What do you
think? Let me know with your comments below.