Psychology includes an explanation of understanding referred to as the four stages of competence, formally summarized by Gordon Training International in the 70s. Summarized, they are: Unconscious incompetence A person does not know how to do something, and does not recognize their lack of knowledge. They will make mistakes they do not recognize as mistakes, …
As part of building a class on writing for game design in Fall of 2017, I’m creating a series of assignments here. Some will end up in the course, no doubt, and some won’t, but I think my teaching is better when I echo chamber my work far in advance and then go back and …
Today a customer who was in town for work, who had previously patronized the Game Universe chain of stores I managed in Milwaukee, stopped by my new store in Rochester NY. Unfortunately I was not there, but the staffer commented that he had mentioned how he often got things cheaper online, then proceeded to drop …
In business and in life I spend a lot of time looking ahead and projecting. Will big box retail hurt my sales? Will my staff perform above average, or just average? Will I remember to order playmat tubes if I leave myself a 5th reminder message? Whatever it is I’m dithering over, 90% of the …
Part of running a game store, or any business, is customer acquisition and retention. One of the big struggles a game store faces is, somewhat counter-intuitively, what kind of customers to pursue, charm and win over to their fold. Some of this is based on the demographics of a stores’ region, but much of it …
Read more “3 Game Stores in the Wild and How to Identify them”
I see a lot of store owners sweating their competitors. Mostly the ones who apparently operate without business sense or an infinite advertising budget. Or a trust fund. There’s lots of those, in every industry, but far more important is to recognize the good, healthy competitors you have and work with them. Aren’t your competitors …