If you’re not reading Entrepreneur magazine or Entrepreneur.com, get with the program. It should be required reading for anyone in retail, whether new kid on the block or seasoned veteran.

Entrepreneur columnist Brad Sugars has a great piece on MSNBC.com on six steps you and your staff can take to turn shoppers into buyers. Besides the obvious–banning “Can I help you?” from the retail floor–Sugars says the first step is to calculate your conversion rate. It’s easy to do and the results will help you fine-tune your sales techniques.

Even answering phone inquires correctly can help boost sales, Sugars says. I called an auto repair shop recently to get an idea of what they charge for various services. The guy at the other end acted like he was put out and in a rush to get off the phone. If he had only asked me a few questions about my car or my driving habits, he probably would have had a new customer. But he didn’t and I eventually found a more customer-focused mechanic.

You hear it stressed again and again: Listen to the customer before you start your sales pitch. Act like you’re a trusted adviser rather than a salesperson trying to make a quota. Whether face to face, on the phone or online, remember that customer loyalty starts with great customer service.

Read what Sugars has to say. Then make sure your sales staff reads it. And encourage them to visit Entrepreneur.com. It could be the best sales pitch you ever make.

So we signed on the dotted line and started designing and building our new office and showroom. We perform this type of work for our clients on a daily basis, so the process was not difficult from a technical standpoint. The hard part was figuring out how to allocate the new space. We needed room for sales, administration, design, web development services, warehousing and lectures. We had some competing interests and if I had allocated the space everyone wanted we would have had to double the size of the facility!

Instead we just started blocking out the available space; laying in desks, chairs, fixtures and displays and working with each department to try to figure out what they really needed in terms of space and equipment. Further we had to take in to account the needs of our customers- traffic flow through the showroom, access to bathrooms, ease of parking, etc. Every aspect of both the customer and the employee experience had to be taken in to account.

The overlay on all of this was of course budget. The landlord provided a reasonable build out allowance and we had fixtures and displays to add on top of that. Of course every single budgeted item came in a little higher than expected, but we value engineered as necessary and kept our targeted budget in sight - right up until the handicap accessibility rules cropped up! We had a little disagreement with the landlord regarding who was responsible for making the property ADA (American Disability Act) compliant. In most cities the ADA rules crop up when the tenant or the property owner gets a permit to improve the property or someone sues for noncompliance. It’s at that point the city tells the tenant or the owner to make the property ADA compliant. In our case, San Diego provides an exemption that limits the investment in compliance to 20% of the overall improvement budget (In our case $60,000.). At the new showroom, most of the compliance work was on the outside of the build and included grading, parking and sidewalk - all to the tune of $30,000. As the costs increased so did my blood pressure. Since we were getting pressured by our existing Landlord to get moved we eventually claimed the 20% exemption and moved forward with some interior work and 100 feet of new sidewalks. I will attempt to work things out with the landlord once the project is complete.

We did have a few other issues, which included leaking air conditioners that pumped hot instead of cold air, leaking windows, colors that looked better on the color chip then on the walls, flooring materials that were sent short, contractors who showed up late, early or not at all, and of course, the usual issues that all builders deal with and that I simply refer to as “The Zen of Store Building.”

Now on January 21, 2008, one week after we had scheduled our move, we will in fact move! I suspect the computers will glitch as will the phones and we will suffer through some growing pains as well. The showroom is next so, if the stars align, by around March 1st the showroom and retail learning center will open. That means substantially more customers visiting the facility, but that also means additional trained personnel and upgraded dress codes (there go the flip flops, t-shirts and backwards ball caps!).

The real benefit is that our new facility will let us interface more effectively with our customers while allowing them to touch and feel a myriad of fixtures, materials, samples and more. As we move forward we’ll keep you informed of our progress and the dates for the grand opening.

Here’s a juicy nugget of information: “About 68 percent of Americans spend more time with their computers than their spouses,” says a trend-spotter quoted in this Cincinatti.comarticle. It’s juicy because savvy retailers can turn that rather sad statistic into a marketing advantage.

Even though the article is mostly about grocery retailers, it points out how customers really cherish relationships with their favorite stores. “Only 27 percent of grocery shoppers are loyal to a store,” an IBM retailing pro says. “That leaves three of four shoppers up for grabs.”

One way to grab them, the trend-spotter says: “Reach them with text messages and you lock in a customer.” I think it’s a great idea. Tex-messaging your customers’ cell phones and sending regular emails helps cement their loyalty to you. Making them the first to know about new products or special sales is easy and effective. Both tactics should be a part of your retailing toolkit. And if their spouse gets jealous, all the better for you

The article also discusses the growing impact of devices such as handheld scanners that allow shoppers to check each item they put in their cart, and then do a self-checkout without using a cashier. “Consumer goods companies now have the ability to talk directly to a customer in the store and are less reliant on commercials on TV,” a Motorola marketing exec says. “Electronic marketing offers a real competitive advantage.”

While such in-store devices are just debuting now, you should check them out now. You don’t want to be left in the dust when your customers decide to be loyal to someone else.

I hope you had a great holiday season. But as we constantly hear from the experts, that season is when many retailers grab one-third of their annual revenues. Now that you’re on a roll, how are you going to keep from rolling downhill?

First of all, take some time for yourself, the article says. Relax, take a vacation, get your mind off work for a while. Then start focusing on how to keep the sales momentum going. Get more connected to your customers than ever, those experts say, because if you’re not doing it, someone else is.

In this challenging economy, you’ve got to do more than have great store layout and great merchandise. Make sure your staff also is well-rested and ready to tackle the new year. Watch you customers’ shopping patterns. Are more customers coming in during the lunch hour than in the evening? If so, modify the work schedule so you have more staff during the busy hours.

Customer loyalty is more important than ever. Use every trick in the book to maintain it. Use invitation-only sales, email newsletters, rewards programs, coupons and community sponsorships. “How a person feels after they shop at a store is extremely important,” a retail-turnover expert says. Make it your resolution to make everyone who shops at your place feel like a special guest. Don’t go overboard, but show your appreciation every way you can. You can be sure your competition is.

It’s hard to believe that we started this blog almost exactly one year ago! The retail landscape continues to evolve at Internet speed, even for strictly brick-and-mortar stores. I rarely find a retailer who hasn’t tapped into the web’s power, either for online ordering or to keep track of the competition.

Looking back at 2007, here are a few of the blog topics that stood out in my mind, some web-related, some not:

• Are You Hitting the Right Notes with Customers? January 25: Industry studies show that the right music keeps customers in stores longer and keeps them in spending mode…Not sure what kind of tunes your customers like? Ask them. Give them a quick music survey form to complete and drop in a box.

• Online Reviews are Nothing to be Afraid Of; February 15: As this article in Business Week points out, letting your customers honestly critique your business can be a good thing…In this age of online social networking, the article says, “…63% of shoppers are more likely to purchase from a site if it has ratings and review.”

• Are You “Experienced”? March 28, 2007: Now I see in The New York Times (free registration may be required) that retail giants like Samsung are opening huge “experience” stores where they don’t sell a thing…I try to make every store our company designs an experience in itself. We do our best to get customers in your door. The rest is up to you.

• The Customer is Always Right, You Guys; May 10, 2007: Places like Vons, Cost Plus World Market and Coco’s are more helpful than before. They look you in the eye, listen to your questions and are eager to help. If these guys–I mean these staff members–can do it, so can your guys, gals and other valued employees.

I look forward to learning about more retail changes in 2008. There’s plenty of helpful advice online. I always encourage retailers to visit the competition as well as stores they admire. Analyze how they entice customers from the front windows to the back shelves, and then emulate them in your own style.

Even in this down economy, I’m still the optimist – I see nothing but good times ahead this year. We’ll soon announce some exciting news about how we can help you improve all aspects of your retail business. Whether you buy your fixtures from us is unimportant. We just want you to give you the tools for success. Because when you succeed, it benefits all of retail.

Happy New Year. You deserve it!

Independent computer-repair shops are usually pretty dreary places. Even with the Geek Squad campaign that elevates PC nerds to lovable heroes, I’ve found the smaller independent “screwdriver shops” to be pretty good at repairs and data recovery, but not at all good at store layout. Not that they necessarily need to be attractive, but it wouldn’t hurt, either.

I mention all this because I just visited a fairly new addition to this market, Data Doctors. Their new shop in Vista, California, stands out from the pack, starting with the signage. It’s bold and bright, and immediately tells you what kind of place this is. Inside the store are large, great-looking wall hangings that reinforce the message. One graphic is of a toaster popping up CD disks, with the headline “Is your data toast? We’ll recover it.”

The store is clean and inviting, with modern cabinetry and just a long counter for the geek on duty. Behind that are panels shielding the actual repair area, which we probably wouldn’t want to look at anyway, so long as the work gets done properly.

If anything, I think the place looks a little too sparse in front. No chairs, no magazines, nothing that makes a customer want to stick around. Now that in itself might be a good way to keep naggy non-geeks from lingering. But I think a few items of merchandise and chairs would lend a homier touch — and a reason to check out all the graphics. There were so many, I didn’t have time to check them all out.

Data Doctors is a small chain that seems to be growing fast. They didn’t pop up on the first page of Google searches for “computer repair” and “data recovery.” I hope they have smart marketers who will remedy that situation. I think Data Doctors is on track for success with a winning prescription of graphics and design. And with a little more self-medication, they might give the Geek Squad a run for their money.