Welcome To Pastors and Church Leaders Conference

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Welcome To Pastors and Church Leaders
Conference

• Bookstore

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Greater Grace TempleBookstore

• Presenter Mrs. Monica Allen
• Executive Manager

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Bookstore Infrastructure
Volunteers

• Bookstore

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Gods call is on your life.It is crucial that
you examine your motives each step of the way to
determine if they align with Gods will.The
prospective bookseller should re-examine his
options and consider that God might be leading
him through an examination of Christian
bookselling into something else.Keep in mind
that ones job no matter how meaningful-ever
brings true contentment. That comes from a
relationship with Jesus Christ. As long as the
work is kept in proper perspective, one will find
joy.

• Are You Called To This Ministry?

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Are You Called To This Ministry?

• The called leader will take their leadership
  seriously, always remembering that they are under
  Gods authority. They must follow His guidelines
  in spiritual matters as well as His guidelines in
  business matters, striving to live a life and run
  a business that will bring honor and glory to
  Him.

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Mission Statement

• The goal of the Greater Grace Temple Bookstore is
  to proclaim and promote the Word of God by
  offering quality, motivational and
  spiritualenrichment products to the parishioners
  of this of this church as well as the people of
  God everywhere.
• We are available daily to serve in a Godly and
  professional manner, persons desiring to learn
  more of His word.
• Our promise to keep fresh new products in the
  store is an example of our commitment to
  excellence.
• We, the Greater Grace Temple Bookstore believe in
  the vision and committed to the continuance of it.

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Vision

• Does your vision line up with your Pastors?
• When we are in ministry it is important that our
  vision is in line with our Pastor.
• A level of comfort and confidence is a must
  between your Pastor and you.
• Your store should represent your Pastor as well
  as yourself.
• Suggestions from your pastor should be taken
  seriously.
• Differences of views should be made known but do
  it respectfully!

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Business Philosophy

• The management of the Greater Grace Temple
  Bookstore believes that the customer has the
  right to a high quality product, a reasonable
  guarantee, as well as honest and friendly
  customer service.
• We will meet all our obligations on time,
  including prompt payment of bills, and meeting
  all government requirements.
• We believe in being honest in all our business
  practices with employees, volunteers, customers
  and suppliers. We are a ministry / business,
  which has the expressed purpose of providing
  materials which proclaim and support the message
  of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

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When you are writing your business plan you
should be concerned with each of the following
items. It is a good idea to list any items that
will prove to the lender that you will be able to
repay the loan.

• History and Position to date
• Market Research
• Completive Business Strategy
• Operations
• Forecasting
• Business Controls
• Executive Summary
• Mission Statement
• Business Structure
• Management Team
• Products and Services

• Appearance and Size of your Business Plan
• Layout and Content
• Who to send your business plan to.
• Oral Presentation of your business plan
• Your Credit
• Location Location Location
• Competitors
• Customer Sensitivities
• Product Features

• The Business Plan

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Business Goals

• Each business should set goals for the time
  periods of (1)one, (3)three, and (5)five years.
• Goals should be clearly written and disseminated
  to those who work with you so that they are not
  forgotten.
• Goals can always be amended as your business
  grows.
• Without a well thought out vision and
  consistent, prayer your business will fail!

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Bookstore Hours of Operation

• It is important that your business hours meet the
  needs of your current customer base.
• Every ministry has different services schedules
  and events. You would want to obtain a church
  calendar of events each year to ensure your store
  is open for every one that is expected to be
  profitable.
• The criteria for receiving wholesale discounts
  from your vendors dictate your operating hours be
  not less than 40 per week.

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Customer Service What is it?
Customer service is providing honest polite and
timely service, with a smile to those entering
your establishment.

• How do we gain relationships?
• Do we sell a product or a relationship?
• Have we handled the customers needs?
• Have we listened to the customer?
• Do we show a sincere willingness to be of
  assistance?
• Do we use positive language that shows the
  customer what we can do?
• Do we smile?
• Are we knowledgeable of our product.

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Customer Service What is it?
Handling Challenging Calls and Customers.

• Be Humble. Even if the customer is acting
  inappropriately, your strategy should be to
  proceed with humanity in what you say and how you
  say it. This approach can put the customer at
  ease and change the situation.
• Focus on the situation. Put aside the emotions.
  Discern the important details of the situation
  and focus on what can be done to resolve the
  issue or problem.
• Remain Poised. Regardless of how the customer is
  acting, the best thing for you to do is to remain
  poised, calm and confident. This allows you to
  focus on the solution and lets the customer know
  that you have the situation under control. Take
  a few deep breaths and maintain a friendly tone
  of voice.
• Avoid defensiveness. Your job is to serve the
  customer not defend yourself against them. If a
  customer makes a negative remark or even blame
  you for the situation, dont react defensively or
  take it personally. Stick to the facts and carry
  on with finding the solution.

• A Kind Word Turneth Away Wrath.

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Speak clearly to the customer.When speaking to
your customer look them in the eye.Know your
product.Establish a rapport with your
customer.Listen carefully to your
customer.Encourage the customer to inform you
of his or her need.Acknowledge your
mistake.Apologize (even if you did not make the
mistake).
Encourage feedback from the customer.Offer a
workable solution to the problem.Recognize a
challenge as an opportunity for sales and a loyal
customer.Go the extra mile. In todays economy
restrictive rules will decline your
business.Special ordering should be a part of
your operation. Prioritizing special orders
gain new customers and maximize inventory value.

• More Customer Service Tips

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Old Management StyleManagement Middle
Management Customer Contact
Employees VolunteersCustomers

• Customer Orientated
• Management Style
• Customers
• Volunteers
• Customer Contact
• Employees
• Middle Management
• Management

• Management Styles

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• The effective leader will build a climate of give
  and take and, when possible allow the team to
  make decisions. When the chips are down, they
  will move with decisive leadership.
• A leader will grant considerable independence and
  power to their staff and will also maintain a
  strong discipline line.
• The leader will encourage self management they
  will back it up with frequent checks and if
  needed, direct supervision.
• The leader must pray for the staff.
• Rewards the staff and pastor (ie.
  Acknowledgements)
• Seeks new training to enhance skills
• Is creative

• Empowerment The Leader

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Empower your staff to make decisions.Your staff
should be a representation of you.Each person
should be aware of his or her authority level
within the business.Understand and appreciate
your team members strengths and
weaknesses.Empower them to monitor their own
progress.Empower them to identify their own
problem areas.Empower them to find
solutions.Employees should enhance their
knowledge of the business, products and customer
bases.Empower your team members to realize
their full potential

• Empowerment Staff

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Bookstore Keys to Success

• Establish procedures for regular operations /
  functions
• Develop training for new members
• Handle as many functions in house as possible.
• Benchmark other ministries for pricing
  advertising new ideas, etc.
• Communicate regularly with your Pastor about his
  vision.
• Invest in a computer and appropriate software.
• Refresh yours skills through training.

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Policies and Procedures

• Policies and procedures should be clearly written
  so that customers as well as employees can have a
  full understanding of your policies
• Policies you may want to clearly display are
• Return Policies
• Payment Methods
• Mission Statement.
• Additional Forms That Will Be Needed
• Customer Concern Forms
• Return Forms
• Order Forms
• Inventory Compilation form

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Policies and Procedures Ministry that relates
to the Bookstore

• The store manager must share control over
  policies with the church key leadership. This can
  lead to tension between the store and the church
  membership. Therefore there MUST be established
  and enforced policies. If not the store
  personnel may end up in a difficult position.
• Church staff may consider the store their
  personal library and borrow books without
  returning them. Even if someone leaves a note
  then it becomes cumbersome to the staff to keep
  up with the books that are out among the staff.
  The store staff cannot control this when the
  office staff has keys and can enter when the
  store is closed. Know who has keys to your store
  and make it clear that no one is permitted to
  enter unless the store is open for business.

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The Pre Hire Five Steps before you hire an
employee

• Define the needThe most overlooked and
  under-analyzed step of the pre-hire process. The
  stores payroll is either an investment or an
  expense, so evaluate your budget to help
  determine what you can afford.
• Identify What traits should a successful
  employee in that job have. This will help you in
  reviewing applications and résumé's. Are they
  timely. Do they interact with people well. Etc
  avoid traits that would be subjective or
  discriminatory.
• Determine Skills List the skills need for the
  Job. Do not use existing employees for
  comparison.
• Set Expectations When setting expectations for
  the Job consider the following.
• What task should the employee have mastered in
  the first week? Month? 90 days?
• How will the employee learn these task.
• When will the employee know that he has proven
  his ability and is ready for a new challenge.
• What will the timeline look like for advancement
  in position and/or salary?
• What will the qualifiers for such advancement
  (mastering certain task, develop new skills,
  tenure, etc.)?
• DO NOT RUSH..The need to fill a position in a
  rush can complicate the issue. Taking the time
  to go through the pre-hire process before you
  need to hire a front liner can help improve your
  ability to identify, select and keep the right
  person for the job.

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Product Display

• Audio Clothing Books
  CDs
• Candy Gift Items
  Childrens DVDs
• When placing product in your store, a reasonable
  amount of space should be provided for customers
  to feel comfortable in your store . The Normal
  guideline is TEN feet.
• Products should be placed so that they are easily
  seen, and as much as possible similar items
  should be positioned together. It is always a
  good add props to your product to attract the
  public eye. Products that you really want to
  move should be extremely visible and signage
  should be bold and colorful.

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Project Planning

• It is important to completely think through a
  project before beginning it.
• Make a checklist that encompasses all aspects of
  your project.
• Plan the who, what, when, where and how.
• Your project should be completed in your mind
  weeks before the actual event, so any challenges
  that may occur can be corrected.
• If you fail to plan you plan to fail.

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Product Knowledge

• YOU as the manager, team member or volunteer
  should take the time to review the products in
  the store. In this business it is important to be
  able to answer questions one may have regarding a
  book or even gift items.
• You have (5) five seconds to make an impression
  on customers. It is important that they trust
  your integrity regarding a product.
• He who knows his product will sell the most
• Monica

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Internal Marketing

• The general focus of internal marketing is for
  the members of your church. The approach for
  this type of marketing includes the following
  types of promotion.
• Church Announcements
• Bulletin Boards
• Display Cases
• Media Center
• Frequent Buyer Programs
• E-mail blast to your members is a plus

These marketing mediums are effective and
generally dont require as much money as some
other forms of marketing.
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SalesMaximizing Your Sales Potential

• We are in business to make money. This is a part
  of our calling.
• We can only take a minimal amount of losses.
• Examples of sales are
• Customer Acquisition Sales
• Community Context Sales
• Event Holiday Related Sales
• Customer Loyalty Sales
• Inventory Reduction Sales
• Church bookstores can have a private sale for the
  office staff only.
• A Leaders sale that offers large discounts to
  leaders that day only.
• Christian retailers report that most sales range
  from one day to one month-the most common period
  being one week, Saturday to Friday. Longer
  periods lend themselves to coupon sales in which
  customers have one month to redeem a coupon.
  Shorter sales are usually narrower in focus with
  deeper discounts
• Example 40 off all bibles Thursday Only.
• In our market it appears that sales must be at
  least 20 and no more than 50 off to be
  successful.

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Merchandising

• The religious market continues to show a growth
  for several years and is continuing to grow.
  What can we do to get our fair share of the
  market?
• The facts states
• Sales are down in Christian stores. This tells
  me that our competition from non-Christian stores
  is a big factor and is getting bigger.

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Merchandising

• There is hope for us yet!
• We need to
• Have a strong Christian retail relationship with
  our suppliers.
• We need to not only reach the older buyers but we
  need to reach young people, ages 14-34. They
  tend to purchase more product than the mature
  adult population.

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Merchandising / Transactions

• Transactions is the mark that measures any
  retailer. Our goal is to generate as many
  transactions as possible on a hourly, daily,
  weekly and monthly basis.
• Some keys to gaining transactions is
• Sell more to your customer
• Bring your existing customers in more often. You
  may have to offer a customer loyalty sale or some
  other sale
• Attract new customers. Send out mailers to homes
  in your area. Keep a mailing list visible. Be
  creative in your sales.

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Merchandising / Categorizing

• It is important to categorize the books on your
  stores shelves. Categorizing helps the customer
  who comes into your store looking for a
  particular book find it and encourage them to
  purchase another book dealing with the same
  issue.
• While it is great to encourage a customer to buy
  another book is it is even better to gain a new
  customer who came in without a particular
  purchase in mind.

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Merchandising / Tracking

• Strategies for Tracking transactions
• Have someone sit at your door to count the number
  of people coming in. They should then count the
  number of people who leave out with bags.
• 2. When customers come in ask them three
  questions and keep a record of the answer
• A. Did you come to the store today in search of
  something specific
• B. Did you find/buy it.
• C. If not Why not.
• Use these questions to measure the salability of
  your product as well as the price points of your
  product.

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Externally Marketing Your Business
Web Sites Outdoor Advertisements Trade Shows
(Conventions) Specialty Advertisements Public
Relations Telemarketing Brochures Word of
Mouth Internet Advertisements
Newspapers Magazines Classified
Advertising Yellow Pages Radio Television Direct
Mail Flyers Pastors Engagements

• These marketing mediums are more complex and
  expensive.
• However they can be profitable to your business.

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Inventory / Record Keeping
There are many choices for inventory
software. QuickBooks P.O.S. Book log
P.O.S. Bookstore Manager These three proven
software programs that can be utilized. Until you
can afford a software program, keep your
inventory in excel.

• How do you know what is in your store?
• When do you re-order items needed in your store?
• How do you know if there is a problem with theft?
• How do you know that a product is available in
  the store.
• What are your expenses?

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Average Store Sales / Inventory

• The following is the average amount of product
  that will be sold in a store. One of the major
  threats to a Christian retailer is to purchase
  too much product and you are not able to move
  it.
• In a small store there should be a fairly close
  correlation between actual sales, inventory value
  and square footage. Ratios among the three will
  vary from department to department. However the
  ratios should still remain close.
• Bibles 16.0
• Christian Books - 27.0
• Curriculum / Church Supplies 9.0
• Gift Items - 14
• Tapes / CDs 15.0
• Videos - 2.0 (unless you have an exclusive item
  to your store.)
• T-shirts - / Clothing 6 ( Unless you have an
  exclusive item to your store)
• Children's - 3.0
• Arts Collectibles 1.0
• Other - 4.0
• Consignments 3

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Showing Love through your store
In this presentation we have tried to provide the
necessary tools to begin your ministry /
Bookstore. Godly love, product knowledge, the
right inventory mix will propel you
store. Remember, what you do will affect the
lives of each and every person entering your
retail establishment. Know your calling and
maximize what God has entrusted into your hands.
Our calling for this time is ministry /Business

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Recommended Reading
Developing the Leaders Around You John C.
Maxwell Leadership 101
John C. Maxwell The Winning Attitude
John C.
Maxwell Developing the Leader Within You
John C. Maxwell 7 Releasing Your Potential
Dr. Myles Monroe When Leadership and
Discipleship Collide Bill Hybels The
Volunteer Revolution
Bill Hybels

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Thank YouYou Are Your Stores Future

• Lives are richer with integrity as customers
  internalize resources that Christian Bookstores
  offers
• Adnil Research

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Greater Grace TempleBookstore

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