Two Minute Tweaks w/ Lisa Uhrik

Join Lisa Uhrik as she explores three scientific truths that can help you connect better and boost sales—through the menus and signs at your bookshop’s cash wrap. Discover when customers really read your signage, and how the Golden Triangle and Serial Rule can help you highlight what matters most and sell up to 20% more.
🎧 Click the link to listen and get inspired!

 

This week Lisa shares an idea from friend Cal Crosby at The King's English Bookshop in Utah. She explores a simple solution that brings quiet, purposeful messaging while also facilitating face outs in a stable front and center position on the shelves.

When the world is heavy – we look for light loads and small, helpful things.
This is one of them. 

We encourage you to try it and share your thoughts or other simple display tricks with us.

According to expert Erik Thompson, about half of what we see is what we hear. Things like entrainment (a new term for us!) lead to strategic considerations for your music experience in the bookshop – which in turn lead to connection and sales. That interesting fact, along with the advent of AI in detecting "personal" vs. "retail" use of things like Spotify and Pandora, suggest that thinking about both music content and sourcing are important. 

After listening, we encourage you to experiment with your space’s music by choosing slower, less lyrical tracks, consider developing a brand sound, and be sure to give yourself a daily dose of birdsong. ♫

Are book returns quietly draining your resources? In this eye-opening episode, Lisa reveals how routine book returns can consume the equivalent of eight full weeks of work for one person.

Use this episode to spring forward and begin your own analysis on how to transform this challenge into an opportunity to improve efficiency and profitability.

Listen to previous episodes to learn or recall practical strategies to minimize returns and maximize sales through thoughtful displays and customer engagement. Tune in now to revolutionize your approach to book returns and drive your business forward!

What if the “industry standard” isn’t the only way? In our latest podcast, Lisa’s research reveals three broad themes shaping today’s bookshops, and how knowing yours can transform everything from layout and design to inventory strategy.

We’re challenging the idea that all bookshops must adhere to 3-4 inventory turns per year. Instead, we explore how your bookshop’s core focus — whether book-centric, community-centric, or advocacy-centric — can guide your decisions. Most shops blend all three, but leaning into your primary theme can sharpen your strategy.

Click play for actionable insights to tailor your bookshop to its unique purpose.

The secret sauce that has given Franklin Fixtures resilience in the economic "big pause" we've experienced is the same one that gives our bookshops staying power in tough times: it's all about inventory strategy.

• What if we sold every book we purchased?
• What if we got out of the business of returns?
• What if we held less inventory and turned it more frequently?

Join Lisa in these powerful questions to ponder in this week's Two Minute Tweak. Click to listen now.

 

Like a good book, a good shelf talker comes from YOU. It's not a book report, but personal, good copy that makes picking that specific book up irresistible.

Click and listen now as Lisa teaches and emboldens booksellers to experiment with concise, personal, and engaging copy, offering fresh perspective on how to make books come alive for readers. "Let's do something on our shelf talkers that no AI generated summary could do," inspires host Lisa Uhrik, "let's speak our truth and connect with people!"

In this episode of 'Two Minute Tweaks,' host Lisa Uhrik unpacks what it means to be "clear" in a society that struggles to focus on a street sign. How do we make displays that are clear for the casual customer—the skimmers—who are most often the majority in our bookshops? 

Join Lisa as she explores strategies inspired by a professional booksellers course, emphasizing how bookshops can capture the attention of skimmers, dippers, and divers alike. Learn how clever arrangements, color use, and strategic grouping can transform a casual browser into an engaged visitor, and discover the small, impactful tweaks that can make a difference in today’s fragmented world.

I'm wondering if you, too, find it tough to keep displays looking amazing? And tougher still to help everyone who works with displays understand how to create excellence in display.  We're exploring three easy standards for every display—an easy way to get your arms around a lot of display ideas—in three simple words: Clear, Connected, and Compelling.  

Tune in now for practical tips and insights that will encourage you to re-evaluate your display strategies and engage with your audience thoughtfully.

Welcome to the 100th episode of Two Minute Tweaks! Fun fact: Less than 6% of all podcasts make it this far! 

We're hitting this centennial milestone with an inspiring visit and insight from Midtown Reader and reflections from Lisa (feeling the pressure of time since she was four.)  

What do you do when you've only got 100 years to live? Create a great community through bookshops, of course! Listen now and discover the true essence of why these bookshop communities are vital avenues for meaningful interaction and how they aim to leave the world a better place.

 

Song credit: Five for Fighting: 100 Years

The practice of kaizen (good change) is fundamental to success in almost every industry.  Can it work for us in our bookshops and libraries? It isn't about big, sweeping aha moments, but about a habit of finding one small thing every day. 

It's easy to forget—and easy to renew your focus in two minutes. Listen now!

This episode salutes the 10th anniversary of Independent Bookstore Day, a celebration of the enduring influence of bookshops. Host Lisa Uhrik delves into the special role bookshops have played throughout history, from ancient Athens to Napoleonic France, highlighting their impact on communities and individuals.

This Independent Bookstore Day, let's make sure that every person leaves with the knowledge that your store is more than a good time on a Saturday afternoon. Much more.

Our shelves are like a silent sales staff, and it packs a warm and wonderful connection when they look customers in the eye. Our studies show that a connecting angle results in 35% more touch, which translates into sales, as we are 73% more likely to buy what we touch. The eyes seem to feel the angles.

Join Lisa as she explores the surprising difference angled shelves can make in your bookshop's performance, fostering interactions and discoveries in your space. Click to listen now.

Just as a captivating book hooks us from the first chapter, our bookshops can captivate visitors from the moment they step inside.

Plenty Downtown Bookshop uses an innovative dice game to creatively engage customers. This unique approach adds an element of surprise and enhances the shopping experience by fostering exploration and discovery.

Join Lisa Uhrik as she explores how this small, yet impactful tweak – creative moments of engagement – can lead to big discoveries in your shop. Click to listen now!

We've been talking with a lot of people who are rebuilding after losses – and we want to help. This special edition of the Tweak is focused around Franklin Fixtures as unique assets with hopes of giving a workable strategy for all the rebuilders, as well as those looking to expand their operations.

Three strategic insights, three paths to financing and one or two good ideas are all packed into this unique six-minute tweak. Click to listen now!