20 Apr 09 Overstocked? How do you deal with the excess?
When I got home from our shop this evening, I switched on my pc and checked my email. So far so good!
Among my emails was a mail shot from Rick Segel entitled “What Could Your Best Vendor Do?”
Rick proceeded to outline a dilemma being faced by one of the members of The Retailers Advantage. The store owners had built up a good business with one particular supplier over the years. Then customers started to approach the store owners about the same product line being deeply discounted at a bargain outlets. It turned out that the prices for the goods were well below trade price. The store owner had not been offered any of the discounted merchandise prior to the manufacturer dumping their product.
I recently had a conversation with one of our own suppliers more or less on the same vein; they said that there was an overstock of some of their goods and were wondering how best to dispose of the overstock items. Having read Rick’s email tonight, I decided to forward the message to them because a supplier’s reputation is very fragile and, in these testing economic times, it is important to maintain a good relationship with your bread and butter income.
There is a survey at The Retailers Advantage – and I’m going to add my thoughts to the conversation there in just a minute or two. I’ll let you know how I voted after I’ve seen the survey questions.
M
Tags: Rick Segel, Shopping, The Retailers Advantage
09 Apr 09 Bring back the bank manager
Retail banking in the UK for small businesses has never been the same since the Bank Manager disappeared from the High Street Bank.
For many years, when it came time to renew our bank overdraft facilities, our local bank manager (I use the term loosely, our bank is 65 miles from our place of business) would call in to see us along with our accountant to see for himself the way the business looked, discuss the figures, ask what our plans for the year were – and generally do a discreet “health check”. He never made a journey just to see us – we were quite happy to see him on his way to a meeting at head office – or returning home from other business trips.
The business banking section of our bank is now automated – with very little human intervention (or so I am led to believe). When I do have to speak to a business banking team member, I am told that charges happen automatically – and there is no feeling for the quality of our business or the honesty and reliability of us as people and customers of the banking service.
“Bring back bank managers, please,” is my request to the banking industry. Allow for some discretion in your banking rules – and we can all get back to running our businesses.
Tags: bank manager, bank overdraft, banking problems, British banks, business banking, problems with business account
09 Apr 09 Bank overdraft – our renewal case study
Over the past 20 years in business, we have been fortunate to have very few problems with our bank. Sure, the business has run a small overdraft (and continues to do so) but the value of our shop currently covers the overdraft by a considerable margin. Our credit rating is good – last time I checked with experian, they showed no issues with our account.
Our overdraft was due for renewal by the end of February. Our bank requested a copy of our accounts to arrive at least a full working week prior to that to enable them to check details and put the overdraft in place. We did this – we sent the letter by recorded delivery. As we had heard nothing, before the end of February I phoned and was assured that our overdraft was in place.
March continued uneventfully – although at one point my husband mentioned that we hadn’t been informed about the terms of the overdraft. As we were busy that day, I filed that comment in the back of my “I must remember to…..” brain cell, and we carried on.
Then I had a couple of issues I which I needed to discuss with the bank. I phoned their business banking service and discussed matters satisfactorily. I was about to ring off when the lady said “We haven’t received your signed copy of the overdraft offer. We need it asap.” So I replied that we hadn’t received their offer letter and would she please send another.
This further letter didn’t arrive. However, a form I had requested for another transaction did arrive safely. Hmmm. We then started being charged £25 per cheque transaction because of an unauthorised overdraft. My husband became extremely upset and I phoned again, explaining that their offer letter still had not been received.
The third time of asking, the overdraft offer arrived. I signed it – and enclosed a letter in reply, stating that we were extremely dissatisfied with the service – all other correspondence from the bank arrives correctly at our business address and there are now two copies of an overdraft offer letter floating around our area – I certainly have not received them. I requested that the over-charges be refunded as I did not feel I was responsible for this mess. If the bank did send out the letters which have not been received by me – then the Post Office has some issues of non-delivery.
I phoned the bank again yesterday and was told in no uncertain terms that they were upset at the tone of my letter to them. They said the overdraft had been reinstated and, without further discussion of the issue, proceeded to charge £150 for the new overdraft. That makes £300 plus at least £125 in overdue transaction charges.
I am a member of the Federation of Small Businesses – I have never used their business services, but this is one I shall be pursuing with them. I feel it’s an outrageous way to treat a client.
Tags: bank overdraft, banking problems, British banks, Business overdraft, problems with business account, renew overdraft
25 Mar 09 Coolessential.com – an update
A quick update about coolessential.com – so far, no phone calls from my contact there. Also, checking the UK Companies House details for coolessential.com suggests that although incorporated, they have not filed information
Accounting Reference Date: 30/11
Last Accounts Made Up To: (NO ACCOUNTS FILED)
Next Accounts Due: 26/09/2009
Last Return Made Up To:
Next Return Due: 24/12/2008 OVERDUE
… not looking too good at present.
M
Tags: Cool Essential, coolessential shopping portal, coolessential.com
05 Dec 08 Our SMART Viewers
Gang,
It’s been a harrowing 2 and a half weeks and I’m still shell (and sticker!!) shocked—$700 BILLION??– by all that’s come to pass. Just to give you the inside story, for me it all started with Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy. Folks, Friday September 19th, I was literally swinging from the Beverly Hills city limits sign shooting my “Opportunity in America: My Hometown of Beverly Hills” story when my cell phone rang. It was a source of mine telling me that Lehman was hanging by a thread that would soon snap. The source told me that if Lehman didn’t find a cash infusion or partner over the weekend (unlikely), then pre-packaged bankruptcy would be staring them in the face come Monday. I dropped to the grass, told my crew I had to make some phone calls and rushed to the car where I chased down a couple of other sources, got the story confirmed, called into “Countdown to the Closing Bell” (which Brian Sullivan was anchoring for me) and went with the news.
I took no joy in breaking the news. You know from this blog that I actually believed the Lehman Bros. would pull a rabbit out of the hat and surprise us all. Clearly I was wrong. CEO Dick Fuld’s window has slammed shut right on his fingers. Closed, never to open again. I went back to playing Tarzan on the Beverly Hills sign (which you’ll all see Friday October 17th barring any new financial dramas) and finished my shoot with somewhat of a heavy heart.
I had NO IDEA what Lehman’s failure would trigger.
Since then, it’s been a focused push by our team at Fox Business to cover each and every single development of this monster of a story. Some of us hopped on planes, others stayed up all night waiting for comment from various Congressional members, others ran to Times Square to get comments from regular folk who’s 401k’s and pensions were shrinking by the minute. There’s been no breakfast except coffee from our green room, and lunch, but only in the form of high-protein Ensure drinks (vanilla’s the best). I ran from my own shows (which we quickly moved to the New York Stock Exchange) to the O’Reilly Factor, to syndicated radio programs across the nation, to CBS News’ The Early Show to the “Mike and Juliet Show” and back again just to tell people what was going on with each new development. Mike and Juliet have a live audience and at one point, I turned to them and said something like, “This is YOUR money. Don’t you want answers??” and the entire audience cheered. I got the blogosphere version of that with your comments. I was just spending some of my Sunday reading your replies to my “And What Do YOU Think?” blog from last week and I am so bowled over by your responses. They are so thoughtful and smart and ….ANGRY. I completely get that emotion, especially when you look at the price-tag of this bill-that’s-now-a-law.
Thank you SO much for taking the time to comment. Knowing where our viewers stand on this is crucial. We’re in this for you. This is FAR from over, I’m sorry to say. But we’ll do our fighting best to give you the proper perspective you won’t get anywhere else. I’m so proud of our team but I’m even more proud that our viewers are with us. THANK YOU.
See you tomorrow,
Liz
05 Dec 08 Opportunity in America: Life Goes On!
Hi Folks,
After a harrowing couple of weeks of market insanity, one thing we know for sure: it’s not over yet, but life does go on. Therefore, we are continuing with our fabulous series here on FBN: “Opportunity in America: My Hometown.” We’ve been sending all our anchors back to their respective hometowns to get a pulse check of local economies and opportunities. Jeff Flock took us back to Waretown, NJ, Charles Payne led us through his hometown of Harlem, NY, Jenna Lee gave us the tour of her San Francisco, and Friday, it’s my turn to go back to………..
Beverly Hills.
Yep, I was born in LA and raised in BH. I can’t WAIT to take you back there to see a bit of my world. My twist is that all the people whom I will interview Friday are people I’ve known since elementary school, some even since Kindergarten. All of them are still there, finding—nay, CARVING OUT opportunity in our hometown. (I’m the only one who left, hello?) So please join me, starting at 8am ET this Friday October 17th for Liz’s Opportunity in America: My Hometown right here on Fox Business.
See you then!
Liz
05 Dec 08 Tell Me What Worries You Most???
I’ve been talking to viewers, people on Wall Street, my friends. Everyone seems to be worried about the current state of the markets and the economy, but then, when our conversations dig a bit deeper, a sub-set of worries emerges:
How long will it take to regain the money now lost in my kids’ college funds?
How much longer will I be forced to put off retirement now that my retirement nest-egg has been decimated?
Should I pull all my money out of the stock market?
Could this all happen again one day?
Why, when I never invested in anything close to a credit default swap, am I now forced to save everyone who did?
What happens next?
Folks: tell me what worries you now. We should be talking about these issues on the show. I want to hear your thoughts. Let me know.
–Hang in there….
Liz
05 Dec 08 “The Media’s Fault.” AGAIN????
Hi Gang, this morning I’m going to be on a panel that will focus on the “Future of Business Media: Finance as Breaking News.”
Already I can tell it’s gearing up to be a “Let’s blame the media!” cry once again. For what? Ohhh, pull anything out of a hat: It’s the media’s fault that….
–Lenders wrote bad mortgages to people who could never afford to make the payments
–The financial mess turned into a crisis
–Bear and Lehman took ridiculous bets on exotic financial instruments that, as it turns out, even the company leaders didn’t understand
Oh, the list goes on. But who’s fault is this REALLY? Where did it all begin?
i’d love your thoughts.
See you on Fox Business, and thanks again for being a part of what we do.
–Liz
05 Dec 08 Liz’s FBN Excellent Chicago Adventure on Election Night
Oh What a night.
Hi Gang, I’m back from covering Election Night live from Grant Park in Chicago. I don’t need to go through all the superlatives to explain what being there was like, but I do want to give you a window into what it was like to be one of the thousands of international media to cover the historic evening. Here’s my play-by-play, ALL TIMES EASTERN:
4:30pm Monday Left the Fox Business set a half hour early to catch a car to LaGuardia airport and my 7:00 pm flight to Chicago.
5:15pm Just as Executive Producer Gary Schreier anticipated, I get there so early that after I check in and get my Auntie Anne’s pretzel and lemonade, I hop the earlier flight. Sat next to a guy in charge of Risk Management for a top accounting firm. He gives me all the inside dirt about how excited Chicago is for election night. He said all his clients (many of them Obama supporters) have one concern: get their taxes down.
8pm Arrive at O’Hare. Have NEVER seen O’Hare airport so quiet. You could hear a pin drop. One of the workers tells me, “No one’s traveling. They all want to stay home to vote in their district.”
8:24pm Absolutely no traffic. Walk into the Hilton Chicago, dump my stuff and head outside. It’s a balmy 65 degrees. November in Chicago? I brought cashmere! Too late to shop, everything’s closed so I head to the Fox owned-and-operated station WFLD to see my old pal from Cleveland television, Lauren Cohn. She’s the main anchor there. The station is abuzz, their political reporter has 2 phones planted to his ears, and Lauren’s got every fact about the election firmly planted in her brain.
9:15pm I decide to hoof it back to the Hilton because it’s so warm out. There’s a guy playing saxophone on the Michigan Avenue. The song? “So Happy Together.” There are little tables out with people selling Obama campaign pins. The bestseller? A pin with a mock-up front page of the Chicago Tribune with the headline “Obama Wins!” The old “Dewey Defeats Truman” misprint still haunt the media to this day but clearly Chicago is confident.
10:30pm My crew and I meet in the bar for our meeting. Producers Barnini Chakraborty, Michele Nunes, along with photographer Lance Laralin (who flew out from FBN’s San Francisco bureau to cover this) are completely prepared. We talk about every possible outcome, every contigency plan, you name it, we’re ready for it. Lance is suprisingly cool, considering his wife is due to have their second child in, oh, 4 days.
11:30pm We all head to our rooms. I read through all my notes for the 17th time before calling it a night.
TUESDAY, ELECTION DAY 7:00am
7:00am I wake up with one thought: This is FBN’s *first* Election Night. I’m beyond proud of how quickly we’ve come up to speed. We’ve got reporters covering every single angle with the central focus being the economy and the financial crisis. Neil Cavuto will shepherd the coverage. We’re all focused but excited.
8:00am I can’t believe it. I brought 2 cashmere sweaters, boots and handwarmers thinking it would be freezing on Lake Michigan but it’s 70 degrees outside. I have no back-up plan that doesn’t include wool of some kind. Pulling a McGyver, I put on my nephew’s surf shirt which I sleep in. It’s got the words “Clout Malibu” on the sleeves but I doll it up with an Hermes silk scarf. I’m good to go.
1:00pm We head to the location. Lance is already there. I’m stunned at what a perfect vantage point Fox Business has landed. Out of the thousands of international media, I’m on a riser right to the left of the stage. We’re on the ‘cool kids’ riser with the BBC, MTV, the Associated Press, CNN, ABC, Entertainment Tonight and the NY Times. The quarters are CROWDED but no one’s complaining. Yet.
1:20pm Walk into the Fox tent where Major Garrett, Fox News’ superstar reporter (who’s brilliantly covered every step of the Obama campaign) is sitting working quietly on his laptop. I know he’s tired but he doesn’t look it. He’s working the phones. I wait until he’s off and pick his brain about what the campaign is telling him regarding the “day after.” Will Senator Obama hold a news conference? ”Probably not.” Will he name his economic team right away if he wins? “I’m hearing no.” Do you want some of my chocolate I brought? “Not yet, but thanks!”
1:45pm I decide to scope the media area. There’s a catering tent with no food in it. There’s a table with Obama t-shirts, pins and bumper stickers in case the media need props for their live shots. There are 50 port-o-potties with fancy handwashers, thank goodness.
2:00pm We’re trying to figure out how to get Terry Duffy, the Executive Chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group to our location for an exclusive interview for 4pm ET. The crowds are lining up and have clogged Michigan Avenue, along with Roosevelt, the main access point to the park. Our bookers in NYC are working the phones, while Barnini maps out a route through which he can get to us. We’re all set.
2:15pm I head to the media entrance to see how Terry’s going to get through (he doesn’t have a ticket or a campaign pass so we’ll have to get him his guest pass). Heading back to our riser, I spot the CNN tent with a big “Private, NO ENTRANCE” sign on the door. Of course, being a typical reporter, I walk right up to the door and walk in. My husband is a Senior Producer for Special Events so I thought I’d go in and say hi to his buddy Alec. There are a bunch of guys staring at me. “I’m a spy from Fox Business,” I joke. They only sort of laugh. Alec spots me. I say a quick hello, turn to go and see their Hologram set up. I try not to stare but it’s pretty amazing. TV people all love to check out each others’ fancy toys. I’m quite sure rapper Will.i.am will look cool in it. Hank Paulson? Not so much. Remember, we ARE the Business Channel.
2:40pm I head back to the risers. I’m now ensconced in our space and decide I’m not moving much anymore. The riser has become so crowded that you can’t move without having to duck and bend to avoid interrupting other people’s live shots. We’re ready.
3:00pm FBN Executive Producer Terry Baker is in my ear: “You’re up first, Liz.” I do my first hit of what will be around 13 for the night. The general crowds won’t be let in until 9:30pm ET but I’ve got the front pages of both Chicago papers which I hold up, and duck out of the way so Lance can pan and zoom around to show every aspect of what’s going on.
4pm ET Success! Terry Duffy makes it through the crowd! He schleps to our riser and stands next to me as David Asman, back in NYC, tosses to me for the interview. Terry talks about what big business is looking for from the next president and how their new fund which will allow people to trade Credit Default Swaps– hence giving them a real price– is coming along. He’s one of Chicago’s top business leaders. It’s a great coup to get him exclusively.
For the next several hours we land interview a bunch of folks, among them Reverend Jesse Jackson, Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri who, btw, PROMISES to work on getting a President Obama to CUT GOVERNMENT SPENDING, Christie Hefner of Playboy, Democratic strategist Nancy Skinner.
8:15pm I go to the catering tent to grab some food. On the menu? Chicken Noodle stew and pumpkin cake. I’ll eat anything out in the field so I’m thrilled. I sit down with Lance in the Fox tent and literally, AS I’M TAKING MY FIRST BITE, Michele Blackberrys me from the riser: “THEY’RE LETTING IN THE CROWDS EARLY! PEOPLE ARE RUNNING TO THE STAGE!” We drop our forks and run.
For the next 2 and a half hours, we describe the scene for our viewers. I run into the Univision anchor who tells me the Hispanic vote will count for some 9 million votes. He believes that Cubans in Florida who traditionally vote for Republicans will flee the party in droves and vote for Barack Obama. When John McCain gives his concession speech, the crowd of 250,000 falls silent. They applaud for him and for Sarah Palin.
10:55pm Andy Hoffman, our Executive Producer in NYC gets in my ear and says, “California polls are about to close. Vamp til the top of the hour.” Neil throws to me and I detail the scene. Grant Park is historically resonant for this event: FDR brought his campaign trail through this park, Queen Elizabeth drew huge crowds in the ’50’s, and violent, anti-Vietnam War protests happened here during the Democratic Convention in 1968. What a difference 40 years makes. Everyone is jubilant but calm.
11:00:00 pm ET Fox Business and Fox News call the election for Barack Obama. Neil tosses to me. The sound is deafening, the crowd is going wild. I’ve put on headsets at this point but the cheering is blasting through. After describing the moment, I say, “Neil, let’s just listen.” And we did. FBN’s director took shot after shot from every angle possible of the celebration. We’ve all just witnessed history.
People keep asking me what it was like. I can only say I’m proud of this country and I’m proud of Fox Business.
See you on the air!
05 Dec 08 If Anyone Can Save Ford….
…is it current President and CEO Alan Mulally?
Been wrong before. Could be wrong again. But….
Here’s what I’ve seen from him that indicates to me there’s a chance:
–He’s shown ‘tough love’ by cutting both blue AND white collar jobs and forgoing salary increases.
–He’s changed the product mix, moving way more toward energy-efficient vehicles
–He’s even shocked some old timers at Ford by closing or shifting truck plants over to car plants.
–He’s kept Ford’s cash position at levels that still give the company a pulse beyond the first half of 2009.
That said, this economy has all three U.S. auto companies down for the count. He told me today Ford needs more loans from the government. Please listen carefully to my interview from this interview with Mr. Mulally and judge for yourself.
