"The Retail Mastery System doesn’t cost it pays. It pays big."
-- David Garofolo, Two Guys Smoke Shop
David Garofolo owns three stores in New Hampshire that have been selling cigars and accessories for 25 years.
"About two years ago we went to a seminar and heard Bob speak and immediately bought the Retail Mastery System. I only wish I bought it 25 years ago - it has helped us out a lot!
I could go through the System again and again. This is like the Bible of our store right now. We go back all the time and see what we missed and see what we can use today that we haven't used before.
We sell a very unique item, we sell cigars. I was a little hesitant about purchasing at first because I thought our store was different than everyone else’s. Nobody drives by and says, “Hey, I think I’ll take up smoking today; especially cigar smoking.” So I thought I wasn’t going to be able to use a lot of the System in my store because it’s a niche type of business. But I was wrong. Everything in here can be used in our business also."
11 Essential Retail Skills
"What I like best about the Retail Mastery System is its diversity. It’s not just one thing it’s the hundreds of things I get out of it; many, many ideas.
Even with 25 years experience, we go back to it all the time... we’re unsure what direction to take, how to handle this problem customer or vendor, or how to do this marketing thing, or how to develop an employee who isn’t doing what we expect of them, so we go through the System, refresh ourselves, turn it around, and everything goes much, much smoother because of it."
FInancial Growth
"We have a 25 year old business and we bought the System two years ago when it looked the economy was really crashing. I have a disposable income product and my business should have been really affected by the economy because a premium cigar is not the first thing somebody needs. But what's happened is we’ve continued to grow through a terrible economy, so I know that it has helped us financially."
Staff Development
"We have 16 employees and all 16 people have been improved because of the Retail Mastery System. I know each employee here is happier, more professional. They’ve improved themselves from watching the videos and they’re happier because they’re more successful employees.
We’ve gone from monthly bonuses to weekly bonuses, which has helped us to motivate employees and there is a daily buzz in here instead just at the last few days of the month.
It seems like we really attract the right the right people when it comes to advertising for an employee. The red-hot help wanted ad section really brought us better qualified, happier, people."
Hesitant to Invest?
"Well, don’t hesitate. The Retail Mastery System doesn’t cost it pays. It pays big. The longer you wait the more you’re losing. I wish I had bought this before I opened the business but obviously it wasn’t around 25 years ago. This is something that even if you’re just thinking about starting a business you might as well do it the right way from the start.
After 23 years I was still doing things the wrong way. Being self-employed almost all my life it was hard to take somebody telling me, “Here, this is the way it should be.” But as you listen to why Bob’s saying the things he is, it makes sense. Despite being successful we made the changes he suggested and they have paid off dramatically.
I’d like to be able to come up to you and say I disagree with this, or have found something that I feel is different after my 25 years experience, but in the two years I have this I haven’t found that yet. Everything we’ve implemented has worked. It has worked and it has paid off well.
If somebody's business is really hurting and they don’t buy it, then they're not going to turn things around and become more successful. Its such an cheap insurance policy to have the System here to steer you in the right direction."
