Which strategy have you chosen to beat the mass merchandisers? Though you may lose some customers to them, you can retain a high percentage of your clients - and make them more loyal to you than the other consumers are to the big-box stores.

Research conducted by the Gallup Organization shows that most “satisfied” customers do not come back — only loyal customers do. When a customer of yours comes back to your store or showroom, do you know the real reason why she returned?

In the last installment of The Art of Retail Management, I gave you some reasons why retailers prosper when they differentiate their package of products and services in ways that delight customers. In fact, you can delight them so much that they willingly pay a premium for your store's package.

You can't change 'em! Customers want to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges - not apples to oranges. So, smart consumers search first for suppliers of good quality fruit. When they find two stores offering the same quality, they win because they've eliminated all variables but price. They've narrowed their buying decision to one issue.

Because today’s market is served by a surplus of retailers, customers have the power to penalize retailers who infringe on their time through delays, mistakes or inconveniences. Has a “customer from hell” ever penalized you? And more important, do you understand the full cost of your recent mistakes?

It's been said that a successful business is not determined by fate nor good fortune, but by a succession of successful days. Success is about today -- not tomorrow or next week. It's all about today. If you want to have a successful business, have a successful today.

Keeping an eye on the prize is something that many business owners tend to forget about, thinking about today instead of what will happen tomorrow. Sam Allman looks at how a lack of vision can affect a business' success.

Anyone can start a company. However, few can sustain it. Roughly, just one out of every seven companies survives for any appreciable length of time. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce, only about 15% of businesses survive for 10 years.