Attempting Small and Ad-hoc Business

MeiBeng (my younger sister) is going to run a small business soon. She will set up booth to sell cookies at One Utama end of Dec 08 till end of Jan 09. This will be her first time. She called me to ask for financial support. At the beginning, I hesitated to help her. I worried this could be a rash decision and lack of careful business planning. After talking to her, I found out that she is indeed serious about it and had done her homework.

She is a very extrovert girl by nature. She has good track record in her retailer sales job for the past few years. Her previous boss promoted her and entrusted her to supervise a team. I always feel very encouraged when she did well and I always believe she can do very well in this area. I always hope to sponsor/partner her to start our family-owned business one day.

Here are a few things to be considered on this business opportunity:

• Strategic locations – The shopping mall is always crowded in normal days and holiday seasons based on past experience. The booth will be set up at ground floor. We don’t have to worry good human traffic passing by our booth.
• Quality food – The food is tasty. She managed to sell quite a lot via direct distribution to friends last CNY. She will get the food from the same source and has faith on the food quality.
• Good price – We have to prepare to adjust the price as I foresee fierce competition during that period. There will be a few stalls selling CNY cookies as well. We have to manage the price carefully to ensure maximum profitability. Depending on customers’ behavior, we can sell the goods differently, e.g. buy 2 free 1, buy 3 50%, etc...to be more flexible and creative.
• Excellent sales person – She and Ah Heng will still work on their current job. Their availability to man the booth is very limited. Initially she planned to get Ah Heng’s mum to help. I was very concerned as the mum is quiet and slow. She will not do a good job. She is now trying to hire an experience sales lady. I advised her to pay the lady commission based on sales volume on top of the basic pay. In this way, she can motivate the sales lady to boost the sales volume and increase profitability.
• Aggressive advertisement – If possible, we have to give out flyers at different entrance to attract as many customers as possible. There is power in good advertisement. I already observed how my company’s neighbor does it.
• Good operation and management – Ensure supply of food is on time and sufficient. Plan off-day wisely to be available at the booth during peak-hour/peak-day of the week to boost sales.