MORGAN HILL, Calif. (BRAIN) — A new book written by Donny Perry, global development manager for Specialized Bicycles' retail education program, is now available on Amazon.
In "Leading Out Retail: A Creative Look at Bicycle Retail and What All Retailers Can Learn From It" Perry explains what he believes to be a paradigm shift in bike retail and provides strategies on how to boost profit through service, what the most important question to ask every customer is, and how to manage the Timmy Factor.
In his role at Specialized, Perry develops training programs for IBDs. His training has been translated into nine languages and is taught in more than 20 countries. He's recently led Specialized's retailer training in Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, Canada, UK, China, South Africa and Israel. Before joining Specialized in 2008, Perry worked as a bike messenger in Chicago and nearly a decade in bike retail. He's also a former Cat 1 and 2 track racer.
The book took about nine months to complete. "The goal of the book was to help bike retailers understand their businesses better and give them a glimpse of the future," Perry told BRAIN via email. "I have presented some of the book's ideas at SBCU or other Specialized events, but I couldn't have written the book without the support of Mike Sinyard, my colleagues at Specialized, and some great retailers."
"Leading Out Retail" combines research and insights obtained from visits to more than 500 worldwide bike retailers.
Perry explains the motivation behind the book in the Prologue: "First, I believe that the world of retail is undergoing the sort of change you only see every 70-100 years. It is the type of change that will force many to think of their store in a whole new context. Second, I believe that retailers who are prepared and open to moving laterally in their business have a chance to survive and even thrive through this paradigm shift. Third, I believe that over the next decade many bike retailers will go out of business and that presents a unique growth opportunity for those that don't. Fourth, I believe that over the next decade new retailers will emerge with business models that seem impossible to understand. Finally, I believe that every process, procedure and method we have been using for the last 100 years should be scrutinized and reimagined in every way possible...."
"In this book I hope to explore strategies and tactics for small-to-medium sized retailers, specifically bike retailers, to prepare them and give them the confidence to make those lateral moves in business."
The 240-page book is available on Amazon as an e-book (Kindle) for $7.95 and as a paperback for $14.95.
More info: leadingoutretail.com.
