Secret #25: Establish a Relationship Between a Vendor's Price Increases and Your Own.

Failing to raise prices in response to a vendor's price increase is not strategic and, over time, will destroy a retailer's bottom line. Make cost-of-living adjustments, and increase pricing in tandem with any rise in your own cost of goods.

Secret #26: Build the Discount into the Price.

Foresight and strategy are necessary when incorporating successful discounting policies into your independent businesses. Retailers must build the potential discount into the initial pricing of a product to protect their target margins and ultimately preserve their bottom line. 

Secret #27: Be the Pricing Leader.

By strategizing and trusting your industry expertise, you can confidently take the lead in setting price standard increases. The pricing trend leader stands to achieve the most substantial profit, and as other retailers follow your lead, your prices will become competitive. The profits you have earned will place you in the position to perpetuate the cycle, and you will once again lead the industry when price increases are needed to respond to rising costs or to improve profit margins.

Secret #28: Recognize the Strength in Numbers.

By building strategic alliances with other retailers outside their local market, independent shops can realize significant savings by way of bulk purchases and more efficient shipment methods. Get rid of the middleman, use freight consolidators, and share containers with noncompetitive retailers located in your area.

Secret #29: Take Risks You Cannot Afford.

To sell 100 items, you must first buy 100 items. Achieving greater profit requires greater risk. Learn to identify buying opportunities (such as closeout sales) that allow you to offer great deals to your customers while obtaining huge margins for your company.

Secret #30: Be Proud of Your Prices.

Customers who choose independent retail stores over mega-chains do so intentionally and with full knowledge of the increased prices they will pay, as well as the increased benefits they will enjoy. Retailers must value the worth of the pleasant shopping experience they provide-customer service, expanded selection, and higher quality products-as highly as do their customers and be confident and assertive in standing behind their higher prices.

Secret #31: Budget in Stages.

Although a budget might seem like a low priority, its creation will propel a retailer's progression forward. By learning simple strategies, retailers can devise budgets that truly account for their profits and expenses.

Secret #32: Avoid the "Just Enough" Syndrome.

By focusing constantly on finding "extra" money, a retailer can avoid last-minute crunches to find "just enough" money to cover its current expenses. Setting money aside regularly allows a retailer to grow stronger and more successfully weather the financial storms that inevitably arise.

Secret #33: Be Vigilant.

Continue growing and developing as an entrepreneur. Read every business book you can get your hands on. Hire a business coach. Join associations. Network. Subscribe to industry magazines.

"It is one thing to inspire a retailer to take action; it is quite another to provide directions that allow the retailer to make his dreams a reality. The Retailer's Roadmap to Success provides both."
-Tom Hill, co-author, Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur's Soul