This is a pretty boring "nuts and bolts" column...one sad thing (or just about right, depending on your POV) is that SF is down to 7 comic book shops in 2001. I recently did a tour of all of them, and concluded we don’t have any "competition" within the City – unless you count Borders/Virgin/Tower.

Anyway, let me apologize in advance for boring the non-comics retailers in the audience who are reading this. (this is one of the few Tiltings not reprinted in our in-store magazine, Onomatopoeia)

In my last two columns I discussed taking a long-term view, and discarding the "collectors mentality". Both of these tacks have many benefits, the most important of which is bringing in new customers. Without new customers, while sales can rise, you are feeding off of a stagnant pool of customers. This is a precarious position to be in, as the loss of a few key customers could spiral into dire financial straits.

Diversification, in both product mix and customer base is the key to a healthy business and industry, and both are directly tied to one another. New lines of merchandise (if promoted correctly) can bring in new customers, while new customers demand a wider range of material.

In San Francisco, where my store is located, there are over 20 comics shops servicing 750,000 people, making competition extremely fierce. But we're posting an annual increase of sales of nearly 50%. The main reason, in my eyes at least, is that we carefully target new customers, and have created a store and variety of material that is reactive to the new customers needs.

Possibly the most important thing to remember when you are trying to attract "civilians", is that they have no knowledge (even to the point of not realizing comics are still being published), or understanding of the modern comics market, nor are they particularly interested in acquiring such knowledge. If you showed a person off of the street a picture of the X-Men, they would not likely know (or care) who these character are, yet X-Men is the benchmark that comics sales are stacked against.

So, when you design your advertising and promotions, it is important to avoid using characters and images that are not immediately known to civilians. Advertising and window displays should revolve around Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Hulk, Mickey Mouse, Aliens, Calvin & Hobbes, etc., not X-Men, Punisher, Wolverine, Lobo, etc. Once you get them in your door, you can expose them to the variety of material available, but it is imperative to get them in the store first.

Besides promoting characters that are cultural icons, it is essential that you have material that appeals to the new reader, and will cause them to come back for more. With very few exceptions, this does not include superhero comics. You need to carefully judge your product mix, both quantitatively and qualitively.

Let's discuss the former first. I want to stress the importance of keeping careful track of the quantities of various titles you carry, not by eye-balling them, but by having hard copy records you can examine. The most common, and useful records you can keep are cycle sheets. Simply put, you create an individual sheet for each title, with room for 6-12 different issues. You then count the quantities for 4-8 weeks, and sum up your sales, and leftovers throughout the cycle period. By having this information at your fingertips, you'll find it much easier to see what comics you order too many of, and what you order too few of. You'll probably find that you are under-ordering many independents, and over-ordering many majors. If, for example, you sell out of Love & Rockets in the first week on sale, and still have 10% of your Avengers left after 6 weeks, you should adjust your Avengers order down, and Love & Rockets up. You'll find that this basic step keeps you more profitable and responsive to your customers actual needs, rather than what you think their needs are.

In my experience, non-mainstream material (despite the company it is from), outside of high-visibility licenses (Aliens, Vampire Lestat, or Clive Barker material, for example), is what keeps the new customers coming back. While the exact titles will vary from location to location, I personally have had success with titles as varied as Sandman, Love & Rockets, American Splendor, and Dirty Plotte. While these may not sell the quantity of X-Men or Batman, from a dollar-value basis, they frequently do as well, if not better. However, you need to actively build the clientele of this type of book. Sales will not just spring up, fully-grown.

There are several tactics you can use to safely increase your sales. The method with the least risk is a in-house subscription service. Create a form listing the titles you carry, and allow customers to sign up, in advance, for the titles they want. By summarizing these quantities, you can see which independents you have customers for, and order them confidently with low risk. Make sure, however, that you promote this service to all of your customers, because, if they are not aware, they won't sign up. Additionally, you must have the perseverance to offer this service for several months, before you see a large response. Personally, I find that offering a token discount is easily justified by the data you receive, enabling you to order a lot closer to your actual sales. You should, however, make that decision based on your volume, and needs.

This type of interactive service need not be formal. The importance inference here is that you listen to customer requests, and react to them. If you have a customer telling you he wants a particular item, order it for them, even if you feel that this particular title "doesn't sell". Even if you have to get a token down-payment from the customer, it is imperative that you fulfill their needs. If your distributor has minimum orders on the title the customer asks for, call your local warehouse, and explain the situation to them. It is very likely they will make an exception to make the both of you more profitable. A special effort today can spell many sales down the line/

Another way to begin diversifying your material is to give independent publishers a phone call. Frequently, they are happy to make an arrangement to get their material in your store. You will find some willing to arrange a consignment deal, while others have "sampler" packs, for a low net cost.

As the retailer, you have a lot of authority over your customers’ habits and purchases. In my store, if I personally like something, I can sell at least 30 copies, because my customers respect my opinions. You will certainly have some number of customers who will trust your opinion and try a book on your say so. This is why it is important to make a qualitive judgement of the comics in your store. It is important for you to read and assess the comics that you carry. If you read and enjoy alternative material, it will be much easier to lead your customers to it. I read every comic that comes into my store, and am, accordingly, able to match the proper material to the proper customer. Furthermore, the more you know your customers tastes, and the more you match their tastes to the merchandise, the more they'll trust your judgement. The more they respect your opinion, the more sales you'll make.

Finally, I want to emphasize again that expanding your customer base and tastes is a project that takes some time. As with any new promotion technique, you must have the patience to wait for the months it can take for it to succeed. Don't expect immediate results! But, when the results do come, they will be there day after day, month in, month out, making you more diverse, more profitable, and much happier.