The presidential race will be over soon. Without declaring a position, I cannot wait.

As all sides jockey for advantage, the current state of affairs is blasted. Doom and gloom are forecasted each step of the way. Added to this rhetoric is a very real contraction in the economy.

$82 to fill up the gas tank. Ouch! I have never paid this much to fill up the tank in my life. The news headlines of mortgage troubles, banks teetering on the edge and a credit crunch have my head swimming.

Our customers are all dealing with the same issues.

Given this situation, how do you set yourself apart and keep your businesses thriving? Like everyone else, we just had another seed increase from our supplier. How much can you pass along to the end user, your customer? How thin a margin can you make and keep paying your bills?

When the consumer begins to decide where they will economize with the family budget so that they can keep on top of the necessities, what will they cut? Will bird feeding become a casualty?

All of these questions and many more are probably keeping you busy seeking solutions that will bode well for your enterprise.

Our store manager has taken a positive outlook, seeing a silver lining in the dark clouds on the horizon. He feels that folks will stay home and recreate more closely to home, including the backyard.

We have taken that outlook and worked on honing it to a luster, so that our customers see the backyard as a sanctuary where they can take refuge too.

A psychological win

We have quite a few customers who live more than 50 miles from the store. As they come in to buy seed we tell them that we are happy to UPS seed to them. They are delighted to find a solution that eliminates that long, expensive drive. The UPS ground charge is much less than their drive cost. It also is a psychological win that you provided for them, enabling them to keep their hobby flourishing.

Our frequent buyer deals have been highlighted so that those already in the process can see a reward that will be theirs. Whenever someone receives their free bag reward and other customers are in the store the staff all yells loudly, "another free bag heading out the door."

Now there is a positive message to reinforce a customer’s desire to feel good about keeping the feeders full.

Our seed bags come in three sizes: large 25-pound/20-pound bags, No. 5 Zip-Loc bags and bulk seed "by the pound." It is appropriately priced for our margin targets.

Staff is trained to show customers all of the available choices. The customer can determine which price point they are willing to purchase. Our No. 5 Zip-Loc bag sales are steadily increasing as those customers who feel the need to economize downsize their purchase rather than not feeding at all. Our margin is higher on this bag size as well, so we win, too.

Make sure that your staff can quickly perform triage, keeping everyone happy with positive results. Customers are always looking for solutions to problems. Be ready to offer them your expertise with real solutions that work. This time of year brings plenty of nesting issues and fledgling young.

A recent customer asked how to keep the Barn Swallows from building mud nests under their porch roof with the resulting mess on the porch floor. We showed them how to lure the swallows to a nearby trellis with an angled roof.

The swallow nest could be hung there without any mess and the backyard nature lover benefited from the positive aspects of this biological insect patrol. A bat roosting box became an “add on sale,” so the insect patrol could be a 24-7 operation.

Win for Mom

This past summer, we gave mom positive ways to keep the kids occupied and out of her hair. We ran nest box-building and feeder kit classes. These and other natural history aspects of watching nesting and feeding birds will educate and stimulate children. Mom is happy to have a positive backyard activity that the family can enjoy together.

We tell mom how children today spend little time outside, experiencing nature. Children with positive nature experiences are able to handle stress better and perform better in school.

Gaining insights into nature can lead to positive experiences throughout their lives.

Our sales of introductory backyard guides, books on fun nature activities and Robert Louv’s, Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder are up.

Mom wants her kids to be successful; you win, as you show her a well lit pathway through nature in your store.

Give mom and dad a list of ideas in your next newsletter for parent/child interactive nature activities. Here are some that we use: our Saturday bird walks (the price, we say, is "enthusiasm").

Suggest that they place a bird feeder in the backyard where the child can watch it with the parent. Provide a backyard bird list form for the child, to go with the feeder purchase. Instruct the parents to bring it back with the child, so that you can place a sticker and star on it for new birds they have seen together.

Suggest a backyard wildlife habitat project for the family. Winning solutions that can keep the family visiting your store, since you are providing them with positive news and fun nature activities they can enjoy as a family.

Summer gardens are attractive to birds but not necessarily the gardener. Show the customer how to resolve the disappearing fruit issue with methods that discourage birds from the garden but not the back yard. Simple strips of Mylar fluttering in the wind with the sunlight reflecting off them will often do the trick. The birds do not like the movement.

You provide the solutions so that your customer seeks you out, as the how-to expert. The birds learn to stay at the feeder stations where they can be enjoyed while they avoid the scary Mylar.See positive steps that you can take, accepting the challenge to become creative, winning over adversity.