For just a few days, we all had access to the best minds in retail. And they were all working for us. We could have them work on any problem, plan any strategy, and create any tool to help us. All for $20.

For a brief while, we had access to Anthropic’s Fable 5.

Fable 5 was a whole new level of AI. It wasn’t so much a tool you could use but rather a contractor you could send off to do work.

Fable 5 could plug into all your data, it could do anything on your computer you could do (provided you gave it permission), and it could think deeply for up to five hours and even check its work.

Think about what you could get done in your business if you had access to the best minds in business and retail. Think about what they could come up with to help you if you assigned them a problem. Now think of what you would get if that happened at the speed of AI.

It’s like having a business genie that would grant your every wish. And like with any genie, the challenge is figuring out what to wish for.

I had decided to create a retail dashboard that incorporated all the important aspects of my business. Every morning, with a quick glance, it would tell me how I was doing and warn me when something was about to go wrong.

GMROI, ROAS, KPIs- all the things we should be looking at but aren’t would be there. Plus, anything else I wanted to track would be there too.

Not only would the dashboard tell me how I was doing, it would allow me to play with scenarios. I could see what would happen to profits if I did this, changed that, ran a sale, hosted an event.

With Fable 5, we could create our own Radar O’Reilly. We could all have a brilliant assistant who would help us run our store.

Now, Fable 5 was taken down for reasons that are in dispute. But the capability will be back. And Fable 5 gives us a glimpse into AI’s near future.

In a very short while, the retail genie will be back. Our job is to know what we want to ask it to create for us.

I hope this serves.

Gilbert

P.S. By the end of the week, I’ll have a new video on Substack showing you how to use Anthropic’s Claude for your business. That way you’ll be set up for Anthropic’s new version of Fable 5 when it is released.

The mistake happens because of how our brains are wired. When we make a decision, we naturally factor in past investments. How much we put into something in the past colors how we think of its future. But that’s not true; it doesn’t. Psychologists call it the sunk cost fallacy.

We make this error when we keep following a strategy that’s not working, simply because we’ve already invested so much time and money. Or we keep bringing in a slow-selling product line because we’ve invested so much in building it. Or we keep an underperforming employee because we’ve invested so much to train them.

Yes, we’ve invested a lot, but those investments are gone. We’re not getting them back.

We need to evaluate decisions based only on the future potential. It hurts, but we need to forget what we’ve already spent. Doubling down to try to recover our investment is a mistake. We need to know when to cut our losses.

My $4,000 error is continuing to use Kajabi for these emails. It’s an expensive platform, and there are better, cheaper options. Options I should have switched to a year ago.

But I’m switching now. This newsletter is moving to Substack. It will be cheaper for me, but better for you. With Substack, I can easily share videos. So you’ll get better, more useful content.

If you’re reading this on Substack, thank you. Next week will be the last email using Kajabi. It feels good to have finally moved past my sunk cost fallacy. So where is this fallacy playing out in our business? Where should you forget all that you’ve invested and move on?

I hope this serves.

Gilbert

Don’t get me wrong, ChatGPT is great, but there’s a better AI for writing and ideation, and that’s Claude.

ChatGPT is bold, confident, and sometimes wrong. Claude’s answers are more detailed, more nuanced. It does a better job of laying out the pros and cons, so you can make a better decision about what’s right for your store.

To illustrate, here’s the response I received when I asked ChatGPT for an opinion on two opening lines for our YouTube ad.

The answer, as it always is, was clear and definitive. It’s helpful. And not wrong. But not right either.

Here’s the answer I got from Claude.

You can see that it’s more nuanced. It’s less cut-and-dried. It helps me think about my choices.

In your marketing, nuance matters a lot. You know your customers better than anybody. Claude’s fuller answers help you understand what copy is a better fit with your people.

Claude’s nuance also makes it a better thought partner. I went back and forth over the script with Claude. I pushed it, and it pushed me. And together, we came up with a great ad.

Claude also told me how to structure the ad’s visuals. I don’t have those skills, so it was great to just follow Claude’s instructions and generate a beautiful looking ad.

So, which should you use, ChatGPT or Claude? If you can afford it, I would use both. But if you have to pick just one, I would go with Claude. It’s a better writer and a much, much better thought partner.

I hope this serves.

Gilbert

The concept is simple: their customers get something when they’re at the other business that brings them into your store. And you return the favor.

It’s simple, quick, and usually done wrong.

To be successful, you need to set up your program with a business with compatible customers.

And you need to make sure that your program stands out with a unique angle. Just sharing gift cards isn’t enough.

So you need to see connections and be creative. But what if you’re tired and not feeling very creative?

Thankfully, AI specializes in seeing connections. And, given the right prompt, it can be quite creative.

Try running this prompt. (I ran it in Claude, but it will work in ChatGPT or Gemini too).

The prompt

You are an experienced marketer specializing in creative, low-cost solutions for independent retailers. Your task has two parts.

Part 1: Review the business directory at the following link and identify the three best stores to partner with for a mutual referral program. Base your selection on customer demographic overlap, complementary (non-competing) products or services, and realistic potential for foot traffic crossover. Briefly explain why each store is an ideal match.

Part 2: For each of the three stores, generate three original referral program ideas. Each idea must be:

• Attention-grabbing — it should feel fresh and memorable, not like a generic coupon swap

• Low-cost — executable without a significant budget or technology investment

• Easy to implement — actionable with a simple agreement between two store owners

Present each idea with a name, a one-paragraph description, and a note on how both stores benefit.

Our store: (describe your products, target customer, price point, and any relevant seasonal factors)

Neighbourhood directory: (paste URL or directory listing here)

I didn’t even have to give it to the stores in my area. It found affinities and came up with some good ideas like these.

To be honest, I didn’t even think of these businesses. Byt Claude was right, they’re the perfect partners.

After you get the preliminary results, pick your referral partner and have AI generate even more creative ideas.

Referral programs are an effective way to boost your sales. Just get AI to do the heavy lifting, and watch your sales grow.

I hope this serves.

Gilbert

If you’re lucky, your industry provides you with images. But they’re the same as your competitor and the brand is using. It’s hardly a way to stand out.

AI can help you generate powerful images for your marketing. But you need to be smart about what you generate and how you use it. There’s a backlash against AI images. You don’t want to get caught on the wrong side of that argument.

Here are 3 ways to use AI to boost your marketing. And not offend.

Change image orientation

I’m sure it’s happened to you. You need to have an image in landscape format. But the only product shot you have is this:

Thankfully, you can ask Chat GPT to extend the sides of the image and get this;

Add a background

A lot of the images you get from your suppliers look like this:

That white background isn’t very compelling, is it? But now that Chat GPT’s image generator is better at preserving detail, you can ask it to add a background like this:

That’s a lot more interesting, isn’t it?

But why stop there? Why not add a more interesting background/ a background that gets people’s attention? A background that you can use in all your marketing?

What about this:

Better yet, let’s make sure that the regulator really pops. Let’s get AI to make the background out of focus.

Now that will stop the scroll!

While you’re at it - make it magical.

One way to use AI images is to lean into the fakery. Ask Chat GPT to give you ideas for a surrealistic or magical background. Pick the best idea. And instead of posting this:

You can post this:

And that background can become the signature background of your store. Every time they see it, it builds your store’s brand.

Change colour

I’m sure it happens to you, too. Whatever color you bought for your store is not the color that is featured in the supplier’s photo. Thankfully, you can drop into ChatGPT and change the color. Just remember to upload a target color and specify that all other non-clothing elements should remain the same.

Make it look real.

The days of smooth, plastic skin are gone. When you ask AI to create a photorealistic image, ask it to make sure that the skin looks real, with minor imperfections and visible pores. That way, you’ll get realistic, evocative images like this one to use in your marketing.

AI-generated images give us indie retailers the photoshoots we don’t have time for and can’t afford. I’ll be posting a full course here on Substack with all the tips and tricks to help you get great images.

In the meantime, try these three (ok, four) techniques to improve your marketing.

I hope this serves.

Gilbert

Or this, an infographic I created with ChatGPT?

The answer is simple. The infographic conveys the information in a visually strong way that reinforces key points. It’s a much better training tool. And it didn’t take me long to create.

Ok, it didn’t take long after I went down a few blind alleys, made a few mistakes, and figured out what works and what doesn’t. This step-by-step guide will save you the headaches and get you creating a great training guide in no time.

Step one - Gather your data and photos

I provided the information as a spreadsheet and a zip file of images, but you could also give it training information as a Word file. Or use Perplexity or Chat GPT to research the product online.

The key is to be clear about what your staff needs to know about the product. Feed that raw information into ChatGPT along with the images (name the images with the product number & top/side/bottom views). Like this:

And ChatGPT thought and did this:

Step 2 - Create Your base infographic

Using ChatGPT, and its powerful image generator, give it the following prompt:

Acting as a designer who is an expert in how people learn, create an infographic-style study guide using the information contained in the attached document. The goal of the study guide is to help staff memorize the information on the shoes listed in the document. Please convert the images into illustrations, making sure that the illustrations accurately represent the shoe.

ChatGPT came back to me and made recommendations on how to generate an effective training guide. You could see that it was thinking about how people learn and the best way to communicate the information.

Step 3 – Generate a Sample Infographic

Ask ChatGPT for its recommendation on the style of an infographic. You can even ask it to generate a sample of each based on your document. I picked two options, and this is what it gave me.

You can tweak the infographic by clicking the image and using the “select” paintbrush at the top right to select the area you want changed, then typing your changes in the chat window.

Step 4 – Generate your infographics.

Generate the other infographics one at a time by attaching the doc file (+ sign) and asking it to generate a new infographic using that data, but keep the style and format of the original. I tried to get it to create the infographics from a document with all the shoes, but it got confused. One shoe at a time is best.

Step 5 – Create the other collateral

ChatGPT will have made recommendations for other pieces to round out the training guide. Create those pieces, just make sure it has one of the infographics as a style guide.

The longest part of this process is gathering the data and images, and you likely already have that at hand. And what you get is a powerful tool with structured information and illustration.

What you get is a tool that will help your new staff learn faster and better. What you get is some of your training time back.

I hope this serves.

Gilbert

We all know that a key to keeping great people is having a solid onboarding program. You need a structured plan to introduce new staff to your store’s philosophy, systems, and product. You need to get them excited about being part of your mission.

But what if I told you that building that excitement starts long before that first day? And that waiting for that first day to build excitement is hurting your store.

Think about it from the perspective of the new hire. They got the job offer, and they’re excited. They’re picturing themselves in the job. They can’t wait to start. But then doubts creep in. What if the job is too hard? What if they don’t fit in? Doubt creeps in, and the enthusiasm fades.

And then they start. With less energy, less enthusiasm. And the task of learning a new job seems more daunting. Without a lot of initial momentum, they’re more likely to fail. More likely to take another offer from the hundreds of resumes they’ve sent out.

The Pre-Onboarding Plan

A pre-onboarding plan will help maintain their initial enthusiasm. It will even build excitement for the job. It will get them off to a good start, with energy and excitement. And it’ snot hard to do.

Step One - The Job Offer

The first step is the job offer. Making the offer by telephone makes it more personal. It builds the connection with management they’ll need to succeed.

In the offer, make sure that you mention something specific about why you’re excited to have them on the team. What part of their experience or skill set will be a great addition to your company? Let them know that. Let them feel seen and appreciated.

Step Two - The Hero Email

Follow up with an email that says, “Hey, just wanted you to know what kind of company you’ve joined”. If you have an article about your store, send that. You could even send a series of reviews. The key is to help them understand what a special place your (their) store is. And to get them excited.

Step Three - The Staff Welcome Video

The next day, send a welcome video from the staff. People want a sense of belonging in a job. A warm welcome from their new colleagues will go a long way toward creating a sense of belonging.

I recommend sending a video via BombBomb (www.BombBomb.com). This app allows you to attach a video to an email. We did this with the latest group of trainees, and they loved it. It made them feel welcome. It made them feel like they’ve found their new home.

These three onboarding steps are simple and won’t take much time. But they’ll go a long way to have your new hires start their training with more energy and enthusiasm. So give it a try, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the results.

I hope this serves.

Gilbert