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		<title>Has Social media changed the face of good ole Customer Service?</title>
		<link>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=168</link>
		<comments>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=168#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 May 2012 21:50:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Anne Obarski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Contagious Articles]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[I just read an article that stated that 42% of Americans are using social media to shop.  It equates to 95 million consumers. How do you use social media when you go shopping?  I must admit that my biggest reason to use social media is to do research.  I love to read comments of other [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Whitepaper- &#8220;What Women Want in a Garden Center&#8221;.</title>
		<link>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=164</link>
		<comments>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=164#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:36:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Anne Obarski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Over 80% of garden center shoppers are female!  If you are a garden center, have you taken a look at your business through a woman&#8217;s eyes?  This whitepaper shares the insights of a survey that you can&#8217;t afford to overlook.  Click here to see the results that women say they want! http://merchandiseconcepts.com/PDFs/obarski_whitepaper.pdf]]></description>
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		<title>Retail saleswoman with 73 years experience!</title>
		<link>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=159</link>
		<comments>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=159#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:22:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Anne Obarski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Contagious Biz News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=159</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Cleo Cummings worked for May Co. and Macy&#8217;s for 73 years and was 89 when she retired this week, wearing her signature black hose, 2 inch heels and red hair. She spent 73 years building a contagious following of customers through her personal shopper program that probably started before Nordstroms thought about starting one. When [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Macy&#8217;s retail employee training changes</title>
		<link>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=151</link>
		<comments>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=151#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:44:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Anne Obarski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Contagious Biz News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=151</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Training retail sales associates to use scripts might backfire. Customers are aware of the scheme and are saying we don&#8217;t want to hear &#8220;outstanding&#8221; from every employee. Frankly, I am tired of having them waste their time circling the website on a receipt to tell me I need to go to it and talk about [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Retailer&#8217;s &#8220;Game Face&#8221;-is yours infectious?</title>
		<link>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=148</link>
		<comments>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=148#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:00:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Anne Obarski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Contagious Biz News]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Visual merchandising&#8217;. It’s the fastest, least-expensive, most contagious way retail stores can use design—as opposed to yet another “blowout sale”&#8211;to build customer traffic and sales.]]></description>
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		<title>Selling is a kid&#8217;s game!</title>
		<link>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=141</link>
		<comments>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=141#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:50:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Anne Obarski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Contagious Articles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=141</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s all about sales.  We all grew up selling.  When we were kids most of us knew exactly how far we could push our parents until they gave in. We also knew the point when the “push back” led to a big fat “no” because we tried too hard.  Kids are great at selling lemonade, [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Old marketing mistakes are new again!</title>
		<link>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=136</link>
		<comments>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=136#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:37:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Anne Obarski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Contagious Articles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=136</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How do you develop a compelling advertising campaign that is truthful and that motivates the customer to take action?   Let&#8217;s look at your advertising or marketing efforts through the eyes of your customer. &#160; Ask yourself the following three questions each and every time you develop any type of advertising or marketing campaign that [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Contagious Name Tag</title>
		<link>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=119</link>
		<comments>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=119#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Mar 2011 20:47:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Anne Obarski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Contagious Spreading Skills]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=119</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160;]]></description>
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		<title>AT&amp;T is Contagiously Losing Business</title>
		<link>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=88</link>
		<comments>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=88#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Mar 2011 04:36:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Anne Obarski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Contagious Spreading Skills]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=88</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It is amazing how fast unhappy customers can go &#8220;viral!&#8221; I was just on AT&#38;T&#8217;s Facebook page to voice my unhappiness when my favorite TV channels were taken off my cable listing. After calling customer service, I find that it is a contract negotiation problem with Scripts and AT&#38;T. That&#8217;s not my problem and I [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Coffee With Mike&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=82</link>
		<comments>http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=82#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Mar 2011 04:32:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Anne Obarski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Contagious Spreading Skills]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://merchandiseconcepts.com/blog/?p=82</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I just read a great article in the Columbus Dispatch on Sunday about Mike MacDonald, the President of DSW. First, I would like to say that I would love to have a cup of coffee with him and listen to his passion about his job and his leadership strategies that have made him so successful. [...]]]></description>
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